JetBlue Airways signed a 10-year contract with Hamilton Sundstrand for MRO services for Hamilton Sundstrand systems on its A320 fleet. The agreement covers electric power generation, cabin pressure control and emergency power systems. The airline has firm orders for 96 A320s through 2016 with options for an additional 50.
Swiss International Air Lines announced that its new Swiss European Air Lines unit ( ATWOnline, Oct. 11, 2005) and the Swiss Pilots Assn. tentatively agreed on a three-year collective bargaining agreement. According to an airline statement, "the new accord pays due and full regard to the ongoing restructuring concept and to the intensified competitive environment, and assures employees of a continuation of socially acceptable working terms and conditions." Provided it is approved by union members, the agreement will enter into effect on April 1.
Correction: ATWOnline incorrectly stated that ANA was suspending the operations of Air Hokkaido International Airlines. The airline being shuttered is Air Hokkaido. ANA maintains a small stake in Air Hokkaido International Airlines and codeshares with the new entrant, but it is not part of the ANA group of carriers. It operates to Tokyo Haneda from four cities on Hokkaido. The item subsequently was corrected on the website. ATWOnline thanks our sharp-eyed readers who caught the error.
Northwest Airlines yesterday urged Congress to enact pension reform legislation that will permit it to maintain its existing pension commitments rather than terminating the plans during its bankruptcy reorganization, the path chosen by United Airlines and US Airways. Delta Air Lines has all but confirmed that it likely will terminate its plans during its reorganization as well.
EgyptAir signed an agreement with Amadeus to implement its Altea Customer Management Solution to handle inventory management, multichannel sales and reservations, e-ticket management and distribution and departure control.
Air France signed a 2006-07 wage agreement with ground staff and cabin crews represented by six unions, comprising the majority of its staff. Several unions did not sign the deal and are calling for a work stoppage on March 24. Employees will receive a €500 bonus next month and an average overall pay increase of 3.3% over two years.
World Airways Holdings, parent of World Airways and North American Airlines, notified the US Securities and Exchange Commission that it will delay the filing of its year-end financial results. The report was due yesterday. It did not file its second- and third-quarter results until Feb. 21 owing to delays caused by the acquisition of NAA in April 2005. World said preliminary unaudited results indicate it will post a 2005 operating profit of $59-$63 million, an increase of approximately 50% over the $40.3 million earned in 2004.
Passenger fatalities more than tripled in 2005 as ICAO's preliminary analysis of aviation safety and security data revealed that 18 fatal accidents on scheduled flights involving aircraft with an MTOW greater than 2,250 kg. killed 713 passengers last year. Nine accidents in 2004 caused 203 passenger fatalities. The rate of fatalities per 100 million passenger km. doubled from 0.01 to 0.02. There also were 18 fatal accidents involving nonscheduled operations that resulted in 278 deaths. The same number of accidents in 2004 killed 207 passengers.
Air India and Indian Airlines are on course to merge within the year, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel told Indian media. The state-owned carriers will combine into an airline operating 125-130 aircraft by the end of the state fiscal year in April 2007. "It is an absolutely logical proposal to consolidate and optimize the use of the assets of the two public sector airlines," Patel was quoted as saying. At the same time, the government reportedly intends to sell off 20%-25% of each carrier to fund fleet renewal.
Boeing and Japan Airlines signed an Integrated Material Management agreement giving the airframer responsibility for purchasing, inventory and logistics for JAL's expendable aircraft parts. Boeing and other suppliers own the parts, which are stored at a location convenient to the customer. JAL will pay for parts on an as-needed basis.
British Airways announced the proposed closure of its Travel Shops business and its Belfast call center, moves that would shave approximately 400 jobs from the cost-cutting carrier's payroll. BA's 17 UK Travel Shops, which are "forecast to make ever-increasing losses in the years ahead," will be shuttered by the end of August. The airline also will cut jobs at the London Heathrow-based Worldlink travel agency and its back office support area.
