Air Astana carried 2.3 million passengers in 2008, up 8% on the prior year, at a 64% load factor. Capacity rose 16% to 7.5 billion ASKs, the Kazakh flag carrier said. It took delivery of three A320 family aircraft last year, bringing its fleet to 21 planes. It confirmed orders for an additional six A320s and plans to be operating 34 aircraft by 2015. It currently flies two 767s, four 757s, one A319, two A321s, seven A320s and five F50s to 25 domestic and 21 international destinations.
Teledyne Controls said German charter airline Blue Wings selected its Flight Data Interface Management Unit for 20 new A320s. First delivery is expected in August. Technology will perform flight data acquisition, aircraft condition monitoring and data recording. SunGard will provide Etihad Airways with its Kiodex Risk Workbench, a Web-based trading technology to manage the airline's fuel hedging program.
Korean Air, Asiana Airlines, Singapore Airlines and Air Canada began rerouting flights that normally pass through North Korean airspace after Pyongyang said it was "compelled to declare that security cannot be guaranteed for South Korean civil airplanes flying through the territorial air of our side."
Greek government selected domestic holding company Marfin Investment Group to purchase Olympic Airlines. "The government's legal and financial advisers informed us that the negotiations wth MIG's advisers for the sale of Olympic's flying operations and technical maintenance ended successfully," Development Minister Costis Hatzidakis said. MIG bid €45.7 million ($57.5 million) for OA's flight operations and €16.7 million for its MRO division.
Boeing booked three commercial aircraft orders in the week ended March 3, one 777 for Air New Zealand and two 777s for an unidentified customer(s). Gross year-to-date orders reached 22, compared to 190 in the year-ago period, although the 2009 net remained negative (-10) thanks to 32 787 cancellations. The other 19 orders this year were for 737s--13 from Ryanair, five from Southwest Airlines and one from Alaska Airlines.
British Airways yesterday lowered its guidance for the 2009-10 financial year beginning April 1 and said it now expects revenue to decline 5% and an operating result similar to the £150 million ($211.1 million) loss forecast for the current year excluding any severance costs.
The Chinese airline industry showed some signs of recovery in January as domestic carriers posted a collective net profit of CNY40 million ($5.8 million), according to CAAC. The airlines reported a CNY7.07 billion net loss through the first 11 months of 2008. The regulator credited "favorable policies" implemented in December for the January result, including its decision to withhold approval for new entrants until 2010 and its call for carriers to cancel or delay aircraft orders. Fee reductions and infrastructure improvements also played a role, CAAC said.
Special charges were the key contributor to Pinnacle Airlines Corp.'s $4.9 million loss in 2008, a reversal from a $34.6 million profit in the prior year.
US Air Transport Assn. wrote a letter to Senate Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman James Oberstar (D-Minn.), who recently introduced legislation targeting antitrust immunity among airline alliances ( ATWOnline, Feb. 6), saying that "the traveling and shipping public will suffer from a withdrawal of the immunity, which fosters the development of seamless networks of service so beneficial to airline customers." Oberstar's bill would require immunity to be renewed every three years.
Ryanair yesterday presented a "rescue plan for Irish tourism," part of its ongoing campaign to convince the government to scrap the €10 ($12.50) "tourist tax" set to kick in on March 30. The LCC cited the levy when announcing flight cuts at Dublin and Shannon ( ATWOnline, Feb. 13) and claimed its plan would grow air traffic and tourism to Ireland by 20% over the next two years.
Oman Air CEO Peter Hill said the carrier will continue to enhance its network despite the current industry downturn and expects to operate to up to 40 destinations by year end. It currently serves 27. Hill was speaking at this week's Aviation Outlook Middle East conference in Abu Dhabi. The airline plans to add Paris Charles de Gaulle, Frankfurt, Colombo and Male this year. It recently took delivery of a 737-800, bringing its fleet to 15 aircraft, and expects to take four more -800s and four A330-300s in the coming months.
TAAG Angola Airlines is targeting June for a resumption of services to the EU, from which it was blacklisted two years ago, an executive told state radio in comments cited by Reuters. "There will be a new EU inspection in May. . .and our goal is for TAAG to resume flights to the EU in June," Rui Carreira said ( ATWOnline, Nov. 17, 2008). TAAG reportedly lost $70 million last year.
Jat Airways said that just 288 employees accepted its €300 ($376)-per-year-of-service severance offer and that an additional 300 or so will be laid off, with more cuts to come, CEO Sasa Vlaisavljevic told the Tanjug news agency in comments cited by Reuters ( ATWOnline, Oct. 1, 2008).
US FAA Acting Administrator Lynne Osmus yesterday formally named Peggy Gilligan associate administrator-aviation safety, replacing the retired Nicholas Sabatini. Gilligan previously served as deputy assistant administrator-aviation safety. John Hickey, director of FAA's Aircraft Certification Service, will replace Gilligan. He in turn will be replaced by Dorenda Baker, formerly deputy director-Aircraft Certification Service.
TUIfly will cut winter 2009-10 capacity by around 100 weekly flights, or approximately 14%. Cuts will comprise both routes and frequencies, it said Wednesday, citing a drop in demand. Reductions in the upcoming summer schedule also are being considered.
US FAA amended an airworthiness directive pertaining to Trent 800-powered 777s to incorporate new procedures recommended by Boeing to prevent the fuel feed system icing that is believed to have caused both the uncommanded loss of thrust on a Delta Air Lines 777-200ER last November and the dual rollback that led to the January 2008 British Airways -200ER crash landing at London Heathrow ( ATWOnline, Feb. 5).
AirTran Airways flew 1.23 billion RPMs in February, a 13.6% fall from the year-ago month. Capacity dropped 9.1% to 1.66 billion ASMs, lowering load factor 3.9 points to 74.2%. WestJet said it is expecting first-quarter RASM to drop 10%-12% year-over-year, although that decline will be offset partially by falling fuel costs. The LCC flew 1.12 billion RPMs in February, up 5.5% year-over-year, against a 5.7% rise in ASMs to 1.35 billion. Load factor slipped 0.2 point to 82.6%.
