he proposed merger between Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines may be the first comprehensive US airline restructuring since United Airlines purchased Pan American's Pacific Division in 1985 in which the international implications of the transaction will garner the most attention from federal regulators.
THERE IS MAGIC IN THE AIR AT SOUTH KOREA'S ASIANA Airlines. Whether it is flight attendants trained to entertain passengers with sleight-of-hand tricks or the industry-leading reliability of its aircraft and engines, the magic is working. But everything has not always worked like magic for Asiana, which turned 20 in February.
It's not too late for struggling airlines to shift to new technology and cut costs, according to Paul Coby, chief information officer of British Airways. Coby, who also is chairman of the board of SITA, told delegates to SITA's Air Transport IT Summit in Brussels to take advantage of the "community model" that allows carriers to use new technologies on a per-transaction basis rather than requiring a large upfront investment.
Aer Lingus appointed Greg O'Sullivan group company secretary succeeding Laurence Gourley, who becomes head-legal affairs. AJ Walter promoted Conrad Vanderluis to MRO director. Alaska Air Group elected Joe Sprague VP-Alaska Air Cargo and Ann Ardizzone VP-inflight services, Alaska Airlines. Aviareto elevated Rob Cowan to MD. AWAS welcomed J.T. Foo as VP-sales-Asia/Pacific. Billund Airport named Jesper Klausholm marketing mgr. Blue Sky Network tapped Carlton van Putten as senior VP-sales & marketing.
FROM GECOMMERCIAL AVIATION Services' perspective, acquiring The Memphis Group and entering into the aircraft parts market in October 2006 seemed like a natural progression of good business. After all, GECAS had been a TMG customer for many years. It understood firsthand the scope of the company's distribution and the quality of its service.
IN TERMS OF AIRLINE PASSENGER traffic, India has been among the fastest-growing markets in the world for about three years. The large number of first-time air travelers in a
BUILDING A BASE OF CUSTOMERS and maintaining brand loyalty have become increasingly difficult for traditional network airlines. The rise of large and well-capitalized low-cost carriers, the emergence of the Internet as an anonymous one-stop shopping mall for travel and the growing absence of person-to-person contact between an airline and its customers are complicating life for those trying to promote and maintain a distinctive brand.
Travelport GDS signed agreements with Lufthansa and Swiss that assure that the full content of both airlines will be made available to all Galileo and Worldspan users worldwide through 2011. Under the new agreements, all GDS surcharges will be waived for Travelport GDS travel agencies who choose to participate in the new Lufthansa and Swiss Preferred Fares programs, soon to be launched in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Lichtenstein. The agreements take effect July 1, when Lufthansa and Swiss implement the Preferred Fares plans.
WHEN AIRBUS ANNOUNCED THE A350 XWB featuring a completely new wing and wider fuselage made with carbon fiber, engineers at Airbus, Thales and Honeywell no doubt were eager to turn their talents to the cockpit and avionics and improve upon the A330 and A380 configurations proposed for earlier A350 studies. Judging from the resultant transformation, they must have taken a good, hard look at the 787's futuristic cockpit and integrated avionics and avidly set themselves the goal of not only meeting but exceeding this state of the art.
DERMOT MANNION IS NOT SHY ABOUT EXTOLLING the virtues of the airline he joined as chief executive in August 2005. "We believe that Aer Lingus is the most successful of the European flag carriers in the way the business has been reengineered in recent years to operate on a low cost basis," he tells ATW at the airline's headquarters here. "Carriers tend to be either legacy full-service or LCC. We operate a hybrid model, which is quite unusual by industry standards, but we think it works well."
More than 80 people gathered in Queretaro on May 16 to celebrate the opening of a new MRO facility for CFM56-5As, -5Bs and -7Bs, a joint venture between Snecma Services of SAFRAN Group and Turborreactores SA de CV, aka ITR, of ITP Group. SAFRAN CEO Jean-Paul Herteman and ITR Chairman Jose-Manuel Manzanedo Diaz were among the executives who spoke about partnerships, engines and México.
