Finnair said it will begin negotiations to furlough employees at Finnair Technical Services for 2-3 months each in an effort to save approximately €7 million ($9.5 million).
Air France will introduce a new premium economy cabin called Premium Voyageur that will be phased in gradually on all long-haul flights operated by 777s, A340s and A330s. First routes to offer the new configuration will be Paris Charles de Gaulle to New York JFK, Tokyo Narita and Osaka Kansai. Premium Voyageur will feature a new seat especially designed for AF and equipped with a fixed shell. Seats will be 48 cm. wide, have 97-cm. pitch and offer 123-deg. back recline.
Superjet International, which provides marketing and support for Sukhoi's Superjet 100, signed an agreement with Lufthansa Technik Logistik to provide global logistics services for the new regional aircraft. Sukhoi will have access to Logistik's Frankfurt facility, which provides parts and customer support.
Austrian Airlines Group executive board members Peter Malanik and Andreas Bierwirth confirmed to ATWOnline Thursday that the company does in fact possess sufficient liquidity to safeguard operations until its merger with Lufthansa is approved and completed. However, AAG does not possess the stability to survive long-term on its own, they said. AAG and LH officials hope that the tie-up will be finalized before summer ( ATWOnline, March 16).
American Airlines parent AMR Corp. said first-quarter consolidated unit revenue should fall 10.2%-11.2% year-over-year and mainline unit revenue is expected to decline 9.6%-10.6%. Consolidated CASM is expected to be 12.51 cents for the quarter and 12.34 cents for the full year.
Boeing said yesterday that the sixth and final 787 designated for flight tests has entered final assembly in Everett. It added that the first flight test Dreamliner, ZA001, "is getting its paint touched up this week before finishing factory testing."
Embraer said the Regional Labor Court in Campinas "ruled in favor of maintaining the layoffs" conducted in February, when it cut some 20% of its workforce ( ATWOnline, Feb. 20), and determined compensation payments. Embraer said it would "determine its position" following the rule's formal publication. Separately, the manufacturer yesterday launched its Lifetime Program that will provide support services for customers of pre-owned commercial aircraft.
Austrian Airlines flew 1.06 billion RPKs in February, down 17.8% year-over-year. Capacity dropped 14.2% to 1.53 billion ASKs and load factor fell 3 points to 69.1%. Pinnacle Airlines flew 326.5 million RPMs in February, down 3.6% year-over-year. Capacity rose 5.1% to 490.5 million ASMs and load factor was down 6 points to 66.6%. Germanwings transported 432,072 passengers in February, down 10.4% year-over-year. Load factor fell 3.8 points to 74.7%.
Malev Hungarian Airlines said parent company AirBridge has committed to a HUF3 billion ($13.1 million) capital injection. The airline also said that the ownership structure of AirBridge has changed in order to maintain majority Hungarian control.
AeroLogic, the new joint venture between Lufthansa Cargo and DHL, is on schedule to begin flying in June from Leipzig/Halle. "There is no danger that there will be a delay in operations. We will get the first 777-200LRF in May and expect another three aircraft during this year," LHC Chairman and CEO Carsten Spohr told ATWOnline in Frankfurt. During weekdays, the aircraft will operate for DHL on routes to Singapore, Delhi, Hong Kong, Bahrain and Tashkent. On weekends the 777s will be handled by LHC and fly from Frankfurt.
Air New Zealand asked the High Court to forbid the New Zealand Commerce Commission from withholding evidence in litigation concerning air cargo price-fixing. ANZ has protested its innocence and last year claimed NZCC was "grandstanding to justify its existence" after announcing plans to bring charges against it and 12 other carriers ( ATWOnline, Dec. 16, 2008).
US Dept. of Transportation said 2.3% of scheduled domestic flights were canceled in January, an improvement from 2.9% in the year-ago month. Comair canceled 6.2% of its flights, the highest rate, followed by American Eagle at 4.1% and American Airlines at 3.5%. Hawaiian Airlines and Frontier Airlines canceled just 0.5%. The industry's ontime arrival rate was 77%, up from 72.4% in January 2008. HA led at 90.8%, followed by Southwest Airlines at 83.3% and ExpressJet Airlines at 79.8%. Comair was worst at 56.7%, followed by Atlantic Southeast Airlines at 68.3%.
IATA DG and CEO Giovanni Bisignani said the organization's December forecast of an industrywide $2.5 billion loss in 2009, based on a 3% drop in passenger numbers and a 5% decline in cargo, "is now looking very optimistic." He said IATA will release a revised forecast next week ( ATWOnline, Dec. 10, 2008). "The only good news is that the spot price of fuel is low. Unfortunately, immediate relief is being delayed by hedging at higher prices," he said yesterday in Kuala Lumpur.
Air Botswana took delivery of the first of two new 68-seat ATR 72-500s ordered last year. The second aircraft is scheduled to arrive in May. The airline already operates three 42-500s.
The massive downturn in global airfreight is hitting home at Lufthansa Cargo despite a 20.9% increase in year-over-year operating profit to €164 million ($214.5 million) in 2008, with cargo carriage falling 25% in January and February with similar figures expected this month, according to Chairman and CEO Carsten Spohr.
FedEx reported net income of $97 million for its fiscal third quarter ended Feb. 28, down 75% from a $393 million profit in the year-ago period, blaming "the continued deterioration in global economic conditions."
Oracle and SITA yesterday announced a 15-year agreement "to develop the most open and agile airline reservations system ever designed." Oracle Executive VP-Europe, Middle East and Africa Loic Le Guisquet said SITA will be represented on its CIO and customer advisory boards and have "access to Oracle Labs and the Oracle Excellence Centre for co-innovation programs."
As had been expected following its mid-December ruling on the matter, the UK Competition Commission is requiring BAA to sell both London Gatwick and Stansted and either Edinburgh or Glasgow International, reasoning that this is "the only way to address comprehensively the detriment to passengers and airlines from the complete absence of competition between BAA's southeast airports and between Edinburgh and Glasgow."
ANA pilots flying for its Air Nippon (473 pilots), Air Nippon Network (57), Air Next (23) and Air Central (53) subsidiaries staged a 24-hr. strike yesterday "despite prolonged and urgent negotiations," the company said. Prior to the strike, ANA said the work action would result in cancellation of 137 domestic flights and an additional 30 delays, together comprising 18.6% of the total domestic program.
Air Cargo Management Group released its latest 20-year freighter forecast yesterday, projecting 2028 fleet sizes for both an "optimistic" scenario in which air cargo traffic averages 6% annual growth and, taking into account the weak global economic situation, a "low growth" scenario in which traffic rises just 3%-4% per year ( ATWOnline, March 4). "The baseline assumption used by ACMG is that the current downturn will prove to be a short-lived event in the context of a 20-year forecast," MD Robert Dahl said.
US FAA's ability to transition to the NextGen ATC system is threatened by the lack of a detailed plan with measurable goals, airlines' reluctance to spend money to equip aircraft and questions over who ultimately is in charge of implementation, a series of witnesses testified at a House of Representatives hearing yesterday.
Flydubai said it will operate out of Dubai International's Terminal 2 when it launches flight operations later this year. Initial destinations will be within 4.5 hr. flying time and will be announced "shortly," the state-owned low-cost startup said ( ATWOnline, July 15, 2008).
Skyways Aviation arranged the lease of two RJ85s (one delivered, one to be delivered in April) on behalf of Blue1 to Air France KLM subsidiary CityJet.
El Al announced the appointment of Amikan Cohen as chairman. He most recently was president of telecommunications firm Partner Communications. He replaces interim Chairman Amnon Lipkin-Shachak.
