Amadeus won a 10-year extension on its agreement with British Airways for IT services related to implementation of its Altea Departure Control management system for passenger check-in. BA expects to complete migration to the Altea suite in 2012.
TACA A320-200 runway overrun accident at Tegucigalpa's Toncontin International Friday killed five (the aircraft's captain, two passengers and two people on the ground), the airline confirmed, one more than was apparent Friday ( ATWOnline, June 2). Forty-five people, including three members of the cabin crew, remained hospitalized Saturday. The airport was closed following the accident and reopened yesterday with aircraft carrying 42 or fewer permitted, according to the Associated Press.
Oman Air transported 445,923 passengers in the first quarter, a 49.9% increase from the year-ago period. It said it lost money during the quarter "because of the foremost expansion programs to make the airline competitive."
Aeroflot Sunday launched its Aeroflot Shuttle service between Moscow Sheremetyevo and St. Petersburg, which it said is designed to offer "faster and more convenient processing." It will feature fixed gates, additional airbridges and separate buses for business and economy passengers, who will be able to claim their bags within 15 min. of arrival. SU offers eight daily flights between the cities and said an average of 200,000 passengers fly on the route each month.
Cathay Pacific Airways announced the promotions of GM-Revenue Management, Sales & Distribution Ian Shiu to director-corporate development, GM-Southwest Pacific Ivan Chu to director-service delivery, current Director-Service Delivery Quince Chong to director-corporate affairs and James Finlay MD Rupert Hogg to director-cargo. All appointments are effective in July. Separately, CX took delivery of its first 747-400ERF last week. It will take five more this year and also has 10 747-8Fs on order for delivery in 2009-12.
Russia's KD Avia signed a commitment with Airbus for 25 A319s, the manufacturer announced last week in Berlin. No engine choice was reported. "The A319 will contribute to the strengthening of Kaliningrad's position as an important Russian transit hub and at the same time will enable us to further develop our route network," KDA Chairman Sergey Grishchenko said. It is a new Airbus customer that currently operates an all-737-300 fleet. RIA Novosti reported that deliveries will begin in 2014, citing Airbus COO-Customers John Leahy, and that the order is worth $1.7 billion.
CAE won orders for full-flight simulators and related Simfinity training devices valued at more than C$56 million ($56.6 million) from Aeroflot, Ansett Aviation Training, Skymark Airlines and a JV company that owns 50% of CAE's training center in Bangalore. SU purchased a CAE 5000 Series A320 FFS slated for delivery to its Moscow facility this year, while Skymark ordered a CAE 7000 Series 737-800 FFS for 2009 delivery. AAT committed to a CAE 7000 Series A320 FFS.
XL Airways last week put its first 737-900 into service on routes from Manchester. Aircraft seats 215. The airline serves more than 750,000 passengers at the airport annually.
Korean Air today will launch thrice-weekly Los Angeles-Sao Paulo Guarulhos aboard a 777-200. Delta Air Lines will operate daily New York JFK-Bogota from Aug. 19. Northwest Airlines will launch thrice-daily Memphis-Columbia, Mo., Aug. 19 aboard a Mesaba Airlines Saab 340. WestJet launched daily Toronto-Quebec City.
Iberia decided to withdraw its bid for Spanair last week, shortly after telling reporters at its annual shareholders meeting that it had decided to "consider what the future of our offer is within this new market environment" ( ATWOnline, May 30), Reuters reported. It then submitted a stock exchange filing indicating it would withdraw the bid. Spanair parent SAS Group did not comment.
AirTran Airways will defer the delivery of 18 737-700s from 2009-11 to 2013-14, it announced Friday. President and CEO Bob Farnaro said the deferment will "accomplish a substantial portion" of the carrier's previously announced plan to reduce 2008-09 growth from 10% to "no more than flat" ( ATWOnline, April 23). It currently operates 54 -700s and 87 717-200s.
