Ryanair will cease daily flights from Cork to Nottingham East Midlands and Glasgow Prestwick on Oct. 26 and Oct. 28 respectively, citing "the 20% increase in charges being imposed on these two routes by Cork Airport."
Turkish Airlines confirmed yesterday that it is among the carriers that will bid for Austrian Airlines ( ATWOnline, Aug. 27). A THY spokesperson told ATWOnline, "We are interested, but we won't give more details. We are in talks already." It has notified both Austrian authorities and the Istanbul Stock Exchange of its intentions.
US FAA said it fixed a glitch in its National Airspace Data Interchange Network based near Atlanta that caused more than 600 flight delays Tuesday, including numerous delays as long as 90 min. at several major airports in the eastern US ( ATWOnline, Aug. 27). The system failed for about 6 hr., forcing all flight plans to be filed with FAA's only other NADIN in Salt Lake City. That system overloaded as a result of the extra work and some flight plans had to be entered manually. Operations were back to normal yesterday.
KLM took delivery of its first 737-700. It ordered 13 as part of a €3 billion ($4.4 billion) fleet renewal that commenced in 2002. The 737-700s will replace its -300s and -400s. Three more -700s will be arriving later this year. Separately, KLM will add four weekly frequencies to its daily Amsterdam-Hong Kong 747-400 Combi service from March 29.
Lufthansa Technik Switzerland, formerly Swiss Technik, will launch operations under its new name on Oct. 1. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lufthansa Technik.
Spanish authorities have recovered the engines of the Spanair MD-82 that crashed on takeoff last week and will disassemble them "screw by screw" to try to determine whether a thrust problem contributed to the accident, the head of the crash investigation said yesterday.
Embraer signed a five-year collaborative inventory parts service contract with Chinese regional Kunpeng Airlines to manage the supply and distribution of spare parts. Separately, it has begun training pilots, cabin staff and technicians employed by Brazilian startup Azul Linhas Aereas, which is scheduled to launch operations in January. Azul has 36 E-195s on firm order plus 20 options and 20 purchase rights ( ATWOnline, May 7).
Virgin Atlantic Airways selected Mercator's Skychain as its new cargo reservation and business management solution. Implementation is expected by May 2009.
China Eastern Airlines posted a net loss of CNY212.5 million ($31 million) in the 2008 first half, narrowed from a CNY305.6 million deficit in the prior-year period, on a 6.6% lift in operating revenue to CNY20.31 billion. Operating expenses jumped 10.52% to CNY21.94 billion, triggered by a 22.8% surge in fuel expenses to CNY8.57 billion. A currency exchange gain of CNY1.95 billion, more than double that reported in the year-ago semester, helped offset "declining domestic market demand" and high fuel prices that still impacted the result significantly.
Bahrain Air signed a letter of intent for the acquisition of up to six A320s. It said the order would increase its fleet to 11 aircraft upon delivery. Dates were not announced. The privately held carrier currently serves 10 destinations.
Incheon said it is "indefinitely" postponing plans to launch a joint venture LCC with Singapore-based Tiger Airways. The planned airline, Incheon Tiger Airways, was to serve China and Japan with A320s from Incheon ( ATWOnline, Nov. 6, 2007). The city cited "widespread negative opinions about the project" but said the startup remains a future possibility.
GE Aviation yesterday announced a deal with Afriqiyah Airways for CF6-80E1s to power three firm A330s and three options. Firm engine order is valued at more than $100 million and deliveries are slated to begin in May 2009. The CF6-80E1 incorporates technology from the Tech CF6 program. Tripoli-based Afriqiyah currently operates CFM56s on its A320 fleet.
Midwest Airlines said it will complete the rollout of its two-class 717 cabin by Oct. 21, at which point it will offer 40 2-by-2 Signature seats and 59 redesigned economy seats on each flight ( ATWOnline, May 30, 2007). Passengers paying higher refundable fares will be assigned a Signature seat at no charge, or they may reserve a seat "for a modest fee" when booking or at check-in, Midwest said.
A US FAA computer system near Atlanta that processes flight plans failed yesterday, causing delays at major airports throughout the US, with the heaviest disruptions occurring in the eastern part of the country.
Airports of Thailand this week announced plans to invest THB77.9 billion ($2.27 billion) in upgrades and expansion at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi, which opened two years ago. Plan still requires Transport Ministry and cabinet approval and is designed to increase passenger throughput by one-third to 60 million over the next six years with the addition of a third runway and midfield terminal, the Bangkok Post reported. Construction is scheduled to start by the end of next year and be completed in 2014.
Air New Zealand blamed a NZ$300 million hike in fuel expenses for a 1% decline in profit for the fiscal year ended June 30 to NZ$218 million ($154 million) from the NZ$221 million reported in the prior year. The year-over-year profit drop was a more significant 24% to a normalized NZ$197 million compared to last year's normalized NZ$259 million. Normalized earnings exclude net gains and losses on nonhedge-accounted and ineffective derivatives in other financial periods.
Virgin Atlantic yesterday reported a net profit for the year ended Feb. 29 of £47.7 million ($88.2 million), up from £6.6 million the previous year, citing a surge in business travelers at Virgin Atlantic Airways.
Eurowings majority owner Albrecht Knauf, which holds 51% of the German carrier that is part of Lufthansa's regional system ( ATWOnline, March 7), plans to sell its shares to LH, according to several domestic press reports. Knauf reportedly wants to complete the transaction by October.
Sun Air 737 was hijacked yesterday afternoon after taking off from Nyala, Sudan. Aircraft was bound for Khartoum but landed at Kufra in southeastern Libya, according to press reports. Libyan authorities were in contact with the hijackers, Agence France Presse reported. Sun Air Executive Manager Mortada Hassan told AFP there were 95 passengers and seven crewmembers onboard. Further information was unavailable.
Ryanair yesterday dismissed reports that the oxygen masks onboard one of its 737-800s malfunctioned late Monday night when the aircraft suffered a sudden inflight depressurization on its way from Bristol to Girona and diverted to Limoges. "Ryanair's engineers have inspected the aircraft overnight and have confirmed that the oxygen masks which deployed were working properly," the LCC said, adding it would not comment further while the investigation into the incident is ongoing.
Air France KLM, Air China and Turkish Airlines joined Lufthansa and S7 Airlines in expressing interest in purchasing state holding company OIAG's 42.75% share of Austrian Airlines, according to press reports ( ATWOnline, Aug. 26).
Southwest Airlines said yesterday that it will cut 196 daily flights while adding just six when it launches its winter schedule on Jan. 11, a more than 5% reduction from its current schedule. The carrier cited traditionally lower demand and poor weather during winter months as well as a slow economy and high fuel costs. It said some flights potentially could be added back to the schedule in the spring.
Delta Air Lines said this week it has "borrowed" its $1 billion revolving credit facility, which was made available to the carrier when it emerged from bankruptcy last year. It also extended its Visa/MasterCard processing agreement through the end of 2011. President and CFO Ed Bastian told employees in a memorandum that the moves will "strengthen Delta's financial position" and help smooth its planned merger with Northwest Airlines. He said DL had $3.7 billion in cash on hand at the end of July and "will have more than sufficient [liquidity]. .
Kyrgyzstan officials said yesterday they had recovered the flight data recorder from the Itek Air 737-200 that crashed Sunday, killing 68 of 90 passengers and crew, and have established a commission to conduct an investigation into the accident. The aircraft was owned and operated by Itek and reportedly was chartered for the flight by Iran Aseman Airlines. It was en route from Bishkek to Tehran.
