Russian government confirmed Friday that it plans to create a new state-owned airline company intended to rescue the cash-strapped AiRUnion alliance ( ATWOnline, Sept. 8). The holding company will rival Aeroflot in size and be controlled by the Russian Technologies investment fund, according to Russian press reports. "The crisis at AiRUnion is over," Deputy Finance Minister Andrei Nedosekov told media. "The state understands that the crisis of one company could lead to the collapse of the whole sector.
STS Holdings acquired the assets and business of Tradewinds Aircraft Services, a component supplier and OEM distributor, under a deal announced last week. Acquisition is expected to complement STS by offering airlines, MROs and OEMs integrated and turnkey solutions for staffing, parts, maintenance, engineering and supply chain management requirements. The new company, STS Component Solutions, will be based in Palm City and assume previous contracts, distribution programs and preferred supplier agreements.
Flybe reported pre-tax profit of £12.2 million ($21.5 million) for the fiscal first quarter ended June 30, a 14% rise from the £10.7 million earned in the year-ago period, as revenue increased 13.7% from £136 million to £155 million on an 18% growth in passengers to 2 million. For the financial year ended March 31, the UK's largest regional carrier, which acquired BA Connect from British Airways in March 2007, reported a net profit of £39.6 million, reversing a loss of £19.9 million in the prior year.
GE Aviation yesterday said that CIT Aerospace selected CF6-80E1s to power four A330s. Deal is valued at $120 million and deliveries are scheduled through 2013. "The CF6 has proven to be a reliable, high performance engine," CIT Aerospace Commercial Airlines Executive VP Tony Diaz said. CIT also selected CFM56-5Bs to power 15 firm A320s under a separate deal. Contract value is $200 million and deliveries extend through 2015. Tech Insertion technology is expected to offer longer time on wing and reduce maintenance costs.
CSA Czech Airlines lost CZK178 million ($10.2 million) in the first half of this year, a result it said was "on last year's level." However, the company reported a CZK201 million operating profit that represented a turnaround from a CZK449 million loss in the year-ago semester. President Radomir Lasak said it "managed to nearly entirely offset increased fuel costs and the impact of the strong crown by operational improvements." He said CSA expects to report a full-year profit.
Boeing's continuing 787 production problems are hampering new sales, airline executives claim, and ATWOnline has learned that potential customers are being told the next available delivery positions are in 2020. Two executives who declined to be named confirmed to this website that Boeing said separate orders for 20 and 25 787s would not begin delivering until 2020. Each airline is seeking other options.
US Air Transport Assn. filed a formal challenge to the US Dept. of Transportation's July rule that permits US airports to base airline rates and charges on "market incentives" as well as the traditional aircraft weight metric currently used ( ATWOnline, July 11)."Like DOT's other misguided attempts to foist unproven economic theory on the traveling public, these measures would do nothing to address the underlying causes of congestion and delay and would only make flying more expensive for passengers," ATA said.
Russian alliance AiRUnion, which is run jointly by the government, CEO Boris Abramovich and President Alexander Abramovich, is facing significant financial troubles and requires an immediate restructuring, COO Gustav Baldauf told ATWOnline.
Ameco Beijing said its landing gear business in the first half of 2008 increased 84% year-over-year. It provides MRO for such customers as Air China, Lufthansa Technik, Cathay Pacific Airways, Germania and GECAS.
US FAA said its safety audit of US airlines' adherence to airworthiness directives ( ATWOnline, March 19) found an overall compliance rate of 98%. Acting Administrator Bobby Sturgell said that in the 2% of cases in which problems were discovered, airlines "resolved the issues of noncompliance before the airplanes flew again." He added, "This audit gives us confidence that, overall, the system is safe and in almost every instance the airlines are complying with our safety directives."
Austrian Airlines Group ordered four Q400 NextGens plus two options, Bombardier announced. Firm orders are worth $118 million at list prices and are due for delivery in 2010. They will be operated by Tyrolean Airways under the Austrian Arrows brand. Arrows currently operates 12 Q300s, 10 Q400s and 12 CRJ200LRs. AAG also purchased four Q400s from SAS Group and will phase out its last two Dash 8-300s and two CRJ200s.
Sabre Holdings is announcing today the launch of the SabreSonic Customer Sales and Services solution, which the company described as the airline industry's "first real intersection of customer-focused solutions and revenue generation in every distribution channel."
ENAC granted Alitalia a six-month provisional operating license ending March 1, 2009, following a meeting last week with AZ's Extraordinary Administrator Augusto Fantozzi ( ATWOnline, Sept. 5).
Shanghai-based LCC Spring Airlines plans to establish its second base at Zhengzhou, which opened a budget terminal in March. Spring originally had targed Sanya, a popular tourist destination in Hainan Province, for the base but opted out "as it is short of a budget terminal," Chairman Wang Zhenghua told ATWOnline. It has chosen the capital of Henan Province instead. The city boasts a population of more than 7 million at the prefectural level.
Continental Airlines followed other US majors and announced Friday that it will begin charging $15 for the first checked bag for economy passengers paying less than full fare flying within North America. Fees will be applied beginning Oct. 7. CO also said that from Jan. 1 it no longer will credit frequent fliers 500 mi. for flights shorter than 500 mi., instead crediting them with the actual mileage flown.
ExpressJet Holdings filed a definitive proxy statement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission requesting shareholder approval for a 1:10 reverse stock split for its common shares. The regional operator said the split is part of its "continuing efforts toward improving liquidity for its stockholders." It will ballot shareholders at an Oct. 1 meeting. If approved, the split will leave ExpressJet with 21.7 million shares outstanding and approximately $68.5 million in debt outstanding.
Finnair said last week that it has given its employee groups two weeks to examine three possible cost-saving alternatives. A spokesperson told Reuters that one option is a salary cut of 5% across the company, the second a 15-month salary freeze and the third 400 layoffs. Employees would get some money back if the airline meets certain financial targets, although it said it may report an operating loss in the second half.
"Unfortunately, the differences were too great to close," was the grim message from Boeing Commercial Airplanes President Scott Carson as 27,600 members of the International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers walked off the job Friday after talks in Orlando failed to break the deadlock.
United Airlines flew 10.29 billion system RPMs in August, down 5.1% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 3.1% to 12.18 billion ASMs and load factor declined 1.8 points to 84.5%. Southwest Airlines flew 6.63 billion RPMs in August, down 5.2% year-over-year, against a 1.5% lift in capacity to 8.88 billion ASMs. Load factor fell 5.4 points to 74.6%. AirTran Airways flew 1.97 billion RPMs in August, up 12.7% year-over-year. Capacity rose 8.8% to 2.25 billion ASMs and load factor was up 3 points to 87.3%.
Mitsubishi Aircraft Corp. reached an agreement with Boeing under which the US manufacturer will consult on marketing, development and after-sale support of the Mitsubishi Regional Jet. The Japanese company has had a longstanding partnership with Boeing, developing and manufacturing composite wing boxes for large commercial aircraft. The MRJ will seat 70-90 passengers and rely extensively on composites. Final design will be completed next year with first flight and certification expected by 2011 ( ATWOnline, July 16).
Recovered flight data recorder from the Spanair MD-82 that crashed last month on takeoff from Madrid Barajas revealed that the flaps were not extended, according to The Wall Street Journal, which cited sources close the accident investigation. Investigators are examining why an automatic audible warning in the cockpit did not sound and are considering whether an electrical problem caused the alert to malfunction, according to the WSJ, which said preliminary FDR data indicated that both engines were operating normally and that there was no engine fire.
