Air Transport World articles from April 2006

Air Transport World archives from April 2006

A different flight path.(Air Canada services and financial restructuring )(Company overview)
April 1, 2006... IF THIS WERE A TYPICAL TALE of a North American airline financial restructuring, Air Canada probably would be readying its employees and lenders for another trip through the corporate steam room to sweat out some more savings in addition to the...

A quiet departure.(air show)
April 1, 2006... THE FINAL ASIAN AEROSPACE SHOW in Singapore (Feb. 21-26) had the familiar focus on the Asia/Pacific's booming economies and limitless aviation possibilities, but most conversations drifted to debate over the future of the region's air shows....

A message from Tim Mahoney: president, Air Transport & Regional Aviation.(ATW airline achievement awards 2006)
April 1, 2006... Good evening. I'm pleased to be speaking to you tonight on behalf of Honeywell, and would like to thank ATW Publisher Bill Freeman and Air Transport World for this valued industry event. As we look back at 2005, we can see that it was a...

Celebrating the best.(Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd.'s Philip Chen wins award)
April 1, 2006... CATHAY PACIFIC AIRWAYS CEO Philip Chen accepted his carrier's Airline of the Year Award at the Singapore awards gala dinner from outgoing ATW Editorial Director J.A. Donoghue with thanks to the CX chairman, board and employees (1), but then...

AdAwards: 2006 winners.
April 1, 2006... AIRFRAMES Gold: Boeing Commercial Airplanes Agency: Frontline Communications Partners Silver: Airbus Agency: Euro RSCG AIRLINE CONTRACT MAINTENANCE Gold: Air New Zealand Engineering Services Agency: Dobbs...

Coming events.(Calendar)
April 1, 2006... April 3-6 Avionics Maintenance Conference, hosted by Air France, Thales & EADS, Hotel New York, Paris, France. Contact Roger Goldberg at ARINC, +1 410-266-2915; e-mail rsg@arinc.com; www.arinc.com/amc. April 4-6 Aircraft Interiors Expo,...

Aer Lingus.(PEOPLE)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Aer Lingus appointed Niall Walsh deputy chief executive, Greg O'Sullivan finance dir., Enda Corneille commercial dir., Stephen Kavanagh planning dir., Liz White human resources dir. and Dick Butler ground operations dir.

AeroMexico.(PEOPLE)
April 1, 2006... AeroMexico promoted Kristian C. Anderson to national accounts mgr.-US.

AirAsia.(PEOPLE)
April 1, 2006... AirAsia welcomed Timothy Ross as executive VP-corporate affairs & strategy.

Alaska Air Group.(PEOPLE)
April 1, 2006... Alaska Air Group named Karen Gruen MD-corporate affairs & asst. corporate secretary.

Alteon Training.(PEOPLE)
April 1, 2006... Alteon Training elevated Marsha Bell to VP-first officer programs.

American Airlines.(PEOPLE)
April 1, 2006... American Airlines tapped Lynda Johnson as GM-Dallas Love Field.

Austrian Airlines Group.(PEOPLE)
April 1, 2006... Austrian Airlines Group selected Alfred Oetsch to succeed Vagn Soerensen as CEO from May 1.

Boeing.(PEOPLE)
April 1, 2006... Boeing chose Ross Bogue as VP & GM-747/767/777 programs & Everett site.

Commonwealth Business Media.(PEOPLE)
April 1, 2006... Commonwealth Business Media appointed Steve Casley president-BACK Aviation Solutions.

Delta Air Lines.(PEOPLE)
April 1, 2006... Delta Air Lines introduced Shirley W. Bridges as CIO & president & CEO-Delta Technology.

FAA Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center.(PEOPLE)
April 1, 2006... FAA Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center named Stan Sieg deputy dir. and Marshall R. Gimpel dir.-Enterprise Services Center.

Goodrich.(PEOPLE)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Goodrich promoted John Grisik to executive VP-operational excellence & technology. He was succeeded as presidentelectronic systems by Jerry Witowski, who was succeeded as president-sensor systems by Brian Gora.

