Airline ticket sales through the Arlington, Va.-based Airlines Reporting Corp. remained depressed for a fourth month, it reported yesterday. ARC handles US travel agency transactions. April total ticket sales, including airfares, taxes and fees, fell 26.1% compared to April 2008 to $5.79 billion. Total fares excluding taxes and fees declined 27.9% to $4.86 billion.
CHAMP Cargosystems announced that Cargolux will be the launch customer for what it says is "the first-ever graphical weight-and-balance solution specifically designed for the air freight sector."
Airbus has concluded testing of A320 Blended Winglets developed by Aviation Partners that it launched in December and is "4-6 weeks" from making a decision on whether to proceed with the program, Airbus Executive VP-Programs Tom Williams told media in Hamburg this week ( ATWOnline, Dec. 18, 2008). Director Product Marketing-A320 Family Stuart Mann said the manufacturer is "taking time to evaluate what we've learned" and that a conclusion will be reached "in a few weeks time, hopefully. .
Japan Airlines blamed the economic downturn for a net loss of ¥63.1 billion ($651.2 million) for the fiscal year ended March 31, an ¥80 billion reversal from a net profit of ¥16.9 billion in the prior year.
The captain and first officer of the Colgan Air Q400 that crashed Feb. 12 near Buffalo were carrying on a "nonessential conversation" for at least 3 min. before the disastrous end of the flight, the National Transportation Safety Board revealed yesterday. Under FAA rules, pilots are to operate a sterile cockpit environment below 10,000 ft., confining any discussion to matters related directly to flight operations. During the conversation, both pilots voiced concerns about flying in icing conditions.
ABX Air parent Air Transport Services Group reported first-quarter net income of $11.1 million, a nearly threefold increase from a $3.8 million profit in the year-ago period, as the loss of a good portion of its DHL business led to expense cuts that outpaced lost revenue. DHL, for which ABX provides US air lift, ceased domestic US service on Jan.
AJW Aviation announced a five-year power-by-the-hour contract extension with Pakistani airline Air Blue, extending AJW support to cover a further 11 A319s and A321s being inducted into the fleet until 2011. The extension supplements an existing power-by-the-hour agreement between the companies.
Lufthansa said yesterday that its takeover offer for Austrian Airlines has been accepted by "over 85%" of AUA shareholders including the 41.56% stake held by OIAG and "the syndicate of Austrian core shareholders" consisting of LVBG, RIG and WSV-AG Vienna Insurance Group. The purchase is still subject to the approval of antitrust authorities and the provision of €500 million in restructuring aid by the Austrian government ( ATWOnline,May 12).
Iberia Group unveiled a broad cost-cutting plan intended to save more than €200 million this year as it reported a first-quarter consolidated net loss of €92.6 million ($122.3 million), a steep deterioration on the €0.4 million lost in the year-ago period.
Asiana Airlines will introduce daily service between Seoul and New York JFK with the addition of two more flights from May 28. It will use a 246-seat 747-400 Combi on the route. Decision to increase service is owing in large part to "the sharp increase in demand" for seats following commencement of the Visa Waiver Program between the countries.
AirTran Airways will leapfrog its competitors to become the first US major airline to offer wireless broadband Internet access across its entire fleet, the carrier said yesterday. It selected Aircell's Gogo Inflight to provide the Wi-Fi connection after spending about a year evaluating the offerings from four main suppliers, according to AirTran Senior VP-Marketing and Planning Kevin Healy. American Airlines, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines and others already are offering inflight broadband connectivity on selected aircraft but have not introduced it across their fleets.
Airbus announced creation of a new subsidiary, QuoVadis, based in Toulouse that will "sell and provide Required Navigation Performance services. . .ranging from RNP procedures design, testing and flight operations packaging to RNP training." The manufacturer said it signed a cooperation agreement for RNP procedure design with the French Civil Aviation University in Toulouse and CGx Aero in SYS, a specialist in aeronautical and geographic information systems based in Castres, France.
Ryanair called for the early sale of London Stansted after BAA figures confirmed that passenger traffic at the airport dropped 14% year-over-year in the first four months of 2009, including a 13% decline in April.
European Commission adopted a proposal for a directive on aviation security charges that seeks to establish common principles for the levying of security charges at EU airports as well as the creation of an independent supervisory authority in each member state to ensure the correct application of the measures and mediate disagreements between airports and users. "We need to take steps to ensure the most cost-effective provision of security services," EC VP-Transport Antonio Tajani said.
SITA unveiled what it described as a next-generation PNR, Customer Journey, which will provide "a live record of the passenger's experience with the airline right down to seat preference, meal choice and the last time they made a complaint." It said Customer Journey is a new feature in its Horizon passenger management portfolio used by 138 airlines. It claimed "several" carriers have been given a demonstration of the new offering but no sales were announced.
The Royal Bank of Scotland's RBS Aviation Capital subsidiary is the customer that canceled its order for 25 787s, Airbus Executive VP-Programs Tom Williams confirmed to ATWOnline in Hamburg. Boeing revealed the cancellation on its Orders and Deliveries website for the week ended May 5 ( ATWOnline, May 8). RBS was hit hard by the financial crisis and the UK government has taken a majority stake as part of its bailout effort.
US National Transportation Safety Board hearings commence today on the Feb. 12 Colgan Air Q400 crash outside Buffalo that killed 50 including one person on the ground, and a great deal of attention is expected to be focused on the flight captain's training and competence.
The European Commission received notification of Lufthansa Group's proposed acquisition of Austrian Airlines Group and set a June 17 deadline to complete a first-phase review of the deal. LH launched a public offer for AAG on March 2 after reaching agreement with state holding company OIAG to buy its 41.56% stake for €366,000 ($498,843) plus an "earn-out option" that could amount to as much as €164 million depending on AAG's future economic performance and LH's share outperforming its competitors.
Hawaiian Airlines and Korean Airlines will expand their codesharing agreement from June 15 to allow HA to place its code on flights operated by KE between Seoul Incheon and Honolulu and between ICN and Busan, as well as from ICN to destinations in Japan, Malaysia and Thailand. The two carriers began a codeshare relationship in 2007, with KE putting its code on HA's inter-island and Hawaii-US mainland flights. Flydubai announced daily flights from Dubai to Damascus starting June 8 and daily Dubai-Alexandria service from June 9.
