CIT Aerospace exercised options for eight A320s and two A319s, lifting its firm Airbus commitment to 199 aircraft (162 A320 family, 30 A330s, seven A350s), of which 100 already have been delivered. Delivery of the newly ordered aircraft, worth approximately $756 million at list prices, is scheduled to begin in 2012.
Boeing workers delivered an overwhelming rebuke late Wednesday with 87% of the 28,600 members of the International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers voting to strike over a new three-year contract. Armed with that resounding endorsement of its recommendation to reject the company's final offer, IAM agreed to hold off the walkout for 48 hr., giving management time to respond. That decision reportedly was met with significant protest by attendees, forcing IAM leaders Mark Blondin and Tom Wroblewski to leave the meeting.
Boeing is facing another 787 delay, with completion of ship one slipping at least eight weeks to mid-October, according to insiders, and latest estimates putting first flight at "earliest late December and more likely January 2009."
Lufthansa Flight Training will open a multimillion-dollar center at Munich in October housing three cockpit simulators and training devices for service and emergency training. An E-190 simulator owned by Swiss Aviation Training will go into operation in March 2009 and A320 and A330/A340 simulators owned by LFT will follow. E-190 simulator training will be conducted by SAT.
Bombardier Aerospace enjoyed a 79% year-over-year surge in fiscal second-quarter operating profit to $238 million thanks to an increase in aircraft deliveries. Revenue for the three months ended July 31 was up 13.6% to $2.5 billion and the order backlog was worth $26.1 billion, up 15% from Jan. 31. The manufacturer received orders during the quarter for 175 aircraft comprising 162 business aircraft, 11 commercial jets and two amphibians, down from 187 in the year-ago quarter. Deliveries rose 14% to 89.
Turkish Airlines CEO Temel Kotil told ATWOnline this week that the growing carrier is "ready for tough competition" and that its phase of organic growth is over, saying, "We need to acquire other carriers." Falling demand and high fuel prices have helped contribute to a more competitive landscape, but Kotil said THY has "learned to cut every cost" while improving quality. It reported a 219% year-over-year increase in first-half profit to $208 million ( ATWOnline, Sept. 1).
UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch said that ice within the fuel feed system "most probably" caused restricted fuel flow to the Trent 800s powering the British Airways 777-200ER that crash-landed about 300 m. short of London Heathrow's Runway 27L on Jan. 17 ( ATWOnline, May 22).
Argentine Senate authorized the renationalization of Aerolineas Argentinas by a 46-21 vote. The legislature now will negotiate the purchase price for AR and its Austral Lineas Aereas subsidiary ( ATWOnline, Aug. 26).
Alitalia Extraordinary Administrator Augusto Fantozzi gave the carrier's unions one week to agree on the government-led rescue plan ( ATWOnline, Sept. 4). Italian Labor Minister Maurizio Sacconi told reporters that the plan calls for 3,250 layoffs. There are approximately 17,500 employed by AZ and likely partner Air One, the Associated Press reported.
Airbus and Syrian Arab Airlines have had "exploratory discussions" about a potential order for more than 50 aircraft valued at as much as $35 billion, a French official told the Financial Times. There had been recent speculation that French President Nicolas Sarkozy's visit this week to Damascus for talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad would include announcement of a blockbuster aircraft order.
Midwest Airlines signed an agreement with Republic Airways yesterday under which the Indianapolis-based regional will operate Midwest Connect flights on 12 76-seat E-170s beginning Oct. 1, part of what Midwest Chairman and CEO Timothy Hoeksema said is "significant progress in its voluntary restructuring plan." He said the carrier also secured $60 million in additional financing, including commitments from TPG Capital and Republic, which agreed to give Midwest a one-year, $15 million loan as part of the air services agreement.
A summer survey of 113 airline executives conducted by US consulting firm IdeaWorks revealed that "more and more airlines are turning to a la carte pricing to provide an ancillary revenue boost" and that "more and more airlines appear willing to act independently on the issue of a la carte fees."