Japan Air Lines.(PEOPLE)
April 1, 2006... Japan Air Lines welcomed Steve S. Smith as VP-passenger sales-the Americas.

JetBlue Airways.(PEOPLE)
April 1, 2006... JetBlue Airways elevated Rob Maruster to senior VP-airports & operational planning and Gerald Lee to VP-business development.

Lufthansa Cargo.(PEOPLE)
April 1, 2006... Lufthansa Cargo appointed Stefan H. Lauer interim chairman-Lufthansa Cargo and Karl-Heinz Koepfle to the Lufthansa Cargo executive board in charge of operations.

Nordam Group.(PEOPLE)
April 1, 2006... Nordam Group tapped Brian Beair as dir.-aircraft asset mgt.

Prism Group.(PEOPLE)
April 1, 2006... Prism Group named Paul Leyh VP-sales consulting.

Qantas.(appointments)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Qantas announced a reorganized executive structure as follows: John Borghetti, executive GM-Qantas Airlines; Kevin Brown, executive GM-people; David Cox, executive GMengineering; Grant Fenn, executive GMassociated businesses; Peter Gregg, CFO &...

Royal Jordanian.(PEOPLE)
April 1, 2006... Royal Jordanian selected Geoffrey Weston as VP-cargo.

Seabury Group.(PEOPLE)
April 1, 2006... Seabury Group welcomed Mark J. Schulte as MD & head-investment banking.

Singapore Airlines.(PEOPLE)
April 1, 2006... Singapore Airlines named Marvin Tan GM-UK & Ireland.

Star Alliance.(PEOPLE)
April 1, 2006... Star Alliance chose Philip Saunders as VP-sales, marketing & loyalty.

Virgin America.(PEOPLE)
April 1, 2006... Virgin America introduced Donald J. Carty as chairman.

Diverted attention.(OPERATIONS)(managing the costs of emergency landings)
April 1, 2006... AT FLIGHT LEVEL 350 OVER CANADA'S Northwest Territories, Delta Flight 55, a 777-200ER, is bound for Tokyo Narita. All is quiet when the call goes out: "Is there a doctor onboard?" A couple of minutes later, a second announcement, but with added...

Why airlines?(ExxonMobil profits)(Editorial)
April 1, 2006... Last year, ExxonMobil earned $36 billion, the largest profit in US corporate history and, one reasonably may assume, the world. Other oil companies, US and non-US, did nearly as well, benefiting, ironically, from the very storms that caused so...

Avitas market commentary--A321-200, 757-200, 737-800, 737-900.(FACTS & FIGURES)
April 1, 2006... The A321-200, the largest of the Airbus narrowbody family, has become well established in the marketplace with 255 aircraft in service and 146 on firm order as of January 2006. Though nowhere near as successful as the A320-200, it nevertheless...

Flexing the airways.(Airservices Australia's flex tracks)
April 1, 2006... FOR CENTURIES, EXPLORERS and traders have searched the oceans for the strongest winds, like the Southern Ocean's Roaring Forties. Now, with the help of Airservices Australia, several airlines are pursuing those same winds on their routes to...

Jetting to the top.(JetAir services)(Company overview)
April 1, 2006... IT WAS NOT SO LONG AGO THAT India's skies were tightly controlled by a government that viewed air travel as an elitist business. Now they are opening up fast. Apart from the consumer, probably the biggest beneficiary of liberalization is...

Aging well.(MRO)(trends in the maintenance, repair and overhaul market of aircrafts)
April 1, 2006... WITH THE NUMBER OF regional jets in the world airline fleet now numbering in the thousands, some of them with more than a decade in service, the demand to support them is rising. Surprisingly, few third-party providers have shown much...

Development tax moves forward.(Jacques Chirac places global tax on airline tickets)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Proposal by French President Jacques Chirac to place a global tax on airline tickets to fund development in the Third World moved forward last month as 13 countries including the UK, Norway and Brazil agreed to go along. Twenty-five other...

First flight, first revenue.(Pakistan International Airlines Corp)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Pakistan International Airlines took delivery of the first 777-200LR at the end of February in Everett, Wash. The aircraft stopped in Manchester, UK, to pick up passengers for the trip to Islamabad.

