United Technologies Corp. announced that Hamilton Sundstrand President David Hess will succeed Stephen Finger as president of Pratt & Whitney on Jan. 1 when Finger retires. Alain Bellemare, currently president of Pratt & Whitney Canada, will succeed Hess at Hamilton Sundstrand. Hess and Bellemare will report to UTC President & CEO Louis Chenevert. Hess, 53, joined UTC in 1979 and has been with Hamilton Sundstrand since 1995. He has held his current position for three years.
Goodrich inked a deal with US Airways to refurbish half its CFM56-5B thrust reversers and provide initial exchange units to facilitate a maintenance program. Contract will run through 2012 under the Goodrich Aerostructures Prime Solutions program. Work will take place in Foley, Ala.
United Airlines parent UAL Corp. reported a third-quarter net loss of $779 million, reversed from a net profit of $334 million in the year-ago period, blaming the bulk of the result on a $519 million noncash net loss on fuel hedge contracts caused by the recent drop in oil prices.
United Airlines parent UAL Corp. promoted Senior VP-Marketing Dennis Cary to senior VP and chief marketing and customer officer. In addition, it named Chief Customer Officer Graham Atkinson as president of UA's Mileage Plus loyalty program.
The Russian government is moving ahead with forging a state-owned airline alliance to replace defunct AiRUnion, with the first board meeting of the new nine-carrier grouping scheduled for Nov. 11. The company will be 51% owned by Russian Technology Corp., a source close to the negotiations confirmed to ATWOnline, with Russia Airlines (or some derivative thereof) reportedly the preferred name. RIA Novosti reported that the Moscow city government will hold the remaining 49% ( ATWOnline, Oct. 2).
Aeroports de Paris, which operates the main Paris-area airports, and Schiphol Group, operator of Amsterdam Schiphol, yesterday agreed to enter into an alliance that will include each acquiring an 8% stake in the other, establishment of a "dual hub" philosophy for Paris CDG and AMS that is expected to produce annual airside synergies/savings totaling €89 million ($119.4 million) and "joint ventures" to acquire and develop airports around the world.
Smiths Detection yesterday reached a $6 million deal with the US Transportation Security Administration to provide Ionscan 500DT trace explosives detectors for use at airport checkpoints. Desktop device facilitates screening for air cargo facilities and other critical infrastructure. In August TSA placed the detectors on its Qualified Products List. SD currently has trace detection and x-ray technology installed at about 80% of airports worldwide.
Delta Air Lines intends to reduce its number of regional partners as the merger with Northwest Airlines approaches. "If you add everyone up together now you have nine [regional partners]," Delta Connection Senior VP Don Bornhorst told the The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "I think the right answer is going to be along the lines of seven or eight. We have too much lift in Delta Connection." He said there no longer is a "seller's market" for regionals.
Ryanair will open bases in Alghero and Cagliari in March, creating eight domestic and 11 international routes to/from Sardinia. AHO and CAG become the LCC's sixth and seventh Italian bases. It will base two new 737s at CAG and launch service to Brussels Charleroi, Genoa, Karlsruhe Baden, Paris Beauvais, Rome Ciampino, Trieste, Brescia (all start March 30), Cuneo, Dusseldorf Weeze, Edinburgh, Marseille, Seville, Treviso (March 31), and Manchester (April 1).
Spirit AeroSystems will supply Continental Airlines with structural parts and components for its Boeing fleet under a multiyear deal announced yesterday. Contract covers 370 737, 757, 767 and 777 aircraft.
Worldwide Flight Services won a contract from Royal Jordanian for cargo handling at London Heathrow and Ireland's regional airports. Contract includes ramp transportation and loading and unloading for A310Fs as well as coastwise trucking in the UK and Ireland. Agreement takes effect next month.
