US Dept. of Transportation's Office of Inspector General said in a report released last week that FAA needs to upgrade its safety oversight to account for the growing amount of aircraft maintenance work outsourced to foreign countries by US airlines. According to the report, the nine largest US passenger carriers sent 71% of their heavy airframe checks to outside repair stations last year, up from only 34% in 2003.
JetBlue Airways flew 1.75 billion RPMs in September, down 4.8% year-over-year. Capacity fell 11.5% to 2.28 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 5.3 points to 76.7%. EasyJet transported 4.2 million passengers in September, up 22.1% year-over-year. Load factor rose 1.8 points to 86.9%.
Frontier Airlines reached an agreement with the Transport Workers Union, which represents its dispatchers, for wage and benefit concessions through September 2012. Deal is subject to TWU membership and bankruptcy court approval. Frontier is negotiating similar agreements with the Frontier Airline Pilots Assn. and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
Caja Madrid, Iberia's largest shareholder, said yesterday that British Airways shareholders likely will receive approximately 60% of a merged company while IB shareholders take the remainder, Reuters reported. CM Chairman Miguel Blesa told reporters that he expected the new board to have a similar composition.
Ryanair will base a sixth aircraft at Shannon and launch service to Frankfurt Hahn and Newcastle in November. It also will add 26 weekly frequencies on existing routes. From Oct. 31 it will cease operating to Nottingham East Midlands and cut frequencies to London Luton. It also will launch daily flights to Paris Beauvais from Nottingham (Oct. 28) and Liverpool (Nov. 3). Separately, it extended its online check-in service from five days to 14 days before travel, allowing most passengers to check in for both outbound and return legs before departure.
Aer Lingus intends to cut up to 1,500 jobs as part of an effort to save €74 million ($101.8 million), it announced yesterday following meetings with unions, according to widespread press reports.
Facing a projected $250 million drop in revenue this year, Mesa Air Group is finding it impossible to "support the same level of overhead" and is reducing staff across the board, Chairman Jonathan Ornstein told ATWOnline yesterday. "The company will be smaller this year and we needed to right-size the workforce to the new level of reductions," Ornstein said. "Reductions were made throughout the company at all levels. It was a very difficult process for everyone, me in particular." He did not disclose further details.
Jet Airways launched daily ATR 72-500 flights from Hyderabad to Pune, Visakhapatnam and Goa, re-launched Pune-Bengaluru aboard a 737NG and started daily Muscat-Thiruvananthapuram aboard a 737-800. It also expanded its codeshare agreement with Brussels Airlines effective Oct. 26 to include SN flights from Brussels to Paris Charles de Gaulle and Manchester. Ethiopian Airlines will begin serving Ouagadougou six-times-weekly on Oct. 26. The 757-200 flights will originate in Addis Ababa and operate via Accra, Abuja and/or Lome.
Air France subsidiary Brit Air converted six CRJ1000 NextGen options into firm orders, Bombardier announced. Aircraft are worth $299 million at list prices. Original order for eight firm plus eight options was placed in February 2007 ( ATWOnline, Feb. 21, 2007). Brit currently operates 15 CRJ100s and 15 CRJ700s. The CRJ1000 NextGen completed its inaugural flight last month at Montreal Mirabel ( ATWOnline, Sept. 4).
Chinese carriers should get some relief in the fourth quarter as the Chinese government decided to cut the price of fuel by CNY570 ($82.37) per ton owing to the recent drop in international oil prices. The reduction took effect Oct. 1. It marks the fifth time that Beijing has adjusted the domestic fuel price. It introduced a CNY210 per ton increase in the first quarter, a CNY80 drop in the second quarter, a CNY1,500 hike on June 20 and a CNY720 addition on July 8.
Boeing last week said it is combining its Alteon training subsidiary with existing training groups within Boeing Commercial Airplanes "to form a new, unified training organization" that will retain the Alteon name and become a business unit within Boeing Commercial Aviation Services. The new organization will provide customers with "a single integrated business encompassing all development, deployment and delivery of aviation training and flight services," the company said.
British Airways admitted that its full-year revenue forecasts "carry some risk" as "forward bookings are being affected by the increased anxiety in financial markets and by the uncertain economic outlook." It said long-haul premium traffic has "softened." It continues to target a breakeven result at the operational level and said that "good yields and the stronger [US] dollar are broadly offsetting volume impact. It anticipates fuel costs to be around £3 billion ($5.3 billion). BA flew 9.29 billion RPKs in September, down 4.8% year-over-year.