Turkish Airlines reported a first-quarter net profit of $104 million, which it said represented a 260% increase over the year-ago result. Revenue rose 33% to $910 million and operating profit was up 1% to $84 million. THY did not offer details on the reason for the surge in net result. Passenger numbers increased 16% year-over-year to 4.5 million, with 76% of scheduled revenue coming from international traffic. RPKs climbed 15% against a 10% increase in ASKs, lifting load factor 3 points to 70%.
While United Airlines and US Airways both reiterated that they are strong believers in consolidation, the two carriers announced on Friday that they will not enter into a merger "at this time."
Swiss International Air Lines named Peter Spring CCO of its Edelweiss Air subsidiary effective Aug. 1. BAA and Ferrovial named Stephen Peat MD of its new airports division with responsibility for running six of BAA's seven UK airports (excluding London Heathrow). He currently is director-operations for Ferrovial subsidiary Amey's Tube Lines consortium.
JetBlue Airways increased the offering size of its 5.5% convertible debentures due 2038 to $175 million from the $160 million announced earlier last week ( ATWOline, May 29). Sale of the two series of debentures worth $87.5 million each is expected to close Wednesday.
A TACA A320-200 overran the runway at Tegucigalpa's Toncontin International Friday morning, crashing into a street and buckling and cracking as it collided with a billboard, an embankment and several cars, according to published photos and reports. A pilot, two passengers and a motorist reportedly died and 81 people were injured, according to the Associated Press. The carrier confirmed the incident on its website but did not report the deaths. It said there were 124 passengers onboard.
Frontier Airlines lost $16.5 million in its first three weeks of bankruptcy to April 30, it reported in a filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Revenue of $69.1 million was offset by expenses of $81.4 million, resulting in an operating loss of $12.3 million. Frontier also announced an agreement with First Data Corp., the credit card processor whose decision to increase customer receipt holdback drove the Denver-based carrier into bankruptcy ( ATWOnline, April 14).
Unable to secure critical funds from UAE-based investment group Viceroy Holdings, all-business-class carrier Silverjet shut down Friday, following Eos Airlines and MAXjet Airways into the history books.
Air France KLM said it is pleased with the performance of its first direct transatlantic service out of London Heathrow, which it launched March 30 to take advantage of the EU-US open skies agreement, and is considering expanding to other destinations. The daily LHR-Los Angeles flight aboard a 777 is performing "very well," Executive VP-Marketing, Revenue Management & Network Bruno Matheu told ATWOnline in Paris. Load factor in the first month was above 70%, with higher loads in the back and lower in premium, but loads are much more "balanced" now, he said.
US and Kenya announced an open skies agreement in Washington Friday. Deal is effective immediately and allows US carriers to fly to another African country from Kenya after three years. Kenya is the US's 20th open skies partner in Africa.
Travelport GDS reached long-term agreements with Lufthansa and Swiss International Air Lines to waive all GDS surcharges for Travelport agencies participating in the carriers' forthcoming preferred fares programs in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. "We are delighted to have signed such ground-breaking agreements with Lufthansa and Swiss and to be able to guarantee surcharge-free booking for all of our travel agency customers for over three years." Travelport MD-Europe, Middle East, Africa and Brazil Bryan Conway said.
MANY AIR CARGO OPERATORS WOULD LIKE TO MIMIC the passenger side of the airline industry's move away from paper processing. E-tickets now are nearly universal; old-fashioned paper tickets are not even an option in most of the world. But as IATA DG and CEO Giovanni Bisignani is fond of saying, the documents traveling with air cargo could fill 39 747 freighters annually and add an estimated $1.2 billion to the global industry's yearly costs.
JOACHIM BUSE BELIEVES good procurement is a consummate balancing act--trying to drive the lowest possible cost without letting that cost cripple contenders. "It's our job to reduce costs and be aggressive pricewise," says Lufthansa Passenger Airline's corporate procurement VP. But in the end analysis suppliers have got to make a decent living.
Faced with demand for global flexibility, carriers are looking constantly for adaptable and cost-effective ways to ensure that passengers experience the same recognized airline brand and associated level of quality service they expect no matter where in the world they embark or disembark. Behind the scenes, carriers are equally keen to ensure that aircraft are maintained at the same level of operational readiness as they would be back at the home base.
