Air Transport World articles from December 2007

Air Transport World archives from December 2007

Trends.(Statistical table)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... WORLD AIRLINE TRAFFIC [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] US Domestic (1) 2007 2006 Europe International Scheduled (2) 2007 2006 Asia/Pacific International Scheduled (3) 2007 2006 US International (1) ...

How low can you go? Spirit aims to find out.(PROFILE)(Spirit Airlines Inc.)
December 1, 2007... THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE WHEN you enter the reception area of the Florida headquarters of Spirit Airlines is that there is no receptionist. Stretched across the wall is a banner with an explanation in bold letters: The self-service reception...

You gotta believe.(EDITORIAL)
December 1, 2007... Anyone who spends much time in or around the airline industry is familiar with the concept of faith. In the early days of air travel it was as fundamental as believing that the runway would be there when you broke out of the clouds and that the...

Dubai rains planes.(NewsBriefs)
December 1, 2007... Last month's Dubai Air Show (Nov. 11-15) turned into an ordering frenzy of Le Bourgetlike proportions as airlines and lessors committed to an estimated $70 billion worth of equipment, although some represented the confirmation of earlier...

Euro Parliament puts airlines in ETS.(NewsBriefs)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... European Parliament on Nov. 13 voted to include aviation in the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme from 2011 and to place tighter pollution caps on airlines than initially had been proposed by the European Commission. The move sets up a likely legal...

CAAC sees further liberalization by 2010.(NewsBriefs)(Civil Aviation Administration of China)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... CAAC plans to relax its control over Chinese carriers' domestic route networks, according to Minister Yang Yuanyuan, who said CAAC is committed to reducing the number of cities for which new flights still must be approved "to zero by 2010, when...

President George W. Bush.(NORTH AMERICA Report)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... President George W. Bush, in a bid to avoid the air travel problems of last summer, last month announced he would open up military airspace on the US East Coast to commercial flights to ease congestion during the busy Thanksgiving travel...

Sheikh Mohammed.(THE BIGGEST DEAL)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, ruler of Dubai, oversees the signing by Emirates Chairman Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum of the Airbus portion of Emirates' recordsetting aircraft order. Airbus President and CEO Tom Enders (right) and...

Air Canada.(NORTH AMERICA Report)
December 1, 2007... Air Canada reported third-quarter net income of C$244 million ($262.4 million), a more-than-sixfold jump over C$44 million posted in the year-ago period, as it benefited from the rising value of the Canadian dollar that boosted currency-related...

Southwest Airlines.(NORTH AMERICA Report)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Southwest Airlines, in a continuing campaign to attract more business travelers, last month introduced a Business Select fare category that will provide passengers paying more for tickets with guaranteed early boarding, more frequent-flier...

AirTran.(NORTH AMERICA Report)(AirTran Holdings Inc.)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... AirTran parent AirTran Holdings announced that President and COO Bob Fornaro will succeed Joe Leonard as CEO. Leonard retains the chairmanship. Fornaro, 54, who will continue as president, joined the company in 1999 following stints at TWA,...

WestJet's.(NORTH AMERICA Report)(WestJet Airlines Ltd.)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... WestJet's third-quarter net income surged 44% to C$76.1 million ($81.9 million), its best third-quarter result, from C$52.8 million in the year-ago period as it continued to ramp up capacity. Revenue grew 22.3% to C$614.1 million while expenses...

Frontier Airlines Holdings.(NORTH AMERICA Report)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Frontier Airlines Holdings earned $17.3 million for its fiscal second quarter ended Sept. 30, much improved over earnings of $509,000 in the year-ago period, on a 19.4% increase in revenue to $372 million. Operating income jumped to $22.8...

Midwest Air Group.(NORTH AMERICA Report)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Midwest Air Group, parent of Midwest Airlines and Midwest Connect, lost $3.9 million in the third quarter ended Sept. 30, reversed from a $1.7 million profit last year. Revenue climbed 20.2% to $202.6 million. It earned $9 million in the...

Allegiant Travel Co.(NORTH AMERICA Report)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Allegiant Travel Co., parent of Allegiant Air, earned $7 million in the third quarter versus a $1.2 million loss in the year-ago period. Revenue rose 41.7% to $86.3 million.

JetBlue Airways.(NORTH AMERICA Report)(John Harvey resigned)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... JetBlue Airways said Executive VP-Corporate Services and CFO John Harvey resigned "to pursue other professional interests." It named Senior VP-Finance and Principal Accounting Officer Ed Barnes as interim CFO while a search for a permanent CFO...

