American Airlines will launch flights from Miami to Belo Horizonte (thrice-weekly) and Recife via Salvador de Bahia (daily) on Nov. 2 aboard 767-300s. Etihad Airways will operate flights from Abu Dhabi to Moscow Domodedovo (five-times-weekly from Dec. 1 aboard A319s) and Almaty (four-times-weekly from Dec. 2 aboard A320s). Separately, Etihad Crystal Cargo launched an unaccompanied baggage service that will transport passengers' heavy or excess luggage ahead of their flights for less than the check-in fee.
Despite operating amid "the perfect storm" of high fuel prices and overcapacity, Malaysia Airlines yesterday reported its eighth consecutive quarterly profit, a MYR40 million ($11.9 million) figure that represented a 64.6% decline from the MYR112.8 million posted in the year-ago period.
Washington Dulles's new underground rail system, which will connect the main terminal with the midfield concourses ( ATW, August 2007), will be operational by late 2009, officials said yesterday. "This has been a long, complicated project," Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority President and CEO James Bennett said. The $1.4 billion AeroTrain system was designed, engineered and constructed by Sumitomo Corp. of America in conjunction with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. Tunneling, which began in 2002, is now complete.
News from Travel Technology Update: Ryanair said it will cancel all bookings made through screen-scraping Web sites. "We believe this is a quicker and more effective way of discouraging this unlawful activity and we hope that by getting rid of screen-scrapers we will speed up passenger processing times on Ryanair.com, as well as ensuring that Ryanair passengers are not paying unnecessary handling charges or higher fares to screen-scrapers," the carrier said.
Kingfisher Airlines will launch international service on Sept. 3 with a Bangalore-London Heathrow A330-200 flight, according to widespread press reports from India. Kingfisher acquired the operating certificate of Deccan Aviation, which this month will reach the mandatory five years of service required to fly internationally from India ( ATWOnline, March 31).
Lufthansa CFO Stephan Gemkow was elected to the board of JetBlue Airways, the New York-based carrier announced. He joins Swiss International Air Lines President and CEO Cristoph Franz on the 11-member board ( ATWOnline, Feb. 11).
ALAFCO announced the lease of eight A320-200s to Saudi Arabian Airlines for eight years each. Delivery is scheduled in 2009 and 2010. The Kuwaiti lessor struck a deal with Saudi Arabian for 17 long-haul aircraft in June ( ATWOnline, June 26). The combined deals are worth $3.3 billion, ALAFCO said.
British Airways' planned all-business-class flights between London City and either New York JFK or Newark will launch in autumn 2009 and have just 32 seats that can be converted into lie-flat beds, the carrier announced yesterday. The twice-daily service will be aboard an A318, the largest aircraft that can operate at LCY, and will refuel at Shannon on the westbound journey. Passengers will complete US arrival checks in Ireland. Eastbound flights will be nonstop. BA vowed customers will be able to arrive at LCY up to 15 min.
US FAA told Southwest Airlines that it is upholding a proposed $10.2 million fine for operating 46 737 Classics for nine days in March 2007 after it had disclosed to the agency that the aircraft were in noncompliance with an airworthiness directive and is seeking payment by Aug. 29.
Sensis Corp. announced that its Airport Surface Detection Equipment Model X is now operational at Detroit Metro. ASDE-X combines surface movement radar, transponder multilateration and ADS-B "to provide air traffic controllers with real-time, highly accurate position and location information of all aircraft and vehicles on the airport surface," the company said.
Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Assn. contributed to the war of words erupting over the daily reporting of several recent safety incidents at Qantas, accusing the airline of allowing standards to slip. It blamed staffing shortages and cost-cutting for the spate of highly publicized incidents, while Federal Transport Minister Anthony Albanese called for calm and urged Australians not to disparage the carrier.
Sterling Airlines reappointed Almar Orn Hilmarsson president and CEO replacing Reza Taleghani. The former JP Morgan executive took over from Hilmarsson in March after the latter had been at the post for nearly three years ( ATWOnline, March 5). The move coincides with a change in the shareholding of Northern Travel Holding, which bought Sterling in December 2006 from FL Group.
