Resenha de notícias (inglês)
Enviado: Seg Set 26, 2005 08:31
(Fonte: Ulrich Hoppe, via LAH)
AVION GROUP, Iceland ordered four 777-200Fs for AIR ATLANTA ICELANDIC for delivery starting February 2009 and is negotiating with Boeing to convert three Air Atlanta Icelandic 747-400s to freighters; total deal is valued at $1b.
GARUDA is negotiating with Boeing to order 10 787-8s for 2011-2013; Boeing expects Garuda to convert existing order for six 777s to 787s as part of deal. Garuda also plans to switch some/all of 18 737-700s on order to 737-800s.
HAINAN AIRLINES finalized order for eight 787s. Boeing has booked 42 other 787 orders in China from Air China (15), China Eastern (15), Shanghai (9) and Xiamen Airlines (3), and is finalizing order for 10 from China Southern.
US AIRWAYS received US Bankruptcy Court approval for its Plan of Reorganization. It plans to complete merger with AMERICA WEST AIRLINES as early as Sept. 27; they will operate under single US Airways brand name (fifth largest US airline) through two subsidiaries, US Airways and America West, which are expected to be integrated into single operation within two years. Combined airline plans to operate 360 mainline jets, 241 regional jets and 112 turboprops. US AIRWAYS expects to continue to realize significant operating losses through 2006 due to several factors, including high fuel prices. NEW US AIRWAYS (US Airways/America West; pro forma) lost $272m on $5.14b revenues in 1H05.
DELTA AIR LINES is rejecting leases of six MD-11s (three subleased to WORLD) and four 737-200s, and plans to reduce mainline fleet by >80 aircraft by end 2006 (it now has 550), reducing types from 11 to seven; BBAM was retained by Delta as financial advisor for aircraft financing. It is also reducing employment by 7,000-9,000 (about 17%) by end 2007 under expanded plan to reduce annual costs an additional $3b beyond $5b to be realized by end 2006.
NORTHWEST AIRLINES is rejecting leases of six 757-200s, four DC-9-30s, and one each 747-200, DC-10-30 and A320, and listed 67 additional mainline jets (three 747-400s, eight 747-200s, seven DC-10s, 22 757-200s, 21 A320s and six A319s) as "potential excess aircraft." It plans to renegotiate terms of lease and debt financings within 45 days.
REPUBLIC AIRWAYS HOLDINGS completed purchase from US Airways of 10 EMBRAER 170s for $38.2m plus $168.7m assumed debt (it is also assuming leases of 15 other E170s for US Airways Express service). It also bought commuter slots at Reagan National (113)/LaGuardia (24) for $51.6m for leaseback to US Airways for Express operations.
BOEING booked order for BBJ from undisclosed Chinese operator; it has orders for 98 BBJs for 57 customers.
KHORS AIR, Ukraine purchased third MD-82 (49483) from Continental Airlines in transaction arranged by Focus Aviation, UK. MNG TECHNICS, Turkey is performing pre-delivery maintenance.
NORDIC AVIATION CONTRACTOR, Denmark purchased three 737-200As (21275/21276/21283) from Saudi Arabian Airlines; Phoenix Aviation arranged.
SKY AIRLINES, Antalya, Turkey leased ex-Asiana 737-400 (26291) from AWAS.
GOL, Brazil leased a sixth ex-United Airlines 737-300 (24455) from Automatic, FL.
AUSTRIAN AIRLINES sold its two 257-pax A340-200s (075/081) to an undisclosed French financial investor for delivery March/Oct. '06 under plan to reduce its aircraft types. It plans at end of Sept. to identify replacement aircraft.
AEROFLOT shareholders approved lease of six new Il-96-300s from Ilyushin Finance (SPNWS, August 5).
AEROTROPICAL, Mexico leased ex-Southwest Airlines 737-200A (22963) from Jet Midwest, KS.
COMMERCIAL AEROSPACE CAPITAL (Alliance Continental Holdings), OH acquired loan certificates worth $21m secured by two 737-300s leased to non-US operator (TBA); aircraft were formerly operated by bankrupt US carrier.
FONS EIGNARHALDSFELAG, Iceland acquired scheduled/charter operations of MAERSK AIR from A.P. Møller- Maersk and is merging it with STERLING (Fons is negotiating to sell all/some of Sterling to Icelandair parent, FL GROUP). Møller-Maersk is retaining Maersk fleet of 21 737s/five CRJs (plans to sell to third party) for lease to Fons.
GOL, Brazil and its Mexican partners submitted business plan to Mexican CAA for proposed LCC to start in 2Q06.
AT&T plans to take pretax charge of $90m in 3Q05 relating to leverage leases of aircraft to Northwest and Delta.
MAXJET plans November 1 startup of JFK-Stansted with 102-pax (all-business class) 767-200 (23896; ex-Qantas).
AIR SCANDIC, UK suspended operations and was placed in receivership. It operated charters with wet-leased aircraft.