DBA acquires control of LTU.(DBA Inc. acquires Lufttransport-Unternehmen Gesellschaft mit beschraenkter Haftung und Company KG)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... DBA acquired a 60% share of troubled German charter carrier LTU in mid-February through the Intro Verwaltungs investment group controlled by DBA majority owner Hans Rudolf Woehrl. The step came shortly after DBA announced that it doubled its...

Amadeus, Sabre agree to backstop each other.(Financial results, new deals, and reports from every corner of the globe)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... In a first among the four major global distribution systems, Amadeus and Sabre Holdings entered into an agreement that enables "Amadeus customers to complete bookings on an airline [through Sabre] in the unlikely event of that airline...

End of an era.(Airbus stops production of A300/A310 )(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Airbus announced last month that production of the A300/A310 family will come to an end in July 2007 after more than 30 years with the handover of the last A300-600F currently on order. Production backlog at Jan. 31 numbered 19 aircraft, all of...

Cape Town treaty takes effect.(Financial results, new deals, and reports from every corner of the globe)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... The Cape Town Convention and its Aircraft Protocol took effect March 1 following ratification of the treaty by Malaysia, the eighth nation to do so. Countries that ratify the Cape Town Convention agree to abide by an international legal...

ICAO elects successor to Kotaite.(International Civil Aviation Organization )(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... ICAO Council elected Roberto Kobeh Gonzalez of Mexico to complete the term of Council President Assad Kotaite, who will step down July 31 after 30 years in the post. Gonzalez, who will take over Aug. 1 and serve for one year, was elected over...

JAL Group CEO Toshiyuki Shinmachi.(ASIA/PACIFIC Report)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... JAL Group CEO Toshiyuki Shinmachi, the subject of a boardroom coup attempt in February, lost his battle to keep his position amid rising discontent and agreed last month to relinquish the CEO title and take over as group chairman. He will be...

Qantas.(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Qantas cited rising fuel costs and "aggressive competitor capacity increases" as half-year profits to Dec. 31 declined 9.6% to A$352.6 million ($261.3 million) from A$390.2 million in the year-ago period. It warned it does not expect to achieve...

Cathay Pacific Airways.(ASIA/PACIFIC Report)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Cathay Pacific Airways earned HK$3.47 billion ($446.9 million) in 2005, down 23.2% from 2004's HK$4.52 billion. Turnover climbed 19.1% to a record HK$50.91 billion, but this was offset by a 48.5% rise in fuel costs that pushed total operating...

ATW announce promotions.(ASIA/PACIFIC Report)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Air Transport World is pleased to announce new positions for Cathy Buyck (l) and Sandra Arnoult. Buyck, previously Europe Editor, has been named Europe bureau chief and a senior editor of ATW. In these positions she will lead ATW's coverage in...

Malaysia Airlines.(ASIA/PACIFIC Report)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Malaysia Airlines warned in late February that "on its current business assumptions, course and speed, [it] will likely fail," exhausting its cash "in April 2006" and posting a MYR1.7 billion ($472 million) loss for the just-ended fiscal year....

Thai Airways.(ASIA/PACIFIC Report)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Thai Airways posted a net profit of THB3.81 billion ($96.7 million) in the three months ended Dec. 31, a 33.4% decrease from the THB5.72 billion earned in the year-ago quarter. Revenues totaled THB45.88 billion, an increase of 6.5%. But...

Air New Zealand.(ASIA/PACIFIC Report)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Air New Zealand's net earnings for the six-month period ended Dec. 31 plunged 55% to NZ$46 million ($30.3 million), prompting it to say that "streamlining and simplifying the business would now dominate" the agenda. Six-month operating revenue...

AirAsia.(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... AirAsia's profit for the fiscal second quarter to Dec. 31 rose 20.3% to MYR53.4 million ($14.4 million) from MYR44.4 million earned in the year-ago quarter. It cited increases in revenue and traffic and "better capacity management on the...

