Aer Lingus and oneworld confirmed yesterday that Ireland's flag carrier is leaving the alliance. The decision was approved at the airline's board meeting last week, concluding a process that began when former Aer Lingus boss Willie Walsh toyed with leaving the partnership as he began the transformation of the state-owned carrier from a network operator into a point-to-point LCC.
Bombardier reported earnings of $53 million before taxes and special items for its fiscal first quarter ended April 30, an improvement over earnings of $42 million in the year-ago quarter despite falling revenues that resulted from "lower deliveries of regional jets." The aerospace unit posted quarterly earnings of $55 million before financing charges, taxes and special items, a slight improvement over last year's $52 million that the company attributed to increased deliveries of business aircraft. The airframer received 19 net RJ orders in the quarter, including six CRJ900s ordered
Gol secured a R$75.7 million ($33.6 million) loan from the Brazilian National Economic and Social Development Bank Monday and plans to use the money to finance the building of an aircraft maintenance facility at Confins International Airport in Minas Gerais.
Etihad Airways yesterday launched thrice-weekly Abu Dhabi-Jeddah service aboard A330-200s. The carrier also will increase Abu Dhabi-Bangkok service from 10 to 14 weekly flights from June 4 aboard 777-300ERs. AirTran Airways last week launched two daily seasonal Atlanta-Seattle flights aboard 737s. The service, which will be expanded with a third daily flight in August, will run through Sept. 5.
Vidient Systems said Finnish airport operator Finavia will deploy its SmartCatch video solution to monitor the length of passenger security lines at Helsinki Vantaa. SmartCatch "automatically reports queues exceeding a pre-defined length in the security check-in zone," alerting the airport that another line may need to be opened.
Alaska Airlines applied Friday to the US Dept. of Transportation for authority to operate Seattle-Cancun, Portland (Ore.)-Los Cabos and Portland-Puerto Vallarta flights. If approved, services will operate seasonally beginning this year from the end of October to the end of April. Seattle-Cancun and Portland-Los Cabos would be operated four-times-weekly while Portland-Puerto Vallarta service would be thrice-weekly. "This is part of our ongoing investment in our growing route system in Mexico," MD-Planning and Alliances John MacLeod said.
Moscow Domodedovo's passenger traffic increased 16.4% from January to April compared to the same period last year to 3.9 million passengers. Passenger traffic in April grew 14.6% over the year-ago month to 1.1 million.
B/E Aerospace said Korean Air selected its MiniPod lie-flat business class seats and a range of food and beverage preparation and storage equipment for its A380s and retrofit and new 777s. Korean also will install B/E food and beverage equipment on its A330s. Deliveries are scheduled to begin late this year.
Lufthansa named Jens Bischoff, who had been project manager for the integration of Swiss and Lufthansa, to the post of VP-the Americas. The position will be based in New York and take effect Sept. 1.
Delta Air Lines pilots union said last week it will "vigorously oppose" US Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.'s effort to overturn the concessions agreement it reached with management of the bankrupt airline. PBGC, the federal pension insurer that would assume much of the pension obligation abandoned by Delta, said last week in a bankruptcy court filing that the agreement between Delta and the Air Line Pilots Assn.
Korean Air will launch thrice-weekly Seoul Incheon-Los Angeles-Seattle 747-400F cargo flights on June 1. Singapore Airlines last week began twice-weekly Singapore-Nanjing-Tianjin-Anchorage-Los Angeles-Shanghai-Singapore cargo flights using 747Fs. The new routing brings weekly Singapore-LAX freighter flights to 12.
Frontier Airlines Holdings posted a $14 million net loss for its fiscal year ended March 31, a disappointing result but much improved over a net loss of $23.4 million in the previous fiscal year. "Although we made progress in all facets of our business, it was not enough to offset the many challenges that face the industry and our company," President and CEO Jeff Potter said.
SkyEurope Holding, parent of the Bratislava-based low-fare airline, reported that its net loss for the fiscal second quarter ended March 31 more than tripled to €21.7 million ($27.7 million) from €6.8 million in the year-ago period, bringing the fiscal first-half deficit to €33.8 million compared to a loss €18.9 million in the year-ago period.
BAA, facing a potential hostile takeover as well as a possible government inquiry into whether its control of seven UK airports creates a fair market for airlines and passengers ( ATWOnline, May 26), is pushing back and warning shareholders that Ferrovial Group's £8.75 billion ($16.41 billion) bid greatly undervalues the company. The Spanish firm, meanwhile, said it will cooperate fully with any probe into BAA's alleged "monopoly" status should it successfully acquire the airport operator.
Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore awarded a tender to a joint venture company to develop and manage "a luxury facility" for VIP travelers arriving or departing Changi on commercial or private aircraft. It is set to open in August. Members of the JV company are Worldwide Flight Services, Superior Travelers Services and Sembawang Kimtrans.
Thales will provide three additional 787 training suites including "full flight simulators, flat panel simulators and desktop simulation systems" to Alteon, Boeing's training subsidiary. Thales is supplying six suites under a previous agreement. Boeing said the additional simulator orders are owing to the strong sales success of the 787.
Comair President Fred Buttrell resigned last week and was replaced by CFO Don Bornhorst. The Delta Air Lines Regional affiliate said in a statement that Buttrell, who became Comair president in January 2005, had "weighed the needs of the company with those of his personal and family life and felt it was time to transition to new leadership." Bornhorst said his main focus is on Comair's emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. "More work lies ahead in our restructuring efforts, but the essence of our vision over the past 18 months is essentially unchanged," he said.
GE Commercial Aviation Training received approval from CAAC to conduct Airbus initial and conversion training on behalf of Chinese airlines. GECAT shortly will begin the first A320 initial/transition training and A320/A330/A340 transition/CCQ training at its Hong Kong Training Center.
Ryanair yesterday completed a five-year agreement with the Moroccan government to "develop low-cost air access and tourism to the country" from its bases in Europe.
Alaska Airlines will add a third daily Seattle-Dallas/Ft. Worth flight and a second daily DFW-Anchorage flight via Seattle on June 4. Aer Arann launched thrice-weekly flights to Nantes from Cork and Manchester aboard ATR 72s.
BAA's control of seven UK airports, including London Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted, is being called into question. The UK Office of Fair Trading said this week it is considering examining the nation's airport market to determine whether BAA's dominant position "works well for consumers." BAA is fighting a hostile takeover bid by Spain's Ferrovial Group, which gained clearance for its £8.75 billion ($16.41 billion) bid from the European Commission earlier this week ( ATWOnline, May 24).
South African Airways agreed this week to pay ZAR55 million ($8.3 million) in fines levied by the South African Competition Commission for price-fixing violations. The Commission alleged that SAA and Lufthansa colluded to fix ticket prices on flights between Cape Town, Johannesburg and Frankfurt. It also claimed that SAA and South African carriers SA Express, Comair and SA Airlink colluded to fix fuel surcharges on flight tickets.
Centavia, a new LCC based in Belgrade, plans to start services to Basle, Cologne, Bratislava, Budapest and Bergamo by late June. The new entrant plans to use a single BAE 146-200, adding a second aircraft by July.
