SAS Group President and CEO Jorgen Lindegaard, who kept the airline aloft through the most challenging period in its history, announced yesterday that he will resign this fall, saying in a statement, "I feel that the time is right for a new CEO to take over."
Lufthansa 747-400 collapsed onto its nose at Frankfurt Monday when the nose gear gave way. A spokesperson told ATWOnline that the airline is investigating the incident, which occurred shortly before the aircraft was scheduled for pushback for a flight to New Delhi. None of the 242 passengers and 16 crewmembers onboard was reported injured. The 747 was delivered to LH in 2001, according to Reuters.
CSA Czech Airlines moved its operations at New York JFK to privately operated Terminal 4 from T3. It offers daily service to Prague aboard an A310-300. Alaska Airlines became the first carrier to conduct an RNP landing at Portland (Ore.) International. It said the RNP approach, which it first used on March 8, will save 2 min. and 28 gal. of fuel per arrival.
Air Canada reported a 6.4% rise in consolidated traffic in April to 3.77 billion RPMs. Capacity increased 4.7% to 4.63 billion ASMs and load factor gained 1.2 points to 81.2%. Domestic RPMs grew 3.1% to 1.16 billion, capacity lifted 6.9% to 1.48 billion ASMs and load factor dropped 2.9 points to 78%. International RPMs rose 4.4% to 1.91 billion against a 1.5% increase in capacity to 2.27 billion ASMs, boosting load factor 2.3 points to 84.1%. Hawaiian Airlines flew 552.3 million RPMs in April, a 5.3% increase over the year-ago month.
EU and US aviation officials concluded aviation negotiations in Brussels last week with predictable results: The pushing back of the deadline to reach agreement on the transatlantic Open Aviation Area. The stumbling block remains limits on foreign ownership in US carriers and the recently revised Notice of Proposed Rulemaking issued by the US Dept. of Transportation ( ATWOnline, May 4).
General Electric said it finalized the architectural design for the version of the GEnx that will power the 747-8. Completion of this milestone, referred to as "Tollgate 6" in GE's new product nomenclature, "begins the detailed design phase of the engine." It will feature a 105-in. fan compared to 111 in. for the 787 and will be rated at 66,500 lb. thrust versus 75,000 lb. maximum takeoff thrust for the 787. Certification testing for 747-8 variant will begin next year with flight-testing aboard the 747-8 scheduled for late 2008.
Embraer announced first-quarter earnings of $65.3 million on net sales of $808.3 million, down from earnings of $96.5 million on sales of $763.3 million in the 2005 period. Firm order backlog stood at 341 jets valued at $10.4 billion. Embraer still expects to meet its forecast delivery of 145 aircraft for 2006.
Aer Arann signed a contract to purchase 10 new 72-seat ATR 72-500s over the next three years. The deal is worth more than $180 million. The carrier will use the aircraft to "replace and supplement" its existing fleet of 14 ATR 42s and ATR 72s, increasing it to 20 by the end of 2009. It will take delivery of two dash 500s in 2007, five in 2008 and three in 2009. "This is a significant milestone for Aer Arann and marks a consolidation of our strategic policy in going forward with an ATR fleet," MD Padraig O'Ceidigh said.
Hurt by excess capacity, Atlas Air and Polar Air Cargo parent Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings posted a first-quarter net loss of $3.7 million, down from a $675,000 profit in the year-ago quarter. "Results for the quarter reflect some tough comparables, with a reduction in military charter activity compared with last year and a related excess of 747-200 aircraft capacity that could not be fully and sensibly deployed elsewhere," outgoing President and CEO Jeffrey Erickson said.
EADS confirmed Friday that it will push forward with the restructuring of its heavily loss-making MRO provider EADS Sogerma Services and close down its main site at Merignac near Bordeaux. EADS Sogerma Services posted losses of €237 million and had debts of €339 million in 2005, a deterioration resulting from a growing domination of the civil MRO market by countries with lower labor costs, the loss of French military maintenance markets and the failure of various diversification operations, EADS said.
Airbus conducted A318 airport compatibility tests at London City on May 13 and said the type offers twice the range of aircraft currently serving LCY. The A318 was granted steep approach certification in March, paving the way for Saturday's compatibility tests.
Aero Maintenance Group was chosen by Delta Air Lines to manage exclusively the repair of more than 1,400 unique components on the carrier's aircraft. AMG said it will provide Delta "with a single point of contact for communications, invoicing and performance measurements for nearly 15,000 repair orders annually on a volume of approximately 80,000 individual units."
