OnAir said British Airways will install its Mobile OnAir inflight communications service on its twice-daily, all-business-class service between London City and New York JFK. Kuwaiti startup Wataniya Airways also is offering the service on its Kuwait City-Dubai flights (see item above).
Turkish Airlines is abandoning its no-fuel-hedging policy and will hedge approximately 10% of its expected 2009 consumption "in order to fix expenses and to minimize the negative impact of spot price fluctuations on total costs," it said. THY transported 22.8 million passengers in 2008, up 15% from 2007, on a 12.9% rise in RPKs to 34.1 billion. Business class passengers climbed 23.2% and overall capacity was up 11.3% to 46.3 billion ASKs, lifting load factor 1.1 points to 73.8%.
Eurocontrol reported that the number of flights in Europe in 2008 rose just 0.1% year-over-year to around 10 million, the smallest increase in five years. Major markets saw significant traffic declines, particularly Italy (2.7%), the UK (1.7%) and Spain (2.1%). Eastern Europe, especially Turkey (up 8.3%) and Poland (up 9.8%), continued to grow. Low-cost traffic fell for the first time in 15 years to 4,600 flights per day in November, down around 6% year-over-year.
The European Commission opened an in-depth investigation into Lufthansa's proposed takeover of Brussels Airlines parent SN Airholding because of competition concerns regarding several routes between Belgium, Germany and Switzerland.
CIT Aerospace said it signed lease agreements last year covering 119 aircraft for delivery through 2010 and that it delivered 49 aircraft in 2008. It added five new customers during the year. Aviation Capital Group said it completed 49 lease and sale transactions in 2008, including four purchases, four new leases, three extensions and two sales in the fourth quarter. It ordered 23 A320s and 15 737s last year and plans to take delivery of 10 737s and three A320s this year.
Air Canada plans to lay off or furlough 345 flight attendants starting in March. The Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents the cabin staff, confirmed the cuts that will come on top of the 600-plus flight attendant positions cut by AC last year ( ATWOnline, July 16, 2008). An AC spokesperson told The Globe and Mail, "The expectation is that the layoffs will be temporary" and may be rescinded if demand increases during the summer.
Turkish Technic signed a contract with Air Via of Bulgaria to provide C checks on A320s. It also reached agreements to perform line maintenance and wheel, tire and brake overhaul on two Somon Air 737-800s at Dushanbe Airport and to offer line maintenance, engineering service and component pool support covering two Iraqi Airways 737-700s in Baghdad.
Kelowna Flightcraft signed a six-year contract with Air France Industries and KLM Engineering & Maintenance to maintain the CF6-50C2 engines on its fleet of DC-10-30 freighters. Work will take place in KLM E&M's Schiphol engine shop.
City of Chicago will pay United Airlines $163 million to move its O'Hare cargo terminal to make way for the airport's planned new runway scheduled to be constructed this year, the Chicago Tribune reported, adding that city officials are in talks with FedEx regarding a similar relocation.
CIT Aerospace announced the lease of one A320-200 to Swiss International Air Lines. Aircraft is powered by CFM56-5B4/Ps and scheduled for delivery in April.
Lufthansa Systems reached a three-year extension on its contract with KLM cityhopper to streamline crew management and operations control using its NetLine/Crew, NetLine/Ops and NetLine/Ops Maintenance Control technologies.
FlyLAL Lithuanian Airlines filed for bankruptcy Friday, less than a week after shutting down following its failed sale to a Swiss investment group ( ATWOnline, Jan. 21). "We looked at all possible options to continue operations, but being unable to continue flights and without seeing any real chances to renew operations, we were forced to file for bankruptcy," CEO Vytautas Kaikaris said in a statement. The carrier previously had said it was "open for further proposals" but that they must come quickly.
Wizz Air will transfer its Bologna operation to Forli, from which it will continue to serve Katowice (twice-weekly), Warsaw (twice-weekly) and Cluj (thrice-weekly). Move is effective March 29. Qatar Airways will launch its delayed daily Doha-Houston Interconinental 777-200LR service on March 30. It will take delivery of its first -200LR next month. It currently operates five 777-300ERs. Kingfisher Airlines last week launched daily flights to Colombo from Bangalore and Chennai aboard A320s. Oman Air launched daily Muscat-London Heathrow service.
