Wizz Air, citing data from the Polish CAA, said it carried 15.5% of the total passenger traffic to and from Poland in the first quarter, up from 11.7% last year. It claims to be Poland's second-largest airline and the largest LCC serving the country.
Farnborough International Air Show, set to take place July 17-23, will feature a variety of large and small commercial transports. Airbus already has committed to display and fly the A380, and yesterday FIA said Boeing will bring a 777-300ER in the livery of EVA Air. Airbus also will display the A340-600 and A319, according to FIA, while regional aircraft manufacturers will be represented by the Embraer 190, CRJ900, Q400 and ATR 42.
IATA, Royal Jordanian and the Jordanian CAA announced an MOU to introduce common-use self-service check-in by year end and industry-standard barcoded boarding passes during the first quarter of 2007 at Amman's Queen Alia International Airport. Under the agreement, Royal Jordanian will act as a project developer and operator, IATA will provide advisory support and JCAA will serve as a facilitator and regulator.
Bankrupt Delta Air Lines' reorganization efforts seemingly were boosted when the carrier reached a tentative agreement with its pilots last month on $280 million in annual concessions ( ATWOnline, April 25) , but the US government's pension insurer said the deal violates US bankruptcy law and should be rejected.
SN Brussels Airlines this week unveiled new inflight amenities on A330-300s that operate from Brussels to 13 African destinations. The first of three aircraft to be retrofitted at a cost of more than €10 million ($12.8 million) is already completed and the remaining two retrofits will be finished by the end of June. SN said the biggest enhancement is new business class seats that are equipped with massage tools and can be transformed into flat beds. Also upgraded for both classes are audio and video equipment.
South Korea and Thailand agreed this week to liberalize passenger services between the two countries. Cargo operations already are liberalized under a 2004 accord. The new agreement comes as the limit of 42 weekly flights previously allowed by each nation's airlines is under strain, with load factors reported at 88%.
Swissport Aviation Security, a product line of Swissport International, is providing passenger security screening on behalf of US airlines at stations outside the US, including Delta Air Lines at Dusseldorf and United Airlines at Zurich. It will provide screening for North American Airlines at Lagos when NAA begins service there next month.
Spanair is extending its "punctuality guarantee" for all domestic flights to Dec. 31. Under the program, business class passengers receive a free ticket and economy class passengers a 25% discount on their next ticket if the aircraft pulls back from the gate more than 15 min. after the scheduled departure for reasons attributed to the airline.
Rockwell Collins extended its current Preferred Supplier Agreement with Air France through 2010 and signed a new five-year PSA with KLM. Under the terms of the agreements, both airlines will purchase Rockwell Collins communication, navigation and surveillance avionics for their forward-fit aircraft and retrofit activities. The Air France agreement also covers data link avionics, while a separate KLM agreement covers MultiScan weather radar on 777s.
NAV Canada will replace 100 DME units across the country at a cost of some C$15 million ($13.4 million). Contract for the purchase of the DMEs together with associated spares and services was awarded to UK-based Fernau Avionics.
Istanbul Ataturk Airport's cargo facilities were mostly destroyed by Wednesday's fire and it remains unclear when and how regular airfreight operations can resume at the airport. The area destroyed by the fire included warehouse space for storing and sorting international air cargo and was used by nearly all major carriers operating cargo services at IST. Estimated total damage from the blaze, which claimed no lives, is as high as $50 million, including $10 million in lost cargo. IST is Europe's 13th busiest cargo airport, according to Airports Council International.
Delta Air Lines announced a winter schedule in which it will start service to Telluride and Steamboat Springs and expand existing service to other "ski destinations" in the western US and Canada beginning Dec. 23. SkyWest Airlines will operate daily Salt Lake City-Telluride flights aboard CRJs and Delta will operate Saturday Atlanta-Telluride flights aboard an MD-88. Delta will start daily Atlanta-Steamboat Springs flights and expand service between SLC and Aspen and between Atlanta and Bozeman, Jackson Hole and Calgary.
Austrian Airlines Group is under increasing pressure to stabilize its negative financial situation. "Austrian has a chance to survive. The only problem I see is that we are running out of time," new CEO Alfred Oetsch told ATWOnline. The group narrowed its first-quarter adjusted net loss before taxes to €67.7 million ($83.7 million) from €76.8 million in the year-ago period after losing €129.1 million for all of 2005.
Alitalia's acquisition of the assets of bankrupt Volare Group was suspended yesterday by Italy's top administrative court, AFX reported. The state council supported an appeal by Air One, which argued that the flag carrier should not have been allowed to bid for Volare because of its precarious financial position and for antitrust reasons. Volare Group, which includes charter carrier Air Europe and LCC Volareweb, was put up for sale in November by a government-appointed administrator.
Spirit Airlines promoted President and COO Ben Baldanza to CEO replacing Jacob Schorr, who left the chief executive post but will remain as chairman. Baldanza has been with the LCC since January 2005. Separately, South African Airways appointed Spirit VP-Sales and Distribution Marc Cavaliere executive VP-North America based at SAA's US headquarters in Ft. Lauderdale.
Emirates and Japan Airlines agreed to expand their existing codeshare agreement effective June 1 to allow JAL to place its code on new Dubai-Nagoya Emirates flights and Emirates to place its code on JAL domestic flights from Nagoya to Fukuoka and Sapporo. Separately, JAL said it will resume daily service from Tokyo Narita to both Bali and Jakarta on July 1 and from Osaka Kansai to Denpasar on July 13. It cut back on Japan-Indonesia services in October 2005 due to reduced demand that it attributed to the Oct. 1 terrorist bombing in Bali.
The harsh realities of the airline industry have created a new opportunity for ATR, which racked up a record 90 orders for ATR 42/72 turboprops in 2005 and sold a further 46 in the first four months of the current year. "The economics and pressure for airlines to reduce costs is certainly a driving factor," VP John Moore said this week at the Regional Airline Assn. conference in Dallas. Other factors are also at play, he said, citing the growth in Regional airline traffic and a "new wave" of LCCs adopting the turboprop for markets in Europe and Asia.
Air China is set to buy two more 747-400Fs for its Air China Cargo unit, in which it holds a 51% stake, according to London financial market sources. The cargo carrier will take one 747-400F this year from Boeing and two 747-400BCFs.
Etihad Airways CEO Robert Strodel has stepped down, a spokesperson confirmed. According to the spokesperson, Strodel resigned almost two weeks ago but the airline made no public announcement. He had been CEO for less than a year, taking over on July 5, 2005. A search for a new CEO is underway, the spokesperson said. Separately, Etihad took delivery of its fifth and final 777-300ER this week. The aircraft will be used on flights to Bangkok, Jakarta, Manila and London Gatwick. Etihad will add Casablanca in June and Khartoum in July to its network.
A chapter of aviation history came to a close Tuesday when the final two 717s, numbers 155 and 156, were delivered to Midwest Airlines and AirTran Airways respectively, the No. 2 and No. 1 largest customers for the twinjet, which started life as the MD-95 in 1995.
Farelogix signed a distribution agreement to provide a direct connection to American Airlines content via the Farelogix FLX Platform. As part of the agreement, American also will be implementing the Farelogix Distribution Manager. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Amadeus said that travel agencies connected to the GDS now have access to all Copa Airlines fares, including Web fares.
United Airlines announced that subject to approval by the Kuwait government, it plans to launch thrice-weekly nonstop service between Washington and Kuwait City in late 2006. The service, its first to the Middle East region, will be operated with 777s. SriLankan Airlines will start service to the Indian resort town of Goa with twice-weekly flights from Colombo beginning in October.