Alaska Airlines and the Assn. of Flight Attendants-CWA announced a tentative four-year labor agreement yesterday covering the carrier's 2,480 cabin staff. Details were withheld pending a union ratification vote, scheduled to be completed by the end of April.
United Airlines is outsourcing around 100 jobs from its Sydney and Melbourne ground handling and reservations units, according to Australian press reports citing UA Australasian GM Stephen Pearce.
Emirates upgraded its onboard healthcare capabilities with the Tempus monitoring system, which records data such as blood pressure, pulse rate and temperature before sending it through the inflight communication system to specialists at the MedLink Response Center in Arizona. Manufactured by Remote Diagnostic Technologies of the UK, Tempus is installed on Emirates A340-500s operating services to New York, Osaka, Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland and Christchurch. It will be added to the A380s and 777s on order.
US FAA, which has been in mediated contract talks with the National Air Traffic Controllers Assn. for the past two weeks following eight months of contentious negotiations, said the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service agreed to its request to extend mediated negotiations. FMCS will oversee talks into next week.
Delta Air Lines expanded its maintenance support agreement with Royal Air Maroc. Delta TechOps will provide MRO work and inventory exchange services covering an additional RAM 767-300ER, the PW2000 engines on a 757 and GTCP331-200 and 131-9B APUs on aircraft operated by RAM subsidiaries. Delta TechOps already services RAM's dash 300ERs, PW2000s and 767-300, 757 and 737-800 APUs.
South African Airways unveiled an A340-600 repainted in Star Alliance livery yesterday. SAA is scheduled to join the alliance on April 10. All members are required to paint 3% of their fleet in the group's livery. The carrier also will paint a 737-800.
Air France unveiled its new €120 million ($143.7 million), 33,310-sq.-m. Flight Crew Center at Paris Charles de Gaulle yesterday. Approximately 18,000 members of AF's flightdeck and cabin crew will be based at the facility. Construction began in December 2003.
US Airways announced Tuesday the recall of approximately 400 furloughed flight attendants. Recall notices will be prioritized by seniority and will begin in April, putting the returning cabin staff in place for the carrier's summer schedule. Some 1,200 flight attendants remain on furlough from the former US Airways. "We continue to make great progress in building the new US Airways and today's announcement furthers that momentum," President and CEO Doug Parker said. The airline recalled 55 of its 1,574 furloughed pilots last month ( ATWOnline, Feb. 14).
Airfoil Services Sdn. Bhd., an MTU Aero Engines and Lufthansa Technik affiliate, celebrated the groundbreaking for its global integrated Center of Excellence for airfoil overhaul. The facility in Kota Damansara, Malaysia, is expected to start operations by early 2007.
European Commission announced yesterday that its Aviation Safety Committee finished drawing up the list of carriers that will be banned from entering the European Union for safety or security reasons but did not make the blacklist public pending ratification by the Commission. "We have just taken a decisive step," EC VP Jacques Barrot said. "I am now in a position to ask the Commission to quickly adopt the blacklist and to publish it, so that we can make sure that the companies identified in it will not have the possibility to enter Europe before they have resolved their problems."
Thomas Cook Airlines of Belgium reported a pre-tax profit of €3.2 million ($3.8 million) on revenues of €132.36 million in the financial year ended Oct. 31, 2005. The carrier will add a sixth A320 in the coming months to accommodate its forecast growth. Launched in 2002, it transported 997,100 passengers aboard 3,339 flights to 45 leisure destinations during the fiscal year.
Northwest Airlines yesterday began a test of differential pricing for economy seats in its domestic fleet, charging $15 extra per flight segment for certain aisle and exit row seats. The Coach Choice product, which currently covers 5% of domestic seats, is intended to "provide added choice and comfort, particularly to late-booking business travelers, by saving some preferred coach seat assignments until check-in," according to the airline. A passenger purchasing Coach Choice seats for all four segments of a roundtrip connecting flight would pay a total of $60.