ANA announced it is being forced to postpone its planned startup of 777-300ER service between LAX and Tokyo due to delay in production schedule at Boeing resulting from machinist strike; service was scheduled to start October 8.
RYANAIR says it had seven 737-800s due for delivery in September and October that will be delayed at least until November and/or December. To supplement the missed deliveries due to Boeing strike, it plans to postpone retirement of three 737-200s from end of September to end of October; plus, 200 flights have been amalgamated for October.
POLAR AIR CARGO pilots went on strike Sept. 16; Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings is repositioning Polar's 12 747Fs by returning three to Atlas Air, putting two up for sale or lease, and placing seven in other uses including dry leases.
AIRBUS says current A350 design calls for structure to be 39% composite; program launch is expected on October 6.
DELTA is revamping winter schedule starting December by adding new nonstop flights to 20 markets from its Atlanta and Salt Lake City hubs, new point-to-point services in northeast US, and additional intl. destinations to total 41.
GRUPO SYNERGY/OCEAN AIR, Brazil plans to purchase 25% of AVIANCA from Colombia's Coffee Growers Federation; it would then own 100%. Avianca operates five 767s, five 757s, 15 MD-83s, and 10 Fokker 50s.
DEUTSCHE POST agreed to acquire EXEL, UK (forwarder/logistics services) in deal worth about Û5.5b.
STORK AEROSPACE and SHENYANG AIRCRAFT (AVIC-I) teamed to develop and manufacture aerostructures for commercial aircraft by combining Shenyang's tooling, machining, assembly and composite production capabilities with Stork Fokker AESP's capabilities in program management, structure design, and composite and metal bonding.
BOEING is said to be studying a further 6-meter stretch of the 787 (787-10) beyond the 787-9, which is a 5-meterstretch of baseline 787-8. Boeing says it is constantly evaluating possibilities and would not comment specifically.
CASCADE AIRCRAFT SOLUTIONS, WA was formed by Cascade Aerospace, BC and former Boullioun Aviation Services executive to provide aircraft management services to lessors, owners, financiers, operators and OEMs.
BOEING forecasts China's pax traffic will grow 7.3% per year (8.8% domestic) through 2024, and Chinese airlines will require 2,612 new aircraft worth $213b: 1,678 single-aisle, 568 intermediate twin-aisle, 73 VLAs and 293 regional jets.
SPEEA submitted 3-year contract proposals to BOEING covering 11,850 engineers and 5,700 technical workers in Puget Sound and 800 engineers in Wichita; main table negotiations are to start in November. Contract expires Dec. 5.
AERONAUTICAL ENGINEERS, FL has FAA STC for its 737-300 pax-to-freighter conversion currently performed by COMMERCIAL JET, Miami. AEI's 737-300F can hold nine 88 x 125-inch pallets and carry 45,000 lb payload.
CHASE AEROSPACE, Orlando, FL has exclusive 4-year contract from Grouptech (Transmile Air Services), Malaysia to provide APU maintenance for six 737-200Fs, 14 727-200Fs and four MD-11Fs.
KLM ENGINEERING & MAINTENANCE has contracts from Germania for landing gear overhaul and exchange services for its 10 737-700s starting in March 2007, and from Luxair for CFM56-7B20 maintenance for its three 737-700s.
VEM (Varig), Brazil, in partnership with AEROSPACE ROTABLES, FL, has Arrow Air Cargo contract to provide landing gear overhaul for its three DC-10-30Fs. VEM is Arrow's preferred DC-10-30 heavy maintenance center.
TAP MAINTENANCE & ENGINEERING has total maintenance support contract for two French Air Force A340-200s.
LUFTHANSA is forming unit to handle strategic/infrastructure development, ground processes, and procurement of services and business processes at 11 non-hub airports in Germany; it will also oversee regional partner airlines.
ATA AIRLINES reached tentative agreement with its pilots (ALPA) on new 3-year collective bargaining agreement; pilots will receive stock options in reorganized airline in exchange for wage, benefit and work rule concessions.
ALASKA AIRLINES reached tentative agreement with its mechanics (AMFA) on new 4-year contract.
CZECH AIRLINES says it is accelerating implementation of its transformation/cost-cutting plan to offset rising fuel prices that have increased its costs in 2005 by CZK1b; plan includes reducing supplier base from 3,500 to <2,000.
ATLAS (Atlas/Polar) had $15.9m net income on $395.2m revenues in 2Q05 vs $51.4m loss on $338.3m in 2Q04.
DELTA received interim Bankruptcy Court approval for $2.05b post-petition financing; it is authorized to use $1.4b of $1.7b in DIP financing committed by GE/Morgan Stanley as lead arrangers and $350m from American Express.
UAL had $80m operating profit ($30m net loss) in Aug. vs $12m loss in Aug. '04; it had $2.8b cash at end of August.
FEDEX EXPRESS says it expects to load and unload the A380-800F in 90 minutes, which is equal to the MD-11F.
