US FAA is ordering airlines to inspect 737 Classics' fuselages every 500 cycles to prevent further occurrences of an incident that took place last summer involving a Southwest Airlines 737-300 that developed a hole in its fuselage while flying from Nashville to Baltimore ( ATWOnline, July 17, 2009), according to The Dallas Morning News. FAA's notice requires carriers operating 737 Classics to conduct an inspection within the next five weeks. Inspections then must occur at least once every 500 cycles.
United Airlines is raising the fee charged for the first checked bag on domestic flights to $25 from $20 and on the second bag to $35 from $30 for travel from Jan. 21, matching increases announced this week by Delta Air Lines and Continental Airlines ( ATWOnline, Jan. 13).
Astar Air Cargo announced that it will reduce its pilot workforce by 303 to just 153 this year. The carrier's business has been reduced dramatically owing to DHL's withdrawal from the US express delivery market ( ATWOnline, April 27, 2009). Astar's primary business was serving as a DHL subservice airline in the US. The furloughs will begin on March 6 and be completed by July 1, the cargo carrier said.
European Commissioner-designate for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship Viviane Reding of Luxembourg told the European Parliament at a confirmation hearing this week that the use of full-body scanners at EU airports should not be compulsory owing to privacy and health considerations. "Human beings have dignity and every measure has to be clarified first. Does it respect human dignity, does it respect privacy and does it respect health," she argued. "Our needs for security can't justify every violation of privacy. Citizens aren't objects.
SR Technics said it plans to move its component services organization and all supporting functions from London Stansted to Zurich and is entering formal discussions with UK trade unions and employee representatives. The 24,672-sq.-m. STN facility employs 600 and the 330,000-sq.-m. Zurich location employs 3,570. "At the heart of the ongoing reorganization is our aim to raise our efficiency, lower our group's overall operational costs and to further develop our operational capabilities, service offerings and global footprint," CEO Bernd Kessler explained.
Wizz Air will introduce an airport check-in fee on April 1, by which time its Web check-in facility should be fully deployed, the LCC said. Airport check-in purchased at the time of booking will cost €5 ($7.25), or €10 if purchased at the airport on the day of departure. Web check-in will remain free.
Virgin Atlantic Airways cancelled its outstanding order for six A340-600s, according to Airbus's orders and deliveries list. The airline firmed its commitment for six purchased and four leased A330-300s last month ( ATWOnline, Jan. 12). It currently operates 19 A340s. There now are seven A340s in Airbus's order book, five -500s and two -600s. The VS cancellation first was reported by Air Transport Intelligence.
Kazuo Inamori, one of Japan's most prominent business figures, yesterday accepted Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's offer to become CEO of Japan Airlines and guide the troubled carrier through its pending bankruptcy reorganization.
Flybe and Nordic Aviation Capital concluded a sale/leaseback transaction for four new Q400s, the carrier announced. Transaction is worth approximately $100 million at list prices. Senior debt was provided by Export Development Canada. "In 2009 alone we financed the deliveries of 11 new aircraft despite the recent challenging economic and financial climate," Flybe Director-Fleet Planning David Attenburrow said. The airline currently operates 68 aircraft: 54 Q400s and 14 E-195s.
Chinese airlines earned a collective profit of CNY7.4 billion ($1.08 billion) in 2009, a big turnaround from the CNY31.8 billion net loss suffered in 2008, CAAC Vice Minister Wang Changshun revealed yesterday at the regulator's annual conference.
Tiger Airways brought forward the delivery of five A320s to 2010-11 from 2016, it said in a statement cited by press reports from Singapore. It currently operates 17 A320 family aircraft.
Qatar Airways, Qatar Science & Technology Park and Qatar Petroleum announced establishment of the Qatar Advanced Biofuel Platform, which, with the support of Airbus, will carry out engineering and economic analysis into the development of a sustainable biofuel and "will also look into ways for production and supply," QR said. QABP will focus on creating a detailed engineering/implementation plan for sustainable production, a biofuel investments strategy, an advanced technology development program and market and strategic analyses.
