Southwest Airlines plans to launch daily Albany-Tampa service from Oct. 29 and daily Reno/Lake Tahoe-Chicago Midway flights from Dec. 4. It also announced frequency increases on 10 additional routes. Qantas and Jet Airways concluded a codeshare arrangement that will expand Qantas's network within India from Sept. 6. It will codeshare on Jet flights from Singapore to Delhi and Mumbai, offering connections to all Australian capitals. The codeshare will complement Qantas's thrice-weekly A330 Singapore-Mumbai service.
Lufthansa CityLine took delivery yesterday of an 84-seat CRJ900, the first of a dozen that will come into the fleet this year. They will be replacing 50-seat CRJs as the company continues reconfiguring its fleet. "With the new aircraft model, Lufthansa CityLine is taking a major step forward economically and technologically and is thus ideally prepared to face up to the future competition," MD Thomas Drager said. First destinations for the new type include Munich, Brussels, Lyon, Munster/Osnabruck, Nice, Oslo and Geneva.
AirAsturias of Spain expects to launch service in October, according to Spanish press reports. The startup will be based at Oviedo Airport and initially will fly four-times-weekly to Rome, Milan, Lisbon and either Frankfurt or Berlin aboard A320s. It also intends to serve Paris, London, Brussels and destinations in Mexico, Panama and Venezuela, where its main shareholder, the Celuisma hotel group, has interests. Long-haul flights will originate from Madrid Barajas.
Pinnacle Airlines flew 381.3 million RPMs in July, an 8.1% drop from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 8.7% to 484.2 million ASMs and load factor rose 0.5 point to 78.7%. Frontier Airlines flew 849.3 million RPMs in July, a 16.1% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity rose 11.6% to 996.4 million ASMs and load factor was up 3.3 points to 85.2%.
United Airlines will close its Washington Dulles reservations facility by mid-October, resulting in the loss of 504 jobs, according to a letter sent last week by the airline to the Virginia Employment Commission cited by the Washington Business Journal. UA issued a release last week saying its fall schedule at IAD included a 13% increase in departures over the year-ago period. Separately, UA's Sean Donohue is on the move again. Parent UAL Corp. announced yesterday that he will take on a newly created role as senior VP-Flight Operations and Onboard Service divisions.
Jetstar Airways won approval from the US Dept. of Transportation to begin marketing proposed A330-200 flights from Sydney (thrice-weekly) and Melbourne (twice-weekly) to Honolulu scheduled to commence Nov. 23. While final approval has not been granted, Jetstar CEO Alan Joyce said DOT has "indicated to Qantas that Jetstar is qualified to perform these international operations." Qantas will continue to operate thrice-weekly Sydney-Honolulu service after Jetstar launches. Separately, Jetstar said last week it initially will hire 200 flight attendants.
Korean Air said it will ask Boeing for about $12 million to reimburse it for costs associated with preparing 29 aircraft for the Connexion by Boeing service that was pulled from the market last week ( ATWOnline, Aug. 18). An airline official told The Korea Times that it cost $400,000 to furnish a plane with the Connexion service. The carrier planned to introduce the service in an additional 25 aircraft by 2008.
Japan Airlines parent JAL Group applied to the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to increase fuel surcharges on all international passenger tickets from Oct. 1. The proposed new surcharges will rise from ¥1,300 ($11.20) to ¥2,000 on a Seoul-Tokyo ticket, from ¥11,500 to ¥17,100 on a Japan-Brazil ticket and from ¥8,000 to ¥13,600 on flights from Japan to Europe and North America.
Delta Air Lines issued an RFP for a portion of its Regional jet service--that currently operated by Delta Connection partners Comair, Chautauqua Airlines, Shuttle America and Freedom Airlines--as part of the restructuring of its network under bankruptcy proceedings. Comair is a wholly owned Delta subsidiary, Chautauqua and Shuttle America are subsidiaries of Republic Airways and Freedom is a subsidiary of Mesa Air Group. Flying done by SkyWest subsidiary Atlantic Southeast Airlines is not included in the bid.