Chinese carriers continued to suffer falling passenger demand in July. Air China's RPKs decreased by 8.4% from the year-ago month, while passenger boardings fell 6.8% to 3 million and load factor plunged 8.1 points to 73.3%. China Southern Airlines' RPKs slid 4.2% year-over-year and load factor dipped 1.4 points to 75.1%. It is noteworthy that CA's and CZ's international RPKs dropped 13.7% and 13.3% respectively, mainly owing to heightened security measures related to the Beijing Olympics and slowing global demand. CZ cut its international capacity 14.2% last month.
US Air Transport Assn. forecast a 5.7% year-over-year fall in the number of passengers traveling globally on US airlines during the Labor Day holiday period from Aug. 27 through Sept. 3 to 16 million. Decline comprises a 6.5% domestic drop and a 1% international increase. Air France KLM flew 20.1 billion RPKs in July, up 1.8% year-over-year, against a 3.9% increase in capacity to 23.82 billion ASKs. Load factor fell 1.8 points to 84.4%.
TAM took delivery of the first of eight 777-300ERs. Aircraft will seat 365 in three classes and operate to Santiago initially before transitioning to transatlantic service.
BAA completed the long-awaited £13.3 billion ($24.81 billion) refinancing of its seven UK airports, which it said will provide "a stable, long-term, investment grade financing platform for investment in [London] Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted airports over the coming decades."
Intersky, an Austrian LCC operating out of Friedrichshafen, is looking to replace its fleet of four Dash 8-300s. It is considering aircraft in the 76-seat segment, such as the ATR 72 and Q400, for an order for five firm and five options, CEO Claus Bernatzik told ATWOnline. A final decision should come by 2010. The carrier expects to transport around 235,000 passengers this year, up from 180,000 in 2007.
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced Friday that a variety of usage and rental fees normally charged at Stewart International Airport, about 55 mi. north of New York City, will be waived for the next six months "in a measure designed to preserve and expand air services" at the facility. AirTran Airways recently announced it was leaving the airport ( ATWOnline, June 17), while other carriers like JetBlue Airways and Delta Air Lines have or will cut services.
Alaska Airlines flew 1.79 billion RPMs in July, a 2.2% year-over-year decrease. Capacity rose 2.4% to 2.24 billion ASMs and load factor fell 3.7 points to 79.7%. SkyWest Airlines and Atlantic Southeast Airlines flew a combined 1.6 billion RPMs in July, down 4.7% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 3.3% to 2 billion ASMs, dropping load factor 1.2 points to 80.1%.
Lufthansa Chairman and CEO Wolfgang Mayrhuber said the company is "hitting the brakes" on personnel growth and will not be adding new employees, especially on the front line, in the foreseeable future. "We added 2,800 new staff this year. But based on the current environment in the aviation industry, we cannot guarantee adding any new jobs," he told the daily Neuen Osnabrucker Zeitung.
Swissport baggage handlers and check-in staff working at London Gatwick "overwhelmingly" voted to wage 24-hr. strikes on Aug. 25 and 29, the Unite union announced, adding that the dispute over pay "is likely to spread to other UK airports in the coming days and weeks." The union said 318 employees will strike and that 72% voted to strike.
Delta Air Lines will operate daily Atlanta-Mumbai beginning Nov. 1 aboard a 777-200LR. JetBlue Airways will launch daily San Juan-Santo Domingo, its first intra-Caribbean route, on Dec. 18 aboard an E-190. Twice-daily San Francisco-Long Beach will commence Oct. 18 on an E-190, becoming thrice-daily on Nov. 2. Daily Cancun-Tampa begins Dec. 18 and weekly Washington Dulles will start two days later. JetBlue said the Tampa flight is the city's only nonstop service to Mexico. The LCC also will operate daily Boston-Santo Domingo in December and January.
American Airlines said $7.1 million in civil penalties for alleged safety violations proposed last week by US FAA are "excessive" ( ATWOnline, Aug. 15). The agency alleged that AA "used the wrong provisions of its Minimum Equipment List to return two MD-83 aircraft to service after pilots had reported problems, and flew the planes 58 times in violation of FAA regulations.
Despite the continuing decline in domestic demand, Hainan Airlines is continuing to expand and now is preparing to launch a new airline expected to be based in Hangzhou.