Boeing.(NORTH AMERICA Report)
December 1, 2007... Boeing reported third-quarter net income of $1.1 billion, up 61% from $694 million in the year-ago period, and insisted that 787 program delays will have minimal financial impact beyond a slight decrease in projected 2008 revenue. Revenue rose...

Boeing.(NORTH AMERICA Report)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Boeing completed "firm configuration" of the 747-8 Intercontinental. The airframe will be stretched 5.6 m. (18.3 ft.) with a range of approximately 8,000 nm. (14,815 km.).

GE Aviation.(NORTH AMERICA Report)(Smiths Group PLC. Smiths Aerospace)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... GE Aviation will provide FMSs for 200 737 Classics operated by Southwest Airlines as SWA moves to implement RNP at every airport it serves. Deliveries are scheduled for 2008-09. The FMSs will be supplied by the Systems division of GE Aviation,...

Delta TechOps.(NORTH AMERICA Report)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Delta TechOps signed a 10-year, $1 billion-plus deal with Chromalloy Gas Turbine Corp. that DL said represents "the largest and most significant [PMA] agreement in the airline industry." DL and Chromalloy will work together on development of...

Honeywell.(NORTH AMERICA Report)
December 1, 2007... Honeywell signed a contract with AirTran to supply avionics systems on new aircraft and provide maintenance on Honeywell products across AirTran's fleet through 2030. The contract, which builds on an existing agreement, has a value of $1...

AmSafe Partners.(NORTH AMERICA Report)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... AmSafe Partners was acquired by Greenbriar Equity Group LLC and Berkshire Partners LLC from Pritzker Group and Admiralty Partners. Terms were not disclosed. Amsafe's airline products include passenger seatbelts, flight attendant harnesses,...

Singapore Technologies Aerospace.(NORTH AMERICA Report)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Singapore Technologies Aerospace won three contracts valued at S$232 million ($160 million) from Delta Air Lines covering heavy maintenance on 757-200s, cabin modifications on 757-200ERs and 767 IFE upgrades.

Lufthansa Group.(EUROPE Report)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Lufthansa Group shrugged off high fuel prices to post a third-quarter profit of [euro]586 million ($834.7 million), a 78.1% increase over the year-ago period (before the integration of Swiss International Air Lines). Revenue rose 17.7% to...

US Majors Traffic October 2007.(FACT FILE)(Statistical table)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... FACT FILE US Majors Traffic October 2007 * % % +/- RPMs chg. ASMs chg. LF chg. Airline (bil.) 2006 (bil.) 2006 (%) 2006 AirTran 1.46 34.5 ...

Swiss.(EUROPE Report)(Swissair)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Swiss did its share to boost Lufthansa Group profit, posting third-quarter operating income of CHF190 million ($163.1 million), nearly double the CHF101 million earned in the year-ago period. Revenue climbed 16.8% to CHF1.29 billion. Nine-month...

British Airways.(EUROPE Report)
December 1, 2007... British Airways' income for the fiscal first half ended Sept. 30 soared 21.1% to [pounds sterling]487 million ($1.01 billion) from [pounds sterling]402 million in the year-ago period, but it revised downward its forecast for revenue and...

SAS Group's.(EUROPE Report)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... SAS Group's third-quarter net income from continuing operations fell 12.6% to SEK472 million ($74.8 million) from SEK540 million in the year-ago period as it suffered a SEK200 million loss during the three months ended Sept. 30 owing to two...

Ryanair's.(EUROPE Report)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Ryanair's net income for the second fiscal quarter ended Sept. 30 jumped 26% to [euro]268.7 million ($389.9 million) on a 25% increase in total revenue to [euro]861.3 million. Quarterly operating expenses rose 26% to [euro]557.3 million, with...

EasyJet.(EUROPE Report)(easyJet Airline Company Ltd.)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... EasyJet agreed to purchase GB Airways from Bland Group for [pounds sterling]103.5 million ($212.1 million) in cash (see cover story, p. 24). The deal does not include GB's four London Heathrow slots. GB operates nine A320s and six A321s under a...

Air France KLM Group.(EUROPE Report)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Air France KLM Group estimated the net impact on operating income associated with a five-day strike in October by AF cabin crew over pay and working conditions at some [euro]60 million ($86.5 million).

Austrian Airlines Group.(EUROPE Report)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Austrian Airlines Group reported a [euro]29.2 million ($42.2 million) profit in the third quarter, reversed from a [euro]17 million loss in the year-ago period. Revenue fell 8.2% to [euro]687.6 million and EBIT dropped 11.7% to [euro]36.2...