Singapore Airlines.(ASIA/PACIFIC Report)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Singapore Airlines ordered Boeing's Class 3 EFB installation kits for its entire fleet of new and existing 777s. SIA has 58 777s in service and an additional 19 on order.

Rockwell Collins.(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Rockwell Collins was selected by Singapore Aircraft Leasing Enterprise to provide a comprehensive package of communications, navigation and surveillance systems for up to 20 new 737NGs. Agreement includes purchase rights for up to 20 additional...

SITA and Airservices Australia.(ASIA/PACIFIC Report)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... SITA and Airservices Australia announced an alliance to offer ADS-B services across Australia's entire upper-level airspace by early 2007. The two also will support an Indonesian Directorate General for Air Communications ADS-B trial in...

IAE.(ASIA/PACIFIC Report)
April 1, 2006... IAE will support Jetstar's V2500s powering its A320s under a 10-year agreement that covers 20 A320 shipsets plus three spare engines.

Lufthansa Technik.(ASIA/PACIFIC Report)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Lufthansa Technik announced that Japan Transocean Air signed a Total Component Maintenance contract covering its 23 737-400s based in Okinawa. LHT also will provide Total Technical Support to Star Flyer, a Japanese startup. Lufthansa Technik...

Air France Industries.(ASIA/PACIFIC Report)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Air France Industries will provide full maintenance support including a spare engine for the GE90s that power six of Vietnam Airlines' 10 777s. Term of the initial contract is three years.

Quoted briefly.(ASIA/PACIFIC Report)
April 1, 2006... "The A300/A310 program launched the Airbus success story and with a total of 821 orders it has surpassed all commercial expectations." --Airbus President and CEO Gustav Humbert

Singapore Technologies Aerospace and Airbus.(ASIA/PACIFIC Report)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Singapore Technologies Aerospace and Airbus announced a three-year renewable agreement enabling the airframer to place any aircraft for MRO work at any of ST Aero's MRO sites around the world. ST Aero announced a five-year, $5.9 million...

Goodrich Aerostructures Service Center Asia.(ASIA/PACIFIC Report)
April 1, 2006... Goodrich Aerostructures Service Center Asia was chosen by Boeing to perform nacelle component MRO services on 737NGs and 777s.

Messier Services-Asia.(ASIA/PACIFIC Report)
April 1, 2006... Messier Services-Asia was named by Boeing as a Component Repair Network Service Center for landing gear MRO on MD-11s, 777s and 737NGs.

AAR.(ASIA/PACIFIC Report)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... AAR was selected by China Airlines to provide total 737-800 landing gear MRO services with spares support. AAR also will maintain China Eastern Airlines' 767-300 landing gear and provide a substitute shipset. Additionally, AAR will service...

HAECO.(ASIA/PACIFIC Report)
April 1, 2006... HAECO became the 13th member of the Airbus MRO Network.

Lufthansa Systems.(ASIA/PACIFIC Report)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Lufthansa Systems signed a contract with China Cargo Airlines to analyze the carrier's business processes and IT systems and signed with Royal Jordanian to implement SIRAX, a revenue accounting process solution.

IBS Software Services.(ASIA/PACIFIC Report)
April 1, 2006... IBS Software Services said Air New Zealand implemented iFly, its solution for managing airline staff travel requirements. ANZ is the launch customer.

Air Transport Assn.(NORTH AMERICA Report)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Air Transport Assn., looking ahead to next year's reauthorization of the US Airport and Airways Trust Fund and funding of ATC modernization, announced "historic" unanimous support by its 19 member airlines for exclusive use of "departures" and...

Delta Air Lines.(NORTH AMERICA Report)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Delta Air Lines reported a $300 million net loss for January including $87 million in reorganization charges, which compares to a $314 million deficit in January 2005. January operating loss was $147 million, narrowed from $224 million last...

Northwest Airlines.(NORTH AMERICA Report)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Northwest Airlines reached tentative agreements on new contracts with its flight attendant and pilot unions, resulting in respective annual labor savings of $195 million and $358 million if they are ratified. The pilot agreement also will...

