Air Canada said it reached tentative agreements on a "21-month pension funding moratorium and collective agreement extension" with three of its five unions representing more than 60% of its unionized workers that stand to gain an "equity stake" in the airline. Around 16,500 employees represented by the Canadian Auto Workers, the International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers and the Canadian Airlines Dispatchers Assn. would be covered by the tentative deal aimed at providing relief that AC insists it urgently needs.
UPS Airlines said it averted a pilot furlough by reaching agreement with the Independent Pilots Assn. on "a variety of voluntary steps" to cut $90 million in costs.
China Southern Airlines and Air France KLM have postponed the launch of their cargo joint venture indefinitely owing to the rapid slump in the global cargo market, CZ Chairman Si Xianmin told ATWOnline at the IATA AGM in Kuala Lumpur.
Aer Lingus said it will launch service from London Gatwick to Bucharest, Eindhoven, Tenerife, Lanzarote, Warsaw and Vilnius and suspend flights to Nice for the winter schedule. Vilnius service will begin Sept. 10, with the remaining five routes starting Oct. 25. Ukraine International Airlines launched twice-weekly Kiev Boryspil-Nice service on a 737.
ILFC Chairman and CEO Steven Udvar-Hazy said the lessor is in talks with Bombardier regarding a potential order for the CSeries 110/130-seat family of jets. Speaking to ATWOnline on the sidelines of the IATA AGM in Kuala Lumpur, Udvar-Hazy emphasized that "there are a lot of commercial issues and technical issues" that would have to be resolved before ILFC would move forward with an order. Among the latter, he mentioned engine performance guarantees. The CSeries will be powered exclusively by Pratt & Whitney's PW1000G geared turbofan.
Midwest Airlines said it obtained $12 million in additional debt financing, divided evenly between TPG Capital, the majority owner of the Milwaukee-based carrier, and Republic Airways. Midwest also announced an agreement with Republic to operate 12 37- and 50-seat ERJs, which will be phased into service from July through January 2010. Republic struck a deal with Midwest last September to operate 12 E-170s. As it expands its partnership with Republic ( ATWOnline, Sept.
RIO, an all-cargo startup airline in Brazil, said it received certification from the country's National Civil Aviation Agency and will begin operations this month. RIO said it will focus on airport-to-airport flying and "leave the distribution (logistics) to the specialized companies." It initially will operate one 727-200 freighter with a second of the type to be purchased and put into service in the second half of 2009. A route network was not revealed, but it said it will operate both domestic and international flights based out of Curitiba.
Cathay Pacific Airways CEO Tony Tyler was named chairman of the IATA Board of Governors for 2009-10 at the organization's AGM in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, succeeding Royal Jordanian CEO Samer Majali. Speaking to media here, Tyler said his first priority is to achieve "a workable, sensible approach to [airline] emissions." On Monday, IATA announced a commitment to achieving carbon neutral growth from 2020 ( ATWOnline, June 8).
Lufthansa Chairman and CEO Wolfgang Mayrhuber told ATWOnline beside the IATA annual general meeting in Kuala Lumpur that the group expects around a 10% decline in passenger numbers this year and a drop in revenue of some 20%.
US FAA will inspect training programs at regional airlines to ensure they are fully compliant with federal regulations, US Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, joined by FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt, announced yesterday. The call for inspection follows revelations surrounding the Colgan Air Q400 crash that claimed 50 lives in February ( ATWOnline, May 15). "I have no greater obligation than to ensure the safety of airline travelers in this country," LaHood said. "One fatality is one too many."
Boeing announced the completion of the intermediate gauntlet phase of testing on the first 787, during which pilots and engineers "simulated multiple scenarios using all airplane systems as if the aircraft were in flight, including power, avionics and flight controls." Testing was equivalent to around one week of operations.
Oneworld members American Airlines, British Airways, Finnair, Iberia and Royal Jordanian expect to receive antitrust immunity to cooperate on transatlantic services from US and EU regulators and AA, BA and IB also expect ATI for their transatlantic joint venture within the broader partnership, they told media Monday in Kuala Lumpur.
Jet Airways expects to break even in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2010, Chairman Naresh Goyal told Bloomberg News in Kuala Lumpur. It lost INR4.02 billion ($83.9 million) in the recently completed fiscal year. Goyal said cost cuts would drive the improved result. He also said Jet will cut capacity by an additional 10% beyond the 30% reduction already imposed.
