Singapore Airlines will fly the A380 to Hong Kong beginning July 9. The daily flight will replace an existing 777-300ER frequency and will bring to five the number of airports served by SIA's A380 fleet (Sydney, London Heathrow, Tokyo Narita and Paris Charles de Gaulle). It operates five daily SIN-HKG flights.
Skytech-AIC announced the lease of two 747-400s to Eagle Aviation Europe. The first aircraft was returned by the previous lessee in March and already has been delivered; the second will be delivered to Eagle on July 31. Skytech also said it has been selected to remarket four additional 747-400s for an unidentified customer.
US Regional Airline Assn. announced at a Congressional hearing that it would "push for new advances in aviation safety" following this week's announcement that FAA will inspect regional carrier training programs to ensure they are fully compliant ( ATWOnline, June 10). "We need to take bold action to address every single issue that could possibly affect the culture of safety that is the fundamental cornerstone of the aviation industry," RAA President Roger Cohen told members of the House aviation subcommittee.
European Commission yesterday extended the deadline of its initial review of Lufthansa's proposed takeover of Austrian Airlines Group from June 17 to July 1 after the carriers offered remedies to address competition concerns. The Commission did not specify the routes on which it identified competition issues or what the offered concessions were.
Delta Air Lines and American Airlines yesterday announced additional capacity and job reductions in the second half of 2009, with international flying in particular taking a bigger hit than previously planned, and other US carriers said they are considering further capacity reductions.
British Airways CEO Willie Walsh is persisting with his message that "our business is under threat," and while promising that he "intends to do everything possible to ensure we don't become the next [General Motors]," which filed for bankruptcy protection last week, he reiterated that "in order to survive we all need to take long-term action, and do it quickly."
Airports Council International Europe said April passenger traffic at European airports fell 4.8% year-over-year while freight traffic dropped 25.4%. Flight movements were down 9.3%. For the first four months of 2009, passenger throughput declined 10.4% whereas freight traffic plunged 24.4% and movements decreased 9.7%. Separately, BAA reported a 7.3% year-over-year drop in passenger traffic at its seven UK airports in May, including a 6.5% fall at London Gatwick and an 18.5% decline at Stansted.
Aerosource was awarded a five-year LRU service contract by Bombardier Aerospace covering MRO of the air driven generator used on both CRJ and Challenger aircraft. Aerosource also is the OEM for the DC-10 and MD-11 air driven generator.
CTC Aviation Group announced that it will be launch customer and host of two next-generation full flight simulators featuring Rockwell Collins CORE simulation architecture. The first, a 737NG, will be delivered to the company's training center near Southampton in late summer.
SkyWest said it is "aggressively pursuing other opportunities" for the 12 CRJs that are being removed from the Midwest Airlines fleet after that carrier ended its air service agreement with SkyWest and struck a separate deal with Republic Airways to provide regional lift.
Council of the European Union formally adopted the regulation allowing the suspension of the "use it or lose it" rule governing slots at EU airports for the current IATA summer schedule at its meeting in Luxembourg this week. "This temporary measure will help airlines cut costs by allowing them to cut capacity more easily at busy airports, knowing that their slots will be safeguarded for the next summer season 2010," it said in a statement ( ATWOnline, May 11).
Delta Air Lines flew 15.85 billion system RPMs in May, a 9.7% decline from the year-ago month. Capacity dropped 7.9% to 19.27 billion ASMs and load factor was down 1.6 points to 82.3%. Lufthansa Group airlines flew 12.65 billion RPKs in May, down 7.1% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 1.6% to 17.05 billion ASKs and load factor dropped 4.4 points to 74.2% Air Canada and Jazz flew 3.86 billion RPMs in May, a 10.3% drop year-over-year. Capacity fell 6.1% to 4.86 billion ASMs and load factor slipped 3.7 points to 79.5%.
Jetstar Airways launched services in New Zealand, taking over parent Qantas's flights between Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington and Queenstown. The QF mainline, which operated a small fleet of 737-400s in New Zealand, will withdraw from domestic service there.
Travelport GDS announced the launch of Travelport Agencia, an "industry-first" Web application used by Air Canada that will allow Galileo-connected travel agents to sell AC's full content. Travelport Agencia will enable agencies to display and book all AC fare families with real-time access to price and availability in addition to AC's a la carte offerings, the company said.
ICAO said it now expects global RPKs to fall 3.8% this year, a "bleak forecast" that it said "reflects the worsening of economic prospects," although it added that "signs of stabilization have emerged and further improvements in traffic results are expected for the remaining months of the year." North American traffic is forecast to fall the furthest at 7.2% while Europe drops 3%, Asia/Pacific 4.5% and Africa 4.2%. The Middle East is expected to increase 8% and Latin America and the Caribbean should rise 5.3%.
Jet Airways blasted a move by authorities in Delhi and Mumbai to hike airport costs as a "disaster," according to The Economic Times. "Airport charges are crazy. This is a disaster. This is absolutely not fair to the industry," Jet Airways Chairman Naresh Goyal told media at IATA's annual general meeting in Kuala Lumpur this week. He said Jet would cut capacity on its US service by 30% to reduce costs. The paper reported that each city's main airport increased charges by 10% while Mumbai raised development fees 278% and Delhi 137%.
United Airlines' credit facility rating was downgraded yesterday by Fitch Ratings, which warned that the carrier is facing "full-year passenger RASM declines of more than 10%" and "could report substantially negative free cash flow for the final three quarters of 2009."
Delta Air Lines said its international product will be standardized this month as it continues to integrate Northwest Airlines. All long-haul aircraft will feature DL's BusinessElite cabin, complimentary alcoholic beverages in economy and other offerings. In the coming months, DL will introduce a new business class amenity kit. It said it "continues its progress to achieve a single operating certificate by the end of the year."
Aviacsa, the Monterrey-based LCC grounded temporarily by Mexican authorities that accused it of maintenance irregularities ( ATWOnline, June 5), said on its website that it resumed service last Saturday. A judge nullified the suspension, according to press reports.
AirAsia will launch daily Kuala Lumpur-Colombo service on Aug. 15. It will be the LCC's third destination in southern Asia after Dhaka and Tiruchirappalli. Pacific Blue will introduce twice-weekly Queenstown-Sydney and thrice-weekly Wellington-Sydney and Dunedin-Brisbane flights on Sept. 1. Eurowings will resume its seasonal weekly Dusseldorf-Newquay Cornwall flight June 20 aboard a CRJ200.
Augsburg Airways took delivery of its first E-195. Aircraft seats 116 passengers in two classes and is part of an order for 30 E-Jets placed by Lufthansa two years ago.
Emirates Airline President Tim Clark told ATWOnline at the IATA annual general meeting in Kuala Lumpur that year-to-date passenger numbers are up 13% year-over-year but that first and business class traffic have plunged 50% on certain routes, a dynamic he believes will alter the industry's pricing regime in the long term.
Air France's largest pilots union said yesterday that management had informed it that at least two of three pitot tubes on each of the carrier's A330s/A340s will be replaced "within days," while EASA issued a statement declaring that all A330s "are airworthy and safe to operate." AF has said that it began replacing pitot tubes on A330s/A340s in late April, but its pilots expressed concern that the replacements weren't being done quickly enough given the focus on the possible role of pitot tubes in last week's A330-200 crash. The French BEA has stated that data transmitted by Flight 4