ONAIR (Airbus/SITA) has agreements with bmi (A320) and TAP Air Portugal (A321) to install equipment (developed by Airbus, Siemens and partners) to test commercial inflight use of mobile phones starting in late 2006. OnAir estimates
that the addressable market for inflight mobile telephony will be >700m pax by 2009, valued at about $2b annually.
AIRBUS now plans in early 2006 to perform evacuation tests for A380; 850 pax must exit aircraft within 90 seconds.
SUVARNABHUMI AIRPORT, Bangkok plans September 29 to open to traffic with first landings (technical flight) of Thai Airways Intl. A340-600 and 747-400; 1.55b baht was invested in airport to initially handle 45m pax/3m tonnes cargo annually with 3,700- and 4,000-meter parallel runways, 563,000 sq m terminal and 120 aircraft parking bays.
AVIAPARTNER, Belgium (ground handling at 32 airports) was acquired in management buyout backed by 3i, UK.
A-SONIC AEROSPACE, Singapore agreed to acquire the intellectual property and assets of ASPRECISE, Singapore (aviation software) for S$2.6b. A-Sonic (56%) and asprecise (44%) are forming joint venture (subsidiary in Shenzhen, China) to own the business; main customers include SIA, SIAEC, Shenzhen Airlines, Hainan, AirAsia and AVIC.
ALCOA FASTENING SYSTEMS plans in October 2006 to open 50,000 sq ft aerospace fastener manufacturing facility in Shanghai, China. It is also building a second 50,000 sq ft facility in Shanghai to support rail car markets.
TELAIR INTL delivered its 100,000th PDU (installed in aircraft cargo floors). It delivered its first PDU in 1985.
LUFTHANSA TECHNIK SHENZHEN, China expanded repair capabilities by acquiring ability to service composite thrust reverser components (ARCs) for 737 (CFM56-3); 747, A300 and MD-11 (CF6-80); and A320 Family (V2500).
CAE has Japan Airlines order for three 737NG simulators for delivery to its Haneda training center in 2007-2008.
AAR had $5.3m net income on $199.6m sales in first quarter ended August 31 vs $2.3m on $163.8m a year ago.
MONOGRAM SYSTEMS (Zodiac), CA was selected by Thai Airways Intl. to supply 7400-2 model air chillers (five per aircraft) for six 777-200ERs; its chillers have also been selected for Emirates, Air New Zealand and Etihad 777s.
SELL, Germany has Lufthansa order to design and manufacture four forward galleys for main deck (economy class), seven forward galleys for upper deck (first), and eight stowage units for upper deck (first and business) for 10 A380s.
BUCHER has Lufthansa order to manufacture 16 galleys for upper and main deck (economy class) of 10 A380s.
THALES, CA booked orders for its in-seat TopSeries IFE systems from Air-India for retrofit on six 747-400s, from Royal Jordanian Airlines for four A320s and two A321s, and from Air Europa, Spain for four A330-200s.
ILS, TN plans September 27 to launch 7-day online auction for subscribers of Virgin Atlantic surplus parts: 6,600 pieces of A320, A340, 747-200, and 747-400 rotables and LRUs, IFE equipment, components and consumables.
FLIGHT SAFETY TECHNOLOGIES, CT has $9.8m US DOT contract to continue to develop SOCRATES wake vortex sensor technology; initial task order is to fund data analysis of system now being tested at Denver Intl. Airport.
A J WALTER AVIATION, UK has 5-year Air Atlanta Icelandic contract (power-by-the-hour) to provide spares support for four 757s and five 767s. AJW says it now has 70 Airbus and Boeing aircraft under power-by-the-hour programs.
INFLIGHT CANADA was selected by American Airlines for its iCACHE design to place IFE/ISPS seat boxes in racks under floor in business class of 58 767-300s being upgraded with RECARO lie-flat seats, plus bins and IFE (TBA).
THALES, UK booked simulator orders from All Nippon Airways for 737-700 and from Malaysia Airlines for A380-800.
CITY OF HAMBURG, Germany says it currently has >31,000 inhabitants working in the aviation industry: about 10,000 with Airbus, 7,000 with Lufthansa Technik, 6,000 at Hamburg Airport, and another 8,000 with various suppliers.
EADS SOGERMA SERVICES unveiled Class 180 ergonomic first class seat, Evolys lie-flat business class seat, and business class Privacy Bench for A380 that includes seat, backshell/partition, bed and welcome bench for second pax
FEDEX EXPRESS had $285m operating profit on $5.1b revenues for first quarter ended August 31 vs $310m on $4.6b a year ago. FedEx average daily volume rose 5% to 3.2m packages (yield up 5%); intl. priority volume rose 6%.
FIRST AVIATION SERVICES, CT had $.4m net income on $32.7m sales in second quarter ended July 31 vs $.8m loss on $31.1m a year ago. Its principal operating subsidiary is AEROSPACE PRODUCTS INTERNATIONAL, TN.