Mesa Air Group announced that Paul Foley has been tapped to serve as COO. Foley formerly was president and CEO of Mesaba Holdings, parent of Mesaba Airlines and Big Sky Airlines. Under his leadership, Mesaba Airlines exited bankruptcy protection and became a wholly owned subsidiary of Northwest Airlines. Big Sky shut down in March after continued losses ( ATWOnline, Dec. 21, 2007).
Hawaiian Airlines last week took delivery of the first of four 717-200s on lease from Boeing Capital Corp. Remaining aircraft will arrive one per month in November, December and January, at which point HA will have 15 717s operating on its inter-island network. Aircraft will seat 118-123 passengers with eight seats in first class and will replace a 767-300 used on inter-island routes while restoring a spare aircraft to HA's 717 and 767 fleets.
Japan Airlines took delivery of its first E-170 Friday. JAL signed a deal with Embraer in June 2007 for 10 firm orders plus five options ( ATWOnline, Feb. 23, 2007). The 76-seat, single-class aircraft will be operated by regional subsidiary J-Air.
Turkish Airlines will re-launch thrice-weekly Istanbul Ataturk-Baghdad Oct. 26. Route has been closed since the 1991 Gulf War. Qatar Airways Cargo launched weekly Doha-Zaragoza-Dubai-Doha aboard an A300-600F. Jet Airways re-launched daily Pune-Bengaluru aboard a 737NG. Horizon Air will launch 12-times-weekly Sacramento-Santa Barbara Nov. 9 aboard a CRJ700 Continental Airlines will operate seasonal thrice-weekly Houston Intercontinental-Rio de Janeiro Galeao Dec. 17-Feb. 28 aboard a 767-400.
Aer Lingus said Friday that it will "proceed with a cost-reduction program to deliver. . .substantial savings," adding that "fundamental change" is needed to keep the carrier "competitive" going forward. Meetings are planned this week to detail the cost-cutting plan to EI's labor unions. The SIPTU union representing more than 1,500 ground workers last week voiced "total opposition to outsourcing any part of the Aer Lingus operation." EI reportedly has approached labor groups about outsourcing ground handling operations.
Thai Airways said last week that its third-quarter loss would narrow from the THB9.25 billion ($269.7 million) deficit reported in the second quarter, executive VP Pandit Chanapai said, according to Reuters. He cited declining costs as the reason for the improvement. Load factor is expected to be around 70%. For the full year, Pandit said revenue will fall from the THB174 billion reported in 2007.
Miami International Airport dropped its landing fee 39% to $1.18 per 1,000 lb. of landed weight for the current fiscal year that began Oct. 1. The move reduces the cost per departing passenger to $16.48 from $17.39 in the prior fiscal year and a projected $18.87 under the previously announced FY09 rate. The fee was projected to rise to as much as $2.46. Director of Aviation Jose Abreu warned that in FY10 the landing fee could be as high as $3.73 per 1,000 lb.
Boeing booked 11 more commercial aircraft orders last week, taking its year-to-date net to 623, but said that third-quarter deliveries fell 23% year-over-year. Last week's most notable commitment was ANA's order for nine 767-300ERs, which was announced last month but incorrectly identified with an identical order logged for nine -300ERs the prior previous week ( ATWOnline, Sept. 29).
Emirates SkyCargo announced development of its White Cover application for shipment of temperature-sensitive freight. Design includes heat shielding, air and water resistance and internal escape prevention features. Patent is pending.
Avianca took delivery of the first of 10 A330-200s last week. Aircraft are part of a May 2007 order that included 47 A320 family aircraft ( ATWOnline, May 31, 2007). The A330 will seat 280 and be powered by Trent 772Bs. Avianca will take delivery of one more -200, plus one A319 and one A320, before year end.
Brussels Airlines' recent financial tie-up with Lufthansa and its possible entry into Star Alliance will not affect its cooperation with Jet Airways, SN MD Bernard Gustin told ATWOnline last week.
Sun Country Airlines faces an uncertain future following last week's resignation and arrest of its former chairman, warning employees that a shutdown by Dec. 1 is "a distinct possibility."
LuxairGroup will acquire a fifth Q400 for Luxair Luxembourg Airlines and a 737-800 for its tour operator LuxairTours to replace an ERJ and 737-500 respectively. The 72-seat turboprop should join the Luxair fleet in 2010.