Finnair.(EUROPE Report)
December 1, 2007... Finnair credited continuing growth on its Asian routes and a year-old efficiency program with boosting third-quarter profit to [euro]39.6 million ($57.2 million) from [euro]10.3 million in the year-ago period. Revenue rose 5.8% to [euro]545.2...

CSA Czech Airlines.(EUROPE Report)(Ceskoslovenske Aerolinie)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... CSA Czech Airlines had a profit of CZK563 million ($30.2 million) in the first nine months, reversed from a CZK323 million deficit in the year-ago period.

Vueling Airlines.(EUROPE Report)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Vueling Airlines reported a net profit of [euro]350,000 ($498,750) for the third quarter, a sharp decrease from the [euro]5.02 million earned in the year-ago period. Revenue rose 49% to [euro]118.4 million.

Spanair.(EUROPE Report)
December 1, 2007... Spanair CEO Lars Nygaard resigned to take a position outside SAS Group. Spanair CFO Marcus Hedblom was named CEO.

EU.(EUROPE Report)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... EU intends to launch a PNR system similar to the collection procedure applied by the US. Under the plan unveiled last month, airlines would be required to collect 19 fields of data from passengers flying to or from the EU no later than 24 hr....

EADS.(EUROPE Report)
December 1, 2007... EADS posted a [euro]705 million ($1.03 billion) net loss for the first nine months of 2007, significantly reversed from net income of [euro]867 million in the year-ago period, as A350 XWB launch costs, Power8 restructuring charges and the...

Rockwell Collins.(EUROPE Report)
December 1, 2007... Rockwell Collins was selected by Airbus to provide the Trimmable Horizontal Stabilizer Actuator for the A350 XWB.

Goodrich and Turkish Technic.(EUROPE Report)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Goodrich and Turkish Technic signed an MOU to establish a nacelle repair joint venture at Sabiha Gokcen International in Istanbul in 2009 to be known as Goodrich HABOM.

Lufthansa Technik.(EUROPE Report)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Lufthansa Technik and Bulgarian Aviation Group will open a hangar facility at Sofia for 737 and A320 heavy maintenance including D checks. Separately, LHT opened a second widebody hangar at Lufthansa Technik Philippines. LHT signed a...

European Airline Traffic October 2007.(FACT FILE)(Statistical table)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... FACT FILE European Airline Traffic October 2007 % % Load RPKs chg. ASKs chg. factor +/- Airline (billions) 2006 (billions) 2006 % 2006 ...

SR Technics.(EUROPE Report)(appointments)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... SR Technics announced that Chairman and CEO Hans Lerch will relinquish the latter title effective Jan. 1 to Bernd Kessler, who has been president and CEO-commercial maintenance at MTU Aero Engines since 2004. SRT concluded a seven-year...

KLM Engineering & Maintenance.(EUROPE Report)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... KLM Engineering & Maintenance was contracted by Pegasus Airlines to overhaul five CFM56-7Bs plus two options. KLM E&M will provide two leased engines as part of the deal.

Snecma Services.(EUROPE Report)
December 1, 2007... Snecma Services signed a five-year contract with Bulgaria Air to provide MRO on the CFM56-3s powering its 737 Classics.

Iberia Maintenance and Engineering and TAP Maintenance & Engineering.(EUROPE Report)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Iberia Maintenance and Engineering and TAP Maintenance & Engineering signed an agreement under which TAP will perform MRO work on Iberia CFM56-5Cs while Iberia will maintain TAP's A320 landing gear. Separately, Iberia won a one-year...

Sabena Technics.(EUROPE Report)
December 1, 2007... Sabena Technics renewed its contract for line and light maintenance of Thomas Cook Airlines Belgium's six A320s.

SITA.(EUROPE Report)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... SITA plans to develop a new passenger reservations system that will offer a complete suite of reservations, inventory, ticketing and departure control systems. It will invest some $100 million in the project over the next five years.

Lufthansa Systems.(EUROPE Report)
December 1, 2007... Lufthansa Systems signed a contract with Austrian Airlines for the use of SchedConnect. LHS said Silverjet chose its Lido Operations Center flight planning application.

Gate Gourmet.(EUROPE Report)
December 1, 2007... Gate Gourmet will manage onboard retail for easyJet under a multiyear deal covering all food and beverages, crew meals, duty free products and other provisioning.

Ofcom.(EUROPE Report)
December 1, 2007... Ofcom, the UK communications industry regulator, in October issued a proposal to enable airlines to offer "mobile communication services" on UK-registered aircraft.