KOREAN AIR has agreement with University of Southern California (USC), Los Angeles to offer its employees graduate engineering programs (28 Master of Science programs) through the university's Distance Education Network (DEN).
ATA members flew (revised) 63.7b RPMs in Aug., up 3% (intl. 8%; domestic 1.1%) vs Aug. 2004; capacity rose 1.5%.
AMERICAN made $74m contribution to its defined benefit pension plans, and has now contributed $287m in 2005.
NORTHWEST plans to furlough 900 flight attendants on October 31, and up to another 500 in January 2006.
DELTA (Chapter 11) has rejected leases for 30 ex-ACA 328JETs that are parked in Myrtle Beach, SC, and says it is evaluating reductions in COMAIR fleet, which totals 171 CRJs: 31 40-seaters; 113 50-seaters; and 27 70-seaters.
NORTHWEST (Chapter 11) identified 35 Avro RJ85s operated by MESABA as "Potential Excess Aircraft" that are subject to rejection/abandonment. It plans to attempt to renegotiate terms of lease/debt financings within 45 days.
LOGANAIR (British Airways franchisee), UK leased ex-Amber Air Saab 340A (113) from Saab Aircraft Leasing.
WINGS AVIATION, Nigeria purchased ex-SAP Beech 1900D (UE-322) from Raytheon Aircraft.
IBC AIRWAYS, FL purchased ex-Castle Aviation Saab 340A freighter (069) from Lambert Leasing (Saab), and now has two 340A freighters. Its third (061; ex-Alpine Air) is scheduled to be delivered by the end of September.
BAE SYSTEMS leased two ex-Trans States J41s (039/040) to EASTERN AIRWAYS, UK; and sold two J32s (871; ex-Regionsair/873; ex-Discover Air) to ROCKHOPPER, Alderney, UK, which also operates Islanders and Trislanders.
PARAMOUNT AIRWAYS plans September 24 startup of Coimbatore-Delhi-Kochi with EMBRAER 170.
JPMORGAN says Bombardier may be unable to find customers for all 18 planned CRJ200 deliveries in 2006. It expects Delta and Northwest to take all 21 CRJ200/400s on order for delivery through 1Q06, but says Chapter 11 filings decrease chance of any follow-up orders. It adds that filings may increase demand for 70-seaters/90-seaters.
FORECAST INTL projects delivery in 2005-2014 of 3,381 <120 seat regional aircraft (2,731 jets/650 turboprops) worth $80b, including 1,357 jets worth $33.4b from Embraer; 1,244 jets/turboprops worth $32.4b from Bombardier.
SUKHOI CIVIL AIRCRAFT says it intends to build RRJ fuselage and wings in-house. It is developing family (60-63, 75-78, and 95-98 seaters) with Ilyushin, Yakovlev and Boeing, and projects market for 800 aircraft over next 20 years.
CAE has Finnair order for one EMBRAER 170 simulator for delivery to its Helsinki training center in mid-2006.
FINNAIR took delivery of its first of 12 EMBRAER 170s; it is to take three more in 2005 and eight in 2006.
GARMIN, KS has FAA STC to install GDL-69A data link receiver on the Mooney M20 Bravo.
AVIDYNE, MA was selected by The New Piper Aircraft, FL to supply FlightMax Entegra Integrated Flight Deck (glass cockpit) as standard for Malibu Mirage; system is also offered on Piper's Meridian, A-28 family and PA-32 family.
BOMBARDIER delivered first components from new 4,650 sq m European distribution center in Frankfurt.
GOODRICH has American Eagle contract for wheel/brake services at Louisville, DFW and LAX for 206 ERJs.
EXPRESSJET (Continental Express) plans May 2, 2006 to begin daily Newark-Moncton, NB, Canada (ERJ).
JET PROFESSIONALS (Jet Aviation Group), NJ is expanding its law enforcement officer workforce in preparation for October 15 opening of Reagan National (DCA) to general aviation; all corporate aircraft operating to/from airport will require a law enforcement officer on board. Jet Professionals plans to have 500 qualified officers ready by October 15. MSY before Katrina and is dividing capacity around network. Other US airlines are also restarting service to MSY.
AIRBUS was selected by Alitalia to provide FANS B navigation systems, plus associated wiring, for 23 A321s.
TELEDYNE CONTROLS, CA was selected by Aeromexico to provide its AirFASE flight data analysis and reporting software tool to assist with flight operations, safety management and aircraft maintenance programs; AirFASE, which was jointly developed with AIRBUS, has now been selected by over 60 operators and is currently in service with 44.
THE CAVOK GROUP, TX has agreement with FAA to operate as an FAA Qualified Certification Consultant.
AEROMOBILE (Telenor/ARINC) has LOI from Panasonic Avionics (formerly Matsushita) to use its inflight mobile communications technology (for cell phones) with S3000 AVOD IFE system and efx, eX2 and X-wireless systems.
