The UK Office of Fair Trading yesterday charged one present and three former British Airways executives with illegally fixing prices on fuel surcharges on long-haul flights between July 2004 and April 2006.
Air New Zealand, bucking the trend of charging for a first checked bag, announced yesterday that it is increasing its baggage allowance on domestic flights from 20 kg. to 25 kg.
Alaska Air Group Chairman, President and CEO William Ayer urged US Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters in a recent letter to force Virgin America to begin submitting its traffic and financial data publicly, as all other US airlines are required to do, rather than confidentially, as VX has been doing. He complained that VX repeatedly has appealed Dept.
China's AVIC I and AVIC II unveiled details of their pending integration, which is expected to take place this month. According to AVIC I, it and AVIC II will merge into a new company that will be in charge of various branch companies and focus on "aviation manufacturing" and "car production." MA turboprop production will be given priority initially. The MA60, the first aircraft in the MA series, has received136 orders, mostly from Southeast Asian and African carriers.
Qantas said yesterday that it will take delivery of its first A380 on Sept. 19 in Toulouse. It will fly the aircraft to Singapore and then to Sydney, where it is scheduled to arrive on Sept. 21. GM John Borghetti said QF will operate its first A380 commercial flight from Melbourne to Los Angeles on Oct. 20 and will operate a Sydney-LAX flight on Oct. 24. It plans to take delivery of three A380s by year end and has a total of 20 on order. It plans to launch Sydney-Singapore-London Heathrow in early 2009.
Japan Airlines Group posted a net loss for its fiscal first quarter ended June 30 of ¥3.4 billion ($31.3 million), narrowed from a ¥4.3 billion deficit in the prior-year period, and unveiled the biggest review of its network since 2002 to mitigate the rising cost of fuel.
Flydubai, the LCC startup slated to launch later this year, appointed Kenneth Gile COO. He joins the carrier from Skybus Airlines, where he was president and COO for four years. Southwest Airlines named 15-year employee Kay Weatherford VP-revenue management and pricing. She had been senior director-revenue and traffic analysis.
Airlines on both sides of the Taiwan Strait want to launch weekday services as weekend charter flights linking the Chinese mainland and Taiwan reach the one-month mark. "Judging from the one-month results, the weekend charter flights are indeed widely welcomed by people on both sides of the strait," EVA Air Vice GM Nieh Kuo-wei told Chinese state news agency Xinhua. Cross-strait charter flights kicked off on July 4 under an agreement signed by the China-based Assn. for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait and the Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation.
Iberia signed a maintenance and support contract with Nigeria's Dana Airlines under which it will be responsible for the inspection, maintenance and repair of its six MD-80s and components at Iberia Maintenance installations in Madrid.
Domodedovo Technique was granted EASA certification for heavy maintenance services including C checks on 737-300/-400/-500 aircraft. DT already has signed agreements of intent with KD avia, Orenair and Transaero Airlines for heavy maintenance work on 737s.
Copa Airlines yesterday unveiled an expansion plan that includes addition to its network later this year of Belo Horizonte in Brazil, Oranjestad in Aruba, Valencia in Venezuela and Santa Cruz in Bolivia. All will be served from Panama City and will bring its network to 45 destinations by year end. Etihad Airways launched daily flights from Abu Dhabi to Chennai and Kozhikode. It also has secured flying rights to two more cities in India, Kolkata and Jaipur. American Airlines will launch daily Miami-Antigua from Nov. 20 aboard 737-800s.
ANA and Japan Airlines are looking to cut underperforming domestic and international routes. ANA told media that it may suspend 10 routes, while Nikkei Business Daily suggested that JAL may suspend 21 routes. Both airlines are expected to make formal announcements by the end of this week.
Brussels Airlines signed a five-year contract with Lufthansa Systems under which the latter will implement its Sirax, SiraxCredit and Sirax View modules at the Belgian carrier and operate the system in its own data center. The deal also covers the revenue accounting processes for airDC, the Congolese startup set up by Brussels Airlines.
LOT Polish Airlines said this week that it will need to restructure as quickly as possible to avoid a cash crisis. LOT has gone through five CEOs in the last five years under changing Polish governments, hindering its ability to make long-term strategic decisions over the period. "It is a wonder that this company still exists," a carrier executive told this website.
The US Dept. of Transportation said FAA will auction a single roundtrip, or two slots, at Newark International on Sept. 3, an announcement that brought stinging criticism from airlines, airports and several US lawmakers.
Emirates President Tim Clark told ATWOnline that the current economic environment has not caused the airline to reconsider its long-held philosophy of going it alone and avoiding alliances, mergers or acquisitions. He dismissed as unfounded speculation that EK might be interested in Alitalia. "I believe if you cannot grow yourself, or if you need to merge with another airline, your business model is wrong," he commented. EK has resisted overtures for years to join oneworld or Star Alliance.
While still likely months away from gaining US Dept. of Justice antitrust clearance for their planned merger, Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines yesterday received approval for the combination from the European Commission.
Cathay Pacific Airways and Dragonair parent Cathay Pacific Group blamed the relentless hike in fuel costs for a loss of HK$663 million ($85 million) in the 2008 first half, reversed from a profit of HK$2.58 billion in last year's first six months.
Singapore Airlines logged its 1,000th A380 commercial flight when SQ322 landed at London Heathrow Monday. It said its five aircraft have performed "remarkably" since entering service last October. They have accumulated 8,500 flight hr. and carried nearly 400,000 customers. More than 220,000 have traveled on the Singapore-Sydney route. The sixth A380 is scheduled to arrive in September, with a further 13 to follow. SIA has options on an additional six.
Delta Air Lines announced that it will partner with Aircell to install its Gogo inflight broadband network on the carrier's entire domestic mainline fleet, which numbers more than 330 aircraft. Installation is expected to be complete next summer, after which passengers will be able to access the Internet and corporate VPNs and conduct SMS and other functions with Wi-Fi-enabled devices. Access will cost $9.95 on flights of 3 hr. or less and $12.95 on flights longer than 3 hr. Gogo will be offered initially on DL's 133 MD-88s/-90s.
United Airlines parent UAL Corp. named Pratt & Whitney Senior VP and GM-Pratt & Whitney Global Services Partners James Keenan as senior VP-United Services. Keenan spent 14 years at UA before moving to Pratt.
Iberia's second-quarter net profit of €21.2 million ($33 million), down 66.2% from the €62.6 million reported in the year-ago quarter, belied the operational difficulties facing the carrier, which swung to an operating loss. Operating revenue rose just 0.9% year-over-year to €1.37 billion while costs were up 5.6% to €1.37 billion. Passenger revenue dropped 2%. IB's operating result was a €4 million loss, reversed from a €56.9 million profit in the second quarter of 2007. Fuel costs climbed 48.8% to €404.6 million.
Chinese carriers are struggling with the financial strain imposed by declining domestic demand and surging fuel costs and have turned to new financing in an effort to reduce the burden.
Air France KLM reported net income of €168 million ($261.7 million) for its fiscal first quarter ended June 30, down 59.4% from a €415 million profit in the year-ago period, and said it will seek an additional €190 million in annual cost savings to counter "the new economic environment."
Malaysia Airlines unveiled a voluntary program under which employees will have the option to take voluntary leave, work part time or explore opportunities outside the company and return, according to a statement cited by Reuters. "Although we want to reduce manpower in the short term to manage our costs as we are similarly affected by the fuel price, our approach is different as we will grow in the medium to long term," MAS said.
