LTU German Airlines unveiled a new strategy focused on long-haul routes and business travelers. The carrier will concentrate on its Munich and Dusseldorf hubs, where partner DBA will provide feeder services for domestic routes. DBA acquired a 60% share of LTU in February ( ATWOnline, Feb. 20). According to the new plan, which LTU hopes to begin implementing late this year, it will add one A330-200 to its fleet per year. It currently operates seven A330-200s, four A330-300s and 15 A320s/A321s.
Airbus and China Aviation Suppliers Import and Export Corp. extended the cooperation agreement covering their joint-venture training and support center in Beijing for 20 more years. The facility has been in operation for a decade and features both flight simulators and spare parts servicing.
Delta Air Lines filed a motion last week with the US Bankruptcy Court to reject a number of leases and agreements for facilities at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. The carrier said it remains committed to serving the airport but needs to use airport facilities "in the most efficient and cost effective way possible" in order to emerge from bankruptcy protection. Separately, Delta plans to launch a daily peak-season flight between Atlanta and Puerto Plata on Dec. 15 using 737-800s.
Midwest Air Group, parent of Midwest Airlines and Skyway Airlines, reelected three directors to new three-year terms on its board: Samuel Skinner, Elizabeth Solberg, and Richard Sonnentag.
Boeing yesterday signed a definitive agreement to purchase aviation parts and services provider Aviall for $48 per share or $1.7 billion plus the assumption of $350 million in debt. Dallas-based Aviall, which generated revenues of $1.3 billion in 2005, will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Boeing Commercial Aviation Services once the cash transaction closes, likely in the third quarter. Boeing said the purchase is expected to be "modestly accretive" to its 2007 earnings and will have an "immaterial earnings impact" this year.
The spate of airline bankruptcies around the globe and the challenges they have presented to the leasing and finance sector will impact the way commercial transports are financed in the future, says GE Commercial Aviation Services President and CEO Henry Hubschman. Commenting on lessons learned from the ongoing bankruptcy reorganizations in the US, Hubschman noted, "We don't do leveraged leases anymore. Period. We're [also] more cautious about doing single-investor leases." He added, "We have not been harmed that much when someone breaks an operating lease."
Finnair announced a summer schedule that will feature new flights to Nagoya and Geneva in June; elimination of the Bangkok stopover on its Helsinki-Hong Kong service, which will increase from thrice-weekly to five-times-weekly from July through October, and increases in operations to Osaka, Shanghai, Guangzhou and St. Petersburg. The carrier also announced it will launch a thrice-weekly Helsinki-Kuala Lumpur service, operating via Bangkok, in May 2007. Separately, Finnair said its ground handling subsidiary Northport Oy will close its loss-making Tampere unit this year.
Air Pacific reached agreement to acquire the assets and business of domestic carrier Sun Air. Under terms of the agreement, Air Pacific subsidiary Fiji Airlines Ltd. will take over the operations of Sun Air from July 1 subject to the transfer of Sun's licenses and AOC. Based in Nadi, Sun operates a fleet of 11 aircraft comprising Twin Otters, Islanders and Queen Airs to eight resort destinations on six islands.
United Express flights moved from Washington Dulles's Concourse G to the newly reopened Concourse A. The transition finished May 1. Concourse G was a temporary structure that eventually will be demolished to make way for future airport expansion.
ANA Group posted net income of ¥26.7 billion ($233.1 million) for its fiscal year ended March 31, a 0.9% decrease from income of ¥26.9 billion the previous year but a performance considered a success by the Japanese airline company given rising fuel costs and other negative factors.
Iberia will place its code on Malev Hungarian Airlines' thrice-weekly Malaga-Budapest service beginning May 2. It also will codeshare with charter carrier Iberworld on four-times-weekly Madrid-Cancun service from May 1.
US Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. said Friday it has assumed responsibility for the pensions of nearly 4,000 employees and retirees of Aloha Airlines, which emerged from bankruptcy in February, two months after it received US District Court permission to cancel its defined-benefit pension plans to which it owed $155 million ( ATWOnline, Dec. 19, 2005). PBGC said the three plans are 55% funded, with $190 million in assets covering $345 million in benefit promises.