Okay Airways, the Tianjin-based carrier that was suspended last month following a dispute between management and shareholders, was approved to resume operations Saturday. According to CAAC, Okay is permitted to operate passenger services from Tianjin to Harbin, Chengdu, Sanya, Kunming via Changsha, Sanya via Zhuhai, Chongqing via Taiyuan and Quanzhou via Nanjing this week. From Feb. 1 it is expected to resume operating approximately 20 routes. It is estimated that the company has suffered a CNY100 million ($14.6 million) loss due do the suspension.
Korean Air will begin upgrading its long-haul premium seating in May when it takes the first of three 777-300ERs slated to be delivered this year. New aircraft as well as three current 777s will be fitted with the new seats by year end and deployed to New York JFK and Los Angeles. KE's entire widebody fleet eventually will feature the new seats, including A380s scheduled to begin delivery next year and 787s. Key components of the upgrade will be replacing 170-deg. business-class seats with 180-deg.
ATR booked orders for 42 new aircraft and options for another 14 in 2008, a significant drop from the prior year's 113 but higher than insiders anticipated at the end of June, when it had signed deals for just eight new planes.
American Airlines and the Assn. of Professional Flight Attendants announced implementation of a new Aviation Safety Action Program that encourages cabin staff to voluntarily and confidentially report safety-related issues without reprisal. AA and pilots represented by the Allied Pilots Assn. suspended their ASAP last month ( ATWOnline, Dec. 9, 2008).
El Al agreed to plead guilty to colluding on cargo shipping charges and will pay a $15.7 million criminal fine, the US Dept. of Justice announced. The Israeli carrier joined LAN Cargo and subsidiary ABSA Cargo Airline, which also pleaded guilty last week and will pay a combined fine of $109 million ( ATWOnline, Jan. 23).
Lufthansa cancelled 46 domestic and European flights out of its Frankfurt hub owing to a 3-hr. warning strike staged by flight attendants Friday morning. The UFO trade union had issued a warning of industrial action following a breakdown in negotiations over a wage increase ( ATWOnline, Dec. 18, 2008).
Iberia and its pilots represented by SEPLA reached a tentative labor agreement retroactive to 2005 and continuing through this year. IB said the deal ended a "10-year-long period of contention" and now must be approved by union membership. It calls for a one-year, 2.3% pay increase retroactive to 2007, a 2008 raise equivalent to the annual inflation rate and a 2.7% bump this year. Contract also covers productivity and job security issues and includes a 50% reduction in hours when pilots reach age 60.
Continental Airlines said December consolidated RASM rose 3.5%-4.5% year-over-year. Traffic fell 6.7% to 7.11 billion RPMs against a 8.1% decline in capacity to 8.9 billion ASMs. Load factor rose 1.2 points to 79.9%. Frontier Airlines said December yield rose 1.7% year-over-year to 11.75 cents and unit revenue climbed 11.3% to 9.34 cents. RPMs fell 9.7% to 721.2 million while capacity dropped 17.5% to 907.2 million. Load factor was up 6.9 points to 79.5%.
Airbus issued a Safety Bulletin to A320 operators relating to the importance of protecting all aerodynamic data sensors during painting and maintenance and performing low-speed tests at safe altitude. The warnings came as French investigators closed in on the cause of the crash of an Air New Zealand A320 being flown by an XL Airways crew on a test flight off the French coast in November ( ATWOnline, Jan. 12). All seven occupants died when the aircraft plunged into the Mediterranean Sea near Perpignan.
Cebu Pacific Air transported 6.7 million passengers in 2008, up 23% from the prior year, and expects 9.3 million in 2009 as it adds three A320s and three ATR 72-500s to its fleet. It now flies to 15 international and 27 domestic destinations, with five new domestic airports to be added in the coming months. President and CEO Lance Gokongwei said Cebu was "able to successfully convince more Filipinos to travel by air despite economic uncertainties" by offering all-inclusive fares and discounts for passengers declining to check luggage.
The US government took another small step toward a revamp of the nation's air transport infrastructure last week as a proponent was confirmed as the new transportation secretary and the Government Accountability Office officially commended FAA for its progress.
