Thai Airways appointed Piyasvasti Amranand, who served as Thailand's energy minister in 2006-08, as its new president. He will fill the vacancy left by Apinan Sumanaseni's resignation last year. In addition, Chairman Ampon Kittiampon told reporters that Thai will borrow THB23 billion ($670.5 million) from four domestic banks but still needs an additional THB14 billion from foreign lenders for aircraft financing, according to press reports ( ATWOnline, March 2).
Brussels Airlines Co-CEO Bernard Gustin said he expects the European Commission to approve Lufthansa's acquisition of the airline "in the next coming days," according to Reuters. He also said, "I do not believe that we will be profitable [in 2009] but that still remains our target." SN lost €12.2 million ($16.9 million) last year ( ATWOnline, April 9).
Libyan Airlines CEO Mohamed Ibsem told ATWOnline at the recent IATA Annual General Meeting in Kuala Lumpur that the union of his carrier and Afriqiyah Airways under the Libyan African Aviation Holding Company umbrella likely has paved the way for a merger of the state-owned carriers.
Aerolineas Argentinas took delivery of one purchased 737-700, with a second scheduled to arrive before the end of the month. It will lease nine further -700s/-800s "in the following months" as it replaces its 737-200s and MD-80s.
Lufthansa Technik signed a 10-year contract with SAS Scandinavian Airlines covering MRO on landing gear on four A319s, eight A321s, four A330s and seven A340s. AJW Aviation expanded its power-by-the-hour contract with Bulgarian charter airline BH Air to include an additional three A320s.
Ryanair yesterday announced winter cuts at both Dublin and Shannon, blaming Ireland's €10 ($13.84) "tourist tax" for an 11% year-over-year fall in passenger traffic at DUB in the first five months of 2009. From the start of the winter schedule it will reduce the number of aircraft based at DUB to 16 from 17 and at SNN to three from four. It will cut 44 weekly flights from its DUB schedule and 36 from SNN, resulting in 350 and 300 job losses respectively. "Further cuts can be expected in the coming months if the €10 tourist tax is not scrapped.
Continental Airlines said that its 737-800 biofuel demonstration flight conducted Jan. 7 resulted in a 1.1% increase in fuel efficiency in the engine fueled by a 50/50 blend of algae-derived biofuel and traditional jet fuel. Greenhouse gas emissions from the CFM56-7Bs were estimated to be reduced 60%-80%. The flight was conducted over Houston in partnership with Boeing, GE Aviation/CFM International and Honeywell subsidiary UOP and was the first such test conducted by a commercial airline in North America.
FedEx Express, the shipping giant's airline segment, finished its fiscal year ended May 31 with a $794 million operating profit, down 58% from the $1.9 billion reported in 2007-08, while the company suffered a 91% plunge in consolidated profit to $98 million.
Cyclone Manufacturing of Ontario won a three-year, $12 million contract from Embraer to supply structural components for the E-190/195 and the Legacy 450-500. E-jet component deliveries (for eight aircraft per month) are scheduled to begin in late July.
Singapore Airlines flew 5.92 billion RPKs in May, down 22.8% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 13.9% to 8.85 billion ASKs, lowering load factor 7.8 points to 66.9%. Turkish Airlines flew 13.88 billion RPKs from January through May, up 10.8% from the year-ago period. Capacity rose 18.5% to 20.56 billion ASKs and load factor fell 4.7 points to 67.5%.
GKN Aerospace selected Brotje Automation of Germany to provide automated assembly equipment for A350 wing structures. The assembly line will begin operating in 2010.
BEA updates AF447 crash investigation; no cause revealed Boeing bullish on biofuels, encouraged by flight tests MIG Aviation orders eight Q400s designated for Pantheon Airways Engine Alliance secures Etihad, Air Austral orders for GP7200s Air France Industries enters into two Middle East JVs Thales launches after-sales unit, inks OnurAir as first customer Additional stories
Air Canada launched daily Calgary-Portland, Ore., service. AeroMexico will launch six-times-weekly Mexico City-New Orleans service on July 7. Insel Air of the Netherlands Antilles will operate weekly Miami-Bonaire service beginning July 4 aboard an MD-80.
United Airlines parent UAL Corp. said consolidated passenger RASM in the second quarter is estimated to fall 17.9%-18.9% year-over-year to 10.05-10.17 cents, with mainline PRASM dropping 20.1%-21.1% to 9.14-9.25 cents. Operating consolidated unit cost excluding profit sharing and noncash net mark-to-market impacts is expected to fall 19.6%-19.9% to 11.44-11.48 cents, the company said in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Consolidated ASMs will be down 9% year-over-year and RPMs will fall 9.5%-10.5% to 29.16-29.49 billion.
Japan Airlines said the strikes scheduled to start yesterday by four JAL International unions were cancelled ( ATWOnline, June 16) and that all flights were expected to operate normally.
Shenzhen Airlines is taking advantage of the upturn in Chinese domestic demand and is ramping up its expansion, announcing an agreement yesterday with the Harbin municipal government to establish a branch company in the northeastern city.
Lao Airlines will take delivery of the first of two 70-seat ATR 72-500s in the "coming weeks" and the second "later this year," ATR said. Lao currently operates two ATR 72-200s. Lao CEO Somphone Douangdara called the aircraft "the right choice to respond to the demand of regional transportation in Laos and in Southeast Asia." The state-owned carrier flies to 10 Laotian cities as well as Cambodia, China, Thailand and Vietnam.
SITA announced a three-year deal with Aeroflot to implement its airport management system at Moscow Sheremetyevo. System already is in use in Terminals 1 and 2 and will be implemented in T3 when it opens later this year. Deal includes the provision of SITA's AirportResource Manager and AirportHandling Manager.
US Dept. of Transportation reported that the 10 US carriers collecting the highest amount in baggage fees racked up a total of $566.3 million in the first quarter, more than four times the $122.6 million collected in the year-ago period. American Airlines led with $108.1 million, followed by Delta Air Lines (excluding its Northwest Airlines subsidiary) at $102.8 million and US Airways at $94.2 million.
AirAsia X places surprise order for 10 A350-900s plus five options P&W: Geared turbofan could provide 23% fuel burn gain on A320/737 successor by 2017 McNerney: 787 work scope was 'too much for our partners'; composite 777 considered Airbus focuses on executing deliveries, gets financing assistance from governments Etihad selects GEnx for 35 787-9s, GE90 for 10 777s in deal valued at $2.2 billion ATR reveals Air Nostrum order for 10 ATR 72-600s
Qatar Airways will launch four-times-weekly service from Doha to Amritsar (Oct. 11) and Goa (Oct. 25) aboard A320s. Wizz Air will launch thrice-weekly Kiev Boryspil-Memmingen service on Sept. 22. Dragonair will launch twice-daily Hong Kong-Guangzhou service Sept. 14 aboard A320s/A321s. AirTran Airways launched thrice-weekly service from Orlando International to Asheville and Atlantic City. American Eagle will launch daily Los Angeles-Santa Fe flights on Nov. 19.
SAS Group flew 2.29 billion RPKs in May, down 18.1% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 16.7% to 3.2 billion ASKs and load factor dropped 1.2 points to 71.5%. SAS Scandinavian Airlines flew 2.11 billion RPKs, down 19%, against a 17.5% fall in ASKs to 2.93 billion. Load factor was down 1.3 points to 72%. Alaska Airlines flew 1.5 billion RPMs in May, a 7.5% drop year-over-year. Capacity fell 6.3% to 1.95 billion ASMs and load factor was down 1 point to 76.8%.