IATA said international passenger traffic increased 5.9% in the first quarter but fell 5.7% in March compared to the year-ago month. It attributed the decline to the fact that Easter was in April this year rather than in March. Three-month load factor was 74.4% and March load factor was 75.5%. Assn. of Asia Pacific Airlines member carriers reported a 3.7% increase in March passengers to 11 million. RPKs grew 4.1% while capacity lifted just 2.3%, improving load factor 1.3 points to 74.4%.
Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation Executive Chairman Peter Harbison said the volatile price of fuel is emerging as a serious threat to consumer demand for travel. Speaking at the opening of the second annual Middle East and Indian Subcontinent Aviation & Tourism Investor Summit in Mumbai, he warned, "The growing oil price crisis sees the express train of demand growth coming into a lake of treacle as consumer demand slows while fares rise.
Malev Hungarian Airlines reported a loss of HUF1.3 billion ($6.1 million) for its fiscal year, a HUF3.6 billion improvement over a loss of HUF4.9 billion in 2004.
GE Commercial Aviation Service President and CEO Henry Hubschman Friday cited a "disconnect" between air traffic and capacity growth, with the former expected to rise at a rate of 4.5% annually compared to an average increase in the number of aircraft seats of 5.5% over the next five years. Speaking to the Aero Club of Washington, Hubschman said, "I would argue that the [aircraft] orders are too large. We wish they would moderate a bit, but we don't control that."
To go anyplace from South Bend by commercial transportation, head for the airport. South Bend Regional is the terminal for nine Regional airlines, three bus companies and the South Shore Railroad.
Southwest Airlines Chairman Herb Kelleher used to say that his airline's primary competitor was the automobile. Some 10,000 mi. away, Tony Davis, CEO of Singapore-based LCC Tiger Airways, makes a somewhat similar argument. For example, Davis points out that 12 million people travel by train in Vietnam and the train trip from Hanoi in the north to Ho Chi Minh City in the south takes 34 hr.
Manufacturers of regional aircraft booked orders for nearly 300 airplanes last year, among them just a handful of jets in the 40/50-seat class. That's hardly surprising. Interest in new CRJ200s and ERJ-135s/-145s has been trending downward for the past few years. After all, with more than 1,700 in service, the industry's appetite has been pretty well satisfied.
Airports in Tokyo, capital city of the world's second-largest national economy, long have been sources of puzzlement and irritation, hobbled by numerous constraints and far too small for such a vibrant area. Now, with Japan's economy reviving after several years of recession and deflation, expansion projects at both airports offer the prospect of at least temporary relief from restrictions, along with unhinderedwell, less hinderedgrowth.
Air Malta elevated COO Joe Cappello to CEO. Air Transport Assn. welcomed Sharon Pinkerton as VP-government affairs. Alaska Airlines elected Benjamin Forrest VP-flight operations and chose Jay Schaefer staff VP-finance & treasurer. Amadeus named Mary Keagul VP-product strategy & operations-North America.
Nottingham East Midlands Airport has all the prerequisites of a regional airport: Located in the middle of nowhere and growing rapidly, mainly owing to low-cost carriers. No-frills airlines generated 60% of passenger traffic in 2005 against only 33% in 2002 and naught in 2001. The 24-hr. airport, which has no slot restrictions, has three LCCs with bases here: bmibaby, easyJet and Ryanair. Located in the heart of England some 140 mi. north of London, it is the UK's 13th-largest passenger airport, according to CAA data for 2005.
Six months into the merger of US Airways Group and America West Holdings Corp., executives here are confident that the deal to create what they call "the largest nationwide low-cost carrier" already is paying big dividends, with industry-leading unit revenue growth, improving operational performance and declining unit costs.
In 1960 on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the DC-3, a British aviation magazine showed a cartoon of two executives overlooking a production line of DC-3s with the caption "It's a DC-3 replacement."
