Aer Lingus will order four A330s for delivery beginning later this year, according to sources at the carrier, possibly indicating it will favor the A350 over the 787 for its upcoming fleet expansion. It has a need for up to 12 A350-type aircraft. The deal is worth $400 million, according to media reports.
Chinese airlines reported robust growth in passengers and cargo for 2005 thanks to surging traffic, and in the case of China Eastern and China Southern the gains from mergers completed last year. Air China reported a 13% increase in passengers to 27.7 million while cargo jumped 10.2% to 732,818 tonnes. China Eastern saw a 37% leap in passengers to 24.3 million and a 14% rise in cargo to 755,010 tonnes. China Southern also had impressive numbers as passenger totals jumped 56.4% to 44.10 million and cargo climbed 42.1% to 774,550 tonnes.
Murray Air Certifications announced it completed Virgin America's operating manuals process and assisted it in its effort to become a US FAA-certified FAR 121 carrier.
Austrian Airlines Group transported a record 10.1 million passengers in 2005, 7.6% more than in 2004. Yearly traffic in RPKs increased 7.6% to 22.8 billion, ASKs rose 5.7% to 30.8 billion and load factor improved 1.3 points to 74.1%.
ATR of France logged firm orders for 90 new aircraft--17 42-500s and 73 72-500s--plus 26 options in 2005 against only 12 firm orders in 2004. Revenues amounted to $542 million, an increase of 15% compared to 2004, prompting CEO Filippo Bagnato to declare, "2005 was our best year since 1989" during a Paris press conference yesterday.
China Eastern Airlines will acquire five 50-seat ERJ-145LRs from Harbin Embraer to be delivered between November 2006 and June 2007. Harbin Embraer is a joint venture between Embraer and China Aviation Industry Corp. II.
Pilots at Comair, a Regional subsidiary of Delta Air Lines, narrowly approved a measure last week designed to save the carrier $17.3 million annually. Represented by the Air Line Pilots Assn., Comair pilots voted 50.57% in favor of an agreement that reduces pay and retirement benefits and extends the pilot contract for four years. The deal is subject to approval by the US Bankruptcy Court. Last October, Comair announced plans to lower costs by up to $70 million to aid Delta's emergence from bankruptcy.
ANA filed an application Friday with Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to raise the fuel surcharge on international fares from March 1, saying it has "little choice but to reluctantly ask customers [to] share this burden." Sample surcharges include to ¥8,000 ($69.41) from ¥5,000 on routes to Europe, North America and the Middle East; to ¥6,500 from ¥3,600 on routes to Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia, and to ¥3,900 from ¥1,300 on routes to China (over 2,000 km.), Taipei, Guam and Vietnam and from ¥1,200 to Hong Kong.
Assn. of European Airlines is irritated that authorities are targeting air travelers with yet another tax proposal "for the most questionable motives." Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schussel provoked AEA's ire by suggesting last week that taxes on air travel and short-term financial transactions provide revenues that would solve recurring budget problems. Austria currently holds the EU's rotating presidency. "There seems to be a tax epidemic in the air at the moment," AEA Secretary General Ulrich Schulte-Strathaus said Friday.
Southwest Airlines' board of directors authorized last week the repurchase of up to $300 million worth of common stock, which the carrier said represented approximately 17.9 million shares as of Jan. 18. It has about 804 million shares outstanding. Repurchased shares may be retired or used to fund the carrier's employee stock plans.
The US Transportation Security Administration on Friday announced several parameters for a nationwide smart-card-based Registered Traveler program to be run by the private sector. In a statement, TSA said it could approve qualified RT programs "by June of this year." But the agency apparently is leaving it in the hands of airports and private companies to invest "in approved screening equipment, fund additional screeners and/or obtain space for separate RT screening" in order to provide participants in the program with a speedier trip through security lines.
