Swiss International Air Lines said Friday that it has been forced to cancel 112 flights, or 2.7% of its operations, through Oct. 27 because of a pilot shortage. It cancelled 11 flights last weekend. Flights to Frankfurt, Munich, Dusseldorf, Birmingham, Brussels, Milan Malpensa and Warsaw will be affected over the next two weeks. Swiss said the decision was forced by an unusually high rate of pilots calling in sick. The carrier faced a two-day strike Sept. 26-27 by pilots flying for its Swiss European Air Lines subsidiary and canceled 142 flights.
Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings has reached agreement to sell a 49% equity interest and a 25% voting interest in its Polar Air Cargo subsidiary to DHL for $150 million cash, the companies announced yesterday. AAWW said the deal includes a 20-year blocked-space arrangement with potential revenues of $3.5 billion that "will ensure DHL access to aircraft capacity in key global markets while providing the AAWW companies with a valuable, long-term customer."
Comair announced Friday that it has filed suit against the US government, FAA and airport authorities as part of an effort to ensure that compensation owed to victims' families as a result of the CRJ200 accident that killed 49 people at Lexington Blue Grass Airport in August is "shared fairly and reasonably among all parties who share responsibility," according to Comair President Don Bornhorst.
AirTran Airways will launch 717-200 service from Daytona Beach to Atlanta (flights begin Jan. 12, service becomes four-times-daily by Feb. 15) and Baltimore-Washington International (daily from Feb. 15). Japan Airlines expanded its codeshare agreements with China Eastern Airlines and Xiamen Airlines. It will place its code on China Eastern's daily Fukuoka-Shanghai service from Oct. 29 and its thrice-weekly Osaka Kansai-Kunming service from Dec. 12. JAL already operates its own service on the former route and serves Kunming through Beijing.
Although Ryanair and other low-cost carriers generate large amounts of revenue from "nonticket sources," legacy airlines derive significantly more by selling frequent-flier miles to partners, typically via co-branded credit cards, says a recent study by IdeaWorks Co.
United Airlines flew 9.25 billion system RPMs in September, an increase of 1.3% over the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 2.3% to 11.64 billion ASMs and load factor dropped 0.7 point to 79.5%. Finnair flew 1.55 billion RPKs in September, a 12.3% rise from the year-ago month. Capacity grew 8% to 2.05 billion ASKs and load factor was up 2.9 points to 75.5%. Gol flew 1.31 billion RPKs in September, an increase of 46.7% over the year-ago month. Capacity increased at the same rate to 1.73 billion ASKs, leaving load factor at 75.5%.
US legacy carriers have made substantial progress in becoming more competitive but still trail low-cost carriers in a number of areas related to labor efficiency, a new analysis by the US Dept. of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics confirms.
Aeroflot said last week that it now will operate its cargo unit as a separate, wholly owned subsidiary and will lease six MD-11 freighters for delivery in 2008 to replace four aging DC-10s that will be relegated to domestic duty. Aeroflot Cargo will focus on continuing to build up operations at its European freight hub at Frankfurt Hahn, which recorded a 20% year-over-year increase in cargo traffic for the first six months of 2006.
Singapore Airlines reduced its fuel surcharges Saturday to $18 from $20 on flights to Southeast Asia, to $82 from $90 on flights to North America and to $54 from $60 on all other sectors.
Deccan Aviation, parent of Indian LCC Air Deccan, sold rights to future aircraft deliveries to South Way Aircraft Trading of the Cayman Islands, a special-purpose vehicle, in a $100 million transaction funded by Investec Bank of the UK and Germany's HSH Nord Bank, according to press reports. Deccan has ordered 60 A320s for delivery over a seven-year period. MD G.R. Gopinath told reporters that "the deal would go a long way in ensuring Air Deccan's financial stability and insulating us from the turbulence in the domestic aviation industry."
China Eastern Airlines replaced President Luo Chaogeng with Cao Jianxiong, an executive director at the airline, according to a company statement cited by Reuters that offered no explanation for the move. Luo will remain as a director. SITA named Jean-Pascal Aubert as its chief information officer. He comes from SFR Cegetel Group. Alteon Training named Sherry Carbary president. She formerly was VP-strategic management for Boeing Commercial Airplanes and replaces Patrick Gaines, who is Boeing's new VP-customer support for the Asia-Pacific region.
