European Commission VP-Transport Antonio Tajani said the EC's DG-Transport and Energy plans to ask for information from Airports Council International, Assn. of European Airlines "and other parties concerned" in order to investigate the "lost luggage phenomenon" reported in a study released yesterday by London-based, UK CAA-established Air Transport Users Council. The study revealed that airlines mishandled 42 million bags worldwide in 2007, up 40% from 2005, and that "passengers often struggle to get reasonable redress from airlines after the event," the AUC said.
Shanghai Airlines is expecting a "difficult" 2009, although a turnaround is possible if it can maintain its passenger load factor of 72% and the airline industry shows signs of recovery in April or May, Chairman Zhou Chi said. SAL announced in January that it expects to report loss for 2008. In response, it announced a 20% cut in senior management salaries and said it would not lay off any employees.
Air Berlin and TUIfly confirmed that they are in discussions regarding a long-awaited alliance. AB said yesterday that negotiations regarding a cross-shareholding with the TUI Travel subsidiary are well under way ( ATWOnline, Oct. 14, 2008), while a TUI spokesperson in Hanover told ATWOnline that talks are in an advanced stage.
Singapore Airlines Sunday launched a four-times-weekly Singapore-Abu Dhabi-Kuwait service aboard a 777-200. Wizz Air will launch flights from Prague to Liverpool (thrice-weekly on July 11) and Oslo Torp (four-times-weekly on July 12). Royal Jordanian will launch twice-weekly Amman-Benghazi flights on June 1. A fourth weekly Amman-Tripoli flight will begin on April 1. Turkish Airlines Sunday launched thrice-weekly Istanbul Ataturk-Mashad service.
UK government's proposal to grant the Environment Agency the power to fine airlines that do not comply with the EU's aviation emissions trading scheme and fail to report emissions data--with fines rising from £5,000 ($6,998.55) and potential seizure of aircraft for nonpayment--could open a legal can of worms, according to Christopher Norton, who heads the environment and climate change practice at international law firm Lovells.
Oneworld carriers American Airlines, British Airways, Finnair, Iberia and Royal Jordanian yesterday jointly filed answers to the US Dept. of Transportation's request for additional information regarding their transatlantic antitrust application and expressed confidence that a decision will be made by DOT in the second half of 2009.
East Star Airlines was forced to suspend operations Sunday by CAAC owing to its heavy debt burden and the collapse of a stake sale deal with Air China parent CNAC. It is the second privately held Chinese carrier to suspend service in recent months. Okay Airways stopped flying in December ( ATWOnline, Jan. 19) but resumed operations the following month ( ATWOnline, Jan. 26).
Unisys extended contracts with Air Canada under which the airline will continue using its Hosting & Integration Services and Cargo Portal Services programs for cargo operations through 2015 and 2011 respectively. The HIS contract entails Unisys hosting AC on its Logistics Management System at its data center in Minneapolis. CPS is an Internet portal that brings together a range of carriers and forwarders in a neutral online forum.
SAS Group shareholders last Friday approved a rights issue expected to raise up to SEK6.06 billion ($704.9 million) before costs, in which each share held on March 18 will entitle the holder to subscribe to 14 new shares at SEK2.63 each. The company's share capital was reduced by SEK1.23 billion without redemption of shares "in order to enable and facilitate the rights issue," it said ( ATWOnline, Feb. 4).
Ryanair will reduce its operation at Dublin further from July in "response to the decision of the government-owned Irish Aviation Authority to increase ATC charges by 12% this summer, at more than 12 times the rate of inflation," the LCC said. It announced an initial cut at DUB last month and said Ireland's €10 ($12.92) passenger tax "and other government price hikes" contributed to a 12% fall in passengers at the airport in February ( ATWOnline, March 6).
Lufthansa said yesterday that it plans to implement short-time work for approximately 1,000 ground employees as an additional measure to counter falling passenger numbers. The reductions will not take place at its Frankfurt or Munich hubs and will affect those "mostly employed in service and support functions." The group transported 4.7 million passengers in February, down 9.3% year-over-year.
CSA Czech Airlines will wet-lease two 737-400s to Nayzak Air Transport of Libya. Aircraft will be based at Tripoli and will operate domestically and to Egypt through April 2010.
Worldwide Flight Services announced a two-year contract with American Airlines to provide cargo handling and cargo-related customer service at Toronto, taking over AA's 22,000-sq.-ft. cargo facility at the airport.
Emirates dismissed reports that the A380 has a laundry list of problems that have kept the jet grounded numerous times for repairs. Germany's Der Spiegel claimed over the weekend that the airline, the A380's largest customer, delivered a 46-page list of problems to Airbus that required rectification.
Indian airlines carried 3.3 million passengers on scheduled flights last month, about level with January. Kingfisher Airlines led with 904,000 (27.1% market share, 74.3% load factor), followed by Jet Airways at 597,000 (17.9%, 68.7%) and Air India at 574,000 (17.2%, 66.3%). Iberia flew 3.66 billion RPKs in February, down 10.7% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 7.6% to 4.79 billion ASKs and load factor slipped 2.7 points to 76.4%.
Delta Air Lines Executive VP-Human Resources and Labor Relations Mike Campbell said in a merger update sent to employees yesterday that "seniority integration has already been resolved for pilots, dispatchers, AMTs and meteorologists" and that progress is being made on "a fair and equitable integration for flight attendants." If Northwest Airlines flight attendants agree to recommendations made by their DL counterparts last week, "we would have seniority integration issues resolved for the vast majority of our combined employee groups," he said.
Brussels Airlines and Lufthansa will codeshare on flights between Brussels and Frankfurt, Berlin, Hamburg, Hannover, Nuremberg and Stuttgart beginning March 29. The carriers intend to add Munich "at a later point." Air Nostrum will launch twice-weekly flights from Madrid to Bari on May 5 and to Palermo on June 4.
AerSale is the name of a new company that will focus on "the mid-life current technology airliner aftermarket." It was founded by Nick Finazzo and Bob Nichols, co-founders and sole shareholders of Miami-based AeroTurbine, a provider of aftermarket aircraft engines and parts that they sold to Amsterdam-based operating lessor AerCap in April 2006. AerSale will acquire aircraft 12-25 years old that are on lease or can be remarketed "with the intent to eventually disassemble such aircraft" for parts and engines.
Royal Air Maroc CEO Driss Benhima told a business conference in Casablanca last week that the carrier soon will place an order for six new aircraft. "We will sign the order deal by the end of this month," he was quoted as saying by Reuters, but declined to specify the aircraft type.
UK CAA announced its final decision on price caps at London Stansted for the next five years and confirmed that it will toughen performance targets, noting that under the new incentive scheme BAA could be forced to return up to £10 million ($13.8 million) per year if delivers "poor" service to passengers and airlines.
Austrian Airlines Group executive board members Andreas Bierwirth and Peter Malanik said Friday in Vienna that the company does "not have enough reserves to get through the crisis" that helped push it to a €429.5 million ($550.3 million) loss in 2008, a reversal from the €3.3 million profit in 2007 and the worst result in its history.
Lufthansa Group airlines flew 9.83 billion RPKs in February, a 9.8% drop from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 5.7% to 13.63 billion ASKs and load factor slipped 3.3 points to 72.1%.
Airports Council International-Europe said it was "alarmed" by the European Commission's proposal for a temporary freeze of the 80/20 slot rule during the upcoming summer schedule, which would allow airlines to reduce capacity while retaining historic rights to slots at coordinated EU airports ( ATWOnline, March 11).
