China Eastern Airlines remains committed to choosing an alliance by the Feb. 14 New Year holiday and is scheduled to negotiate with each of the three global groupings this week, an internal source told ATWOnline. "We are still evaluating the decision on which airline alliance to join, which will depend on our negotiations with the three alliances regarding route network, frequent-flyer program, codesharing, etc.," CEA MD Ma Xulun said ( ATWOnline, Dec. 10, 2009).
Former Northwest Airlines President and CEO Doug Steenland has replaced founder and CEO Steven Udvar-Hazy as chairman of ILFC, according to the lessor's website, while The Wall Street Journal cited sources who indicated that Udvar-Hazy could leave the company as early as this week. The newspaper said Steenland joined ILFC last month. The lessor reported a $245.8 million third-quarter profit ( ATWOnline, Nov.
The US National Transportation Safety Board said it is dispatching an investigator to Beirut to assist the Lebanese government with its inquiry into Monday morning's crash of an Ethiopian Airlines 737-800 that is believed to have killed all 90 aboard.
AirTran Airways launched thrice-weekly service from Gulfport/Biloxi to Atlanta and Tampa aboard 717s. China Airlines launched twice-weekly Taipei-Miyazaki service aboard a 737-800. AirBaltic will launch twice-weekly Vilnius-London Gatwick flights on March 4 and twice-weekly service from Riga to Amman on June 1 and Beirut on June 2
UK CAA approved British Airways' plan to train pilots and ground staff as cabin crew to be employed in the event of a strike by cabin attendants and will work with the airline and conduct inspections to ensure safety, BA said in its weekly in-house newsletter. The carrier planned to launch the first of nine training courses yesterday, when the Unite union started balloting its 12,000 BA cabin crew members on industrial action. The vote closes Feb. 22.
Air New Zealand, ATW's Airline of the Year, unveiled new economy and premium economy seats as part of a major cabin makeover ( ATW, February 2010). The economy seat features a unique swing-up, fully padded section that converts a triple seat into a bed. A single passenger can buy a set of three seats for little more than the cost of a premium economy seat.
Jet Airways returned to profit after two consecutive quarters in the red, posting a INR1.06 billion ($22.9 million) net profit in the fiscal third quarter ended Dec. 31 that compared to a INR2.14 billion loss in the year-ago period.
ACE Air Cargo of Anchorage confirmed the loss of a Beech 1900C-1 on the evening of Jan. 22, killing both pilots. Aircraft crashed into the water shortly after takeoff from Sand Point en route to ANC, according to Flight Safety Foundation's Aviation Safety Network. Weather was described as overcast with wind at 19-26 kt. ACE operates scheduled cargo flights as well as passenger and cargo charters to 22 destinations.
Highland Airways, an Inverness-based regional, said it is "currently facing difficult trading" but that it is in advanced negotiations with a "potential investor that provides an excellent way forward" and should have an announcement in the coming days. It was not taking bookings on its website yesterday. Highland operates eight Jetstream 31s, two Jetstream 41s and one BN-2 Islander to nine Scottish and Welsh destinations.
Taban Air Tu-154 caught fire during landing at Mashhad Sunday morning, destroying the tail and rear section and injuring 42. Iranian officials said there were no fatalities and the government subsequently stripped Taban of its operating certificate. The flight originated in Abadan Saturday and diverted to Isfahan owing to poor weather in Mashhad, according to Flight Safety Foundation's Aviation Safety Network. It departed Isfahan for Mashhad early Sunday. ASN said the aircraft's first flight was in 1993.
Malaysia Airlines received shareholder approval for a MYR2.67 billion ($784.6 million) rights issue designed to fund future fleet growth and expansion. It said the rights shares priced at MYR1.6 each will be offered to current shareholders on a one-for-one basis. No date for the issue was announced. MAS is aiming to own at least a third of its fleet and is purchasing six yet-to-be-delivered A380s, two 747s and two 777s from state-owned Penerbangan Malaysia Berhad for INR3.19 billion. The airline expects to take delivery of three new 737-800s this year.
Cargoitalia said it carried 6.8 million kg. of freight on 128 rotations in its first four months of service ended Dec. 31. Load factor was 80% on its routes from Milan Malpensa to New York JFK/Toronto and Hong Kong via Almaty. Flights to Dubai and Chicago O'Hare were added this month. It operates two MD-11SFs and will take a third in June. It has orders for five A330-200Fs plus three options.
Cargolux 747-400F landing at Luxembourg Findel last Thursday afternoon touched the roof of a van parked on the runway to facilitate repairs of the lighting system, the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Infrastructure confirmed, adding that the aircraft landed normally and no injuries occurred. Flight CV7933 was cleared to land on runway 24 in foggy conditions. The incident is under investigation.