Continental Airlines said its ramp, operations and cargo agents rejected representation by the Transport Workers Union. "We are pleased that our employees recognized the value of our direct working relationship," CO Senior VP-Airport Services Bill Meehan said.
AirTran Airways Chairman and CEO Joe Leonard was presented with the 2006 Tony Jannus Award last Thursday night in St. Petersburg. Speaking on behalf of the Tony Jannus Distinguished Aviation Society, 1986 winner Frank Borman said Leonard "is the finest airline CEO in the world today." He joined AirTran in 1999.
Lufthansa is refining its hub management strategy. From Jan. 1 it will transfer network management tasks and processes to its hubs. According to LH staff magazine Lufthanseat, the process will begin with the winter schedule as short- and medium-haul aircraft are firmly assigned to the Frankfurt and Munich hubs or to a nonhub area on the basis of their tail number. Aircraft may be reassigned at the base for economic or operational reasons but will not be transferred to another hub. With the 2007 summer schedule, long-haul aircraft will be assigned on the same principle.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel revealed yesterday that Berlin is considering buying a stake in Airbus parent EADS, while French President Jacques Chirac insisted that the aircraft manufacturer's Power8 cost-cutting plan must be "harmoniously divided" between France and Germany.
European Commission sent a reasoned opinion, the last step before a formal complaint to the European Court of Justice is lodged, to Luxembourg for failing to implement the 2003 legislation that calls for common basic standards on aviation security measures at EU airports.
Swiss International Air Lines will lease two A340-300s from Austrian Airlines. Including a previously announced lease of two A330-200s from Lufthansa, Swiss will increase its long-haul fleet to 11 A330-200s and 11 A340-300s in the next several months.
Virgin America unveiled its first aircraft, an A320 named Jefferson Airplane, yesterday in San Francisco in a ceremony attended by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The startup, which has leased 34 A320s, still has not received a go-ahead from US authorities while potential US competitors challenge its citizenship, claiming that real control rests with Richard Branson's Virgin Group, not US investors. The unveiling indicated the carrier is "ready, willing and able to fly," CEO Fred Reid told reporters in attendance. DOT is expected to issue a ruling in January.
European Commission updated its list of airlines banned in the EU, adding Kenya's DAS Air Cargo and Uganda's Dairo Air Services due to "the serious safety deficiencies identified in these twin airlines in the last few months," as well as Ariana Afghan Airlines.
Boeing Commercial Airplanes is on a pace to exceed its record sales result of last year, when it booked net orders for 1,002 aircraft ( ATWOnline, Jan. 5). Through the first nine months of 2006, the manufacturer received orders for 736 aircraft, up from 643 in the year-ago period. September sales were particularly strong, with orders for 175 aircraft comprising 118 737NGs, 28 747s, four 767s and 25 787s. In September 2005, Boeing sold 24 aircraft comprising two 737s, 15 777s and seven 787s.
Malev Hungarian Airlines said it will add 10 new e-ticket destinations in the US as part of an agreement with future oneworld partner American Airlines. At present, Malev e-ticketing is available to 28 cities from Budapest. CSA Czech Airlines will reduce its fuel surcharge effective Oct. 16 by $2 per segment on European routes and by $7 on long-haul flights.
LTU German Airlines said it is expecting its annual loss to be €25 million ($31.3 million) in 2006, higher than the €10-€15 million forecast by majority owner Hans Rudolf Woehrl this summer ( ATWOnline, Aug. 23) but still an improvement over the €40 million lost in 2005.
Lufthansa's winter schedule will include a new thrice-weekly Frankfurt-Kolkata service beginning Dec. 1 and a daily FRA-Cape Town flight in addition to the codeshare service operated by South African Airways. Both routes will be served with an A340-600. In all, LH's winter schedule will comprise flights to 183 destinations in 78 countries, representing a 3.3% year-over-year increase in capacity.
Emirates President Tim Clark denied rumors that the airline may cancel some of its A380 orders. Speaking to ATWOnline in Sydney, Clark said Emirates wants the aircraft as soon as possible: "Certainly the delay is a serious setback to our growth plans but we want the aircraft."
