Bombardier said it delivered 337 aircraft in 2005, up slightly over the 329 delivered in 2004. But the increase was owing to robust business jets sales rather than commercial aircraft. Of last year's delivery total, 149 were commercial aircraft compared to 200 in 2004.
Thai Airways said it earned a profit of THB3.8 billion ($96.6 million) in its first fiscal quarter ended Dec. 31, a 33% drop from the THB5.72 billion profit posted in the year-ago quarter, Reuters reported.
Major European airlines including British Airways, Air France-KLM, Lufthansa, SAS and Cargolux are under investigation by the European Commission, European national authorities and the US Dept. of Justice for alleged price-fixing and anticompetitive activity. The EC and several carriers acknowledged that the airlines' European offices were raided yesterday morning, while an FBI spokesperson in Chicago told reporters that Air France-KLM's O'Hare cargo terminal was searched as well. There were no arrests or charges at ORD.
Freddie Laker, whose name became synonymous with low fares, died Feb. 9 in Hollywood, Fla. He was 83. Aviator, showman, entrepreneur and populist, Laker briefly shook up the transatlantic established order with his Skytrain service before going bust as a result of his own mistakes, a ruthless and even illegal response by incumbent competitors, fallout from the DC-10 grounding and the global recession of the early 1980s.
SAS Group yesterday overruled objections by its pilots unions in Sweden and Denmark and announced it is implementing "the operational transfer" of the pilots into the individual airline units in each country effective March 1.
Aegean Airlines extended its engine maintenance and repair agreement with Snecma Services for two more years, until 2009. The deal covers Aegean's CFM56-3s. The original contract, signed in March 2004, encompassed engine MRO plus analysis of inflight performance. The extension includes an exclusive Time & Material provision.
Evans & Sutherland Computer Corp. said Airbus is the launch customer for its EP-10 visual system, which was installed and certified in December on an A320 FNPT II trainer in Toulouse.
Sabre Airline Solutions said Gulf Air and TAP Portugal signed to use its AirServIn-Flight Solutions systems "allowing them to integrate their entire range of catering and cabin services management and drive savings of up to 15% from their total catering budgets." Separately, Sabre Travel Network signed a long-term GDS agreement with online travel agency priceline.com.
Shandong Airlines advised the Shandong Stock Exchange that it will acquire eight 737-800s to be delivered in 2007 and 2008. Six will be purchased from Boeing and two will be leased. Thomas Cook Airlines said it will lease a third A330-200 from CIT Group for delivery in October. Aircraft is powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 700s.
Cathay Pacific's traffic rose 12.5% in January to 6.08 billion RPKs. Capacity climbed 11.4% over the year-ago month to 7.56 billion ASKs, lifting load factor 0.8 point to 80.4%. Its most significant increases were on North American routes, where traffic rose 21.5% to 1.75 billion RPKs and capacity grew 19.2% to 2.02 billion ASKs.
Consortium TwoOne, led by Vienna airport operator Flughafen Wien, signed a share purchase agreement covering the acquisition of 66% of the Bratislava and Kosice airports in Slovakia.
Qantas executives may be taking a second look at buying into Indonesia's Adam Air ( ATWOnline, Feb. 7) after one of Adam's 737-300s was flown for 4 hr. without any navigation and communications Saturday. According to the Jakarta Post, the aircraft lost the systems about 20 min. after takeoff on a domestic flight and the pilot continued over the island of Java before landing on Sumba on an 1,800-m. runway. The 737 was on a flight from Jakarta to Makassar on South Sulawesi. None of the 145 passengers was injured.
Champ Cargosystems, a subsidiary of SITA and GF-X (Global Freight Exchange), reached agreement on offering a turnkey GF-X solution to Champ customers. "The cost for a Champ customer joining GF-X will be based on their predicted traffic volumes and the benefits they receive through GF-X," the companies said.
US Airways is recalling up to 55 of its 1,574 furloughed pilots. The addition of three 757s played a part in prompting the carrier's decision. The US Airways MEC of the Air Line Pilots Assn. said in a message to members last week that bidding will close on Feb. 19 and become effective in May and June.
Jet Airways' acquisition of competitor Air Sahara for $500 million ( ATWOnline, Jan. 20) is running into a little turbulence as hundreds of passengers were left stranded after 25 Air Sahara pilots went on strike Sunday over what they call a lack of clarity over their future. There is little chance of the pilots losing their jobs, but they may face salary cuts as the new group readies itself for battle with startups such as Air Deccan and Kingfisher.
AMR Corp., parent of American Airlines, announced that Senior VP and CFO James Beer will leave to take a job with California software firm Symantec. Beer became CFO in December 2003 after 15 years at AA. He will remain with the company through the filing and certification of its annual report. "While it is always disappointing to unexpectedly lose an executive of James' exceptional capabilities and leadership, American continues to have one of the strongest management teams in the industry, including a very strong finance department.
Bombardier, which shut down production of its 50-seat CRJ200 in October, said it will restart production "primarily to meet present and anticipated demand" for the Challenger 805 business jet. Work will begin in April at the company's Dorval facility and 50 workers will be recalled. "The flexible platform will permit us to offer three different aircraft--the CRJ200, a corporate shuttle or the Challenger 805," spokesperson Marc Duchesne told ATWOnline.
Worldspan announced a new five-year agreement with distributor partner Stargate Cyber Active giving Stargate exclusive rights to distribute Worldspan travel technologies and services to travel agencies in the Republic of South Africa. Stargate is the largest distributor of Worldspan products and services
Delta Air Lines likely will seek to terminate its pilot pension plan during its bankruptcy reorganization, a top member of the Air Line Pilots Assn. said on Thursday as he repeated a warning that the union will go on strike if the carrier attempts to cancel the existing labor contract and impose a new one. In a letter to members posted on the ALPA website, Delta MEC Chairman Lee Moak said, "Management has not funded our plan in bankruptcy and now acknowledges that due to their actions, our pension plan will likely be terminated."
Lufthansa flew 8 billion RPKs in January, up 0.8% over January 2004 on a 2.6% rise in capacity to 11.13 billion ASKs. Load factor fell 1.3 points to 72%. The number of passengers rose 3.1% to 3.64 million. European traffic grew 5.8% on 7.1% capacity growth attributable to new connections to Eastern Europe and the BetterFly low-fare offers from Hamburg and Dusseldorf ( ATWOnline, Feb. 8).
