Hainan Airlines is moving forward with its plan to launch Hefei-based Anhui Airlines, though the specific timetable has yet to be fixed. The capital of Anhui Province, Hefei is located approximately 200 mi. west of Shanghai. The carrier is expected to be based at the new Hefei Xinqiao Airport, upon which construction will begin this year. It is scheduled to be operational in 2010.
SR Technics opened a new 1,400-sq.-m. component overhaul workshop facility near Madrid Barajas. The shop initially will focus on wheels and brakes. Capacity will grow quickly to 500 wheels a month, SRT said. It opened its first Spain-based component overhaul facility at Palma de Mallorca in 1996.
Chinese carriers are beginning to follow the internationally common practice of recruiting privately trained pilots in an effort to make up for a pilot shortfall that CAAC Vice Minister Gao Hongfeng said last month will reach 2,000 over the next two years.
World Airways, a subsidiary of Global Aero Logistics, signed a one-year contract with Etihad Crystal Cargo to provide MD-11 freighter service to and from Frankfurt Hahn, Shanghai and Mumbai. Frequency of service was not announced. World was acquired by GAL last quarter ( ATWOnline, Aug. 8).
Hawaiian Airlines flew 667.7 million RPMs in September, up 21.7% on the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 15.1% to 760 million ASMs and load factor increased 4.8 points to 87.9%.
Jet Airways signed a purchase agreement with Boeing for 20 737-800s plus options for an additional 10, the carrier said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. The manufacturer did not acknowledge the order. The aircraft are scheduled to be delivered between October 2012 and December 2014 as "there are no unused delivery positions for 737NGs available till October 2012," Jet said in a statement widely quoted by media outlets. The 10 other -800s will be delivered between August 2013 and February 2015 if the options are firmed.
Volvo Aero said it was contracted by Pratt & Whitney to design, manufacture and support a lightweight turbine exhaust case for the Engine Alliance GP7000 powering the A380. Volvo Aero said its design reduces the weight of the TEC by 10%.
SkyEurope Airlines continues to restructure its network in an effort to enhance and stabilize its financial base. The company reported a loss of €37.6 million in the nine months to June 30. It will start by expanding its Vienna-based fleet of 737-700s to six beginning at the end of this month. "We are increasing our network [from Vienna] from 16 to 20 destinations, but we are concentrating more on increasing frequencies," CCO Karim Makhlouf told ATWOnline. The airline hopes to serve 2.1 million passengers in Vienna within the next 12 months.
Lehman Brothers said in a research note that it is "more likely the [787] program could slip by 4-6 months" than for the aircraft to be delivered to ANA on time next May and warned that the manufacturer may have to "adjust earnings downward" in the near future. Boeing again reiterated on Monday that it is "still our objective to meet that May 2008 delivery" and that it has developed an "aggressive" flight test program in order to keep the 787 program on schedule" ( ATWOnline, Sept.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, in his first public comments on allegations of insider trading at EADS and Airbus, said yesterday that government investigators will examine the issue thoroughly and that any executives found to have acted inappropriately should be "punished."
Regional will take delivery of a fifth E-190 on Oct. 19. The fourth 100-seat aircraft, part of a September 2005 order for six, arrived in Nantes last week.
Alitalia's board met yesterday regarding potential sale of the carrier and released a shortlist of six potential buyers following consultation with Citigroup and industrial adviser Roland Berger. The list comprises Aeroflot, Air France KLM, AP Holding (Air One), Cordata Baldassarre, Lufthansa and TPG (formerly Texas Pacific Group). The Italian government wants to sell most of its 49.9% in AZ and asked Chairman Maurizio Prato, who was appointed in July, to identify potential buyers after its own selloff efforts failed.
News from Travel Technology Update: The founder of Hotwire is back with a new venture: an application that will create a sort of "super PNR" for consumers, dramatically simplifying the management of a trip. "The simple description is that we replace the old-fashioned manila folder," Gregg Brockway, chief executive officer of TripIt, said. "Consumers are increasingly booking with suppliers, and they end up with 20 pages of printouts," he said. "We've made it easy to bring it all together in one place. We are going to drag the itinerary into the 21st century."
