Air France Industries and KLM Engineering & Maintenance signed a deal with South African Airways subsidiary SAA Technical for repair services and spares pool access across the carrier's fleet. AFI and KLM E&M currently provide component support for SAA Technical's 11 A319-100s, 15 A340-300s/-600s and 21 737-800s. Deal also covers AFI and KLM E&M subsidiary EPCOR, which maintains SAA's A340 APUs.
TAM signed a contract with OnAir, a joint venture between Airbus and SITA, that will enable its passengers to use cell phones or other mobile devices in flight on its A320s for voice, SMS messaging or e-mail on South American routes. The service is expected to begin in the second half of 2009 but is dependent upon approval from Brazil's National Agency of Civil Aviation and National Agency of Telecommunications. Also required is a legislative adjustment because current Brazilian law only authorizes cell phone use when aircraft are on the ground and doors are open.
Jet Airways CEO Wolfgang Prock-Schauer is expecting another loss in the current financial year but believes the carrier will pass Air India in terms of revenue for the 12 months ending March 31, 2009, to become India's leading airline.
European Court of Justice dismissed a claim for damages against the European Commission for the EC's decision to prohibit the proposed acquisition of First Choice by Airtours/MyTravel Group in 1999. "The fact that the Court annulled the decision of the Commission prohibiting the acquisition of First Choice by MyTravel does not make the Community liable in damages, since [it] did not manifestly and gravely infringe Community law," the ECJ ruled yesterday. Airtours tried to acquire UK tour operator First Choice in 1999, but the EC blocked the merger on competition grounds.
Venezuela National Civil Aviation Institute President Jose Martinez told American Airlines, Continental Airlines and Delta Air Lines that they be will have to reduce flights to Caracas by the end of this month as a dispute between the US and Venezuela over airport security intensified.
GuestLogix yesterday reached agreement with US Airways to provide its Mobile Virtual Store solution comprising handheld devices and integrated software services. Solution is expected to streamline cash, credit and debit card sales from the inflight a la carte food and beverage menu. The carrier aims to deploy the technology across its mainline fleet by the first quarter of next year.
Austrian Airlines Group's deadline for potential bidders ends today, and CEO Alfred Oetsch told ATWOnline that at "the latest by the end of October we will know who will be our partner for the future." AAG's majority shareholder, state holding company OIAG, is offering its 43% stake in Austrian but may sell a smaller share because the deal is tied to the condition that Austrian shareholders retain 25% of the carrier.
Sabre Holdings acquired Flight Explorer, which it called "the leading provider of Commercial Aircraft Situation Display solutions providing real-time tracking, reporting and display of en route aircraft." Price and terms were not disclosed. Flight Explorer products will be integrated fully with Dispatch Manager, part of Sabre Airline Solutions' Flight Planning suite.
Lufthansa will base six A319s at Milan Malpensa next year to be operated by subsidiary Air Dolomiti and from February 2009 will offer direct flights from MXP to Barcelona, Brussels, Budapest, Bucharest, Madrid and Paris Charles de Gaulle. It will add London Heathrow and Lisbon in the 2009 summer. The carrier originally planned to operate E-195s but said "demand is high" and the upgrade is warranted. LH added that its expansion at MXP will create 150 new jobs.
Emirates said yesterday that its new service from Dubai to Los Angeles and San Francisco, scheduled to start Oct. 26 and Dec. 15 respectively, will operate initially on a thrice-weekly basis rather than daily as planned owing to delayed delivery of a 777-200LR caused by the Boeing machinists' strike. EK already has pushed back upgrading its Dubai-JFK A380 service from thrice-weekly to daily on Oct. 1 because of an unexpected delay in receiving its second A380.
Developed by Boeing and certified two years ago in order to allow Gol to fly more efficiently to and from Brazil's urban airports, the 737-800 Short Field Performance aircraft now will help the company target business travelers more comfortable with the Varig name.
IATA, Eurocontrol and the Civil Air Navigation Services Organization announced a three-way deal to "expedite efficiency improvements in European air traffic management" that will achieve annual savings of 470,000 tonnes of fuel, $550 million and 1.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions. The plan calls for an airspace redesign to accommodate a 0.1% reduction in routes equivalent to 4 million nm. per year and $28 million, another 0.7% to come from enhanced civil/military cooperation and improved flight planning (worth 30 million nm.
US Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said yesterday that FAA has accepted recommendations from the independent review team, composed of nongovernment experts, that she established and dispatched in April to conduct reviews of US airlines' safety programs ( ATWOnline, April 21) following revelations about Southwest Airlines' noncompliance with an agency airworthiness directive.
Oxford Aviation Academy said this week that it acquired General Flying Services, an Australia-based ab initio training provider, under a deal backed by STAR Capital Partners. Financial details were not disclosed. GFS, which operates from two airports in Melbourne, last fiscal year trained more than 300 cadets (many from Southeast Asia, China and the Middle East) and anticipates more than 500 pilot graduates over the next few years.
Goodrich yesterday was awarded the contracts to supply the air data system and ice detection system on the A350 XWB, deals valued at more than $600 million over 20 years. The work will be performed by the company's Sensors and Integrated Systems division in Burnsville, Minn.
Farelogix signed a multiyear agreement with Air Canada to distribute ala-carte fare products, product attributes and flight passes to users of its FLX Platform through a direct connect with the carrier's AC2U platform. Technology allows travel agents to shop, price, book and service exclusive Air Canadae content.
AiRUnion COO Gustav Baldur said the struggling Russian airline alliance will be shut down at the latest by Sept. 30 ( ATWOnline, Sept. 9). Speaking to ATWOnline at an international symposium of the Austrian Aviation Assn., Baldauf said the AiRUnion project had failed. "Now we will present a new concept [to the State of Russia] today in Moscow [to show] how a replacement airline project could be functional."
Continental Airlines said it has furloughed 148 pilots as part of its effort to trim operating costs that were sparked by higher fuel prices. It added that the furloughs were in line with plans announced in June to retire 67 737s, lower 2008 fourth-quarter mainline domestic capacity by 11% and reduce its workforce by 3,000 ( ATWOnline, June 6).
CAE won orders for full flight simulators and related CAE Simfinity training devices valued at more than C$54 million ($50.6 million) from Cathay Pacific Airways, Southwest Airlines, Lufthansa Flight Training and Flight Simulation Co. CX ordered a CAE 7000 Series 747-8 FFS, CAE Simfinity Integrated Procedures Trainer and CAE Simfinity Virtual Maintenance Trainer for 747-8s. The simulator is slated for delivery in 2010 to the carrier's Hong Kong training facility. SWA purchased a CAE 7000 Series 737-700 FFS featuring its True electric motion system.
Advent International, a private equity firm, said it acquired 100% of Aeropuertos Dominicanos Siglo XXI (Aerodom), which it called the "leading airport group in the Dominican Republic and one of the largest airport operators in Central America and the Caribbean." Price was not disclosed.
Boeing CFO James Bell said yesterday that "there are still significant issues" separating the company and the International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers and conceded that the ongoing strike means "at least a one-month [further] delay" in the 787 program. Speaking to a Morgan Stanley investors conference, available via webcast, Bell said Boeing and IAM are "sort of in a cooling-off period" following intensive talks last week that failed to prevent the work action ( ATWOnline, Sept. 9).
Malev Hungarian Airlines, which has come under massive pressure as a result of the increasing debt facing its controlling shareholder, KrasAir affiliate AirBridge, announced it was granted access to €30 million ($42.8 million) in capital as a result of an agreement between AirBridge and Vnyeseconombank. KrasAir leads the AiRUnion alliance that has required a bailout and rescue by the Russian government ( ATWOnline, Sept. 9).
ARINC added Inmarsat's SwiftBroadband to its portfolio and is selling the connectivity service and applications to the aviation market. ARINC said it has made "major enhancements" to its Oi Onboard Internet offering to take advantage of the increased bandwidth available with SwiftBroadband. It also can offer "real-time credit approval capability to Oi, enabling airlines to offer pay-per-view entertainment to passengers during flight."
Continental Airlines will launch a third daily Newark-London Heathrow flight on Oct. 25 and discontinue service to Gatwick from both EWR and Houston Intercontinental. It will operate IAH-LHR twice-daily. "Our customers have shown a clear preference for Heathrow, and our main competitors have focused their operations there," Executive VP-Marketing Jim Compton said.
