Bangkok's new Suvarnabhumi Airport was set to begin full-scale international and domestic operations this morning at 3 a.m. local time ( ATWOnline, Sept. 21). First arrival was expected to be a Lufthansa Cargo flight 5 min. later inbound from Mumbai. The first scheduled departure was to be a Saudi Arabian Cargo flight to Riyadh. The first passenger flight to arrive was to be VV#171 Aerosvit Airlines from Kiev. VV#172 outbound for Kiev will make the first passenger departure.
KLM will reduce its fuel surcharge by €5 ($6.36) per segment on all intercontinental flights and by €1 per segment on all intra-European flights in response to falling oil prices on tickets issued as of Sept. 28.
Alitalia unions have called off 24-hr. strikes planned for tomorrow and Oct. 9 ( ATWOnline, Sept. 27) after the government agreed to hold a meeting with workers' representatives on Oct. 10, the Associated Press reported. Transport Minister Alessandro Bianchi said the government will present a new business plan for the airline by year end.
Lufthansa Technik yesterday announced a Total Component Support Agreement with Air Deccan covering the Indian LCC's newly arriving fleet of up to 60 A320s for a period of 10 years. Under terms of the $150 million deal, LHT and its Indian subsidiary, One Stop Airline MRO Support, "will independently serve" the Air Deccan fleet with the provision of components at the carrier's Bangalore hub.
IATA DG and CEO Giovanni Bisignani called on China to look urgently at the cost of overflying the country, which at the current rate of $1 per mile is "not acceptable." He also urged Beijing to look at the cost of operating into China's airports, which aside from Japan are the world's most expensive.
Ryanair is offering to build a €250 million ($319.5 million) "low-cost, efficient" new terminal at Dublin Airport, operated by itself or an independent operator, and is calling on the Dublin Airport Authority to "scrap" its proposal to build a €760 million terminal that would increase passenger ticket taxes by as much as 25%.
All Nippon Airways recently took delivery of its fourth 767-300F and plans to use it to launch a six-times-weekly Nagoya-Chicago cargo service via Anchorage.
Alitalia trade unions have called for 24-hr. strikes on both Sept. 29 and Oct. 9, according to Il Sole 24 Ore. The announced work stoppages follow a 4-hr. strike by unions representing pilots, flight attendants and ground staff on Sept. 18 and will add further pressure on the carrier, which remains in a precarious financial situation. It reported a loss of €221 million ($282.4 million) in the first half of 2006, widened from a loss of €125 million in the year-ago period.
Gulf Air confirmed that President and CEO James Hogan will complete his tenure at the carrier Sept. 30, earlier than anticipated, fueling speculation he will move to another airline in the Middle East. VP-Finance Ahmed Al Hammadi will take over as acting president and CEO from Oct. 1.
Aerospace Products International, a subsidiary of First Aviation Services, received FAA approval to perform aircraft wheel overhaul services, enabling it to do MRO work on aircraft wheels manufactured by Aircraft Braking Systems and Goodrich.
Royal Jordanian will move its Bangkok operations and airport services from Don Muang to Suvarnabhumi tomorrow. The carrier operates five weekly nonstop flights to the Thai capital using A340s.
Continental Airlines signed a five-year, $258 million contract with the US Postal Service to carry priority, first class and express mail within the US and Puerto Rico. "We have made substantial investments in our postal facilities, employees and technology," said VP-Cargo Jack Boisen.
CAE said it was awarded three contacts for full flight simulators with a combined value of C$45 million ($40.3 million). The contracts are with Continental Airlines for a 737NG, Lufthansa Flight Training for an A320 and UPS for a 747. The 737 FFS for CO will feature CAE's Tropos II Enhanced visual system. SAS Maintenance Training will establish a new facility in Riga during the fourth quarter to perform training for 737 Classics and NGs for customers in the Baltics and Eastern Europe.
Amadeus appointed Arnaud Debuchy director for its Airline Business Group, giving him responsibility for airline account management and sales in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. BAA announced further management changes related to its takeover by Ferrovial Group, appointing Jose Leo CFO to replace Margaret Ewing. Ian Hargreaves, corporate and regulatory affairs director, will leave the company.
FedEx said this week it will invest $2.6 billion to acquire and modify up to 90 757-200s to replace its 727-200 freighters. The FedEx Express airline unit is expected to bring the new aircraft into service from 2008 to 2016.
IBM signed a 3.5-year agreement with Prague Airport to implement, maintain and manage a new IT system. Based on the mySAP Business Suite product, the integrated information system will be used by 350 airport staff, IBM said.
Canadian Transportation Agency yesterday issued licenses to startup Porter Airlines to operate domestic and nonscheduled international services using medium aircraft. The carrier plans initially to operate 10 daily flights between Toronto City Centre Airport and Ottawa using 70-seat Q400s and later will expand to destinations in Canada and the US within about 300 mi. of Toronto. A precise startup date has not been announced but operations are expected to commence within weeks.
The US National Mediation Board yesterday rejected Northwest Airlines flight attendants' request to be released from mediated talks ( ATWOnline, Sept. 22 ) and ordered union leaders and airline management back to the negotiating table. The two sides will meet today in Washington. The flight attendants, represented by the Assn. of Flight Attendants-CWA, twice have voted down tentative concessionary agreements that call for nearly $200 million in annual givebacks.
Finnair plans to add a fifth daily flight from Helsinki to Paris CDG from Nov. 1 and a fifth daily service to Copenhagen from Jan. 1. JAL and Korean Air are expanding their codeshare agreement from Oct. 29 by 40% from the current 133 flights per week over nine routes to 186 flights a week over 11 routes. Under the new agreement, the number of daily codeshare flights from Seoul Incheon to Tokyo Narita increases to seven, to Osaka Kansai to five and to Nagoya Chubu to three. Flybe will launch a four-times-weekly Southampton-Nice service from March 25.
Uzbekistan Airways said it successfully tested an IL-114-100 retrofitted with Rockwell Collins digital avionics and Pratt & Whitney engines. The revamped aircraft, which the carrier said meets ICAO standards, was remodeled in cooperation with Tashkent Aircraft Production Corp., the Ilyushin Design Bureau and the Russian Research Institute. The airline intends to use 10 such aircraft on domestic routes.
Air France Industries was selected by China Eastern Airlines to provide maintenance, repair and overhaul services for the CFM56-5Cs powering its five A340-300s and CF6-80C2s powering its 10 A300-600s. The CFM56 work will be done in the AFI shop at Paris Orly while the CF6-80C2s will be serviced at Orly or the new KLM Engineering & Maintenance facility located at Amsterdam Schiphol. AFI signed a contract with Vietnam Airlines to provide fleet support for four A330s to be delivered from October.
Air Baltic President and CEO Bertolt Flick expects further dramatic growth for the Latvian carrier, projecting it will carry around 2.2 million passengers in 2007, up nearly 50% over 1.5 million this year.
