GA Telesis was awarded a servicing contract to manage and remarket more than 50 aircraft including 747-200s, 757-200s, 737-200s, 727-200Fs, MD-82s, DC-9-30s, DC-10-30s and Super 27Fs on behalf of Aviation Refinancing Transaction. The five-year contract also includes 70 spare engines.
Lufthansa named Stephan Gemkow CFO effective June 1. He is a member of Lufthansa Cargo's executive board and is responsible for finance and human resources. His term will last three years. Predecessor Karl-Ludwig Kley resigned earlier this month to take a position at Merck ( ATWOnline, March 14). Deutsche Lufthansa Senior VP-Corporate Finance Roland Busch will succeed Gemkow at Lufthansa Cargo.
Saudi government approved the privatization of Saudi Arabian Airlines Tuesday, according to a statement from the Supreme Economic Council cited by local press reports.
US Transportation Security Administration said that Los Angeles-based J.H. World Express "does not meet security standards and will have its indirect air carrier certification revoked for shipments on passenger aircraft." The company will be able to reapply for certification in 90 days.
Aeroflot and Air Baltic announced a codeshare deal covering Moscow-Riga services. Aeroflot operates five weekly flights and Air Baltic flies six-times-weekly. Separately, Aeroflot named Sergei Belov director of its new St. Petersburg branch.
Royal Jordanian announced, as expected, a firm order yesterday for seven Embraer 195s. Aircraft will be powered by GE CF34-10s and laid out in a 100-seat, two-class configuration. According to an industry source, RJ also took options on an additional eight 195s. The Amman-based carrier will take delivery of three of the aircraft in the final quarter of this year, two in 2007 and two in early 2008. It is purchasing four, while three will be on operating leases from GE Commercial Aviation Services.
Growth in international express package shipments and effective yield management on the domestic air transportation front played key roles in FedEx Corp.'s strong fiscal third quarter ended Feb. 28, resulting in net income of $428 million, up 35% from the year-ago quarter's $317 million profit.
Frankfurt-Hahn Airport began construction of a new cargo terminal on a 15,600-sq.-m. lot near Ramp 4. The Bucher Group is the principal investor, having contributed €6 million to the facility that will include 16 loading gates and refrigerated compartments. It will be able to handle 80,000-100,000 tons of cargo per year and is scheduled to begin operations this fall.
The European Union's list of 92 companies now completely barred from operating in European airspace includes 50 carriers based in Democratic Republic of Congo and a combined 33 airlines from Equatorial Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Swaziland.
Hawaiian Holdings, parent of Hawaiian Airlines, reported a net loss of $19.5 million for the three months ended Dec. 31 and a 2005 full-year loss of $12.4 million.
Norwegian Air Service will commence thrice-weekly flights from Oslo to Tallinn and Vilnius from May 2. Middle East Airlines will increase its Beirut-London Heathrow frequency from five-times-weekly to daily from June 2. Finnair will boost Asian service earlier than planned to five flights a week to Hong Kong and six to Osaka between July and October. Separately, Finnair and Pulkovo signed a codeshare agreement for joint flights between Helsinki and St. Petersburg from March 26
Swiss International Air Lines, which joins Star Alliance next month, will codeshare with Star member SAS between Switzerland and Scandinavia as well as with Blue1 from Zurich to Helsinki. Swiss-Spanair cooperation will be offered between Zurich and Barcelona and Madrid. Codesharing will be initiated with Croatia Airlines between Zurich and Zagreb and with Darwin Airline on the Bern-London City sector. The codesharing is set to begin March 26, at which time agreements with Malev, Finnair and Qantas will be terminated.
European Regional airlines reported a 6.3% increase in scheduled traffic in 2005, according to the European Regions Airline Assn. Average passenger load factor was 61.5%, the highest year-end figure since ERA began collecting data in 1987, a result of "continued prudence among operators in increasing capacity." A high of 67.3% was reached in July.
At a time when lost and mishandled bags are costing the industry $2.5 billion a year (see item below), airlines collectively could save $768 million annually if passive RFID tags were implemented for baggage handling, replacing barcode tags and scanners, IATA RFID Project Manager Andrew Price said yesterday during ATWOnline's webcast on radio frequency identification technology.
United Airlines and Shanghai Airlines announced a codeshare agreement yesterday covering 11 flights from May 15. UA flights included are Shanghai to Chicago O'Hare and San Francisco, SFO to Los Angeles, Newark and New York JFK, and O'Hare to Newark and New York LaGuardia. Shanghai Airlines will operate codeshare flights from Shanghai Pudong to Shenyang, Chengdu, Dalian and Qingdao.
US scheduled airlines' January employment rolls dropped 6.1% from January 2005 to 405,000, according to a US Dept. of Transportation report released yesterday, marking the 13th consecutive monthly decline in the number of full-time equivalent employees. The seven network airlines employed 270,000 FTEs, or 66.5%, while LCCs employed 17% and Regionals 14%. The latter figure represents a 1.8% year-over-year fall, the first decrease in Regional employment during the 13-month period.
AirBaltic reported a net loss of €1.9 million ($2.3 million) for 2005 owing to a €4 million charge related to the return of Avro RJ70s. Excluding the charge, the Riga-based airline said it would have earned €2.07 million compared with a loss of €1.2 million in 2004. Operating revenue totaled €120.4 million and passenger boardings reached 1.04 million.
Joseph Leonard, AirTran Airways' chairman and CEO, is the 2006 recipient of the Tony Jannus Award. He is receiving the honor "for his outstanding achievements, perseverance and 30 years of aviation excellence." The award is named for the man who piloted the first commercial passenger flight from St. Petersburg to Tampa, covering 21 mi. in 23 min.
General Electric said its GEnx engine for the 787, 747-8 and A350 demonstrated 80,500 lb. of takeoff thrust in its first ground test yesterday at the company's outdoor testing facility in Peebles, Ohio. The GEnx is scheduled to certify at 75,000 lb. in 2007, with service entry on the Dreamliner in 2008. Seven engines will be used in the certification programs. In a statement, GEnx GM Tom Brisken said, "Engine assembly was flawless, and engine testing began three days ahead of schedule.
Worldspan was selected by Surinam Airways to host the airline's operations at Worldspan's global data center under a five-year "hosting partnership." In addition, the GDS will provide Surinam with Worldspan Meridian systems to manage mission-critical daily operations including reservation and inventory management, flight operations, airport passenger processing, e-ticketing, global fares and pricing requirements.
British Airways will introduce "across-the-board" self-service check-in for customers traveling on intra-UK flights from April 25. Elimination of desk check-in for domestic travel is part of BA's strategy to streamline operations ahead of its spring 2008 move into London Heathrow's new Terminal 5. It hopes to have more than 80% of its customers using self-serve check-in by that time.
