US Export-Import Bank is seeking cash offers for the 737-400 it seized last month from Air Nauru ( ATWOnline, Dec. 22). It was the carrier's only aircraft and is being stored by Qantas at Melbourne International Airport. The bank said neither Air Nauru nor the government of Nauru is in negotiations to purchase the aircraft, which will be sold on an "as-is, where-is" basis.
US Airways followed up on its fare reductions on 21 routes earlier this month ( ATWOnline, Jan. 10) with cuts ranging from 39% to 55% on flights from Charlotte, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and New York LaGuardia to 14 cities in the Midwest and Southeast, as well as to Seattle from Charlotte.
SAS Ground Services Norway opened Europe's first infrared deicing hangar at Oslo Airport earlier this month. The hangar will work as a supplement to ordinary deicing for the remainder of the winter season, SAS said.
United Airlines said it aims to shave average turn times by 8 min., freeing up "at least 10 aircraft in 2006." It plans to "reduce and reallocate block time" and said it already has achieved "more than a one-minute reduction in taxi-out time."
Boeing unveiled a new no-charge carbon brake option on the 737NG that it said will reduce weight by up to 700 lb. and increase the wear life for up to twice as many landings. The brakes will be supplied by Goodrich and Messier-Bugatti and will be available for delivery in early 2008. They also will be available for retrofit. "Carbon brakes offer the same stopping performance as steel brakes but with the added benefit of a significant weight savings," 737 Chief Project Engineer Mike Delaney said.
Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, parent of Atlas Air and Polar Air Cargo, announced yesterday the upcoming retirement of President and CEO Jeffrey Erickson, who steered the company out of bankruptcy in 2004.
Delta Air Lines will increase service to Mexico, adding Saturday flights from Boston and Washington Dulles to Cancun. Service begins June 3 aboard 737-800s. Romanian Regional carrier Carpatair will add a 10th destination to its domestic network. A Saab 340 will start thrice-weekly flights from Timisoara to Suceava on March 7. The carrier also plans thrice-weekly Timisoara-London Stansted service from March 27 using F100s. Carpatair operates two F100s, nine Saab 2000s and three Saab 340s.
ATA Airlines received approval yesterday to emerge from bankruptcy. "I don't see any indication we won't be dealing with a solvent entity in April," Judge Basil H. Lorch III said, according to the Associated Press. ATA is expected to announce details of its emergence today.
Northwest Airlines pilots, represented by the Air Line Pilots Assn., remain adamantly opposed to the carrier's plan to create a separate airline subsidiary to operate large regional jets or to relaxing their scope agreement to permit Northwest's Regional partners to fly RJs seating up to 76. In a message to pilots, ALPA said, "NWA management needs to realize that NewCo or 'NewCo-like' is unacceptable to the NWA pilot group." NWA has filed a Section 1113 request with the bankruptcy court for authority to impose an agreement ( ATWOnline, Jan.
JetBlue Airways is looking into interline or codeshare agreements with one or more international carriers, CEO David Neeleman told ATWOnline. "There are a lot of people interested in our network," said Neeleman, who spoke at the Raymond James Growth Airline Conference in New York last week. "We could have something by the end of 2006."
US National Transportation Safety Board issued an "urgent safety recommendation" to FAA requesting that the agency "prohibit airlines from using credit for the use of thrust reversers when calculating stopping distances on contaminated runways." The recommendation comes out of the Board's continuing investigation into the Dec. 8 Southwest Airlines runway overrun accident at Chicago Midway ( ATWOnline, Dec. 16). According to NTSB, FAA does not allow the use of the reverse thrust credit when determining dispatch landing distances.
Last year will turn out to be "marginally profitable" for Assn. of European Airlines members, Secretary General Ulrich Schulte-Strathaus told ATWOnline. He forecast that his 30 member carriers will post a profit of €1 billion ($1.22 billion), clearly better than the €400 million recorded in 2004 and the negative financial results reported from 1999 through 2003.
UAL Corp.'s announcement Friday of a $16.9 billion fourth-quarter loss and a full-year loss of $21.18 billion overshadowed significant operational improvements at United Airlines as it approaches its exit from bankruptcy next month. And executives are confident the carrier is on the right course, as the staggering on-paper loss will be wiped out upon emergence as unsecured claims are settled "for a minor fraction of the amount of the claims recorded," leaving it expecting a "substantial gain" in the first quarter of 2006.