British Airways CEO Willie Walsh said in a speech in Manchester last weekend that the airline aims to link major business centers in the US with continental Europe thanks to open skies and has become the first European carrier to file a "formal blanket application" to fly between any city in the US and any city in the EU. He called the prospect of operating flights that would neither take off nor land in the UK "a radical departure for British Airways" but said the liberalization "offers some real opportunities . . .
Merged Air India holding company National Aviation Co. of India is planning to sell as much as 15% of the airline in an IPO next year, Chairman V. Thulasidas told reporters in Kolkata. The carrier currently is state-owned. Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel confirmed the move in the Economic Times. He told the paper that "we are yet to take a view on the exact mode of equity dilution.
Shanghai Technologies Aerospace Co. broke ground on a new hangar complex at Shanghai Pudong. The S$56 million facility will be capable of handling three narrowbody and two widebody aircraft including the A380. STARCO is a joint venture of Singapore Technologies Aerospace and China Eastern Airlines. It already operates a facility at Shanghai Hongqiao with two hangars capable of handling one narrowbody and three widebodies.
Air Arabia will launch four-times-weekly Sharjah-Bangalore service on Oct. 15, bringing the LCC's Indian destinations to nine and its total to 37. Frequency will increase to daily Oct. 29. Qantas will launch weekly Brisbane-Karratha flights from Nov. 6 aboard a 737-800.
GoAir of India took delivery of its first directly purchased A320 in Toulouse, Airbus announced. The carrier ordered 10 180-seat aircraft last year. It launched with two leased A320s in November 2005 and added five more in 2006. It currently serves 13 cities.
DR Congo President Joseph Kabila fired Transport Minister Remy Henri Kuseyo Gatanga Friday in the aftermath of last week's An-26 crash that killed at least 37 people and possibly as many as 51, both aboard the aircraft and on the ground in a heavily populated area of Kinshasa, where the aircraft plowed through a number of homes and burst into flames shortly after takeoff ( ATWOnline, Oct. 5).
Oasis Hong Kong Airlines secured a $30 million investment from funds managed by Value Partners Ltd. and affiliates, the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation said. Oasis currently operates three 747-400s with a fourth set to arrive this year and a fifth in early 2008. CAPA said Oasis plans to operate 14 -400s on eight routes by 2011.
Both houses of France's parliament will hold hearings this week on allegations of widespread insider trading at EADS and Airbus as lawmakers seek answers in a brewing controversy that has led to sensational headlines in European newspapers and threatens to ensnare many of Airbus's top executives.
US Airways Group airlines flew 4.86 billion RPMs in September, up 2% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 5% to 6.26 billion ASMs and load factor was up 5.4 points to 77.6%. Frontier Airlines flew 776.6 million RPMs in September, a 26% increase from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 9.4% to 996.9 million ASMs and load factor increased 10.3 points to 77.9%. Mainline yield fell 5.7% year-over-year to 9.79 cents while RASM rose 8.7% to 7.63 cents.
Gate Gourmet will enter the market for third-party ground handling services with the acquisition of a UK-based group operating under the Fernley and International Aviation Services brands. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
EasyJet concluded its financial year on Sept. 30 and said it now expects pre-tax profit for the 12 months to be "towards the top end" of its projected improvement of 40%-50% and that it will exceed that guidance if it includes a one-off benefit of £11 million ($22.4 million) associated with the writeback of its investment in The Airline Group. The LCC reported net earnings of £94.1 million and a pre-tax profit of £129.2 million in the year ended Sept. 30, 2006. It plans to announce its 2006-07 performance on Nov. 20.
Turkish Technic, a wholly owned subsidiary of Turkish Airlines established in May 2006, is preparing to launch an aggressive marketing campaign in mid-2008 to promote its new 200,000-sq.-m. MRO center at Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen. The facility, scheduled to begin operating in 2009, will accommodate six widebody and nine narrowbody aircraft and required an investment of around $200 million, GM Ismail Demir told ATWOnline in Istanbul.
