International Aero Engines announced a V2500 SelectOne order from Jetstar Airways worth up to $1.5 billion comprising engines for 50 A320 family aircraft plus 40 options and purchase rights. Jetstar also signed a $2 billion IAE Aftermarket Services agreement covering the newly ordered engines plus those already operating on 40 current aircraft. Rolls-Royce said its share of the order was valued at up to $1.2 billion and Pratt & Whitney said its share "could exceed" $1 billion, including the aftermarket agreement.
IATA said 2009, "the worst year the industry has ever seen," according to DG and CEO Giovanni Bisignani, concluded with a 3.5% drop in international RPKs and a load factor of 75.6%. "We have permanently lost 2.5 years of growth in passenger markets and 3.5 years of growth in the freight business," Bisignani said. Yields were down 5%-10% from 2008 but "have started to improve with tighter supply-demand conditions in recent months," the organization said, warning that "profitability will be even slower to recover" and that it continues to expect $5.6 billion in industry losses this year (ATWOnline, Dec. 16, 2009). Airlines cut international capacity by 3% last year. Largest drop in demand was the 6.8% fall in Africa, followed by 5.6% declines in both North America and Asia/Pacific and 5% in Europe. Middle East RPKs rose 11.2%. Freight fell 10.1% year-over-year against an 8.4% cut in capacity. In December, RPKs rose 4.5% driven by a 19.1% gain in the Middle East and an 8% rebound in Asia/Pacific. North America (-0.4%) and Europe (-1.2%) continued to fall. Industry load factor was 77.6%.
ANA warned that the "lethargic nature" of Japan's economic recovery and Japan Airlines' bankruptcy will impact the airline's plans for 2010, although the fourth-quarter delivery of the first 787, slot expansion at Tokyo Haneda and Narita and open skies with the US "will bring important business opportunities" for expansion. In its corporate plan for the fiscal year beginning April 1, ANA said it will cut domestic ASKs by 3.7% from 2009-10 and increase international capacity by 11.2%. Cargo ATKs will rise 21.1%.
The carrier plans to introduce daily NRT-Munich 777-300ER service on July 1 and increase capacity to Ho Chi Minh City, Hangzhou and Qingdao. From HND it will begin flying twice-daily to Taipei Songshan Oct. 31 and increase frequencies to Seoul Gimpo, Shanghai Hongqiao and Beijing while "considering" night routes to the US West Coast and Southeast Asia. It will boost the number of codeshare flights operated by Sendai-based Ibex Airlines and will suspend service from Osaka Kansai to Gimpo and Xiamen. On the domestic front, it is shifting its five routes to/from Sapporo Okadama to New Chitose and will operate a seasonal daily KIX-Asahikawa service from June 1. Frequencies on nine other domestic routes will increase while suspension of Hiroshima-CTS and Fukuoka-Sendai service will be among the cuts.
During FY2010-11, ANA expects to take delivery of eight 787-8s, four 777-300ERs, five 767-300ERs, one Q400 and two 767-300BCFs. It will retire three 747-400s, two 767-300ERs, one A320-200 and one 737-500. It expects to report a ¥28 billion ($311.5 million) loss for the fiscal year ending March 31 (ATWOnline, Nov. 2, 2009).
Ethiopian Airlines yesterday said the flight recorders from the 737-800 that crashed into the Mediterranean Sea Monday have been located and "will be recovered shortly" (ATWOnline, Jan. 27).
Aeroflot confirmed the purchase of Alexander Lebedev's 25.8% stake in the flag carrier. It did not reveal the price, although Lebedev had indicated that SU paid approximately $400 million for the shares (ATWOnline, Jan. 28).
Aer Lingus reportedly is alliance shopping nearly three years after quitting oneworld (ATWOnline, May 31, 2006). CEO Christoph Mueller told Bloomberg News that EI "will prepare ourselves for a discussion that the alliances might work on an exclusive basis in the future" and that a decision could come "very soon." He said alliance membership is attractive again because the "Irish market will remain low fare. . .we need to differentiate ourselves." He told The Guardian, "The fact that Ryanair is a shareholder is a limiting factor in attracting other airline shareholders in the framework of a global alliance."
Air France-KLM Group issued a request for proposals for 787s and A350s last year, "but this tender is 'asleep' because both Boeing and Airbus are not able to provide clarity on delivery dates," KLM President and CEO Peter Hartman told Luchtvaartnieuws.nl.
Malev Hungarian Airlines transported 3.3 million passengers in 2009, up 6% from the prior year. It said a new pricing strategy designed to compete with LCCs, group rate guarantees, a fivefold increase in corporate clients, new tourism packages and three new destinations accounted for the increase. CCO Karim Makhlouf said he expects a double-digit gain in first-quarter 2010 passenger numbers.
LAN Peru will launch four-times-weekly Lima-San Francisco service on July 1 aboard a 767-300.
WestJet will launch daily Toronto Pearson-Bermuda flights on May 3 and weekly YYZ-Samana and Montreal-Punta Cana service on June 5.
Porter Airlines will launch daily Toronto City-Sudbury flights on March 31.
AirBaltic will launch thrice-weekly Riga-Manchester service March 29 aboard a 737.
NavAero announced that its tBag C22 Electronic Flight Bag system received an EASA STC for A318/A319/A320/A321 aircraft. Certification and engineering activities were performed in cooperation with Scandinavian Avionics A/S.
Oxford Aviation Academy was chosen by LOT Polish Airlines as that carrier's "preferred training provider" for pilot and cabin crew training on 767 and 737 Classic aircraft for the next three years. Training will be performed at OAA's Stockholm Arlanda center.
AAR said it has partnered with Quest International UK to distribute and develop AirManager, an active air filtration system for aircraft. Under the agreement, AAR will be an authorized distributor and also will "provide design engineering services and manage the Supplemental Type Certificate processes required to install and operate the product on a variety of commercial aircraft."
CSA Czech Airlines named Prague Airport legal executive Josef Adam VP-human resources, information technologies and legal affairs.
