Russia's Ministry of Transport could banish Austrian Airlines from its airspace on Jan. 31 owing to a dispute over the carrier's nationality, with Russian authorities arguing that based on current bilateral agreements with Austria, OS no longer is considered a domestic airline following its acquisition by Lufthansa in September.
Ryanair transported 5 million passengers in November, up 15% year-over-year, while load factor rose 1 point to 82%. EasyJet transported 3.4 million passengers in November, up 12.2% from the year-ago month. Load factor rose 0.9 point to 84.8%. AirTran Airways flew 1.47 billion RPMs in November, a 10.5% lift year-over-year. Capacity rose 9.2% to 1.92 billion ASMs and load factor was up 0.9 point to 76.7%.
In its second interim report on the May 31 loss of the Air France A330-200 over the Atlantic, France's BEA issued its first safety recommendations and concluded that "In the absence of any data from the flight recorders, the main parts of the airplane and any witness testimony on the flight, the precise circumstances of the accident, and therefore its causes, have still not been determined."
Air India plans to operate 105 aircraft by March 2011 compared to the 146 currently in the fleet, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel told Parliament, according to The Wall Street Journal. He added that 133 of AI's 192 routes were loss-making during the April-October period and that the loss on unprofitable routes was INR15.23 billion ($325.1 million).
Lufthansa Technik signed a five-year contract with bmi to handle "all aspects" of MRO for V2500 engines powering the airline's 25 A320 family aircraft. First services are expected to be carried out around the end of the 2010 first quarter. No contract value was given.
Fokker Services signed an exclusive licensing agreement with Goodrich Corp. covering future manufacture and supply of F70 and F100 main landing gear spare parts.
Southwest Airlines announced a series of schedule changes beginning next May that include the addition of the new airport in Panama City, Fla., to its network ( ATWOnline, Oct. 22). It will serve ECP twice-daily beginning May 23 from Nashville, Houston Hobby, Baltimore and Orlando International. Overall, the schedule from May 9 features 65 new roundtrip flights and 24 eliminated flights. Additional new services comprise twice-daily flights from St.
The Australian government will relax the ownership rules for Qantas, allowing the national airline to play a bigger role in consolidation of the global airline industry.
A UK High Court judge is scheduled to rule today on British Airways' claim that the strike ballot conducted by Unite flight attendants was flawed, a procedure that may constitute the desperate airline's only chance to avoid the 12-day strike called for Dec. 22 if emergency talks convened yesterday fail to produce an agreement.
Ryanair will open bases at Faro in March and Malaga next June, it announced yesterday. The LCC will base three 737s at Faro and invest $200 million at the airport, from which it will launch service to Bergamo (March 25), Birmingham (March 28), Billund, Derry, Kerry, Knock, Marseille, Oslo Rygge, Stockholm Skavsta (all March 30), Eindhoven, Madrid, Maastricht, Memmingen and Paris Beauvais (all April 27). It will serve 28 destinations from Faro following the expansion.
US Aerospace Industries Assn. forecast that US aerospace sales will increase slightly in 2010 before slowing in 2011, with already stagnant civil aircraft sales falling next year. In its annual forecast released yesterday, AIA said total US aerospace sales are expected to rise 4.1% year-over-year to $214.1 billion for full-year 2009 and then remain basically flat in 2010, barely growing to $214.4 billion. Civil aircraft sales are expected to rise 2.4% year-over-year for full-year 2009 before dipping 7% in 2010 to $76.7 billion.
Continental Airlines yesterday announced it will offer Aircell's Gogo inflight Internet on 21 757-300s operating primarily on domestic routes beginning in the 2010 second quarter. Service cost will start at $4.95 and will be based on length of flight, CO said.
Airbus said its Tianjin final assembly line achieved its 2009 target when it delivered the 11th A320 family aircraft to HNA Group subsidiary Deer Air yesterday. The first plane went to Sichuan Airlines on June 23 and subsequent units were delivered to the aforementioned pair as well as China Eastern Airlines and Shenzhen Airlines. The FAL has assembled six A320s and five A319s.
Jetstar Airways will add 700,000 domestic seats and 77 new return flights in the first half of next year as it embarks on its biggest expansion since launching operations in 2004. It will add five A320 family aircraft over the next six months, taking its A320 family fleet to 46 as it boosts flights between Melbourne and Sydney and leisure destinations. Another three aircraft will be added to its Jetstar Asia operation in Singapore. An eighth A330 will join the Jetstar fleet this month, followed by two more in 2010. An additional seven A320s will be added in the second half of 2010.
Singapore Airlines will suspend service to Karachi, Lahore and Nanjing as part of a series of capacity adjustments announced yesterday. Twice-weekly flights to Pakistan and Nanjing will cease Feb. 17 and March 26 respectively. SIA cited the routes' performance as the reason for the decision. Other changes include addition of a fifth weekly Singapore-Moscow Domodedovo-Houston Intercontinental flight beginning Dec. 18, ncrease of five-times-weekly SIN-Newark service to daily on Jan.
American Airlines said its proposed $1.1 billion investment in Japan Airlines could be increased, while the troubled Tokyo-based carrier was buoyed when its retirees indicated they would accept significant pension cuts.
Etihad Airways said its technical division was awarded EASA Part 145 certification following an audit by the Swiss Federal Office of Civil Aviation and now is fully accredited to perform line maintenance on A319, A320, A330, A340 and 777 aircraft for European airlines.
Flyglobespan, the Edinburgh-based low-cost leisure airline, entered administration and suspended operations after a last-minute bid to secure funding failed. The carrier, along with tour operator Globespan, said Monday that a major funding package from Jersey-based Halcyon Investments was imminent. But it did not occur.
News from Travel Technology Update: Early next year, Amadeus will begin rolling out technical standards that it has developed in conjunction with ATPCO to enable travel agencies to sell airlines' ancillary fees through the GDS, David Jones, Amadeus chief executive officer, told TTU. The pace and urgency with which airlines have gone "charging in" to create new ancillary revenue streams is uncharacteristic of the industry, Jones said. The development of electronic distribution and the protocols of interlining required a shared set of technical solutions, he said.
IATA DG and CEO Giovanni Bisignani does not expect the EU Emissions Trading Scheme to start in 2012 as scheduled owing to legal challenges concerning its unilateral implementation. "I am convinced it will not happen," he told ATWOnline at the industry body's Global Press Day in Geneva. "You will see that many governments will legally challenge the unilateral approach of EU ETS in the coming years," he said, adding that he anticipates filings from the US, Japan, China and others.
Airlink said the South African Civil Aviation Authority decided not to ground the regional carrier following two recent accidents and confirmed its "status as a safe airline." CAA conducted an audit of Airlink's operation and still is investigating separate incidents in Durban, Port Elizabeth and George ( ATWOnline, Dec. 10).
British Airways said it is "commencing legal action" in an effort to forestall the 12-day flight attendants strike set to begin on Dec. 22 ( ATWOnline, Dec. 15). It also claimed that "irregularities" in Unite's balloting of union members may render the strike vote invalid.