PENTAGON 2000 SOFTWARE licensed PENTAGON 2000SQL ERP solution to JAL for its US operations centers.
SUN COUNTRY AIRLINES flight attendants ratified new 5-year labor contract with the airline.
ARINC was selected by SAS and Finnair to provide GLOBALink/Satellite voice and data services for their fleets.
SWISSPORT INTL has 4-year easyJet contract to provide ground services for about 250 weekly flights at Geneva starting on December 1; as part of deal, Swissport will acquire all of easyJet's assets and employees at Geneva.
A J WALTER AVIATION, UK was approved by Ethiopian Airlines to supply aircraft and engine parts for its fleet of 737s, 757s, 767s, DHC-6s, Fokker 50s, and L-100s. AJW expects to exceed targeted record $120m sales in 2005.
BRUCE INDUSTRIES, NV received FAA PMAs for new family of ballasts and light fixtures that it says operate at temperatures 20-30 degrees cooler than existing OEM units. AAXICO is worldwide stocking distributor for Bruce.
AVSUPPORT was selected by AD Aerospace, UK as North American sales rep for FlightVu aircraft video systems.
AMADEUS, Spain was selected by FlyNordic (Finnair), Sweden to provide its new off-the-shelf IT platform for LCCs to manage reservations, inventory, fares and pricing and departure control; system is to be operational in October.
ROCKWELL COLLINS introduced "Hi-Focus" maps for Airshow 4200 moving map/info system to provide up-close views for several cities and points of interest and reveal details such as rivers, roads, buildings and other features.
TAIS (Ultitek), NJ was selected by Krasnoyarsk Airport (KJA), Russia to install a departure control system.
PHILADELPHIA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (PHL) reduced landing fees for FY2006 from $1.99 per 1,000 lb to $1.93 ($2.12 in FY2004) as part of its "ongoing effort to alleviate the economic hardships many airlines are experiencing."
CHANGI AIRPORT (SIN) handled 2.8m pax in August, up 7% vs August 2004; cargo rose 3.4% to 152k tonnes.
ROMASSOCIATES.COM estimates world airlines flew 161.4b RPMs in July, up 6.3% from 151.8b in July 2004.
ATA says average fuel cost for US airlines was $1.634 per gallon in July, up 47.7% from $1.106 in July 2004.
AITAL (Latin American airlines) members flew 11.9b RPKs in July, up 10.4% vs July 2004; capacity rose 6.6%.
RYANAIR plans to begin Knock-London Luton on October 30 and Shannon-Malaga on November 2 (737-800).
EASYJET plans to begin Basel-Paris CDG on Oct. 31 and Basel-Amsterdam/-Lisbon/-Prague on March 10 (A319).
JETBLUE plans November 17 to begin three-times-daily LaGuardia-West Palm Beach, FL (A320).
WESTJET plans to begin Vancouver-Honolulu, HI on December 9 and Vancouver-Maui on Dec. 17 (737-800).
RYANAIR plans to begin Derry-Liverpool on February 9 and Derry-East Midlands on March 7 (737-800).
DELTA AIR LINES plans April 3 to begin daily nonstop Atlanta-Copenhagen, Denmark (767-300ER).
CONTINENTAL AIRLINES plans May 18 to begin daily Newark-Barcelona, Spain (757), its 26th transatlantic city.
TIGER AIRWAYS plans to begin three-times-weekly Singapore-Kolkata, India (A320), pending Indian approval.
AVION GROUP, Iceland ordered four 777-200Fs for AIR ATLANTA ICELANDIC for delivery starting February 2009 and is negotiating with Boeing to convert three Air Atlanta Icelandic 747-400s to freighters; total deal is valued at $1b.
GARUDA is negotiating with Boeing to order 10 787-8s for 2011-2013; Boeing expects Garuda to convert existing order for six 777s to 787s as part of deal. Garuda also plans to switch some/all of 18 737-700s on order to 737-800s.
HAINAN AIRLINES finalized order for eight 787s. Boeing has booked 42 other 787 orders in China from Air China (15), China Eastern (15), Shanghai (9) and Xiamen Airlines (3), and is finalizing order for 10 from China Southern.
US AIRWAYS received US Bankruptcy Court approval for its Plan of Reorganization. It plans to complete merger with AMERICA WEST AIRLINES as early as Sept. 27; they will operate under single US Airways brand name (fifth largest US airline) through two subsidiaries, US Airways and America West, which are expected to be integrated into single operation within two years. Combined airline plans to operate 360 mainline jets, 241 regional jets and 112 turboprops. US AIRWAYS expects to continue to realize significant operating losses through 2006 due to several factors, including high fuel prices. NEW US AIRWAYS (US Airways/America West; pro forma) lost $272m on $5.14b revenues in 1H05.
