Gulf Air secured a $75 million syndicated loan that it will use to continue funding near-term development following its restructuring in the wake of the withdrawal of Abu Dhabi as a shareholder.
Mesaba Airlines, the bankrupt Regional partner of Northwest Airlines, filed documents Friday with the US Bankruptcy Court seeking approval to cancel labor contracts with its pilots, flight attendants and mechanics and eliminate approximately 1,600 jobs, according to media reports. "Mesaba will shut down if these proposals are pushed through, either by virtue of a work stoppage or by virtue of everyone quitting," said Tom Wychor, chairman of the carrier's Air Line Pilots Assn. unit. "These are not viable solutions for the airline and we believe management would be foolish to test them."
World Airways pilots, represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, announced Sunday they had reached a tentative agreement with the carrier, ending a nine-day strike ( ATWOnline, Jan. 31). Details of the accord were not released.
News from Travel Technology Update: When 18-year-old Shawn "Napster" Fanning invented the software that turned the music industry on its head, he also engendered a vast community of young file-swappers. There are 250 million registered users of "peer-to-peer computing" networks worldwide. According to Big Champagne, a market research company that measures consumption of digital media, more music is now acquired online than on CD. The phenomenon is spreading to other forms of entertainment as well.
American Airlines reported a 4.4% rise in January RPMs to 11.03 billion and a 1.9% increase in year-over-year capacity to 14.69 billion ASMs. Load factor climbed 1.8 points to 75.1%. Domestic traffic grew 3.5% to 7.19 billion RPMs as capacity dipped 0.1% to 9.48 billion ASMs and load factor rose 2.6 points to 75.8%.
Ethiopian Airlines signed a $10.5 million deal with Sabre Airline Solutions for its passenger management system. It will migrate from a SITA system by year end.
MTU Aero Engines said MTU Maintenance Berlin-Brandenburg received EASA and FAA approval to maintain GE CF34-8 engines powering 70-90 Embraer and Bombardier regional jets and larger business jets. MTU already maintains the CF34-3.
American Airlines unveiled new first class and business class menus on all transcontinental flights and select flights from Brazil. It is AA's first menu revamp since 1999 and is designed to give it "a competitive advantage" over LCCs and help it "compete effectively" with international carriers. Separately, AA signed a deal with Lenovo to provide Admirals Club members access to Lenovo personal computers. IBM will provide deployment services.
The US Dept. of Transportation said in its "Air Travel Consumer Report" that domestic airline operational performance as measured by delays, mishandled baggage and customer complaints worsened in 2005. The 20 reporting US carriers posted an ontime arrival rate of 77.4% last year, down from 78.1% in 2004. Reports of mishandled baggage rose to 6.04 per 1,000 passengers compared to 4.91 in the previous year. Consumer complaints rose 17.2% to 8,735.
Bulgaria's government again approved a plan to privatize flag carrier Bulgaria Air ahead of opening its skies to EU airlines later this year. According to Reuters, the country will offer up to 99.99% of the carrier. The privatization has had a number of false starts. Reuters reported that SAS, Austrian Airlines and Air One expressed interest. However, Austrian CEO Vagn Soerensen previously told ATWOnline that his interest in Bulgaria Air is sinking because talks have gone on for too long and the valuation is too high.
Styrian Spirit will codeshare with Air Berlin on the Graz-Berlin route. "We also plan a new, much simpler fare structure," CEO Andreas Roesslhuber told ATWOnline. Codeshare flights may follow on the Graz-Stuttgart route. Styrian also plans to introduce daily Graz-Paris services. Additionally, the Austrian Regional is looking at renewing its fleet. It currently operates three CRJ200s and one CRJ700 and is looking for a fleet mix of three Q400s and two CRJ700s. It takes delivery of a new CRJ900 in May.
US Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta announced the nomination of William Voss for the position of secretary general of ICAO. Voss, formerly head of the terminal business service of FAA's Air Traffic Organization, currently serves as director of ICAO's Air Navigation Bureau. The current secretary general, Taieb Cherif from Algeria, is expected to seek a second term as well. The election is expected to take place next month, with the winner beginning his three-year term the following August.
Gol unveiled Brazil's first pre-paid cargo transport service Friday. Gollog Prepaid is accessible online and allows customers to transport shipments weighing up to 1 kg. to any domestic destination at a single price.
Sterling, Europe's fourth-largest LCC, transported 2.7 million passengers in 2005 at a load factor of 77.3%. The carrier's September merger with Maersk Air renders year-over-year comparisons less meaningful. "Sterling's goal for 2006 is to consolidate the route network to strengthen its position. Sterling is also expected to show a profit in 2006 and that will be achieved by the turnaround we are undergoing now in connection with our corporate integration," Communications Manager Niels Brix said.
Northern Air Cargo of Alaska has been sold to Saltchuk Resources, a private US holding company. The purchase includes NAC's subsidiaries and its Fairbanks airport facility, among other items.
Northwest Airlines and its unions sparred in court for an eighth day Friday over the bankrupt carrier's request for permission to terminate labor contracts covering its pilot and flight attendant workforces and impose new terms and conditions. A spokesperson for the Professional Flight Attendants Assn. told the Associated Press that the union offered to reduce its pay by 22.5% and accept the elimination of 1,553 jobs through voluntary severance agreements. NWA wants to hire 800 non-US flight attendants, replacing 30% of cabin staff, to be domiciled in Asia.
Helvetic Airways, a Swiss low-fare airline, named former pilot Bruno Dobler CEO. He succeeds Peter Pfister, who will remain with the company as a member of the board of directors. Helvetic commenced operations in 2003 and operates four F100s.
Continental Airlines flew 6.63 billion RPMs in January, a rise of 13% over the year-ago month. Consolidated capacity climbed 12.2% to 8.72 billion ASMs. Load factor rose just 0.5 point to 75.9% as a 16.1% increase in international capacity, including a 21.4% hike in transatlantic capacity, dropped international load factor 2.2 points to 74.2%. Domestic load factor improved 2.2 points to 78.3%. Cargo traffic fell 1.4% to 80.3 million RTMs. CO's estimated January RASM rose 4.5%-5.5% over the year-ago month.
US Airways signed a new five-year, full-content agreement with Sabre Travel Network to make available all its published fares and inventory through the Sabre GDS whether flown under the US Airways or America West brands, including Web fares. Concurrent with the agreement, US Airways signed a "long-term full-content deal" with Travelocity, which includes the Travelocity Partner Network, as its "exclusive hotel content supplier" for the US Airways website.
Qantas opened a new MRO facility at Los Angeles International Airport. The Australian carrier is the largest international operator at LAX. Qantas, which expects to begin the first A380 flights to the US in 2007, will use the facility as a base for full-service maintenance and engineering, including A checks on 747s. It will employ in excess of 80 service technicians.
Engine Lease Finance Corp. and Frankfurt-based DVD Bank agreed to co-invest in a package of 13 commercial aircraft engines acquired from the ELF portfolio through a new venture, Deucalion Engine Leasing (Ireland) Ltd. The portfolio, valued at $50 million, comprises three CF6-80s, three CFM56s, three V2500s, one AE3007, two JT8D-20s and one PW4000. Engines are leased out to 10 different airlines with lease termination dates ranging from 2006 to 2013.
Rockwell Collins was selected by British Airways to upgrade the carrier's long-haul Total Entertainment System with on-demand audio and video, digital news and an audio jukebox feature by December 2007. Enhancements will occur on 57 747s, 25 777s and 14 767s.
Lufthansa Systems announced that Italian charter airline Eurofly opted for Lido RouteManual electronically generated navigation charts. In addition, it will rely on the Lido Operations Center for route planning and the FMS Flight Management Navigation Database Service LHS.