Madrid Barajas' new Terminal 4 will open Feb. 5 rather than the originally scheduled date of Jan. 29. Spanish airport and air traffic authority AENA did not disclose a reason but said the decision was taken in consensus with affected tenants. Iberia will be transferring its operations, including nine divisions and more than 8,000 employees, from Terminals 1, 2 and 3 to the new building.
Aeroflot reported 2005 traffic of 20.75 billion RPKs, an "average 1%-2% decline" from 2004 "mainly due to reducing passenger load as prices rose as a result of rocketing fuel prices." Passenger load factor was 69.1%. Cargo volume grew 1.4% to 2.74 billion RTKs. Separately, Aeroflot transferred its Paris CDG flights from Terminal 2B to Terminal 2C on Tuesday. Departure and arrival times are unchanged.
European Parliament advised against the conclusion of an air service agreement between the European Union and Russia absent "the immediate and complete abolition of Russian overflight charges." At the same time, it said a comprehensive aviation agreement between the EU and China is "considered desirable." The MEPs regard the charges imposed by Russia for flights over its territory as a "violation of international law," noting that the cost to European carriers in 2003 amounted to €250 million ($302.6 million).
IATA announced the launch of its IATA Catering Quality Assurance program, which it called "the industry's first global food processing safety and quality assurance" initiative. The association will partner with Medina Quality Assurance Services, which will audit catering facilities in compliance with ICQA standards on a contractual basis for program participants.
SITA SC and SITA INC will be consolidated into a single SITA organization from July, ending the separate structure dating back to 2000. "The integration of the communications services business (SITA SC) and the IT systems, solutions and services business (SITA INC) with the Group Services into a single organization will make it much easier for our customers to do business with SITA. It will also make SITA easier to manage and should also save significant costs which will be passed on to our ATC customers," said Paul Coby, chairman of the boards of SITA SC and the SITA Group Foundation.
China Eastern Airlines said its 2005 net profit will narrow by more than 50% from its CNY514.1 million ($63.7 million) 2004 earnings, according to Shanghai Securities News cited by Reuters. China Eastern's results have fluctuated wildly--it reported a CNY471.4 million loss in the first half of 2005 but was CNY673.2 million in the black by the close of the third quarter. It lost CNY949.8 million in 2003.
Focus Aviation announced it completed the sale of two A300-600Rs on behalf of China Airlines to Avion Aircraft Trading, which will lease the aircraft to an unnamed Middle Eastern carrier. One will be converted into a freighter in October.
Star Flyer of Japan plans to launch operations with three 144-seat A320s by March, operating up to 12 daily flights from the new Kitakyushu Airport to Tokyo Haneda. "We will offer higher prices than Skymark but our fares will be around 20% lower than JAL or ANA," Senior Executive Director Yasushi Muto told this website. Launch capital for the new company is around $38 million. An IPO could be planned for 2008.
United Services Flight Training, a division of United Airlines, became the first foreign provider to receive CAAC certification to train Chinese airline pilots. It said it expects to train pilots from two carriers on 757s and A320s at its Denver Flight Training Center.
US Airways said it reached a transitional agreement with the Assn. of Flight Attendants, representing its 11,000 cabin staff, that will "govern many merger-related aspects of the parties' relationship" until a single agreement can be reached covering all the merged airline's cabin staff. Among other items, the transition deal covers job protection for active members, seniority list integration, job opportunities for furloughed workers and participation by cabin staff from US Airways and America West in a profit-sharing plan.
Viva Air, a proposed low-fare startup based in Macao, expects to announce a fleet decision within the next 10 days. The carrier is looking for up to 12 widebodies to support an international long-haul route network with service commencing in the June/July timeframe. "We are looking to Berlin, Lisbon or Milan with around three to four weekly flights," CEO Andrew Pyne told ATWOnline at the third Low Cost Airline Symposium in Singapore. The carrier has traffic rights out of Macau on 15 routes.
EDS and United Airlines signed a 10-year IT services deal providing desktop, helpdesk, managed services and an upgrade of the carrier's computing and communications environments.
