Tianjin-based Okay Airways will shut down for one month owing to conflicts between airline management and controlling stakeholder Juneyao Group, which sent a letter to CAAC claiming it no longer is able to guarantee Okay's operational safety. The carrier will suspend operations from Dec. 15 to Jan. 15, as instructed by CAAC, which will send staff to audit Okay's safety standards. It has delayed taking delivery of its second MA60 ( ATWOnline, Oct. 21).
US Air Transport Assn. named Delta Air Lines GM-Security Technology, Compliance and Facilitation Eric Thacker as director-security operations responsible for daily coordination with the Transportation Security Administration, effective immediately. It also appointed DL Director-Government Affairs Sametta Barnett as MD-security effective next month.
Air Berlin reported a €45.6 million ($57.7 million) third-quarter profit, up 43.2% from the €31.9 million earned in the year-ago period, on an 8.6% year-over-year lift in revenue to a company record €1.06 billion. Operating profit rose 57% to €89.1 million from €56.8 million. AB said its efficiency program "is bearing fruit," citing an 8.8% fall in passenger numbers to 8.6 million but a 15.3% lift in unit revenue to 7.66 euro cents. Nine-month EBIT swung to a €35.1 million profit from a €9.5 million loss in the year-ago period.
Thai Airways flight from Phuket landed at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi yesterday, marking the resumption of service at the capital's international airport following a one-week closure caused by a siege by antigovernment protesters ( ATWOnline, Dec. 3). BKK is expected to reopen slowly over the coming days. Normal service still may be some time away as the first order of business is arranging flights to ferry more than 200,000 foreign passengers still stranded in Bangkok.
ATWOnline webinar "How IT can help airlines meet the environmental regulatory burden" featured experts discussing how carriers will need to upgrade information technology systems to meet rigorous monitoring, reporting and verification requirements related to new environmental regulations, particularly the EU emissions trading scheme set to include airlines from 2012.
Assn. of European Airlines Secretary General Ulrich Schulte-Strathaus is forecasting that AEA's 35 members collectively will post a meager net profit of €300 million ($379.5 million) for 2008, down from €3.7 billion in 2007 and the €1.1-€1.8 billion forecast earlier this year, and a heavy loss in 2009.
British Airways flew 8.71 billion RPKs in November, down 5.9% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 3.1% to 11.72 billion ASKs and load factor dropped 2.2 points to 74.4%. American Airlines flew 9.53 billion system RPMs in November, down 14.5% year-over-year, against a 9.3% drop in capacity to 12.45 billion ASMs. Load factor was down 4.6 points to 76.6%. American Eagle flew 568.1 million RPMs, down 21.5%, while capacity fell 15.9% to 844.2 million ASMs. Load factor dropped 4.8 points to 67.3%.
South African Airways and the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union reached an agreement under which the carrier cancelled plans to outsource call centers to Dimension Data on Dec. 1 pending further discussions with the union. SATAWU engaged in industrial action last weekend. Separately, SAA said it will launch twice-weekly Johannesburg-Buenos Aires flights on April 8 aboard an A340-200. A third weekly flight begins in July. EZE is SAA's second South American destination after Sao Paulo Guarulhos.
Norwegian announced an expansion at its recently opened Copenhagen base comprising six additional 737-800s that will operate 12 new routes beginning in April. On April 2 it will launch flights from CPH to Amsterdam, Budapest, Krakow, Paris Orly and Palma. The following day service will begin to Edinburgh and Prague, with Faro and Pisa flights beginning April 4. Service to Heraklion and Split will launch May 2, bringing to 17 the number of routes Norwegian operates from CPH. It said it plans to fly to Barcelona, Rome and London as well.
Proposed merger of British Airways and Qantas announced Tuesday already is generating controversy in Australia, some 19 months after similar sentiments helped derail a leveraged buyout of QF by a multinational consortium.
Lufthansa confirmed to ATWOnline yesterday that it temporarily has removed four A300-600s from service as a result of reduced demand. "We have parked the aircraft for an unspecified time," a spokesperson said. LH has no current plans to park additional aircraft, but if further capacity adjustments are necessary it will consider removing A340-300s from the fleet, the spokesperson added.
Bangkok Suvarnabhumi's week-long siege by antigovernment protesters appeared to be at an end yesterday after Thailand's Constitutional Court banned Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat from politics for five years, forcing his resignation. The protesters announced they would leave BKK and domestic hub Don Muang, both of which shut down after being stormed on Nov. 25 ( ATWOnline, Dec. 2). An estimated 100,000-300,000 foreign passengers have been stranded in Bangkok.