Mxi Technologies.(EUROPE Report)
December 1, 2007... Mxi Technologies said MRO Teknik Servis Sanayi Ticaret, a startup maintenance facility in Turkey, chose its Maintenix maintenance management software.

IER.(EUROPE Report)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... IER said EDS Switzerland selected its new Self-Service Check-In Application for its Zurich operations. Air Tahiti selected IER to provide it with five IER 918 CUSS kiosks and related software applications.

JAL Group.(ASIA/PACIFIC Report)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... JAL Group reported a better-than-fivefold increase in net income for the fiscal first half ended Sept. 30 to [yen]7.3 billion ($63.7 million) from [yen]1.5 billion a year earlier, crediting "cost reforms" such as aircraft downsizing, reduced...

ANA Group's.(ASIA/PACIFIC Report)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... ANA Group's sale of its hotel assets propelled it to a record consolidated net profit of [yen]105.5 billion ($920.1 million) on record revenue of [yen]763.2 billion, up 1.4% year-over-year, for the fiscal semester ended Sept. 30. Net profit...

Singapore Airlines.(ASIA/PACIFIC Report)
December 1, 2007... Singapore Airlines reported net income of S$507.8 million ($349.8 million) for its fiscal second quarter ended Sept. 30, up 73.2% from S$293.2 million in the year-ago quarter, on a 9.9% boost in revenue to S$3.97 billion. Expenses rose 3% to...

Air China.(ASIA/PACIFIC Report)
December 1, 2007... Air China reported third-quarter net income of CNY2.19 billion ($292 million), down 26.5% from a CNY2.98 billion profit in the year-ago quarter that was boosted significantly by a one-time gain from the sale of its equity interest in Dragonair....

Korean Air.(ASIA/PACIFIC Report)
December 1, 2007... Korean Air credited increasing long-haul revenue and rising yields for a 3.9% year-over-year gain in profit to KRW131.7 billion ($144.7 million) in the quarter ended Sept. 30. Revenue jumped 8.1% year-over-year to KRW2.37 trillion and operating...

Asiana Airlines.(ASIA/PACIFIC Report)
December 1, 2007... Asiana Airlines reported a KRW36.9 billion ($40.7 million) profit in the third quarter, down 15.4% from KRW43.6 billion in the year-ago period, according to a regulatory filing cited by Bloomberg News. Operating profit rose 75% to KRW80.1...

China Eastern Airlines.(ASIA/PACIFIC Report)
December 1, 2007... China Eastern Airlines posted net income of CNY976 million ($130.4 million) in the third quarter, up 99% from CNY492.9 million in the year-ago period. It earned CNY1.04 billion in the nine months ended Sept. 30 based on domestic accounting...

SpiceJet.(SUGAR AND SPICE)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] SpiceJet took delivery of its first 737-900ER last month. It has four more on order plus five 737-800s.

China Southern Airlines.(ASIA/PACIFIC Report)
December 1, 2007... China Southern Airlines posted a net profit of CNY1.88 billion ($249.5 million) in the third quarter, up 49% from CNY1.29 billion in the year-ago quarter, on a 16.9% lift in operating revenue to CNY16.5 billion.

Jet Airways.(ASIA/PACIFIC Report)
December 1, 2007... Jet Airways earned INR284 million ($7.2 million) in the fiscal second quarter ended Sept. 30, reversed from a deficit of INR551 million in the year-ago period. Revenue climbed 26.1% to INR22.54 billion against an 18.9% rise in expenses to...

Tiger Airways.(ASIA/PACIFIC Report)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Tiger Airways and Incheon city authorities inked a deal to establish a new low-fare airline serving China and Japan called Incheon Tiger Airways with an initial fleet of five A320s based at Incheon International. No launch date was provided.

Dragonair.(ASIA/PACIFIC Report)
December 1, 2007... Dragonair officially joined oneworld Nov. 1 in Hong Kong, becoming the alliance's 11th member carrier.

SpiceJet.(ASIA/PACIFIC Report)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... SpiceJet reported a INR377.7 million ($9.6 million) loss in its fiscal second quarter ended Sept 30, widened from a INR319.1 million pro forma deficit in the year-ago period. Second-quarter revenue rose 64.6% to INR2.7 billion. Six-month loss...

Canada and Singapore.(ASIA/PACIFIC Report)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Canada and Singapore announced an open skies agreement allowing any carrier from either country to operate passenger and cargo flights to any city at any frequency, as well as to codeshare.

