Worldspan and KLM signed a multiyear agreement making the carrier's complete content, including that offered through its website and reservations agents, available to Worldspan with no surcharges.
Qantas said Monday it signed a nonbinding MOU with SR Technics to establish a joint venture providing component management services for the A380. The new company will compete with Spairliners, formed last summer by Lufthansa Technik and Air France Industries ( ATWOnline, June 13). Qantas said it is filling a similar need in the Asia/Pacific region.
Shanghai Airlines said it has entered negotiations to join Star Alliance, according to media reports citing board secretary Xu Junmin. The carrier currently codeshares with alliance members Lufthansa and ANA.
Emirates Airline said it will use Pacelab Cabin software to support refurbishment projects on its medium- and long-haul aircraft and to aid aircraft acquisition decisions.
DGI Training Center introduced a training program that adheres to FAA's new SFAR 99, which covers airline personnel involved in dangerous goods transport.
San Francisco International Airport will begin limited testing of e-passports that include biometric information in an embedded chip. The test will apply to passengers who are citizens of Australia or New Zealand, Singapore Airlines crewmembers and US diplomatic officials holding e-passports and traveling to SFO, Singapore Changi or Sydney. The testing, which will run through April 15, will measure the operational impact of new equipment and software used to verify the embedded information.
Northwest Airlines pilots approved the freezing of their defined benefit pension plan by an 81.5% to 18.5% margin in voting by nearly 5,000 members of the Air Line Pilots Assn. The plan will freeze assets as of Jan. 31 and the interim 5% defined contribution will begin the following day, according to an ALPA MEC hotline. The agreement also includes new long-term disability and family member benefit programs.
US Federal Communications Commission set a date of May 10 to begin auctioning airwaves for use by providers intending to market Internet, telephone and broadband services to airline passengers. The action notwithstanding, use of mobile phones on commercial aircraft by passengers is not permitted under FAA regulations. FCC proposed a $5 million minimum to complete a sale at auction, according to media reports. The airwaves up for sale currently are used by Verizon for in-seat phones and may be split depending on the bids received.
Alaska Airlines announced changes to its senior management team Friday, including the promotions of Kevin Finan to executive VP-operations and Glenn Johnson to senior VP-customer service for airports. The carrier said the appointments were part of the "succession plan" following the Dec. 31 retirement of Executive VP-Operations George Bagley. In addition, Alaska said VP-Safety Dave Prewitt will be leaving the company next month to take the same position at Sikorsky Aircraft Corp.
Gol marked its fifth anniversary of operations yesterday. In December its market share rose to 30%, making it the second-largest domestic carrier in the Brazilian market.
Air Baltic carried 93,442 passengers in December, up 73% compared to the same month in 2004. In 2005 it carried 1,037,925 passengers, 76% more than in 2004. President Bertolt Flick said it was the first time the airline carried more than 1 million passengers in a year. Load factor in December was 60%, up 11 points compared to the year-ago month.
World Airways signed an $11 million, nine-month contract with an unidentified international freight forwarder to provide DC-10-30F cargo lift. The deal calls for World to operate five international roundtrips per week.
American Airlines and United Airlines are objecting to BAA's handling of the ongoing fuel shortage situation at London Heathrow caused by the Buncefield oil depot fire last month ( ATWOnline, Dec. 15). The carriers state that BAA's rationing policy is "blatantly discriminatory" because "so-called 'base' carriers at Heathrow, including British Airways and Virgin Atlantic," are provided with 82% of their fuel requirements for long-haul services, while "so-called 'visiting' carriers," including American and United, receive only 70% of their requirements.
United Airlines' Ted low-cost subsidiary said it will become the first carrier to use the DoubleDocker Bridge boarding system, an over-wing bridge that allows passengers to enter or exit an aircraft from front and/or rear doors. An earlier version of the bridge was used in Canada. Ted initially will install the system at Denver International Airport's Concourse B and expects to have five bridges in place by year end. Dewbridge Airport Systems of New York designed the bridge mainly for use on narrowbody aircraft. Ted operates A320s.
Finnair Group named Executive VP-Scheduled Passenger Traffic Henrik Arle to the position of deputy CEO. Arle has been with Finnair since 1976 and is a member of the group management board. Also, Kaisa Vikkula was appointed senior VP-leisure and travel services and member of the management board from March 1. Vikkula previously was MD of Mascus Oy and head of corporate communications and a member of the management board at Partek. She has been a member of the Finnair board since 2003.
Air Berlin once again is considering an IPO and will make its decision in the spring, according to a company spokesperson cited by Reuters. Handelsblatt reported that the carrier plans to launch an IPO designed to raise up to €700 million ($845.6 million). Separately, Air Berlin said it transported 13.5 million passengers in 2005, up 12.45% compared to 2004. Turnover grew 17.1% to €1.23 billion ($1.49 billion). During 2006 it expects to take delivery of nine A320s and a further 49 through 2011. It currently operates a fleet of 52 aircraft.
SITA was contracted by Beijing Capital International Airport to equip the new Terminal 3 with its passenger check-in platform. T3 will more than double the airport's passenger capacity from 27 million to 68 million in time for the 2008 Olympic Games. The $10.8 million contract covers installation of SITA's common-use check-in platform AirportConnect CUTE and will support up to 500 CUTE workstations at BCIA's T3A and T3B terminal buildings. In addition, SITA will install and maintain BagMessage and AirportConnect Platform Services.
LAN Airlines said December traffic rose 12.6% over the year-ago month against a capacity increase of 8.5%, sending load factor up 2.7 points to 72.8%. Domestic traffic dropped 5.3% alongside a 2.8% decline in capacity and load factor fell 1.7 points to 66.6%. LAN was stronger internationally as traffic rose 16.4%, capacity increased 11% and load factor climbed 3.4 points to 73.9%. Separately, LAN finalized a 10-year component support agreement with Air France Industries and KLM E&M covering its 24 767-300ERs. It is planning to add 10 more 767-300ERs through 2008.
ATA Holdings and ATA Airlines announced an immediate restructuring of senior management designed "to drive accountability down" to its core scheduled service and military/charter operations in advance of its planned emergence from bankruptcy this quarter. Heading the changes was the elevation of Senior VP and CCO Subodh Karnik to executive VP and COO. Reporting to Karnik will be newly promoted GM-Military/Charter and Senior VP-Operations John Graber, Senior VP-CFO Doug Yakola and a yet-to-be-named senior VP-scheduled service.
Connexion by Boeing will add four channels of live television to its high-speed inflight Internet service beginning Jan. 23. The channels are CNBC/MSNBC, BBC World, EuroNews and EuroSportnews. Scandinavian Airlines said yesterday that beginning on Jan. 23, passengers on SAS flights between the US and Scandinavia will be able to view live programs on their laptop computers through SAS Net Access, the carrier's high-speed wireless Internet service provided by Connexion.
Monarch Airlines said it posted a "record-breaking" 2005, flying more than 2.6 million passengers compared with 1.9 million in 2004. The low-cost/charter carrier opened a new base in Birmingham last year and introduced a host of new routes--London Gatwick to Lisbon and Granada, Manchester to Almeria, Birmingham to Alicante, Faro, Malaga and Tenerife, and to Malaga from Blackpool, Aberdeen and Newquay. It acquired four new aircraft--three A320s and a 767. Traffic for December was up 18.15% to 148,968 passengers.
