Boeing Commercial Airplanes shattered its single-year sales record by a wide margin in 2005, booking net orders for 1,002 aircraft (1,029 gross). Prior to 2005, Boeing's best year was 1988 when it booked 877 net orders, including McDonnell Douglas orders added retroactively. Last year's performance is even more striking in comparison to 2004, when the company sold 272 jets.
Jagson Airlines of India is to buy or lease up to 19 A320 family aircraft over the next three years. The airline will lease six A320s and acquire an additional 13 from Airbus, transforming it from a regional turboprop operator to a national carrier serving nine major Indian cities by year end. Jagson became India's first private airline in 1992 and focuses on tourist destinations in the states of Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan. Recently it also started serving business destinations. Based in Delhi, it operates three 20-seat Do-228s.
Assn. of Asia Pacific Airlines released preliminary traffic results for November that show a significant slowing in passenger growth. Passenger numbers were up just 1.2% to 10.6 million, making the month the weakest in 2005. In terms of RPKs, passenger traffic rose by 2.1% on a restrained capacity increase of 2.9%, resulting in a marginal decline in passenger load factor to 72.3%. International cargo traffic fared much better with 4% growth in FTKs after four months of virtually flat numbers. Capacity was up 3.1%, resulting in a slightly higher freight load factor of 68.7%.
Qatar Airways and Saudi Arabian Airlines announced the signing of a "strategic codeshare agreement" to take effect Feb. 1 on the Dammam-Doha sector. Delta Air Lines will launch daily New York JFK-Sao Paulo service from July 1. It also will add service to New Orleans and Long Beach from its Salt Lake City hub. Atlantic Southeast Airlines will operate daily routes to New Orleans beginning Jan. 31 and SkyWest Airlines will run thrice-daily flights to Long Beach from March 6.
CSA Czech Airlines announced that President and Chairman Jaroslav Tvrdik is resigning, subject to formal approval at extraordinary board meetings scheduled Jan. 18. Tvrdik is leaving to become general campaign manager of the Czech Social Democratic Party.
TAM Brazilian Airlines selected the GEnx to power the 10 A350-900s it ordered last month ( ATWOnline¸ Dec. 22). Delivery of the aircraft will begin in 2012.
Hitit Computer Services' Crane Frequent Flyer software was chosen by Carlson Marketing Group for Virgin Blue's new loyalty program Velocity. Turkish Airlines, Icelandair and Kuwait Airways also use Crane.
United Airlines' budget for 2006 includes capital spending of $400 million that will be invested in new resources including more airport check-in kiosks, refurbishing aircraft interiors, upgrading computer systems and new ground equipment. The information was contained in UAL Chairman and CEO Glenn Tilton's weekly telephone message to employees.
US airlines reported an ontime arrival rate of 80% in November, an improvement over the 79.1% achieved in November 2004 but a drop from October's rate of 81.3%, according to the "Air Travel Consumer Report" released yesterday by the US Dept. of Transportation. As usual, Hawaiian Airlines posted the best ontime arrival rate at 95.2%. Frontier Airlines was next at 85.3%. JetBlue Airways ranked last of the 20 reporting carriers at 74.6%, with Northwest Airlines at 74.9%.
Northwest Airlines mechanics voted last week to continue their four-month strike against what their union called a "renegade, union-busting airline" as 56% of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Assn. voting members opted to reject the latest settlement proposal, which would not have brought back any of the more than 4,000 striking mechanics but would have offered severance pay and some unemployment benefits.
Air Canada is taking its simplified fares concept onto the transatlantic this year, beginning with service to London Heathrow and Manchester. The international pricing structure contains just four fare categories: Tourist, Leisure, Latitude Plus and Executive First. Other international destinations will follow "in the near future." AC has been transitioning to a simpler fare structure over the past few years beginning with its domestic network and in 2005 with its transborder services.
Continental Airlines reported a 13.1% rise in December traffic to 7 billion RPMs from 6.19 billion in 2004. Capacity was up 11.4% to 9.01 billion ASMs and load factor grew 1.2 points to 77.7%, a December record. CO said consolidated passenger RASM increased 7%-8% over December 2004 and mainline RASM grew 5.5%-6.5%. Separately, Continental Express posted a record load factor of 75.4%, up 4.6 points. Regional traffic shot up 23.1% to 817.2 million RPMs and capacity rose 15.6% to 1.08 billion ASMs.