Singapore Airlines.(ASIA/PACIFIC Report)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Singapore Airlines is the first customer for A380 Flight Hour Services, an Airbus support package covering Airbus LRU spare parts and services for avionics, cabin and integrated modular avionics systems. The 10-year agreement covers all A380s...

Kuala Lumpur-Singapore service.(ASIA/PACIFIC Report)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Kuala Lumpur-Singapore service is set to see a major price war erupt after the Malaysian government decided to abandon its protection of the route and several others well ahead of the originally scheduled January 2009 date.

Rockwell Collins.(ASIA/PACIFIC Report)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Rockwell Collins was selected by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to supply its Pro Line Fusion avionics for the proposed Mitsubishi Regional Jet. It also will serve as the avionics system integrator for the program.

Singapore Technologies Aerospace's.(ASIA/PACIFIC Report)(contracts)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Singapore Technologies Aerospace's Panama Aerospace Engineering subsidiary won a contract valued at S$4.5 million ($3.1 million) from Transaero Airlines for maintenance and C checks on 10 737-500s.

Sabena Flight Academy and GMR Group.(ASIA/PACIFIC Report)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Sabena Flight Academy and GMR Group signed an MOU to create a joint venture aviation training academy at New Rajiv Gandhi International in Hyderabad by January 2009.

Sensis.(ASIA/PACIFIC Report)
December 1, 2007... Sensis was selected by CAAC's Air Traffic Management Bureau to deploy ADS-B at Chengdu Shuangliu International and Jiuzhai Huanglong.

Barco.(ASIA/PACIFIC Report)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Barco was awarded a contract by the Hong Kong Civil Aviation Dept. to provide an arrival metering and sequencing system based on its OSYRIS arrival management software for a six-month trial period.

Mexican government.(LATIN AMERICA/CARIBBEAN Report)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Mexican government in late October agreed to sell its 62% stake in AeroMexico to a group of investors led by Banamex, the Mexican arm of Citigroup, for MXN2.7 billion ($249 million). Banamex prevailed over the Saba family, whose final bid of...

LAN.(LATIN AMERICA/CARIBBEAN Report)(revenue report)(Financial report)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... LAN reported third-quarter net income of $78.8 million, up 52.9% from $51.5 million in the year-ago quarter, on a 15.2% increase in revenue to $878 million. It cited "significant margin improvements" attributable to strong traffic growth and...

TAM's.(LATIN AMERICA/CARIBBEAN Report)(revenue report)(Financial report)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... TAM's third-quarter net income plunged 77.2% to BRL48.5 million ($27.8 million) from BRL212.7 million last year as it contended with rising costs and flat revenue in the aftermath of July's fatal A320 accident. Revenue dipped 0.7% to BRL2.06...

Gol.(LATIN AMERICA/CARIBBEAN Report)(Gol Transportes Aereos revenue report)(Financial report)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Gol similarly posted a 76% drop in net income to BRL45.5 million ($26.1 million) for the three months compared to a BRL190 million profit a year ago. It said its principal focus was the enhancement of Varig's product and route network, bringing...

Brazil's BRA Transportes Aereas.(LATIN AMERICA/CARIBBEAN Report)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Brazil's BRA Transportes Aereas suspended all flights Nov. 7. It operated eight 737s and two 767s to 26 domestic and three international destinations. It signed a contract for 20 E-195s over the summer.

Mexico.(LATIN AMERICA/CARIBBEAN Report)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Mexico soon will incorporate IATA's Operational Safety Audit into its civil aviation regulatory requirements for airlines operating to, from and within the country. Speaking to the ALTA Airline Leaders Forum in Cancun, Minister of Communication...

Caribbean transport ministers.(LATIN AMERICA/CARIBBEAN Report)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Caribbean transport ministers signed the San Juan Accord committing to "liberalize air transport services and harmonize aviation safety and security measures" with the ultimate goal of creating "an umbrella policy for air transport" and "a...

Air Jamaica.(LATIN AMERICA/CARIBBEAN Report)
December 1, 2007... Air Jamaica CEO Michael Conway resigned in October following a change in the national government, which owns the carrier, as permitted under his contract.

LAN.(LATIN AMERICA'S LARGEST 787 BUY)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... LAN finalized its order for 32 787s and four 777Fs. Six of the 787s and two of the freighters will be leased from ILFC and GECAS respectively. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Mexicana and Amadeus.(LATIN AMERICA/CARIBBEAN Report)(Mexicana Airlines)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Mexicana and Amadeus announced that the airline signed a preliminary agreement to adopt the full Altea Customer Management Solution to manage its reservations, inventory and departure control. Mexicana pegged the value of the investment at...