SAS Scandinavian Airlines said it requested a 10% price reduction on goods and services it receives from its suppliers as part of its Profit 2008 program ( ATWOnline, April 30).
AirAsia founder and CEO Tony Fernandes hit back at suggestions that his airline is exposed to surging oil prices, with analysts souring on the company's stock as it hit its lowest level--MYR1.02 ($0.32)--since it listed in November 2004. Speaking yesterday to ATWOnline, Fernandes argued, "There are opportunities, in a slower economy, whereby travelers who might have flown on a legacy airline will now choose a lower-cost, better-value option. People still need to travel."
British Airways signed a firm contract with Airbus for two A318s. It will use the aircraft to launch all-business-class services between London City and New York scheduled for 2009. The A318 last year was certified for steep approach after compatibility tests at LCY.
European Parliament's Environment Committee voted on draft amendments designed to toughen the current proposals to include aviation in the EU's emissions trading scheme.
DHL yesterday opened its new €300 million ($473 million) European airfreight hub at Leipzig/Halle, officially relocating its air operations base from Brussels. The new hub "is situated at a crossroads to provide direct North-South and East-West access to Europe and connects both established and emerging markets in Central and Eastern Europe and Asia," DHL said, adding that it has "comprehensive authorization for night-time flights" at the airport. It will employ 2,000 initially and expects that to rise to 3,500 by 2012.
As an important step in the reinforcement of China's "jumbo aircraft" program, principal manufacturers AVIC I and AVIC II are accelerating preparations for their integration, which is expected to take place "very soon," according to AVIC II General Legal Counsel Li Shentian. "As far as I am concerned, we do have an initial plan for integration of AVIC I and AVIC II. But it's not the time to formally disclose the specific details now as it still needs to be approved by Beijing." Li said.
Air Berlin will reduce its Dusseldorf-Shanghai service to thrice-weekly from five-times-weekly from the end of June owing to a "drop in demand for the Chinese market and the high fuel costs," CEO Joachim Hunold said. Separately, AB announced the sale of its Dusseldorf-based "LTU plus" service center to former LTU partners Jurgen Marbach (55%) and Rudolf Worhl (45%) for an undisclosed sum. The center employs 65 and provides services to AB under a two-year deal.
TAM's Paraguay subsidiary, formerly known as TAM Mercosur and now called TAM Airlines, said it has consolidated its fleet and is operating three dual-class A320s outfitted with 144 economy and 12 business class seats on all flights. It has discontinued use of 108-seat F100s.
Republic Airways flew 874.4 million RPMs in April, a 28.1% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 28.5% to 1.15 billion ASMs and load factor slipped 0.3 point to 75.9%.
News from Travel Technology Update: Of all the actions taken by the airlines to defend against high fuel costs, none has brought the gravity of the fuel crisis home to consumers quite like American Airlines' plan to charge most coach passengers $15 each way for the first checked bag. The high fuel costs are "the biggest threat to the world's airlines ever," Henry Harteveldt, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research, said. Even in the dark days following 9/11, "we knew demand would return."
SITA reached agreement with Bogota's El Dorado International to provide its AirportConnect Open technology for agent and self-service passenger check-in. CUTE system allows passengers to check in at any kiosk or desk. Investment is part of a $650 million expansion program at BOG.
Jet Airways took delivery of its seventh A330-200 configured in two classes with 220 seats. Aircraft is part of an order for 15 placed between 2005 and 2007.
United Airlines and US Airways plan to postpone by one year newly awarded services to China. UA received permission from the US Dept. of Transportation to launch its San Francisco-Guangzhou service in June 2009 and US asked DOT for permission to push back its Philadelphia-Beijing service to 2010. "We're optimistic that economic conditions will be on the upswing in 2010, giving us a better chance of success with our first route to China," US President Scott Kirby said in a letter to employees cited by the Associated Press.
El Al said it is making a $20 million provision in its financial reporting for a "possible settlement" with the US Dept. of Justice regarding antitrust activities related to cargo transport. Carriers throughout the world are contending with a wide-ranging multinational probe conducted by DOJ, EU antitrust authorities and other governments into alleged price fixing on cargo carriage in 2000-06.
British Air Line Pilots' Assn., which represents about 3,000 of British Airways' 3,200 pilots, withdrew its court action last week, lifting the last hurdle for the launch of OpenSkies. BA pilots had voted to strike because the airline planned to use BA aircraft and not BA pilots for its new subsidiary. BA had threatened to seek a court injunction prohibiting the strike, arguing that Art. 43 of the Treaty of Rome gives companies based in one EU state the right to set up subsidiaries in another. BALPA consequently asked the court to determine whether Art. 43 was relevant to its dispute.
Singapore Airlines will add a second A380 service to London Heathrow beginning July 16. It will operate Flight SQ318 from Singapore to LHR and SQ321 on the return leg four-times-weekly, boosting service to 11 weekly flights. Executive VP-Marketing and Regions Huang Cheng Eng said, "Our A380 products have been very well received by our customers and loads on the Singapore-London route have been exceptionally encouraging."
Frontier Airlines will begin charging $25 for a second checked bag on June 10. It also will raise the fee for children traveling alone to $50 per segment from $40 and no longer will allow pets to travel in the passenger cabin. The carrier, which filed for bankruptcy last month, agreed to cuts in employee pay and benefits last week ( ATWOnline, May 23).
Anatolia Jet, Turkish Airlines' wholly owned low-cost subsidiary, launched successfully last month. "We already have an 80% load factor, and the carrier is getting better, as we expected," THY CEO Temel Kotil told ATWOnline. He said Anatolia, which operates five 737-400s from its Ankara hub, could increase its fleet to a possible 10 aircraft this year. "Public response to this product is very good," he said ( ATWOnline, March 31).
Swiss International Air Lines last week unveiled new business class seats to be installed on its long-haul aircraft beginning next year, part of the airline's concerted effort to distinguish itself from parent Lufthansa.
SkyTeam hopes to announce the addition of an Indian partner later this year, governing board Chairman Leo van Wijk told ATWOnline. "Discussions with Kingfisher [Airlines] are progressing," he said. "We hope to conclude the negotiations in autumn." SkyTeam has been looking to add an Indian carrier for several years and was the first group formally to invite one (Indian Airlines) into an alliance early last year.
Bmi Group reported pre-tax profit of £15.5 million ($30.6 million) for 2007, a 47.8% decline from the £29.7 million earned in the prior year, as revenue increased 12.9% to £1.02 billion including £112.9 million attributable to the operations of BMED that were integrated fully in November.
China's "jumbo aircraft" final assembly line may be based at Shanghai Pudong, an industry insider who requested anonymity told ATWOnline last week. "But it has to go through the evaluation by Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China, which will make the final decision," the insider said. Launched officially in Shanghai two weeks ago, CACC mainly is responsible for manufacturing the large commercial aircraft ( ATWOnline, May 13).