Mesa Air Group CEO Jonathan Ornstein said that Mesa's go! subsidiary would be profitable if it operated 90-seat aircraft. He told the Phoenix Business Journal that the Hawaii startup that began service in June with 50-seat CRJs is losing money only because of the size of the aircraft. He confirmed he is in discussions with the two major regional aircraft manufacturers about switching to 90-seat RJs by next summer.
Saudi Arabian government initiated the privatization process for flag carrier Saudi Arabian Airlines by formally offering a stake of up to 49% in the company's catering and affiliated inflight sales units. The carrier submitted its plan to the government earlier this month ( ATWOnline, Aug. 4).
AirBridge Cargo signed an interline agreement with Continental Airlines and appointed general sales agent partners in the US as it prepares to launch 747F flights to the US next year. ABC said CO will provide "an important link into its network, notably for the movement of oil and gas equipment from Texas to Sakhalin Island off the coast of Russia." ABC, the scheduled services arm of heavy freight specialist Volga-Dnepr, operates two IL-76 freighters weekly from its Krasnoyarsk hub to Sakhalin.
Air China, Cathay Pacific Airways, China National Aviation Co. and CITIC Pacific shareholders approved the proposed realignment that would establish cross-shareholdings between Air China and Cathay and make Dragonair a CX subsidiary. The long-anticipated deal, announced in June ( ATWOnline, June 12), must receive regulatory approval. Air China Chairman Li Jiaxiang said the realignment will "create a potent new force in the airline industry."
Northwest Airlines and Air France, SkyTeam partners who were rebuffed by the US Dept. of Transportation as part of the alliance's bid for transatlantic antitrust immunity last December ( ATWOnline, Jan. 12), opted to move forward with a codeshare agreement announced yesterday.
Ryanair said it intends to operate a full schedule from London Stansted even if the Bank Holiday strikes against Swissport International occur next weekend ( ATWOnline, Aug. 21). The carrier said it will allow all passengers to use Web check-in and may require them to travel without checked luggage.
American Airlines launched a website, www.flytochinaonaa.com, on which passengers and businesses can learn about and register support for the carrier's application to operate nonstop service between Dallas/Fort Worth and Beijing beginning in March. Following Northwest Airlines' announcement last week that it applied to operate Detroit-Shanghai service, there now are four carriers competing for the award of one transpacific route ( ATWOnline, Aug. 21).
FlyMe abandoned its Gothenburg Landvetter-Amsterdam route, citing a lack of profitability. Air Canada will launch thrice-weekly Edmonton-London Heathrow service Oct. 31, increasing to daily from April 1, 2007, using a 767-300ER. SkyEurope Airlines will begin Turin-Prague service from Dec. 26 and a four-times-weekly Rome Fiumicino-Bucharest service on Jan. 12. Jazeera Airways will launch a thrice-weekly Kuwait City-Cochin service Aug. 30 with A320s. The Kuwaiti LCC began operations 10 months ago and flies to 12 destinations.
Hainan Airlines posted an CNY8.7 million ($1.1 million) profit in the second quarter, a reversal from a CNY3.4 million loss in the year-ago period, the carrier said in a filing with the Shanghai stock exchange cited by press reports. Revenues climbed 26% to CNY2.95 billion. Six-month profits doubled to CNY20.8 million on a 16% increase in passenger volume and 20% growth in freight. Turnover was up 26% to CNY5.75 billion against a 29% surge in costs to CNY4.61 billion.
News from Travel Technology Update: Amadeus went to court to seek injunctive relief from American Airlines and Northwest Airlines, saying the two carriers will breach the non-discrimination provisions of their Participating Carrier Agreements if they go ahead with their "preferred channel" programs on Sept. 1.
Avion Group said it formed a joint venture with Australasian airline group Advent Air Ltd. calling for Avion subsidiaries Star Airlines of France and Star Europe of Germany to provide up to four A320s to Advent Air subsidiary Skywest, a Perth-based Regional. Skywest will operate the aircraft from November to April, which is its peak season and Avion's low season.
Centavia of Serbia took delivery of a second 98-seat BAe 146-200. The startup LCC currently is operating charter flights only but is planning to launch European scheduled service in the fall.
TFC GmbH Kaufer was chosen by CSA Czech Airlines to supply an A320 cabin training simulator. It is scheduled for delivery to CSA's Prague training center in September 2007.