Lufthansa said it plans to launch flights to Baghdad and Erbil from both Frankfurt and Munich during the summer schedule. It said demand for Iraq service is "growing" and traffic rights and "further infrastructure improvements" are required. Subsidiary Austrian Airlines currently serves Erbil from Vienna. Air France will launch five-times-weekly Paris Charles de Gaulle-Abu Dhabi service on May 3 aboard an A330-200. Iceland Express will launch twice-weekly Keflavik-Winnipeg service in June.
AVIC's Commercial Aircraft Engine Co. yesterday began construction of its CNY3.23 billion ($472.5 million) Shanghai research and development facility, which is scheduled to be completed in 2013 and will include and R&D center and an airworthiness testing center as well as engineering, liaison and customer service facilities.
Air France KLM said December unit revenues "continued their recovery thanks to a more marked improvement in long-haul premium traffic" but still were down from year-ago levels. The group flew 16.07 billion RPKs last month, a 4.6% decrease year-over-year, against a 5.5% cut in capacity to 20.16 billion ASKs. Load factor rose 0.8 point to 79.7%. British Airways flew 8.81 billion RPKs in December, a 4% decrease from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 4.2% to 11.48 billion ASKs and load factor rose 0.1 point to 76.8%.
Navtech signed with Norwegian to provide aircraft performance software products supporting the EFB Class 1 and 2 environment on DY's 737s. Suite includes Aircraft Performance, Mass & Balance, eCharts, Seamless ENC and FMS Navigation Data products.
American Airlines yesterday confirmed that its offer to invest in Japan Airlines in conjunction with TPG Capital has been raised by $300 million to $1.4 billion and said it and oneworld partner British Airways will enhance cooperation with the troubled Tokyo-based carrier to enable it to generate an additional $500 million in revenue over the next three years.
United Airlines announced the pricing of two debt offerings worth a combined $700 million, comprising $500 million in aggregate principal amount of 9.875% senior secured notes due 2013 and $200 million of 12% senior second lien notes due 2013. Offerings are expected to close Friday and proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes.
Delta Air Lines and Continental Airlines raised their fees for first and second checked bags on North American flights to $25 and $35 respectively, matching US Airways' fee levels imposed in the second half of last year. United Airlines and American Airlines currently charge $20 and $30 respectively. DL said it now is charging $23 for a first checked bag and $32 for a second checked bag if the passenger checks in online, believed to be the highest fees among US carriers for online check-in. Premium passengers and military personnel are exempt from the new DL and CO charges.
Airbus yesterday announced a full-year delivery record of 498 aircraft in 2009 (up from 483 in 2008) including 402 from the A320 family, and a gross order intake of 310 aircraft, while admitting that its "biggest disappointment" in the past year was a slowdown in the A380 delivery schedule.
PASSUR Aerospace announced that US Airways contracted for its RightETA arrival management system. Kale Consultants said Jet Airways selected Zero Octa, Kale's audit subsidiary, to audit passenger accounting results. Mobiqa announced that Olympic Air is offering its mobile barcoded boarding pass delivery system for flights departing Athens. Mobiqa also is providing its mobile boarding pass solution to Malaysia Airlines as part of MAS's flymas.mobi suite of applications developed by SITA.
Bmi will reduce its London Heathrow-Dublin service from seven-times-daily to four at the start of the summer schedule, ending the necessity to base an A319 at DUB and putting 33 cabin staff "at risk of redundancy," it said in a statement cited by Irish media. The aircraft will be transferred to bmi's LHR operation and the DUB crew base will be closed.
Embraer delivered 122 commercial aircraft in 2009 compared to 162 in 2008, comprising seven ERJ-145s, 22 E-170s, 11 E-175s, 62 E-190s and 20 E-195s. The Brazilian manufacturer delivered 244 aircraft overall, a 19.6% surge from the record 204 delivered in 2008, as deliveries of executive aircraft like the Phenom 100 and Legacy 600 nearly doubled.
Japan Airlines is expected to announce within days that it will file for bankruptcy later this month as part of a turnaround plan that will include eliminating 15,600 jobs, according to news reports from Tokyo.