Bankrupt Delta Air Lines announced a deal with Merrill Lynch providing the carrier with a letter of credit giving it access to up to $300 million in cash held in reserve by its Visa/MasterCard processor, which is entitled to hold back $450 million-$850 million under the terms of an agreement lasting through October 2007. "Even with this vote of support from the financial community for our business plan, we expect 2006 to be a very challenging year," Delta Executive VP and CFO Ed Bastian said.
SAS Group on Friday said it "completely rejects" the Swedish Ministry of Finance's proposal to place an environmental tax on air travel ( ATWOnline, Nov. 29).
Frontier Airlines reversed course in its fiscal third quarter ended Dec. 31, posting a loss of $10.3 million for the period after a profitable September quarter in which it earned $6.9 million. At that time, however, the Denver-based carrier warned that it would lose money in the fall period ( ATWOnline, Oct. 31, 2005). The deficit was slightly improved from a year-ago loss of $11.1 million.
Macau Asia Express, a new budget carrier formed and funded by Air Macau (51%) and ST-CNAC (49%), a joint venture between China National Aviation Co. (36%) and Shun Tak Holdings (64%), was established last week. Initial funding is $30 million for the airline, which will adopt "a highly competitive cost model" and launch service in the fourth quarter of this year on routes to the Chinese mainland and Asia.
Embraer officials said there will not be any delays in aircraft production after strong winds ripped roofs off two warehouses at its facility in San Jose dos Campos last week. Wind gusts hit the company's headquarters Jan. 24, injuring 17 employees and damaging hangars where parts are manufactured and ERJ-145s are assembled. One employee remained hospitalized Friday.
Airbus said All Nippon Airways ordered three A320s last year. The Airbus website showed orders for three A320s from an unidentified customer received on Dec. 1. The airframer also said ANA will lease two A320s. All aircraft will be powered by CFM56-5B4/Ps and will support expansion to destinations in China.
LAN Peru will introduce four-times-weekly Sao Paulo-Los Angeles service from March 22 aboard 767s. Finnair is adding three weekly flights from Helsinki to St Petersburg from May, bringing weekly frequencies to 10.
BAE Systems Regional Aircraft said it had "done well" in 2005 as it secured new business worth more than $320 million despite a highly competitive regional aircraft marketplace. The company concluded lease transactions in its BAe 146/Avro RJ and ATP portfolios for 68 aircraft, business worth just under $230 million. A further 28 aircraft were the subject of other financial transactions. The Jetstream 32 and 41 portfolios resulted in $12 million in business.
SAS Scandinavian Airlines and Alitalia each began returning to normal operations yesterday following several days of strikes. An SAS spokesperson told ATWOnline that the airline cancelled 500 flights between Monday and Wednesday when 200 pilots from SAS Denmark staged a strike and 80 pilots from SAS Braathens in Norway called in sick. Although the Norway group remained sick on Thursday, SAS was operating most of its schedule; through mid-afternoon it had cancelled 26 flights in Denmark and 47 in Norway.
WestJet is investing up to $30 million to develop a reservation system and other new technology that will enable it to begin codeshare operations with other carriers as early as 2007, CEO Clive Beddoe said yesterday at the Raymond James Growth Airline Conference in New York. "We see it as a growth opportunity for us," Beddoe told ATWOnline. Air Canada "has abandoned" a large numbers of carriers because of its relationship with Star Alliance, he added. Several airlines, including legacy carriers and LCCs, have expressed interest in a codeshare partnership with WestJet.
Air Canada intends to challenge Qantas between Los Angeles and Sydney next year, operating fifth freedom services as part of a daily Toronto-Sydney service that will commence during the first half of 2007 when its new 777-300ERs and dash 200LRs begin arriving. Air Canada said it will use authority contained in the recent open skies agreement between the US and Canada and will apply to Canadian and Australian authorities for permission to operate the route.
Assn. of Asia Pacific Airlines members carried 128 million passengers in 2005, an increase of 5% over the previous year. Passenger traffic rose 5.1%, capacity expanded 4.6% and load factor gained 0.4 point to 73.3%. International freight traffic grew 3.3% while capacity rose 4.9%, resulting in a 1-point decline in load factor to 66.4%.
