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).
Boeing said last week that it will close its Melbourne, Ark., facility during the second quarter. "This decision reflects the unfortunate business realities facing the Melbourne operations," said Joy Romero, director of the Boeing Commercial Airplanes Salt Lake City facility, which will absorb Melbourne's remaining work. The facility served as an MRO station for MD and dash 700 series doors and flight controls.
Assn. of European Airlines members' punctuality fell in 2005 for the second consecutive year as 80.7% of short- and medium-haul flights departed within 15 min. of schedule compared with 82.7% in 2004 and 70.8% of long-haul flights took off within 15 min. of schedule, down from 72.6% in 2004. The 27 AEA member carriers that provided punctuality data operated some 3.64 million short- and medium-haul flights at a 98.5% completion rate. Regularity of long-haul flights stood at 99.4%, with a total of 274,003 flights operated by 21 AEA members.
Iberia introduced online check-in for passengers flying from London Heathrow. It said it is the first of 29 carriers at LHR's Terminal 2 to offer the service.
American Airlines and the Transport Workers Union representing its mechanics reached agreement on a goal "to obtain $150 million in value creation" at its Kansas City Maintenance & Engineering Base and to make the base a profit center by the end of 2007 through developing third-party business and implementing Continuous Improvement. The base, acquired in AA's purchase of TWA in 2000, employs 900 people. The goal was set by a joint team of base management and labor leaders who met recently under the carrier's Working Together initiative.
Iberia ratified the labor deal reached last week with unions representing some 18,500 ground staff ( ATWOnline, Feb. 3). The contract runs through Dec. 31. Air New Zealand said it will decide Feb. 13 whether to outsource its aircraft cleaning in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. The proposal would save "at least" NZ$1.5 million ($1 million) annually and affect 122 jobs.
Thales signed a deal with LAN Airlines for retrofit and line-fit installations of its TopSeries i-4000 video and audio on-demand system for 18 767s and four A340s, with options for three additional 767s. Delivery will begin next month.
MAIR Holdings, parent of Mesaba and Big Sky Airlines, reported a net loss of $4.5 million for the third quarter ended Dec. 31 compared to net earnings of $1.5 million for the same period a year earlier. Mesaba, which operates as a Northwest Airlink partner, declared bankruptcy in October. Total operating revenues for the third quarter were $21.2 million and operating expenses were $28.3 million.
IATA helped resolve an escalating aeropolitical row at London Heathrow over allocation of scarce fuel supplies following the Dec. 11 fire at the Buncefield fuel depot.