DELTA AIR LINES is rejecting leases of six MD-11s (three subleased to WORLD) and four 737-200s, and plans to reduce mainline fleet by >80 aircraft by end 2006 (it now has 550), reducing types from 11 to seven; BBAM was retained by Delta as financial advisor for aircraft financing. It is also reducing employment by 7,000-9,000 (about 17%) by end 2007 under expanded plan to reduce annual costs an additional $3b beyond $5b to be realized by end 2006.
NORTHWEST AIRLINES is rejecting leases of six 757-200s, four DC-9-30s, and one each 747-200, DC-10-30 and A320, and listed 67 additional mainline jets (three 747-400s, eight 747-200s, seven DC-10s, 22 757-200s, 21 A320s and six A319s) as "potential excess aircraft." It plans to renegotiate terms of lease and debt financings within 45 days.
REPUBLIC AIRWAYS HOLDINGS completed purchase from US Airways of 10 EMBRAER 170s for $38.2m plus $168.7m assumed debt (it is also assuming leases of 15 other E170s for US Airways Express service). It also bought commuter slots at Reagan National (113)/LaGuardia (24) for $51.6m for leaseback to US Airways for Express operations.
BOEING booked order for BBJ from undisclosed Chinese operator; it has orders for 98 BBJs for 57 customers.
KHORS AIR, Ukraine purchased third MD-82 (49483) from Continental Airlines in transaction arranged by Focus Aviation, UK. MNG TECHNICS, Turkey is performing pre-delivery maintenance.
NORDIC AVIATION CONTRACTOR, Denmark purchased three 737-200As (21275/21276/21283) from Saudi Arabian Airlines; Phoenix Aviation arranged.
SKY AIRLINES, Antalya, Turkey leased ex-Asiana 737-400 (26291) from AWAS.
GOL, Brazil leased a sixth ex-United Airlines 737-300 (24455) from Automatic, FL.
AUSTRIAN AIRLINES sold its two 257-pax A340-200s (075/081) to an undisclosed French financial investor for delivery March/Oct. '06 under plan to reduce its aircraft types. It plans at end of Sept. to identify replacement aircraft.
AEROFLOT shareholders approved lease of six new Il-96-300s from Ilyushin Finance (SPNWS, August 5).
AEROTROPICAL, Mexico leased ex-Southwest Airlines 737-200A (22963) from Jet Midwest, KS.
COMMERCIAL AEROSPACE CAPITAL (Alliance Continental Holdings), OH acquired loan certificates worth $21m secured by two 737-300s leased to non-US operator (TBA); aircraft were formerly operated by bankrupt US carrier.
FONS EIGNARHALDSFELAG, Iceland acquired scheduled/charter operations of MAERSK AIR from A.P. Møller- Maersk and is merging it with STERLING (Fons is negotiating to sell all/some of Sterling to Icelandair parent, FL GROUP). Møller-Maersk is retaining Maersk fleet of 21 737s/five CRJs (plans to sell to third party) for lease to Fons.
GOL, Brazil and its Mexican partners submitted business plan to Mexican CAA for proposed LCC to start in 2Q06.
AT&T plans to take pretax charge of $90m in 3Q05 relating to leverage leases of aircraft to Northwest and Delta.
MAXJET plans November 1 startup of JFK-Stansted with 102-pax (all-business class) 767-200 (23896; ex-Qantas).
AIR SCANDIC, UK suspended operations and was placed in receivership. It operated charters with wet-leased aircraft.
ANA announced it is being forced to postpone its planned startup of 777-300ER service between LAX and Tokyo due to delay in production schedule at Boeing resulting from machinist strike; service was scheduled to start October 8.
RYANAIR says it had seven 737-800s due for delivery in September and October that will be delayed at least until November and/or December. To supplement the missed deliveries due to Boeing strike, it plans to postpone retirement of three 737-200s from end of September to end of October; plus, 200 flights have been amalgamated for October.
POLAR AIR CARGO pilots went on strike Sept. 16; Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings is repositioning Polar's 12 747Fs by returning three to Atlas Air, putting two up for sale or lease, and placing seven in other uses including dry leases.
AIRBUS says current A350 design calls for structure to be 39% composite; program launch is expected on October 6.
DELTA is revamping winter schedule starting December by adding new nonstop flights to 20 markets from its Atlanta and Salt Lake City hubs, new point-to-point services in northeast US, and additional intl. destinations to total 41.
GRUPO SYNERGY/OCEAN AIR, Brazil plans to purchase 25% of AVIANCA from Colombia's Coffee Growers Federation; it would then own 100%. Avianca operates five 767s, five 757s, 15 MD-83s, and 10 Fokker 50s.
DEUTSCHE POST agreed to acquire EXEL, UK (forwarder/logistics services) in deal worth about Û5.5b.
STORK AEROSPACE and SHENYANG AIRCRAFT (AVIC-I) teamed to develop and manufacture aerostructures for commercial aircraft by combining Shenyang's tooling, machining, assembly and composite production capabilities with Stork Fokker AESP's capabilities in program management, structure design, and composite and metal bonding.