Air New Zealand CEO Rob Fyfe told Bloomberg News at the IATA AGM in Kuala Lumpur that forward bookings are down 10% and the carrier is "not expecting any pickup in demand through the coming 12 months." It recently announced plans to cut capacity by an additional 3% in the fiscal year starting July 1 ( ATWOnline, June 3), leaving it in line with the expected decline in demand, he told the news service. Separately, ANZ said its first 747-400 made its final flight last Friday and will be dismantled for parts in t
The Star Alliance board today is expected to approve changes to its organizational structure that will see elimination of the regional member category, CEO Jaan Albrecht confirmed Monday at the IATA annual general meeting in Kuala Lumpur. Currently there are three regional members: Adria Airways, Blue1 and Croatia Airlines. It is expected that all will become full members in the alliance ( ATWOnline, June 1).
United Airlines' request for proposals for up to 150 long-haul aircraft does not include the A380, Airbus COO-Customers John Leahy told the Chicago Tribune. "We have been talking with them for quite some time. But the [RFP] is very recent. Unfortunately [for both companies] the A380 is not [currently] included," he told the paper. Sources told the Tribune that UA is not considering the 747-8 either ( ATWOnline, June 5).
15below inked a deal with Ryanair to deliver booking confirmation numbers directly to passenger mobile phones via SMS within 24 hr. of booking. Cost per SMS will be €1 ($1.40).
Etihad Airways launched service from Abu Dhabi to Athens (thrice-weekly) and Istanbul Ataturk (four-times-weekly) aboard A320s. Athens service will become five-times-weekly in October and daily in January.
Brazilian search teams located and recovered the vertical stabilizer from the downed Air France A330-200 around 600 mi. northeast of the Fernando de Noronha archipelago and had found at least 24 bodies as of late yesterday ( ATWOnline, June 8). Meanwhile, AF pilots represented by the Alter union, totaling about 12% of the carrier's flight crew, were told they should refuse to fly A330s or A340s until at least two of three pitot tubes on each aircraft are replaced.
ILFC Chairman and CEO Steven Udvar-Hazy reportedly has threatened to cancel or reduce the lessor's order for 10 A380s. Speaking to German weekly Wirtschaftswoche, he said, "We are asking ourselves if we are really going to take delivery of the 10 planes. . . We can cancel our order without penalty between January and June 2010, but we might also postpone deliveries or replace the A380 with another plane."
British Airways flew 9.16 billion RPKs in May, a 6.5% decrease from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 5.3% to 12.19 billion ASKs and load factor slipped 1 point to 75.1%. BA said premium traffic fell 17.2% and nonpremium was down 4.2%. WestJet said second-quarter unit revenue will fall 16%-18% year-over-year. It flew 1.06 billion RPMs in May, down 5.8%, while capacity rose 1.2% to 1.44 billion ASMs. Load factor dropped 5.4 points to 74.1%.
British Airways CEO Willie Walsh confirmed to ATWOnline at the IATA AGM in Kuala Lumpur that the carrier has no plans to defer aircraft deliveries next year. "We will take delivery of six 777-300ERs in 2010 and we are also maintaining the plan for the eight A380s for delivery at some stage in 2012," Walsh said. BA is taking delivery of four 777s this year.
Virgin Nigeria said it will take delivery of one 96-seat E-190AR and one 76-seat E-170AR this month. It also announced the appointment of Dapo Olumide as MD and CEO, Richard Murphy as director-engineering services, Erwin Zeiler as head of aircraft maintenance and Joshua Amara as quality and service manager. Olumide, currently deputy MD, will succeed Conrad Clifford, whose contract expires June 18. Separately, industry sources told both the BBC and Reuters that Virgin Atlantic's relationship with VK will end next month, at which point it will have to rebrand.
The government-prompted merger of China Eastern Airlines and Shanghai Airlines is expected to happen shortly as Beijing seeks to implement its long-term plan to position Shanghai as an international aviation hub.
American Airlines will demonstrate several "eco-friendly" procedures on a flight between Paris Charles de Gaulle and Miami on June 11. Flight AA63, a 767-300, will use "single-engine taxi on departure and arrival, continuous climbout and descent, optimized routing over water and a tailored arrival," the carrier said. Demonstration is part of the Atlantic Interoperability Initiative to Reduce Emissions ( ATW, September 2008).