AirAsia is adding Ipoh, Tawau, Kota Bharu and Sandakan to its network from its Johor Bahru hub at Senai International Airport. New services start on Feb. 6. The LCC will operate four weekly flights to Ipoh and Tawau and thrice-weekly to Kota Bharu and Sandakan. It also is upping frequencies from Johor Bahru to 10 flights per week to Kuching, 11 flights per week to Kota Kinabalu and 10 flights per week to Penang. AirAsia launched service from Johor Bahru on Malaysia's southern tip in 2003 and is carrying 1 million passengers a year with just one aircraft.
Continental Airlines' announcement that it would take 69 aircraft out of its fleet agreement with ExpressJet ( ATWOnline, Jan. 4) came as no surprise to ExpressJet CEO and President Jim Ream. During months of negotiations, CO followed in the footsteps of other mainline carriers and aggressively sought concessions as it moved to cut costs. ExpressJet is the exclusive provider of Regional flying to CO using a fleet of some 274 ERJ-145s.
Israel Aircraft Industries' Elta Systems Group said it received authorization from Israel's CAA to install its Flight Guard anti-Manpads system on 767 passenger aircraft. According to press reports, El Al will install the system on six 767s.
EADS bought a 10% stake in Russia's Irkut Corp. for $65.3 million last month, the Russian aerospace company announced. The deal coincided with the awarding of a 10-year contract for A320, A330/A340 and A380 component and subassembly production ( ATWOnline, Dec. 22). "It is part of the global strategy of EADS to form partnerships with leading aerospace companies," EADS Russia CEO Vadim Vlasov said. The companies have been working together since 2002.
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International has surpassed Chicago O'Hare as the busiest airport in the US, FAA said. ATL logged 980,197 takeoffs and landings in 2005 compared to 972,246 at ORD. Dallas/Ft. Worth International finished a distant third with 718,291. Growth at Atlanta largely reflects Delta Air Lines' increased activity there, while DFW's declining position similarly is a result of Delta's closing its hub last year.
Caribbean Aircraft Leasing will acquire an additional 50-seat Q300 turboprop for $16.3 million, Bombardier announced. The lessor, parent of Caribbean Star Airlines and Caribbean Sun Airlines, ordered three A300s two months ago.
Engine Alliance received FAR 33 certification from US FAA for its GP7200, designed for the A380. The 21-month test program involved eight engines. The GP7200 ran approximately 7,000 cycles, 25 full-scale certification tests and more than 50 component tests. It powered two flight test programs on a flying testbed and initially is certified at 76,500 lb. thrust. It was tested at levels in excess of 94,000 lb. Engine Alliance President Bruce Hughes said the engine was tested and certified to ETOPS standards. The first A380 test flight will take place this year.
Aerospace Industries Assn. named Susan Mertes director-aviation infrastructure, a new position focusing on improvements to the civil air transport system. Rockwell Collins appointed Beverly Carmichael VP-staffing and organizational development. She comes from Southwest Airlines.
EasyJet will add 14 new routes across its European network this spring as it takes delivery of nine A319s. It also will convert its bases in Liverpool, Edinburgh and Glasgow to all-Airbus operations, replacing its current fleet of 737s in a move signifying its "commitment to future investment and expansion." It will operate 116 A319s by this summer.
Aviation Safety Network recorded 35 fatal accidents last year that resulted in 1,059 airline fatalities and 44 on the ground, according to the Dutch website. The number of accidents was "significantly lower" than the 10-year average of 40 per year while the number of fatalities was "almost equal" to the annual average of 1,095 over the past decade owing to the high number of serious accidents.
Continental Airlines said Dec. 28 it will withdraw 69 of 274 Embraer RJs from its capacity purchase agreement with ExpressJet Airlines because the latter's rates "are above the current market." ExpressJet may continue to sublease any of the 69 aircraft at higher rates but cannot operate them into any of CO's hubs. The ERJ-135s and dash 145s operate in the Continental Express network. ExpressJet at one time was a wholly owned subsidiary of CO but now is publicly traded.
Airbus and Boeing finished the year strong as several airlines announced aircraft orders or confirmations during the final week of 2005 and the first few days of the new year. Air Deccan led the way with its Dec. 24 announcement that it signed to purchase 30 additional A320s for delivery starting in 2008. The deal is worth $1.5 billion at list prices. The Indian LCC ordered 32 A320s in January 2005. It will take delivery of eight this year, increasing its fleet to 32 aircraft. No engine choice was announced for the new batch of 180-seaters.