SkyEurope Airlines "did not fulfill its payment plan" with Austrian Airlines Group and no longer will have its 737-700s serviced by Austrian Technik, AAG CEO Alfred Oetsch told Vienna's Die Presse. In addition, several SkyEurope aircraft were not refueled at VIE last week owing to unpaid fuel bills. US investor York Global Finance, which holds 29.9% of the LCC, plans to lead a consortium that intends to take a complete or majority stake ( ATWOnline, Oct. 17). It hopes to finalize the deal at a board meeting scheduled for Nov. 10.
Austria's Niki expects to report a profit in 2008, President Niki Lauda told ATWOnline. The carrier posted a $3.5 million profit in 2007. It will take delivery of a second A321 next May and lease an A320 from new partner Air Berlin for six months beginning next April ( ATWOnline, Oct. 17). Two E-190s are expected to arrive at around the same time, lifting Niki's fleet to 13 aircraft.
American Airlines' order for up to 100 787s for delivery between 2012 and 2020, announced last week ( ATWOnline, Oct. 16), begins to answer questions about the program's potential production ramp-up.
Rockwell Collins announced plans to acquire SEOS, a visual display provider for full-flight simulators. Headquartered in West Sussex with 150 employees, the company will assume RC's name and join its Simulation and Training Solutions organization. Deal is expected to be finalized in 30 days. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Moroccan government plans to privatize Royal Air Maroc and its Atlas Blue subsidiary, according to a document cited by Reuters. Some or all of the carriers will be sold directly to investors or through the Casablanca Stock Exchange, the government said. No timetable was announced.
Bmi likely will not be profitable for the full year and will trim winter capacity in response to declining passenger demand, Deputy CEO Tim Bye told ATWOnline.
Boeing may avoid a second costly labor strike with the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace following negotiations last week. The Everett Herald reported that leaders on both sides emerged upbeat following talks, with SPEEA Executive Director Ray Goforth telling the paper, "There was more substantive talk about issues during this two-hour meeting than we've had with Boeing since committees started meeting eight months ago." The tone represents a reversal from last month, when SPEEA offered public support for the International Assn.
Aer Arann will lay off up to 100 employees (about 25% of its workforce) as part of a restructuring it said will "better position the airline in the current difficult operating environment." The Dublin-based carrier also plans to operate nine aircraft rather than the current 13 on its own network and will focus on increasing its wet-lease business, according to press reports.
US Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) released a letter he wrote to US airline CEOs urging them to "roll back. . .fuel surcharges and extra fees" in line with lower oil prices. "It seems to me that the extra costs of flying imposed over the summer are less relevant as fuel prices have declined," he wrote.
Tianjin-based Okay Airways became the first Chinese carrier to operate the domestically produced MA60 as the company completed a successful inaugural flight on Oct. 19. The 50/60-seat turboprop's other customers are from Latin America, Africa and elsewhere in Asia. The aircraft has received 136 orders so far. China's first LCC, Okay has increased its focus on the regional market in recent years ( ATWOnline, March 17). Last year it signed a lease deal with China Aviation Industrial Leasing Co.
Extech Data Systems said it added capability to its Andes 3 portable printer featuring a 32-bit microcontroller from ST Microelectronics, a 4MB Flash, 1MB SRAM memory and an in-field programmable CPU. Technology utilizes Form Fiesta, a Windows-based utility enabling users to create boarding passes, parking tickets and other forms.
Qantas yesterday launched A380 service to the US West Coast when its inaugural Melbourne-Los Angeles flight, QF93, departed Australia at 11:15 a.m. local time and landed at LAX at around 7:30 a.m. QF94 was scheduled to depart LAX late last night. Qantas will operate its first Sydney-LAX A380 flight Friday and it said using the A380 on routes to the US is "a mark of its commitment to growing the transpacific market." It currently offers 47 weekly flights to the US.
UPS will raise air express shipping rates by an average of 4.9% from Jan. 5. It said the increase reflects a 6.9% rise in the base rate and a 2% reduction in fuel surcharges. The move indicates that the delivery giant is less concerned about oil prices, which have dropped sharply recently, but remains wary of the weak global economy and its potentially negative effect on express package shipping next year.
