Cascade Aerospace signed a three-year deal with WestJet for heavy maintenance on its 737NGs. Cascade expects to complete 32 heavy checks by the end of 2010.
Singapore Airlines yesterday launched daily A380 service to Tokyo Narita using the fourth aircraft that was delivered last month. The first three fly to Sydney and London Heathrow. The inaugural flight from NRT carried 420 passengers and fell on the 30th anniversary of the airport. Delivery of SIA's fifth aircraft is expected by the end of next month. SIA also recently announced that it will operate an A380 on one of its three daily flights to Beijing Aug. 2-8 to accommodate increasing travel ahead of the Olympic Games. The other two flights will continue to be operated with 777s.
Malaysia Airlines yesterday said it posted a MYR120 million ($37 million) profit in the first quarter, down 9.8% from the MYR133 million earned in the year-ago period, Reuters reported. It cited fuel costs for the decline.
"Our people are energized and it's fun to be here," Boeing VP and GM-787 Program Pat Shanahan said yesterday when summing up the state of the Dreamliner production line at the company's Everett, Wash., facility. Addressing a gathering of global media, Shanahan said Boeing is on track for power-on for the first aircraft next month. "Systems are complete in the wing and forward fuselage is only hours away, while aft body is almost done," he declared. The company expects the mid-body systems and wiring to be complete in June as well.
Delta Air Lines will launch four-times-weekly Atlanta-Kuwait City Nov. 7 aboard 777-200ERs. It called the Middle East "a key component" of its ongoing international expansion and said it is upgrading ATL-Dubai service to daily from Oct. 6. It also serves Tel Aviv from ATL and operates 767-300ER flights from New York JFK to Amman, Cairo and Tel Aviv. United Airlines inked a codeshare agreement with Hawaiian Airlines allowing UA passengers traveling on its 18 daily flights from the continental US to Hawaii to connect to HA's inter-island flights.
ABX Air said yesterday that it reached agreement with DHL to extend its hub and line-haul services agreement to carry the express delivery giant's cargo in the US market for another year, capping a busy week of activity in which it also reported a slight drop in first-quarter earnings and its parent company was renamed.
TAM last week reported first-quarter net income of BRL2.6 million ($1.6 million), down 95.7% from BRL59.2 million earned in the year-ago quarter, as escalating expenses offset revenue increases. Total revenue rose 22.7% to BRL2.35 billion but costs lifted 28.5% to BRL2.24 billion including a 48.1% leap in fuel expense to BRL844.8 million. Fuel costs were more than double any other expense category. Operating income was BRL8.5 million, down 89.8% from BRL83.4 million last year.
Miami International asked for more than $60 million to finish its new baggage handling system and people-mover, key components of an expansion program already years past deadline and nearly $1 billion over budget. MIA said it needs another $43.5 million for the Siemens baggage system and $20.8 million for the rooftop automated train system built by Sumitomo. Train cars are finished but the mile-long terminal must be completed before the track can be installed, so the airport is paying Sumitomo more than $54,000 per month to store and "exercise" the 20 cars in Japan.
Ethiopian Airlines said "preliminary reports" suggest it earned a record ETB484 million ($50 million) profit in the fiscal nine months ended March 31, a result it said was "appreciably higher" than the year-ago period. Revenue rose 29% year-over-year to ETB6.6 billion on a 19% lift in passengers to 1.9 million, the carrier announced. It credited increased frequencies, new international services and its freight business for driving revenue growth. Operating expenses climbed 21%. ET will launch flights to Kuwait City, its 51st destination, on June 2.
The Sukhoi Superjet 100 took to the skies yesterday at Komsomolsk-on-Amur in southeast Russia, completing its inaugural flight in 65 min. and performing four circuits of the airfield at various altitudes up to 1,200 m., the manufacturer announced. "While much remains to be completed on the way to certification, I am certain that we are well prepared for them and that the aircraft will enjoy the success it deserves," Sukhoi Holdings DG Mikhail Pogosyan said ( ATWOnline, May 14).
US Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), concerned that his state will lose air service if the Delta Air Lines-Northwest Airlines merger is approved, last week attempted to attach amendments to nonaviation legislation aimed at making approval more difficult, a legislative tactic that ultimately failed but that could be attempted again by lawmakers opposed to the merger, Politico.com reported. US Dept.
Jazeera Airways reported a KWD745,815 ($2.8 million) first-quarter profit, a 42% increase from the year-ago period's result. "Our strong Q1 results follow the major expansion strategy we pursued in 2007. We will continue to expand in the rest of '08, bringing new routes on the back of more aircraft deliveries throughout the year," Chairman and CEO Marwan Boodai said. Revenue climbed 46% year-over-year to KWD10.8 million. Jazeera flies six A320s and has 34 aircraft on order with deliveries scheduled through 2014.
Delta Air Lines flew 10.07 billion system RPMs in April, up 2.5% from the year-ago month, against a 2.7% increase in ASMs to 12.38 billion. Load factor slipped 0.1 point to 81.4%. Ryanair transported 4.7 million passengers in April, 15% higher than the year-ago month. Load factor dropped 4 points to 79%. EasyJet transported 3.6 million passengers in April, up13.4% from the year-ago month. Load factor fell 3 points to 80.1%.
Jet Airways will start its daily Mumbai-Shanghai Pudong-San Francisco on June 14 using a 777-300ER. It originally was scheduled to launch May 5 ( ATWOnline, April 8). "Now we are close to being a round-the-world carrier," CEO Wolfgang Prock-Schauer told ATWOnline in Vienna. Jet currently operates 18 long-haul aircraft (10 777-300ERs and eight A330-200s). "We will get another four A330s this year, resulting in a fleet of 22 widebodies," he added.
Taipei-based Far Eastern Air Transport ceased operations last week owing to a shortfall in operating funds, according to widespread press reports. FEAT was launched in 1957 and recently has been suffering from scattered stock rights and frequent changes in senior leadership. In February it launched a search for a strategic investor to alleviate its debt burden but failed to attract one ( ATWOnline, Feb. 21).
US Transportation Secretary Mary Peters moved broadly Friday to reassure passengers regarding flight cancellations and delays, saying US FAA and airlines will work to develop a better "mutual understanding" on safety compliance to avoid widespread aircraft groundings and proposing new slot rules including auctions for New York JFK and Newark. She additionally issued a final rule requiring "airlines to report new and more complete data on the time passengers spend on the tarmac" in an effort to reduce the instances of travelers stranded on delayed aircraft for extended periods.
Frontier Airlines employees will have salaries reduced 1%-10% based on salary range as the carrier tries to manage its way through the Chapter 11 restructuring process. In addition to the pay cuts, Frontier is suspending for now its match to employee 401k plans. In an internal memo obtained by Denver television station 9NEWS, CEO Sean Menke told workers that the pay cuts are needed to reduce the overall cost structure and attract new financing. "As a point of necessity, we are going to have to reduce our labor and benefit expenses very quickly," he said.
Wichita-based Spirit AeroSystems will design and produce the composite center fuselage frame section for the A350 XWB under an agreement with Airbus announced last week. The structure, which will be approximately 64.7 ft. (19.7 m.) long and weigh around 8,990 lb. (4,078 kg.), will be manufactured in a new assembly plant to be built in North Carolina, Spirit said.
Despite rising fuel prices, an economic slowdown and the troubled opening of London Heathrow's Terminal 5 in the last days of its fiscal year, British Airways reported a record profit performance for the year ended March 31 with net income of £694 million ($1.35 billion), more than double the £304 million it earned in the prior year.
The new union ostensibly representing US Airways' 5,000 pilots voiced its opposition to a potential merger with United Airlines Friday, stating that unresolved issues relating to the merger of the former US and America West Airlines must be addressed first.
AirAsia X announced that Perth will be its next Australian destination. The low-cost, long-haul airline started operations last year to Australia's Gold Coast. The Kuala Lumpur-based carrier will launch service to Perth with six weekly flights from Nov. 2, which coincides with the delivery of its first new-build A330-200, before moving to daily services in March. Chief Executive Azran Osman-Rani said, "AirAsia X will feed passengers from its extensive network into Perth, effectively creating a low-cost link from Southeast Asia and China to Western Australia."