Teledyne Controls won a contract with Wizz Air to provide its Flight Data Interface Management Unit for installation on 70 A320s and possibly 25 more. Technology will handle flight data acquisition, aircraft condition monitoring and data recording. Wizz also selected Teledyne's Application Generation Software to enhance aircraft condition monitoring capability.
Qantas and Virgin Blue welcomed the Australian government's draft National Aviation Policy Statement or "Green Paper" as "forward-looking and balanced." The new policy allows a single overseas interest to take up to a 49% stake in Qantas, up from 25%. The government also said it will relaunch its effort to select a site for a new Sydney airport well away from the so-called "Sydney basin."
Alitalia's relaunch under the ownership of the Compagnia Aerea Italia investor group will be delayed until "after Christmas vacations to avoid the most congested holiday period," Italian Minister of Productive Activities Claudio Scajola told reporters in Rome, according to Reuters. "I don't see any major problems if it becomes operational after 10-15 days. With all the problems we've had, this is definitely the least of them," he said. CAI originally was supposed to take control of AZ on Nov. 30 but now will assume ownership on Dec.
Airbus donated $6 million to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum to help cover Phase 2 construction of the Udvar-Hazy Center near Washington Dulles. The new buildings will be dedicated to behind-the-scenes care and storage of the Smithsonian's collection of historic aircraft, spacecraft, related artifacts and archival materials.
Aircell announced that its Gogo inflight Internet service is available to passengers with Wi-Fi enabled devices on select Virgin America flights. Service launched as a beta test on a single aircraft Nov. 22 ( ATWOnline, Nov. 26) and was offered free over the Thanksgiving holiday. With the official commercial launch, pricing will be set at $12.95 for flights over 3 hr. and $9.95 for flights of 3 hr. or less.
Boeing engineering and technical employees represented by the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace voted to ratify two four-year collective bargaining agreements covering nearly 21,000 employees in Washington, Oregon, California and Utah, the manufacturer announced. The deal was reached last month ( ATWOnline, Nov. 17). Both SPEEA and the machinists represented by the International Assn.
JetBlue Airways will launch daily flights from Fort Lauderdale to Santo Domingo (aboard an A320) and Cancun (E-190) in May. Romavia yesterday launched a twice-weekly Bucharest Otopeni-Vienna service aboard a BAe 146-200.
Travelport GDS concluded a full-content, multiyear agreement with TAP Portugal providing all Galileo- and Worldspan-connected travel agents with access to TAP's published fares and inventory, including Web-only fares. Travelport and TAP also agreed on a joint sales program to strengthen both parties in key markets across Africa as well as in France, Italy and Brazil.
Southwest Airlines won US Bankruptcy Court approval to purchase ATA Airlines' 14 slots at New York LaGuardia for $7.5 million ( ATWOnline, Nov. 20), Bloomberg News reported. Sale will be finalized when ATA's bankruptcy plan is approved. SWA currently flies to Chicago Midway, Baltimore, Las Vegas and five Florida destinations from Long Island Islip. SWA flew 5.26 billion RPMs in November, down 8.3% year-over-year. Capacity rose 0.4% to 8.33 billion ASMs, dropping load factor 6.1 points to 63.2%.
Mesa Air Group finalized a deal with Fokker Services for the sale, management and repair of its Dash 8-200 spare parts inventories. Fokker will pay Mesa approximately $3 million for the parts and provide inventory management and repair services for 16 Dash 8-200s, while Mesa will receive about $1.6 million in deferred monthly fee payments.
Delta Air Lines said yesterday that systemwide capacity for both it and new subsidiary Northwest Airlines will be down 6%-8% in 2009, comprising a 3%-5% international cut and an 8%-10% domestic reduction. The capacity down-gauging from 2007 to 2009 collectively will total around 20%, equaling the capacity slashed by United Airlines over the two-year period. It likely will necessitate further job cuts, DL CEO Richard Anderson and President Ed Bastian told employees in a memo.
Nordic Aviation Capital and KIRK Kapital announced a sale and leaseback deal with AMR Leasing Corp. covering 39 ATR 72s operated by San Juan-based Executive Airlines, which flies as American Eagle. NAC and KIRK, both based in Denmark, established a joint venture called NK Aviation Ltd., Ireland that will lease the aircraft back to Executive. AMR said the deal was worth approximately $200 million, according to press reports.
Aeroports de Paris and Schiphol Group obtained all approvals and authorizations required to complete the 8% cross-shareholding announced in October ( ATWOnline, Oct. 22). Schiphol acquired an 8% stake in ADP from the French government for €530 million ($671 million), or €67 per share. ADP spent €370 million an 8% stake in Schiphol through its subscription to a reserved capital increase. The airport operators' initial cooperation agreement will last for 12 years.
