Blue Wings ceased operations yesterday following suspension of its operating license by the German LBA, which had changed the Dusseldorf-based carrier's operating status to provisional in January. Blue Wings launched in 2003 and flew mainly for German tour operators with nine A320s but has faced significant financial difficulties recently. It had an additional 20 A320s on order ( ATWOnline, Oct. 18, 2006). It transported 1.1 million passengers last year and employs 400.
Nav Canada said it reached a tentative collective agreement with the Canadian Auto Workers/Canadian Air Traffic Control Assn. Agreement is subject to ratification. Terms were not released.
Bombardier landed another order for its CSeries, with Dublin-based Lease Corp. International Aviation signing a firm purchase agreement valued at an estimated $1.44 billion for three CS100 and 17 CS300 aircraft along with 20 unspecified CSeries options. Privately held LCI was founded in 2004 and currently has one A320-200, one A330-200, one 737-600, one 737-800 and one 747-400 in its portfolio. It has six A330-300s on order scheduled to be delivered by the end of next year. It sold 21 aircraft in late 2007 as part of a fleet renewal program.
Usablenet, a mobile-Web platform, launched mobile browser service for Emirates' and British Airways' websites, allowing travelers to access them from phones or PDAs.
East Star Airlines will go bankrupt because of its inability to pay off its debts, according to the Wuhan municipal government. East Star's six debtors reportedly have asked the local court to liquidate the carrier, which suffered a CNY500 million ($73.1 million) operating loss last year. It is in arrears with both GECAS and Wuhan Tianhe International Airport and also is behind on its fuel and insurance payments ( ATWOnline, March 25).
Nordam Group's interiors and structures division delivered bar structures for Air New Zealand's 777-200s and V Australia's 777-300s. Nordam was awarded the ANZ bar project by Altitude, ANZ's aircraft interiors business, in December covering eight aircraft. Two delivered in February, four are scheduled to deliver this month, with the last in April. Additionally, Nordam said it was awarded a contract from Altitude for 20 shipsets that represents the first program award directly to the OEM.
41st Parameter said US Airways selected its FraudNet solution to detect and prevent "card not present" fraud across multiple reservation channels and to protect its loyalty program accounts from compromise and fraudulent access. Solution uses PC fingerprinting technology.
Air Berlin yesterday reported a €75 million ($99.6 million) loss for 2008, reversed from a €21 million surplus the prior year, but buttressed its long-term future with the sale of a 15.3% stake to Turkey's ESAS Holding and a share swap with TUI Travel's TUIfly.
Airlines' recovery from the current recession will be slower than in previous downturns owing to a substantial debt burden for consumers and businesses that is likely to curtail spending even after economic growth returns, IATA Chief Economist Brian Pearce told reporters yesterday in Washington.
Sensis said its Multistatic Dependent Surveillance was selected by UK NATS for ground surveillance at London Stansted. MDS will provide full coverage of runway, taxiway and stand areas "to enhance the safe and efficient movement of aircraft on the ground." System already is deployed at Heathrow and Gatwick, Sensis said.
Aeroflot officially dismissed CEO Valery Okulov last week and replaced him with Vitaly Savelyev, a VP at Russian conglomerate Sistema who reportedly has no previous aviation experience. The Moscow Times reported that SU minority investor Alexander Lebedev (through his National Reserve Corp.) withdrew his support of Okulov, paving the way for his ouster ( ATWOnline, March 24).
Qantas domestic flights were halted for 4 hr. yesterday during a wildcat strike by the airline's baggage handlers. The action affected some 400 flights and about 50,000 travelers. The Transport Workers Union was protesting Jetstar Airways' decision to take its ground handling contract away from Qantas Airport Services and award it to independent, and cheaper, Aero-care. TWU officials initially claimed Aero-care's workers lacked security clearance but later changed the focus of the dispute to job security.
American Eagle will furlough 75 pilots and eliminate 45 management positions in line with planned schedule reductions, the company confirmed to ATWOnline yesterday. The pilot reductions will take place in two stages, with the first 35 on May 1 and the remaining 40 on June 1. The management positions will be eliminated over the next few months and are in addition to the 30 layoffs previously announced for 2009.
Norwegian said February yield rose an estimated 8% year-over-year to NOK0.64 (9.64 cents) in February. It flew 528 million RPKs, up 14%, against a 15% increase in capacity to 679 million ASKs. Load factor was level at 78%. Vueling Airlines flew 306 million RPKs in February, down 24.3% year-over-year. Capacity dropped 27% to 457 million ASKs and load factor rose 2.4 points to 67%.
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Aviation Director Bill DeCota, speaking yesterday at an Aero Club luncheon in Washington, complained that "the federal funding is not there" to enable US FAA to transition to the NextGen satellite-based ATC system. "We're all disappointed by the lack of investment in NextGen," said DeCota, who oversees New York JFK, LaGuardia and Newark. He said only $800 million was pledged for NextGen in President Barack Obama's 2010 budget proposal recently submitted to Congress.
Liberator.aero will provide its fuel savings program and emissions measurement module to Bangkok Airways under a three-year deal. It said it is targeting a 2% reduction in the annual fuel bill.
Air France KLM said last week that it likely will report a €200 million ($271.4 million) operating loss for its fiscal year ending March 31 and stated that its focus for the year beginning April 1 is "to limit our operating loss."
US President Barack Obama Friday announced his intent to nominate former Air Line Pilots Assn. President Randy Babbitt, 62, to be the next FAA Administrator. Previously an Eastern Airlines pilot for more than 25 years, Babbitt is currently a partner in the aviation practice of management consulting firm Oliver Wyman. Following two terms as ALPA president in the 1990s, he founded aviation consultancy Eclat Consulting, which became a part of Oliver Wyman in 2007.
US Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) last week expressed frustration with the pace at which FAA is transitioning to the NextGen satellite-based ATC system ( ATWOnline, March 19). "We have to do this and we have to do it right away," he stated during a Senate hearing. "Why are we so slow?. . .We're going to fall farther and farther behind unless we have the intensity and political will and the money in the budget to pay for it. .
Embraer reported 2008 net income of $388.7 million, a 21% drop from $489.3 million the previous year, citing losses on currency hedges as the value of the real fell and sagging sales owing to the global economic downturn. Full-year revenue rose 20.8% to $6.33 billion. Fourth-quarter profit plunged 44% to $111.6 million from $200.9 million a year ago and revenue for the quarter was down 3% to $1.81 billion.
Pratt & Whitney executives said last week that interest in the PurePower PW1000G geared turbofan engine has increased since Lufthansa's recent commitment to Bombardier's CSeries and that additional orders may boost a company whose parent, United Technologies, has launched a major restructuring featuring up to 11,600 job cuts this year.
While it still is completing evaluations of three recently conducted biofuel test flights, Boeing already has drawn enough conclusions to state that it is "very confident. . .high quality jet fuel" can be composed of plant-derived oils, a company official told US lawmakers last week.
