Delta Air Lines promoted VPs Robert Cortelyou to senior VP-network planning, Pam Elledge to senior VP-global sales and distribution and Gail Grimmett to senior VP-revenue management.
While China Eastern Airlines is on the verge of selling a 25% stake to Singapore Airlines ( ATWOnline, May 30), Shanghai Airlines appears to be interested finding its own foreign investor.
Swiss International Air Lines will launch daily Zurich-Delhi service on Nov. 25 aboard A330-200s and a daily ZRH-Shanghai Pudong flight in summer 2008. It is adding two A330-200s and one A340-300 this summer and will take two additional A340-300s by next April.
Airbus said last week that talks with labor groups are starting "at national level" to determine how 10,000 workers will be cut across France, Germany, Spain and the UK.
SAS Scandinavian Airlines announced the completion of installation of its new Business Sleeper seats on A330-300s and A340-300s operating between Newark, Chicago O'Hare, Seattle and Washington Dulles and its Copenhagen and Stockholm Arlanda hubs. The business cabin has a 2-2-2 configuration, with 46 seats on the A340 and 34 on the A330. New seats feature 61 in. of legroom and a video screen nearly 25% larger than on SAS's previous seats. Transatlantic services also feature Economy Extra seating (35 seats on the A330 and 28 on the A340) with 38-in. pitch, IFE screens and power outlets.
Australia's Regional Express Holdings, which operates as Rex, said last week that it earned a A$17.3 million ($14.3 million) profit in the first nine months of its fiscal year, a figure 51.8% higher than in the year-ago period. It is projecting full-year profit growth of 40%. Nine-month passenger numbers rose 19.8% to 1.05 million.
Finnair took delivery of its first new 269-seat A340-300E, the first of three ordered in December 2005. The second CFM56-5C4-powered A340 will arrive in mid-June. The aircraft will operate on the carrier's Helsinki-Tokyo Narita service.
BCI Aircraft Leasing acquired the first of three 737-300QCs that it had been leasing. The aircraft are on long-term operating lease to Europe Airpost. The other two will be purchased in the coming months.
Saudi Arabian Airlines will start issuing electronic boarding passes to passengers traveling through Saudi airports in August, the Arab Air Carriers Organization said.
Aeroflot on Friday denied Italian media reports that it plans to drop out of the bidding for Alitalia ( ATWOnline, May 31), while revealing that it is working with the EU on maintaining AZ's European traffic rights if its consortium beats out Air One and wins the privatization tender. "There is no hesitation to leave the bidding. There is no question of dropping out," Lev Koshliakov, an SU deputy DG, told Thomson Financial.
While US carriers are certainly in far better shape financially than in recent years, "profitability" is a relative term. Even considering that the first quarter is traditionally the weakest reporting period, it's hard to view the year's first three months -- when half of the 10 largest US airlines were in the red -- as anything but slightly disappointing given that 2006 was the industry's best year since 2000 and better results are expected in 2007.
First, the good news. Global airline yields and traffic growth are on the upswing and have contributed to a significant expansion of aggregate industry revenue to approximately $470 billion in 2007. This is a welcome development after years of staggering financial losses. The bad news is that airline costs, led by a doubling of fuel prices, are increasing at 4%-5% per annum and will reach $450 billion, resulting in a paltry 3% estimated operating margin, according to IATA.
WHEN IT SURFACED YEARS AGO, radio frequency identification technology was heralded as a breakthrough tool in supply chain management. But while manufacturers and users continue to refine and test it through pilot programs, RFID still is not considered ready for prime time, interviews with the technology's experts indicate. Cost of implementation, resistance to switching from existing technology and competing budgetary demands have slowed its adoption by OEMs, airlines and maintenance, repair and overhaul facilities.
AIRPORT PRIVATIZATION HAS SPREAD RAPIDLY throughout the world since Margaret Thatcher's UK government sold off airports operator BAA in 1987, with one glaring exception: The US. Major airports in the world's largest air transport market are not viewed, as they increasingly are in much of Europe and Asia, as for-profit, self-sustaining businesses. Rather, Americans largely perceive airports as public utilities, much like libraries and motor vehicle administrations, that should be owned and managed by state and local governments.
Galileo said it can "state unequivocally" that it has no intention of forcing any customers to migrate to a new system in the U.S. The statement was the clearest indication yet that if Travelport, Galileo's parent, succeeds in acquiring Worldspan, it does not intend to integrate the two systems. That means Travelport will operate three GDS platforms; Galileo, which was developed in Europe, was never integrated with the U.S. born-and-bred Apollo system.
WITH A HISTORY dating back to 1932, UK-based A J Walter Aviation today lays claim to being the largest privately owned stocker of aircraft spares in the world, with more than 4 million parts of some 400,000 line items. It currently boasts a staff of 140 at the world headquarters, located in a small village in the heart of the Sussex countryside not far from London Gatwick, and another 40 at more than 30 offices around the globe.
One of the earlyand substantialpurchasers of the 787 is Continental Airlines, which has placed orders for 25 Dreamliners. In an e-mail Q&A with Airline Procurement, Senior Engineering Director John Wiitala revealed how the carrier will deal with some of the MRO issues. Airline Procurement: How is Continental setting up for maintenance, repair and overhaul of the 787? What will be different versus the existing fleet?
AerCap Holdings welcomed Thomas MacAleavey as chief executive-engine leasing. Alaska Air Group elected Gregg Saretsky executive VP-flight & marketing, Glenn Johnson executive VP-airport services, maintenance & engineering and Brad Tilden VP-finance & planning. American Eagle named Dave Campbell senior VP-technical operations and Cathy Jacobs VP-people. AWAS introduced Angus Williamson as head-risk management. Boeing selected Mary Armstrong as VP-environment, health & safety.
KEEPING AN AIRLINER aloft to generate maximum profits calls for efficient management of a vast number of spare parts. Making sure there are enough pumps, tires, avionics gear, engines, cabin carpets, brackets and thousands of other aircraft supplies available for MRO is a major procurement challenge. No wonder that maintenance and supply managers worry ceaselessly about whether there is a shortage of this or that bit of hardware at the right time and in the right place to keep aircraft flying.
BADGERS AND RAZORBACK HOGS didn't make the cut. Grizwald the bear, a clever fox, a wisecracking jackrabbit and a quartet of penguins are in, along with a snowy white owl named Doc who is acceptable everywhere but in Mexico where he raises superstitions. These decisions are all part of the business strategy of Frontier Airlines, which markets itself as "A Whole Different Animal" and reflects that sentiment by having every aircraft tail painted with a creature indigenous to the regions served.
THERE ARE SOME PLACESLOTS OF PLACES ACTUALLYWHERE PURCHASING IS NOT A PREROGATIVE. AIRTRAN AIRWAYS IS ONE OF THEM. AT THE ORLANDO-BASED LCC, PURCHASING MANAGER JEFF LONG "HAS TO GO OUT AND SELL OUR SERVICES TO OUR INTERNAL CUSTOMERS." THERE'S NO MANDATE THAT DEPARTMENTS FUNNEL THEIR BUYING THROUGH LONG'S SHOP; "IT'S LIKE I'M A CONSULTANT HERE." AND ONE OF THE MOST POTENT TOOLS IN ANY CONSULTANT'S KIT IS PERSUASION.
While e-procurement has been around for roughly a decade in the airline industry and has become somewhat "second nature" to many participants, there are still a lot of opportunities for expansion and resulting efficiency improvements and cost savings, according to experts in the field.
