Colgan Air and the Air Line Pilots Assn. issued contradictory findings regarding the cause of the February Q400 crash that killed 50 people near Buffalo. The airline said the pilots' "loss of situational awareness and failure to follow Colgan Air training and procedures," along with a lack of low-speed warnings from the aircraft, were the principal causes, while the union blamed the carrier for inadequate training ( ATWOnline, May 15).
Austrian Airlines Group will rethink its network as it restructures and will focus on high-volume routes rather than connectivity between Western and Eastern Europe, CEO Peter Malanik told ATWOnline at last week's Star Alliance event in Brussels.
The 787 achieved first flight today, taking off at 10:28 am local time from Paine Field in Everett, Wash., as a throng of Boeing employees gathered in the airfield cheered.
International Aero Engines named Executive VP-Customer Business Ian Aitken president and CEO, succeeding Jon Beatty, who will return to United Technologies Corp. Aitken joined IAE in June 2008 after nine years at Rolls-Royce.
Worldwide Flight Services signed new cargo handling contracts with 12 airlines at Paris Charles de Gaulle: Korean Air, TAM, Air Caraibes, Air Madagascar, Air Algerie, SAS Cargo, Air Transat, Vietnam Airlines, Oman Air, Air Mali, Syrian Arab Airlines and Air Ivoire.
The US and Japan announced late Friday that they reached agreement on an "open skies" accord that will liberalize access, largely removing restrictions on the number of airlines allowed to serve each market as well as the number of flights.
GE said that KLM Engineering & Maintenance selected GE Sensing & Inspection Technologies' USM Go inspection device to perform nondestructive aircraft and engine testing.
Iceland Express will launch four-times-weekly Keflavik-Newark service on June 1 and weekly KEF-Birmingham, UK and Akureyri-London Gatwick flights later that month. Transaero Airlines launched flights from Moscow Domodedovo to Novy Urengoi (thrice-weekly aboard 737s), Ulan Ude (twice-weekly aboard a Tu-214) and Magnitogorsk (five-times-weekly using 737s). Half of Transaero's 24 domestic routes were launched in 2009. Hainan Airlines will increase its thrice-weekly Beijing-Brussels A330-200 service to daily on April 27.
Sky Holding Co. and Oaktree Capital Management announced formation of a new aircraft finance and leasing partnership in which funds managed by Oaktree invested $500 million in Sky.
Embraer and Shenzhen-based CDB Leasing signed an MOU last week providing up to $2.2 billion in financing "designed to enhance financing opportunities for acquiring Embraer aircraft in the People's Republic of China and abroad, focusing on developing regional aviation in China," the manufacturer said. CDB will work with potential customers on aircraft acquisition and also may purchase planes directly.
Boeing is prepared to fly the 787 as early as Tuesday morning, it said last week, adding that the timing is "dependent on final internal reviews, taxi test and receiving the final experimental ticket" from US FAA. On Dec. 10 the manufacturer finished its final review of the Nov. 30 static test designed to validate the side-of-body modification to the aircraft ( ATWOnline, Dec. 2). Final gauntlet testing on the first flight test aircraft also was completed successfully, it said.
British Airways will keep full ownership of its OpenSkies subsidiary, which launched last year and currently operates between Paris Orly and New York JFK and Newark. It abandoned Amsterdam-JFK service in August, which raised questions about the all-business-class carrier's viability ( ATWOnline, July 28). In July, BA appointed Reynolds Partners to assess options for the loss-making startup, including selling part or all to external investors.
Virgin America reported a $5.9 million loss in the third quarter, narrowed significantly from the $59.1 million deficit in the year-ago period, and reported its first three-month operating profit since launching service in August 2007.
Republic Airways Holdings CFO Hal Cooper said the CSeries represents "a pretty interesting opportunity" as the company considers fleet renewal at its Frontier Airlines subsidiary. Republic also in talking with Airbus and Boeing, he said at an investor conference last week, according to Reuters, but "unlike Airbus and unlike Boeing, we believe we can tap into some very attractive export financing through the [Export Development Canada] there," he said.