Kingfisher Airlines reported a INR4.2 billion ($90.9 million) loss in its third fiscal quarter ended Dec. 31, widened 1.7% from INR4.13 billion in the year-ago period, with about half of the deficit resulting from one-time exceptional items and foreign exchange losses. Third-quarter revenue fell 5% to INR13.7 billion and operating expenses were cut 17% to INR14.48 billion. Employee and fuel costs decreased 22% and 20% respectively, but INR2.18 billion in exceptional items (compared to INR470 million the year before) erased the effect of the cost cuts.
Aeroflot last week took delivery of its 33rd A320 and its ninth A330-200. The latter is on lease from AerCap. It expects to take an A330-300 in April. Skytech-AIC of the UK won a contract from Air Greenland to remarket a 757-200ER during the second quarter. The RB211-535E4/11B-powered aircraft was built in 1992.
SA Express, the Johannesburg-based regional, announced the Feb. 1 launch of Congo Express, a joint venture with BizAfrika Congo that will serve Lubumbashi, Kinshasa and Mbuji Mayi with a CRJ200. "We plan on growing the domestic routes to serve other airports within the DRC, followed by an extension of services beyond the borders of the DRC," MD Didier Kindambu said. SA Express will hold 49% of the new airline and the livery will reflect that of XZ but feature the light blue and yellow of the DR Congo flag. XZ will handle maintenance.
Lufthansa will launch flights from Munich to Miami (thrice-weekly on March 29 aboard an A330-300), Tashkent (thrice-weekly on March 28 aboard a PrivatAir 737-800) and Teheran (four-times-weekly on March 29 aboard a PrivatAir 737). Iberia will operate new weekly flights from Madrid to Amman and Damascus July 3-Oct. 30 aboard an A319 and will re-launch summer services to Washington Dulles (thrice-weekly from March 29), St. Petersburg (twice-weekly from June 1), Dubrovnik (four-times-weekly from June 20) and Zagreb (twice-weekly from July 3).
Oman Air will install both Mobile OnAir and Internet OnAir on its A330 fleet starting next month, with installation scheduled to be complete over the summer. Aircraft have been fitted with the Airbus ALNA V2 system, using Honeywell's SwiftBroadband solution.
Transaero Airlines said it concluded a "stable" 2009 with a 3.6% increase in passenger numbers to 5 million and a 6.7% lift in RPKs to 18.73 billion. FTKs rose 8.6%. It launched 12 domestic routes from Moscow Domodedovo and added seven aircraft: One 777, one 747-300, two 737-800s, two 737-500s and one Tu-214. It decommissioned two 747-200s and now flies 47 aircraft.
Aircell said it has secured $176 million in equity financing from both new and existing investors. It will use the funds for network expansion and operations "during this rapid growth phase of the business." Its Gogo inflight Internet service currently is available on more than 700 aircraft with nine airlines.
SAS Group airlines flew 1.59 billion RPKs in December, a 10.9% drop from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 16.4% to 2.27 billion ASKs and load factor rose 4.3 points to 69.7%. SAS Scandinavian Airlines flew 1.45 billion RPKs, down 11.7%, against a 17.3% cut in capacity to 2.05 billion ASKs that lifted load factor 4.4 points to 70.5%. Finnair said its fourth-quarter scheduled yield fell more than 12% year-over-year and the full-year figure was down 14%. "No rise in prices is perceptible," it said.
Star1 Airlines of Vilnius, which launched scheduled services in July, said revenue in its first six months of operation reached LTL28 million ($11.4 million) and that it carried 36,000 passengers on routes to London Stansted, Milan Malpensa, Dublin and Girona. The carrier said its market share at Vilnius International reached 5%. Load factor was 69%. Star1 operates a single 148-seat 737-700 on scheduled routes. It also flies charters.
ASIG was contracted by Air Canada to provide grand handling services, cabin cleaning and deicing at Newark. ASIG and AC work together at 10 other US airports. AC also renewed its ground handling agreement with Singapore Cargo for services at Los Angeles.
Austrian Airlines, now a Lufthansa subsidiary, remains burdened by a long-haul product that has lost money every year since its 1989 launch and faces a critical 2010, during which it must make significant progress on its restructuring, CCO and executive board member Andreas Bierwirth said last week.
Azul Linhas Aereas Brasileiras, the Campinas-based carrier launched by JetBlue Airways founder David Neeleman, said it carried approximately 2.2 million passengers in its first year of operation ended Dec. 15, 2009, and achieved an average load factor of 79.7%. It eclipsed 85% from March 2009. Azul now operates 14 E-190s/195s on 19 routes to 16 destinations. It is scheduled to take seven more aircraft in 2010, another 12 in 2011, and plans to have 80 planes by 2013. On Friday, Azul confirmed that TPG has purchased a 10% stake in the carrier, according to Dow Jones.