MOST OF THE YEAR, THE WEATHER IN PUERTO VALLARTA IS SPLENDIDLY consistent. Sunny skies prevail with temperatures hovering around 25 deg. C (77 deg. F). Late April is no different, even with more than 500 airline suppliers in town. They came for ALTA's CCMA meeting. So did 60-some airline representatives, mostly from Latin America and the Caribbean, a strong showing considering the economic challenges facing the industry.
EXORBITANT FUEL PRICES, a decline in consumer and business spending, a reduction in new finished goods manufacturing, an increase in performance-based service contracts and product commoditization have placed enormous pressures on A&D companies to continue growing profit margins while at the same time maintaining increased service demands and expectations.
Severely affected by soaring fuel costs, US airlines staggered out of the starting gate in 2008, with the nation's 10 largest carriers posting a cumulative net loss of $11.76 billion. The US industry's recovery--perhaps the story in global air transport circles last year--rather abruptly has become a thing of the past.
The IT revolution, which swept through ticketing and distribution in a decade, is making steady progress on a much tougher challenge: Tying together maintenance planners, techs and their suppliers. Air Canada Maintenance will replace 12 legacy maintenance systems with six modules of Mxi software by early 2010, according to ACM Project Director Steve Bogie. The carrier chose Mxi for several reasons: Solving current challenges while preparing for a more automated future and because Web-based Mxi can be deployed to Air Canada stations around the world.
Robust demand and a 10% increase in its average fare helped AirAsia avoid the pitfalls plaguing most of the industry during the first quarter as the Malaysian LCC reported a MYR161.3 million ($49.7 million) net profit that represented an 86% improvement over the MYR86.9 million profit earned in the year-ago quarter.
Mesa Air Group yesterday won a preliminary injunction in US District Court when a judge blocked Delta Air Lines from terminating its contract with Mesa subsidiary Freedom Airlines, which operates 34 ERJ-145s for Delta Connection. Delta notified Mesa in late March that it would end the service agreement, claiming that Freedom had failed to maintain an acceptable completion rate.
Boeing will manage a segment of SAS Technical Services' expendable spare parts inventory including gaskets, nuts and bolts under an IMM maintenance agreement announced yesterday. Boeing will handle invoicing and leverage pricing through buying power. Deal is expected to advance parts availability, reduce operating costs and enhance service.
ARINC said it reached agreements with three Latin American carriers and a ground handling company from that region to provide its AviNet Mail message service offering Type B, e-mail, ICAO and fax capabilities.
Austrian government, which holds 38% of Austrian Airlines Group via state holding company OEIAG, demanded that the carrier determine whether it will continue as a standalone enterprise or look to align with a strategic partner such as Lufthansa or Air France KLM ( ATWOnline, May 16). A survival plan should be presented this summer, or by autumn at the latest. AAG, which has debts of close to €1 billion, has been hit by high fuel prices, a relatively old fleet (average 9.2 years) and high employee costs.
Ryanair will launch the following new routes on Oct. 27: Bremen to Fuerteventura, Gothenburg, Marrakesh and Tenerife; Bournemouth to Milan Orio al Serio and Paris Beauvais; Glasgow Prestwick to Faro, Malaga and Tenerife; Marseille to Agadir, Brest, Lille, Nador and Tangier. It also will operate flights from London Stansted to Beziers and Rimini in June, July and August.
Air One will outsource its international cargo business to Cargo Counts, a subsidiary of Lufthansa Cargo, as part of a three-year Total Cargo Management agreement encompassing sales, marketing, freight handling, accounting, IT and controlling as well as flight data, yield and capacity management. Collaboration begins June 14 with the launch of AP's five-times-weekly Milan Malpensa-Boston service and subsequent six-times-weekly MXP-Chicago O'Hare flights aboard A330-200s.
S7 Airlines took delivery of two new 164-seat A320-200s last week on lease from ILFC. The aircraft already are in service. S7 plans to take six more A320s this year. Its fleet now comprises 17 A319-100s, two A310-300s, five A310-200s, four A320-200s, three 737-500s, two 737-400s, nine Il-86s and 27 Tu-154Ms.