Heroux-Devtek won a $27-million repayable contribution from Industry Canada for research and development of its landing gear technologies. Funds are part of a $77 million project to improve performance and reliability and reduce environmental impact. Investment will span six years with repayments taking effect one year after project completion.
US Airways will launch daily Philadelphia-Tel Aviv on July 2, 2009. EasyJet will launch daily London Gatwick-Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen on Dec. 12. Ryanair will launch twice-weekly London Stansted-Agadir on Oct. 28. Bmi will double its London Heathrow-Moscow Domodedovo service to twice-daily on Oct. 26 aboard an A320. SkyWest Airlines will launch twice-daily United Express service from Portland, Ore., to Klamath Falls and North Bend on Oct. 12 aboard a Brasilia.
Continental Airlines reported an estimated 4.5%-5.5% year-over-year increase in August consolidated RASM. It flew 9.14 billion RPMs during the month, up 0.7%, against a 2.4% rise in ASMs to 10.89 billion. Load factor fell 1.4 points to 83.9%. British Airways flew 10.17 billion RPKs in August, a 1.6% fall from the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 1.9% to 13.16 billion ASKs, dropping load factor 2.7 points to 77.3%.
Bombardier's CRJ1000 prototype took to the skies yesterday from Montreal Mirabel for a 3 hr. 25 min. first flight, reaching a maximum speed of 260 kt. and an altitude of 30,000 ft. "We put the gear up, operated the flaps and slats and exercised our fly-by-wire rudder," pilot Jacques Thibaudeau said. "The aircraft handled similarly to the smaller CRJ900 airliner so flight crews will not have a problem transitioning."
Air China subsidiary Air Macau plans to request a new capital injection from its stakeholders and lease three A320s/A321s to CA this month in order to alleviate its financial crisis, according to the Macau Daily News. The amount of the cash injection will be determined soon by a stakeholders' conference.
US Dept. of Transportation said the 19 reporting airlines posted a combined July ontime arrival rate of 75.7%, up from the 69.8% achieved in the year-ago month. Carriers cancelled 1.7% of scheduled domestic flights, an improvement from the 2.1% reported in July 2007. Mishandled bag rate of 4.86 reports per 1,000 passengers was down from 7.96.
The airline industry will lose $5.2 billion this year based on an average annual crude oil price of $113 per barrel ($140 for jet fuel), IATA DG and CEO Giovanni Bisignani said yesterday from Montreal.
Singapore Technologies Aerospace yesterday said it redelivered the 38th MD-11BCF to UPS Airlines following conversion at its SASCO facility. SASCO began conversions for UPS in April 2001.
Kingfisher Airlines, which launched international service yesterday with a Bangalore-London Heathrow A330-200 flight, said it plans to raise $400 million through an equity sale, possibly during the first quarter of next year. Chairman Vijay Mallya told reporters that the exact nature of the sale has not been determined. "Everything depends on the right value," he explained. "Earlier, we tried to raise $300 million, but due to adverse market conditions, we have deferred this.
Kuwaiti government won an order in Quebec Superior Court allowing it to seize Iraq's stake in a fleet of 10 CRJ900s ordered in March, according to the The Gazette of Montreal. Bombardier's initial contract with Iraqi Airways, which is state-owned, was valued at $239 million. In April, Iraq converted six options, bringing the order's value to $498 million ( ATWOnline, April 17). The first aircraft was scheduled to be delivered next month.
Compagnia Aerea Italiana, a group of 16 Italian investors, submitted a "preliminary offer" to buy a large part of Alitalia, the carrier confirmed yesterday. AZ entered bankruptcy protection last week. Its Extraordinary Administrator, Augusto Fantozzi, said the "confidential" offer for "the purchase of business assets forming a significant part of the activities" of the company "seems" to meet the requirements established by Italy's recently amended bankruptcy law.