US Airways Group.(NORTH AMERICA Report)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... US Airways Group reported a $261 million net loss in the fourth quarter, the first full three-month period following the September 2005 merger of US Airways and America West Airlines. US Airways lost $120 million in the quarter, narrowed from...

US Majors Traffic February 2006 *.(FACT FILE)(Table)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... US Majors Traffic February 2006 * +/- RPMs % chg. ASMs % chg. LF chg. Airline (bil.) 2005 (bil.) 2005 (%) 2005 AirTran ...

Alaska Airlines.(NORTH AMERICA Report)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Alaska Airlines will transition to an all-737 fleet by the end of 2008 by accelerating the retirement of the 26 MD-80s it planned to phase out over the next 11 years, replacing them with 39 737-800s in 2006-08 from an order placed last summer....

AMR Corp.(NORTH AMERICA Report)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... AMR Corp., parent of American Airlines, announced that Senior VP and CFO James Beer left to take a job with California software firm Symantec. Beer became CFO in December 2003 after 15 years at AA.

WestJet.(NORTH AMERICA Report)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... WestJet Executive VP-Finance and CFO Alexander Campbell will be leaving the company June 15. He becomes the second long-serving senior executive to depart in recent months. Last fall, Executive VP-Operations Tim Morgan, a WestJet co-founder,...

ATA Airlines.(NORTH AMERICA Report)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... ATA Airlines emerged from 16 months in bankruptcy protection Feb. 28 with a shrunken domestic network largely reliant on its codeshare with Southwest Airlines with supporting military and commercial charter flights. Meanwhile, in a further...

Aloha Airlines.(NORTH AMERICA Report)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Aloha Airlines emerged quietly from Chapter 11 protection Feb. 17. It filed for bankruptcy in December 2004. In a possible setback, the airline reportedly is under investigation by US authorities for allegedly using employee pension funds to...

Hawaiian Airlines.(NORTH AMERICA Report)
April 1, 2006... Hawaiian Airlines signed letters of intent to acquire four 767-300s rejected by Delta Air Lines during its bankruptcy reorganization.

Pratt & Whitney.(NORTH AMERICA Report)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Pratt & Whitney intends to manufacture, certify and market replacement parts for the CFM56-3s powering the 737-300/-400/-500 series through its new Global Material Solutions business. Company hopes to boost its share of the CFM overhaul market,...

The look of things to come.(NORTH AMERICA Report)
April 1, 2006... A350 cockpit layout was revealed by Airbus.

Boeing.(NORTH AMERICA Report)
April 1, 2006... Boeing will acquire Carmen Systems, a provider of crew scheduling and disruption management software for airlines and railroads. Carmen will become a Jeppesen subsidiary.

Jeppesen.(Jeppesen Sanderson Inc.)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Jeppesen said it will supply Aeroflot with its e-Link online chart access as well as Class 1 EFB terminal chart software and its Data Distribution and Management system. Ukraine International Airlines formalized a contract for Jeppesen's...

B/E Aerospace.(NORTH AMERICA Report)
April 1, 2006... B/E Aerospace will provide first and business class seats for United Airlines' entire longhaul widebody fleet in a deal valued at $165 million.

Precision Conversions.(NORTH AMERICA Report)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Precision Conversions said it entered into a "long-term cargo conversion program" with Cargo Aircraft Management, a subsidiary of Orlando-based Cargo Holdings International. Agreement covers completion of two 757-200 passenger-to-freighter...

Avionics Support Group.(NORTH AMERICA Report)
April 1, 2006... Avionics Support Group received an STC for its navAero t-Bag C22 Class 2 EFB for the 737NG.

Sabre Airline Solutions.(NORTH AMERICA Report)
April 1, 2006... Sabre Airline Solutions said Gulf Air and TAP Portugal signed to use its AirServIn-Flight Solutions systems for catering and cabin services management.

Air France-KLM Group earned.(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Air France-KLM Group earned 77 million [euro] ($91.7 million) in the fiscal third quarter ended Dec. 31, sharply higher than the 23 million [euro] earned in the year-ago quarter owing to "dynamic" passenger activity plus an "encouraging...