BOEING is said to be studying a further 6-meter stretch of the 787 (787-10) beyond the 787-9, which is a 5-meterstretch of baseline 787-8. Boeing says it is constantly evaluating possibilities and would not comment specifically.
CASCADE AIRCRAFT SOLUTIONS, WA was formed by Cascade Aerospace, BC and former Boullioun Aviation Services executive to provide aircraft management services to lessors, owners, financiers, operators and OEMs.
BOEING forecasts China's pax traffic will grow 7.3% per year (8.8% domestic) through 2024, and Chinese airlines will require 2,612 new aircraft worth $213b: 1,678 single-aisle, 568 intermediate twin-aisle, 73 VLAs and 293 regional jets.
SPEEA submitted 3-year contract proposals to BOEING covering 11,850 engineers and 5,700 technical workers in Puget Sound and 800 engineers in Wichita; main table negotiations are to start in November. Contract expires Dec. 5.
AERONAUTICAL ENGINEERS, FL has FAA STC for its 737-300 pax-to-freighter conversion currently performed by COMMERCIAL JET, Miami. AEI's 737-300F can hold nine 88 x 125-inch pallets and carry 45,000 lb payload.
CHASE AEROSPACE, Orlando, FL has exclusive 4-year contract from Grouptech (Transmile Air Services), Malaysia to provide APU maintenance for six 737-200Fs, 14 727-200Fs and four MD-11Fs.
KLM ENGINEERING & MAINTENANCE has contracts from Germania for landing gear overhaul and exchange services for its 10 737-700s starting in March 2007, and from Luxair for CFM56-7B20 maintenance for its three 737-700s.
VEM (Varig), Brazil, in partnership with AEROSPACE ROTABLES, FL, has Arrow Air Cargo contract to provide landing gear overhaul for its three DC-10-30Fs. VEM is Arrow's preferred DC-10-30 heavy maintenance center.
TAP MAINTENANCE & ENGINEERING has total maintenance support contract for two French Air Force A340-200s.
LUFTHANSA is forming unit to handle strategic/infrastructure development, ground processes, and procurement of services and business processes at 11 non-hub airports in Germany; it will also oversee regional partner airlines.
ATA AIRLINES reached tentative agreement with its pilots (ALPA) on new 3-year collective bargaining agreement; pilots will receive stock options in reorganized airline in exchange for wage, benefit and work rule concessions.
ALASKA AIRLINES reached tentative agreement with its mechanics (AMFA) on new 4-year contract.
CZECH AIRLINES says it is accelerating implementation of its transformation/cost-cutting plan to offset rising fuel prices that have increased its costs in 2005 by CZK1b; plan includes reducing supplier base from 3,500 to <2,000.
ATLAS (Atlas/Polar) had $15.9m net income on $395.2m revenues in 2Q05 vs $51.4m loss on $338.3m in 2Q04.
DELTA received interim Bankruptcy Court approval for $2.05b post-petition financing; it is authorized to use $1.4b of $1.7b in DIP financing committed by GE/Morgan Stanley as lead arrangers and $350m from American Express.
UAL had $80m operating profit ($30m net loss) in Aug. vs $12m loss in Aug. '04; it had $2.8b cash at end of August.
FEDEX EXPRESS says it expects to load and unload the A380-800F in 90 minutes, which is equal to the MD-11F.
ONAIR (Airbus/SITA) has agreements with bmi (A320) and TAP Air Portugal (A321) to install equipment (developed by Airbus, Siemens and partners) to test commercial inflight use of mobile phones starting in late 2006. OnAir estimates
that the addressable market for inflight mobile telephony will be >700m pax by 2009, valued at about $2b annually.
AIRBUS now plans in early 2006 to perform evacuation tests for A380; 850 pax must exit aircraft within 90 seconds.
SUVARNABHUMI AIRPORT, Bangkok plans September 29 to open to traffic with first landings (technical flight) of Thai Airways Intl. A340-600 and 747-400; 1.55b baht was invested in airport to initially handle 45m pax/3m tonnes cargo annually with 3,700- and 4,000-meter parallel runways, 563,000 sq m terminal and 120 aircraft parking bays.
AVIAPARTNER, Belgium (ground handling at 32 airports) was acquired in management buyout backed by 3i, UK.
A-SONIC AEROSPACE, Singapore agreed to acquire the intellectual property and assets of ASPRECISE, Singapore (aviation software) for S$2.6b. A-Sonic (56%) and asprecise (44%) are forming joint venture (subsidiary in Shenzhen, China) to own the business; main customers include SIA, SIAEC, Shenzhen Airlines, Hainan, AirAsia and AVIC.
ALCOA FASTENING SYSTEMS plans in October 2006 to open 50,000 sq ft aerospace fastener manufacturing facility in Shanghai, China. It is also building a second 50,000 sq ft facility in Shanghai to support rail car markets.