Air One signed a deal for six 90-seat CRJ900s and four options, Bombardier announced yesterday. List price for the firm-order aircraft is $215 million. Italy's second-largest carrier operates a fleet of 30 737s but reached a deal with Airbus in January for 30 A320s plus 60 options ( ATWOnline, Jan. 13).
Continental Airlines signed five-year, full-content agreements with Sabre Travel Network and its Travelocity online travel site, as well as with Expedia.
Singapore Airlines increased its fuel surcharge to $60 per ticket from $50 on most flights and to $20 from $15 on select regional operations, effective yesterday.
Luxair reported a net profit of €5.5 million ($7.1 million) in 2005, down from earnings of €13.4 million in 2004, ending its "year of transition." Its airline unit lost €11.7 million, a deficit that was made up by its "booming" tour operation business and handling services unit. Luxembourg's flag carrier said the earnings decline largely was due to €15 million "taken as a provision to finance the social aspect of the ongoing restructuring program," dubbed Building a New Airline, which aims to return the airline segment to profitability by 2008.
Air New Zealand confirmed it will be the launch customer for the 787-9 following an agreement signed with Boeing last week to substitute its order for four dash 8s, as had been anticipated ( ATWOnline, Feb. 3). ANZ was the second customer for the 787 after ANA. The new aircraft were purchased for $183 million each and will begin entering service in December 2010. They will be powered by Trent 1000s.
Lufthansa resumed service to Bahrain Sunday after a 10-year absence, launching thrice-weekly flights from Frankfurt aboard an A330 and six-times-weekly freighter service. Delta Air Lines last night launched daily services from New York JFK to Manchester and Dublin/Shannon aboard all-economy 767-400s. The flights are the sixth and seventh of 11 new transatlantic routes the carrier will launch by next month. Service to Athens starts May 29. DL also announced a daily Atlanta-Sioux Falls flight beginning Aug. 7 operated by Atlantic Southeast Airlines using CRJ200s.
Northwest Airlines and Farelogix signed a distribution agreement under which users of the Farelogix FLX Platform will gain direct access to NWA's full content. "Our strategy is to offer travel agents and corporate accounts access to our products through the most economical channels, using a variety of distribution technologies," NWA VP-Distribution and E-commerce Al Lenza said.
US National Transportation Safety Board will hold a two-day public hearing into the Southwest Airlines runway overrun accident at Chicago Midway last December ( ATWOnline, Jan. 30) beginning June 20 in Washington.
News from Travel Technology Update: The latest skirmish in the distribution wars turns the spotlight on whether traditional GDSs can accommodate new types of airline product differentiation. On May 4, Air Canada withdrew its Tango fare for travel within Canada and between Canada and Florida from the GDSs and from its own dedicated travel agency Web site, aircanada.com/agents.
WestJet flew 763.8 million RPMs in April, a 30.4% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 14.4% to 973.4 million ASMs, lifting load factor 9.7 points to 78.5%. Mesaba Aviation flew 129.8 million RPMs in April, a 19.5% decline from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 28.1% to 182.3 million ASMs and load factor rose 7.6 points to 71.2%. Finnair reported a 5.3% increase in April traffic to 1.35 billion RPKs against a 5.2% decline in capacity to 1.8 billion ASKs. Load factor climbed 7.6 points to an April record 75.3%.
Eleven US Major passenger airlines in aggregate earned $19.31 billion in the first quarter ended March 31 compared to a loss of $3.3 billion in the year-ago period. Bottom-line results for the group were distorted heavily by large bankruptcy-related items at Delta Air Lines, Northwest Airlines and United Airlines. United, for example, booked a $22.9 billion noncash gain owing to the adoption of "fresh-start" accounting upon exiting bankruptcy Feb. 1.
American Airlines flew 11.94 billion system RPMs in April, a 5.5% rise over the year-ago month. Capacity remained flat at 14.61 billion ASMs and load factor climbed 4.3 points to 81.7%. Domestic traffic grew 3.3% to 7.83 billion RPMs against a 2.3% decline in capacity to 9.33 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 4.6 points to 83.9%. Internationally, traffic was up 10.1% to 4.1 billion RPMs, capacity increased 4.4% to 5.27 billion ASMs and load factor improved 4 points to 77.7%.