Flybe announced the following new routes scheduled to launch March 28: From Birmingham to Avignon, Limoges, Rennes (each thrice-weekly) and Bordeaux (four-times-weekly); from Guernsey to Edinburgh (thrice-weekly) and Belfast City (twice-weekly); from Jersey to Glasgow Prestwick and Durham Tees Valley (each weekly); from Manchester to Bergerac, Limoges (each thrice-weekly) and Avignon (twice-weekly); thrice-weekly London Gatwick-Limoges; weekly Southampton-Verona. Forty seasonal routes will be restarted. The airline plans to operate 3,738 flights per week during its summer schedule.
Tiger Airways parent Tiger Aviation suffered a S$50.8 million ($36.5 million) loss in its fiscal year ended March 31, reversed from a S$9.9 million profit in 2007-08, according to a recent company statement cited by press reports. Revenue rose 24.3% to S$378 million.
US Airways said consolidated November RASM was flat year-over-year, while mainline unit revenue fell approximately 2%. It flew 4.35 billion consolidated RPMs, down 1.6%, against a 1.4% cut in capacity to 5.65 billion ASMs. Load factor slipped 0.1 point to 76.9%. Air Canada and Jazz flew 3.18 billion RPMs in November, a 1.2% drop from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 2.7% to 4.26 billion ASMs and load factor declined 2.9 points to 74.7%.
Hawaiian Airlines and the International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers-Clerical Division, which represents 1,245 HA airport customer service, ramp, reservations, schedule planning, purchasing, records and crew scheduling employees, announced a tentative agreement on a four-year labor contract. A ratification vote by union members is expected in the coming weeks.
The US Transportation Security Administration said it is moving ahead steadily with procuring and deploying next-generation airport security technology to screen both checked and carry-on baggage, spurred by $1 billion that was allocated to the agency for aviation security in the $787 billion stimulus passed by the government.
Turkish Airlines will continue its aggressive expansion next year with a planned capacity increase of more than 20%, CEO Temel Kotil told ATWOnline at last week's Star Alliance event in Brussels. Most if not all of the growth will occur on its international network. "Crisis is the perfect opportunity to grow. We are growing through [taking] market share [from competitors]," he said. According to the Assn. of European Airlines, through the first nine months of 2009 THY increased ASK market share by 1.3 points to 5.4% and RPK market share by 1 point to 5%.
Lufthansa Chairman and CEO Wolfgang Mayrhuber confirmed last week to ATWOnline that the company is targeting a 40% reduction in costs on its European network, with the LH mainline bearing the responsibility and no plans in place to use Germanwings aircraft instead.
US Congress last week passed another three-month extension in FAA funding to March 31, formally conceding that it will fail to enact reauthorization legislation for the third straight year. The agency's authorization officially expired on Sept. 30, 2007. It has remained operational via a series of temporary extensions passed by Congress ( ATWOnline, Sept. 24).
US Air Transport Assn. welcomed passage of the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009 by the House of Representatives. The massive bill, which is intended to prevent a recurrence of last year's credit meltdown through new regulations on Wall Street and the credit markets, also takes aim at excessive speculation in the commodity markets that many blame for last year's wild fluctuations in oil prices. ( ATW, September 2009).
Asiana Airlines will construct a second maintenance hangar at Incheon. The hangar, which will cost KRW1.1 billion ($948,000) to build, will be 63,800 sq. m. and able to fit two 747s and one 767 simultaneously. Construction will begin at the end of 2010 with completion targeted for April 2013.
ST Aerospace won a three-year contract to provide A320 and 767 airframe MRO to an unidentified "major US airline." Contract is valued at $90 million, which could increase to $170 million if two option years are utilized. Work will begin in the 2010 first quarter in Mobile, Ala.
