Lufthansa said its Passenger Airlines segment will present details of "a new profit saving program" on July 30, when the company releases its first-half results. "The financial crisis and its repercussions pose major challenges for airlines worldwide. Lufthansa is also impacted by the persistently weak demand development in both the passenger and freight businesses, structural changes in passengers' travel behavior and rising fuel prices," it said. At an investors day yesterday, LH said it has cut capacity by 2.6% this year and removed 23 aircraft from its fleet.
Ambassador John Bruton, head of the European Commission Delegation to the US, is raising concerns about a proposal in Congress to charge foreign visitors at least $10 each to fund a new quasi-governmental corporation that will help promote travel to the US. Congress currently is considering the Travel Promotion Act of 2009 (S 1023), "which would establish a nonprofit corporation to better communicate US entry policies to international travelers and promote leisure, business and scholarly travel," according to a statement from Bruton.
Iberia and ST Aerospace officially commemorated the opening of Madrid Aerospace Services, their joint venture company created to carry out landing gear MRO on A320, A330 and A340 aircraft ( ATWOnline, June 2). The 50/50 JV has completed and delivered 10 landing gears since early April and received the first shipset from its inaugural third-party customer, SriLankan Airlines, with a target completion date of July. MAeS expects to employ about 100 technicians at full capacity.
RwandAir is the new name of the former Rwandair Express. CEO Gerald Zirimwabagabo said the initial phase of a five-year plan recommended the name change because Express "gives the impression of a 'small' point-to-point airline." The carrier plans to implement an online reservation and payment system in August and establish a loyalty program "a few months from now."
Lufthansa Systems completed implementation of its GroundSolutions/Mobile check-in solution at Austrian Airlines, enabling passengers to check in via mobile phone.
Air India "will have to do a lot of restructuring. . . organizationally, financially and manpowerwise," Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel told reporters following the airline's formal presentation requesting government aid. "There is a lot of excess flab on the entire body of Air India and it does not only mean manpower but also it means various cost-cutting measures that have to be looked at comprehensively," he said, according to Agence France Presse.
Virgin America CEO David Cush told Bloomberg News that "certainly one or more" American investors "will come to fruition before year end. . .These expressions are a lot firmer than they have been in the past. There is more capital available than there was six months ago.
US FAA announced this week that its New York/New Jersey/Philadelphia Metropolitan Area Airspace Redesign "cleared a key legal barrier" after a three judge panel from the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia struck down a series of legal challenges. Decision means the agency can move ahead with the delay reduction plan, which had been opposed by the State of Connecticut as well as towns and counties in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Connecticut and a citizens group.
Nippon Cargo Airlines said this week that it will abandon expansion plans until 2012 at the earliest, deciding to forego adding 16 747 freighters by 2013 as previously planned.
Gulf Air removed one A320 and one A330 from service in response to the economic downturn, CEO Bjorn Naf told ATWOnline at last week's Paris Air Show. "The 'tsunami' hit the Middle East in February, with a drop in demand of 5%-15% depending on the market, and even more in other markets like India," he said. "We reacted quickly and adjusted capacity in April." Network changes include a strengthening of its Middle Eastern network and more careful capacity additions to certain long-haul destinations in the Asia/Pacific such as Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok.
Flydubai will launch Indian service on July 13 with a four-times-weekly flight to Lucknow. Thrice-weekly service to Coimbatore and flights to Chandigarh begin July 23. Wizz Air will launch thrice-weekly Prague-Treviso service Sept. 20.
Boeing and GE Aviation yesterday said they have "jointly developed a simpler method to implement condition-based maintenance systems on aircraft." Called Open System Architecture for Condition-Based Maintenance, the system will provide "a 10-fold increase in real time performance. . .making it practical for embedded health monitoring of aircraft systems," GE Aviation President-Avionics John Armendarez said.
Emirates will fly the A380 to Paris Charles de Gaulle beginning Feb. 1. EK President Tim Clark said the daily service "is a result of such encouraging sales" and that "our plans to introduce this exceptional aircraft have been accelerated by almost a year which, in the current economic climate, is a major achievement." The carrier currently operates 777s to CDG twice-daily and its five A380s to Sydney, Auckland, Bangkok, Toronto and London Heathrow.
US FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt said yesterday that the agency is initiating "an expedited review of flight and rest rules" and "will work rapidly to develop and implement a new flight time and rest rule." Babbitt said that "pilot fatigue [is now] a high priority" for FAA and called for US airlines and pilot unions "to respond [to FAA] by July 31 with specific commitments to strengthen safety at regional and major airlines." He said carriers must "obtain all available FAA pilot records, among other actions."
Embraer yesterday delivered a second 86-seat E-175 to Brazil's Trip Linhas Aereas, which last year placed a firm order for five plus 10 options and 15 purchase rights ( ATWOnline, June 20, 2008).
Lufthansa Flight Training and Vnukovo International finalized an earlier MOU to create a joint venture flight training facility ( ATWOnline, Jan. 6). The venture, called Flight Training Vnukovo, will be completed in mid-2010. It initially will house four full flight simulators and eventually will be able to accommodate as many as 20, according to LFT. FTV aims to capture business of Russian carriers "that currently train their pilots in Europe, Asia and America," LFT said.
Republic Airways Holdings continued its shopping spree by acquiring Midwest Airlines in a deal announced late Tuesday, the same day it said it would buy Frontier Airlines. The Midwest transaction, subject to appropriate regulatory approvals, is expected to close within 4-6 weeks. Republic's offer for Frontier is valued at $108.8 million ( ATWOnline, June 24).
ATWOnline is pleased to announce that a carbon emissions calculator is now available on our Eco-Aviation channel. Calculator is powered by RDC Aviation and enables users to calculate their CO2 by route and by airline for either direct or one-stop flights.
East Star Airlines may avoid bankruptcy thanks to a takeover offer from Shanghai YuField Industrial Co., which submitted its application along with airline stakeholder East Star Tourist Agency to the Wuhan court.
ANA said yesterday that it is "disappointed" with the latest 787 program delay (see story above) and is seeking a new delivery schedule from Boeing "as quickly as possible."
Air New Zealand said May yield rose 7.1% year-over-year, due largely to foreign exchange gains. Excluding those, yield climbed 1.7%. It flew 1.72 billion RPKs during the month, down 11.4%, against a 13.9% decline in capacity to 2.28 billion ASKs. Load factor rose 2.2 points to 75.7%. Allegiant Air flew 381.1 million RPMs in May, up 23.9% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 22.9% to 420.5 million ASMs and load factor increased 0.7 point to 90.6%.
United Airlines said it will cut an additional 600 flight attendant positions this year, bringing the total number of flight attendant job reductions planned in 2009 to more than 2,000. The cuts reportedly will begin Aug. 31. "We will offer our flight attendants a voluntary package and hope to receive enough responses to prevent any involuntary furloughs," the airline said. UA and cabin staff represented by the Assn. of Flight Attendants-CWA in April launched negotiations on their labor contract that is amenable Jan.
Southwest Airlines will launch its Milwaukee service on Nov. 1 to six destinations ( ATWOnline, May 21). It will fly to Baltimore (thrice-daily), Kansas City (thrice-daily), Las Vegas (twice-daily), Kansas City (twice-daily), Orlando International (twice-daily), Phoenix (daily) and Tampa (daily).
Airbus yesterday delivered the first A320 built at its Tianjin final assembly line to Sichuan Airlines, while executives told ATWOnline that the company's effort to expand its profile in China has included discussions with Air China and China Eastern Airlines about the A380.
