Danish competition authorities approved the purchase of the commercial activities of Maersk Air A/S by Fons Eignarhaldsfelag hf of Iceland and the merger between Maersk Air and Sterling ( ATWOnline, July 4). The successor company is Sterling Airlines. "I am very pleased that the agreement is in place. This means that many jobs are now secure and a competitive airline company has been created for the benefit of our customers. Finally we can realize the many possibilities and advances ahead of us," Sterling CEO Almar Orn Hilmarsson said in a statement.
Lufthansa Technik Airmotive Ireland will maintain CFM56 engines powering Air Baltic's 737-500s under a five-year exclusive agreement. LTAI also signed a three-year CFM56 maintenance and support agreement with Lithuanian charter airline Aurela Air.
Radixx International said Avolar Aerolineas selected its Radixx Air Enterprise reservation system. The low-fare Mexican startup plans to begin service Sept. 16 with a 737-500. Avolar is also a customer for Radixx's departure control system.
Teledyne Controls said Japan Airlines selected its Enhanced Digital Flight Data Acquisition Unit and Aircraft Condition Monitoring System software development services for its new 737-800 fleet.
Vietnam Airlines joined ARC as a participating carrier effective Monday, giving 22,000 ARC accredited travel agency and corporate travel department locations the ability to settle Vietnam Airlines transactions through ARC's settlement system.
The European Commission ruled that Olympic Airlines and its predecessor Olympic Airways have received some €700 million ($859 million) in illegal state aid since 1994. "By granting this aid, Greece has given Olympic Airways and Olympic Airlines an advantage not available to their competitors," the EC said in a statement, adding it "therefore asked Greece to recover the illegal aid payments." The government has two months to show the EC how it intends to comply with the ruling.
Amadeus signed an agreement with FlyNordic that will see the Finnair subsidiary become the first carrier to implement Results Customer Management Solution by Amadeus, the off-the-shelf IT platform for LCCs with hosted services for reservations, inventory, fares and pricing and departure control. FlyNordic will start using the system in October.
SITA SC and Avaya teamed in a global alliance to bring "the next generation of Internet Protocol-based communication products and services to the travel and transportation industry." Avaya designs, builds and manages communication networks. Under the agreement, SITA SC will be licensed to resell Avaya's portfolio of products in more than 220 countries and territories.
US and Thailand reached agreement "on a comprehensive open skies framework to expand and liberalize their bilateral aviation relations." The accord was reached in Washington Friday and will provide for "open routes, capacity, frequencies, designations and pricing, as well as cooperative marketing arrangements including codesharing."
Indonesia Transportation Ministry grounded four 737-200s belonging to different airlines for maintenance in the wake of the Mandala Airlines crash that killed 143 on Sept. 5 ( ATWOnline, Sept. 7). The groundings resulted from spot inspections of the aircraft by Transportation Minister Hatta Radjasa Saturday. He told Indonesian media that "due to the current situation [air crash], we have decided to carry out ramp checks every day."
Alteon Training and 787 launch customer ANA will establish a Tokyo Training Center at Haneda as part of the Alteon global training support network for the Dreamliner. The center will house a full flight simulator, flat-panel simulator, desktop systems, courseware and instructors and will be ready by the first quarter of 2008. The first 787 training center to be announced by Alteon, it primarily will serve ANA but will be available to all 787 operators.
Northwest Airlines named David Davis as its new senior VP-finance and controller replacing Jeff Putnam, who resigned. Davis returns to NWA after serving most recently as CFO of Houston-based Kraton Polymers LLC.
British Airways launched a voluntary scheme through which passengers may make a cash donation "to offset the carbon dioxide emissions from their flight." The money raised will be used by Climate Care, which invests in "sustainable energy projects that tackle global warming by reducing carbon dioxide levels." Air travelers can make the donation via a link from the airline's website "for the cost of emissions created by their journey." According to BA, the donation for a roundtrip fare between London Heathrow and Madrid would be £5 ($9.20), while a return flight to Johannesburg wo
Norwegian carried 321,365 passengers in August, up 71% over the year-ago period. Traffic rose 103% to 304 million RPKs, while capacity climbed 48% to 348 million ASKs. As a result, load factor jumped 15 points to 75%. Yield, however, fell 15% owing to an increased share of international traffic with lower average yields. The Oslo-based LCC noted that 75% of bookings came via the Internet during August, up from 60% a year ago.
United Airlines and South African Airways will begin codesharing this fall. Starting Nov. 1, SAA will place its code on UA domestic flights from Washington Dulles to San Francisco, San Diego, Seattle, Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Subject to regulatory approval, the UA code will appear on SAA's Washington Dulles-Johannesburg service and its service within Africa and between South Africa and Europe. SAA will become a fully integrated Star Alliance member in early 2006.
Steep oil price increases will push the world's airline industry deeper into the red in 2005 than previously forecast, IATA DG and CEO Giovanni Bisignani said yesterday in Washington.
Star Alliance said it became the first alliance to offer frequent-flier program upgrade redemption options across the group rather than on an individual carrier basis. The enhancement is available to the FFP members of ANA, Austrian Airlines, LOT, Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines. Other Star carriers including Scandinavian Airlines will begin to participate during 2006.
Northwest Airlines raised the level of concessions it is seeking from striking mechanics and aircraft cleaners while cutting the number of workers it will bring back. According to wire service reports that NWA declined to confirm, which cited officials of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Assn., the company is seeking $203 million in labor cost savings from AMFA, up from the $176 million it sought prior to the strike. Additionally, whereas it previously wanted to eliminate roughly half of the 4,400 positions filled by AMFA members, it now seeks to bring back just 1,000 of the workers.
CAE will provide A320 pilots to Spanish low-cost carrier Vueling in what is known as a pilot provisioning program. CAE committed to find A320 type-rated pilots for Vueling as well as to train those who do not have type ratings. Initially the program targets recruitment of 80 candidates over a period of 18 months.
European Commission delegation including head of DG Transport Daniel Calleja Crespa is scheduled to hold so-called "technical talks" with US DOT and the Dept. of State in Washington Sept. 14-15 in an effort to revive negotiations on the EU-US Open Aviation Area. In June, the EC received the official go-ahead from the Council of Transport Ministers to resume negotiations "as early as possible." The US, however, is more reluctant, according to a source close to the negotiations, because Washington is not sure what the EC actually can deliver.
Delta TechOps will provide engine and APU maintenance along with component and inventory support services under a five-year agreement with Eos, the transatlantic startup. Eos plans to begin service this fall operating 757s in an all-business-class configuration between New York and London Stansted.
With jet fuel costs expected to rise by more than $9 billion this year, the Air Transport Assn. is pushing for tax relief from Congress and the Bush Administration. "There simply is no rational business plan we can continue to operate under with fuel at the price it is today," ATA CEO James May said during an interview with CNBC Friday. The trade group has raised its industry loss forecast for 2005 to $9-$10 billion.
Aeroflot Russian International Airlines reported that earnings for the first half to June 30 fell 14.3% to $69.3 million from $83.6 million in the year-ago period, largely owing to higher fuel prices. Revenue rose 18.7% to $1.04 billion but operating costs climbed 23.3% to $957 million, reducing operating income 16.8% to $86.5 million from $103.3 million.