TELAIR INTL delivered its 100,000th PDU (installed in aircraft cargo floors). It delivered its first PDU in 1985.
LUFTHANSA TECHNIK SHENZHEN, China expanded repair capabilities by acquiring ability to service composite thrust reverser components (ARCs) for 737 (CFM56-3); 747, A300 and MD-11 (CF6-80); and A320 Family (V2500).
CAE has Japan Airlines order for three 737NG simulators for delivery to its Haneda training center in 2007-2008.
AAR had $5.3m net income on $199.6m sales in first quarter ended August 31 vs $2.3m on $163.8m a year ago.
MONOGRAM SYSTEMS (Zodiac), CA was selected by Thai Airways Intl. to supply 7400-2 model air chillers (five per aircraft) for six 777-200ERs; its chillers have also been selected for Emirates, Air New Zealand and Etihad 777s.
SELL, Germany has Lufthansa order to design and manufacture four forward galleys for main deck (economy class), seven forward galleys for upper deck (first), and eight stowage units for upper deck (first and business) for 10 A380s.
BUCHER has Lufthansa order to manufacture 16 galleys for upper and main deck (economy class) of 10 A380s.
THALES, CA booked orders for its in-seat TopSeries IFE systems from Air-India for retrofit on six 747-400s, from Royal Jordanian Airlines for four A320s and two A321s, and from Air Europa, Spain for four A330-200s.
ILS, TN plans September 27 to launch 7-day online auction for subscribers of Virgin Atlantic surplus parts: 6,600 pieces of A320, A340, 747-200, and 747-400 rotables and LRUs, IFE equipment, components and consumables.
FLIGHT SAFETY TECHNOLOGIES, CT has $9.8m US DOT contract to continue to develop SOCRATES wake vortex sensor technology; initial task order is to fund data analysis of system now being tested at Denver Intl. Airport.
A J WALTER AVIATION, UK has 5-year Air Atlanta Icelandic contract (power-by-the-hour) to provide spares support for four 757s and five 767s. AJW says it now has 70 Airbus and Boeing aircraft under power-by-the-hour programs.
INFLIGHT CANADA was selected by American Airlines for its iCACHE design to place IFE/ISPS seat boxes in racks under floor in business class of 58 767-300s being upgraded with RECARO lie-flat seats, plus bins and IFE (TBA).
THALES, UK booked simulator orders from All Nippon Airways for 737-700 and from Malaysia Airlines for A380-800.
CITY OF HAMBURG, Germany says it currently has >31,000 inhabitants working in the aviation industry: about 10,000 with Airbus, 7,000 with Lufthansa Technik, 6,000 at Hamburg Airport, and another 8,000 with various suppliers.
EADS SOGERMA SERVICES unveiled Class 180 ergonomic first class seat, Evolys lie-flat business class seat, and business class Privacy Bench for A380 that includes seat, backshell/partition, bed and welcome bench for second pax
FEDEX EXPRESS had $285m operating profit on $5.1b revenues for first quarter ended August 31 vs $310m on $4.6b a year ago. FedEx average daily volume rose 5% to 3.2m packages (yield up 5%); intl. priority volume rose 6%.
FIRST AVIATION SERVICES, CT had $.4m net income on $32.7m sales in second quarter ended July 31 vs $.8m loss on $31.1m a year ago. Its principal operating subsidiary is AEROSPACE PRODUCTS INTERNATIONAL, TN.
KOREAN AIR has agreement with University of Southern California (USC), Los Angeles to offer its employees graduate engineering programs (28 Master of Science programs) through the university's Distance Education Network (DEN).
ATA members flew (revised) 63.7b RPMs in Aug., up 3% (intl. 8%; domestic 1.1%) vs Aug. 2004; capacity rose 1.5%.
AMERICAN made $74m contribution to its defined benefit pension plans, and has now contributed $287m in 2005.
NORTHWEST plans to furlough 900 flight attendants on October 31, and up to another 500 in January 2006.
DELTA (Chapter 11) has rejected leases for 30 ex-ACA 328JETs that are parked in Myrtle Beach, SC, and says it is evaluating reductions in COMAIR fleet, which totals 171 CRJs: 31 40-seaters; 113 50-seaters; and 27 70-seaters.
NORTHWEST (Chapter 11) identified 35 Avro RJ85s operated by MESABA as "Potential Excess Aircraft" that are subject to rejection/abandonment. It plans to attempt to renegotiate terms of lease/debt financings within 45 days.
LOGANAIR (British Airways franchisee), UK leased ex-Amber Air Saab 340A (113) from Saab Aircraft Leasing.
WINGS AVIATION, Nigeria purchased ex-SAP Beech 1900D (UE-322) from Raytheon Aircraft.
IBC AIRWAYS, FL purchased ex-Castle Aviation Saab 340A freighter (069) from Lambert Leasing (Saab), and now has two 340A freighters. Its third (061; ex-Alpine Air) is scheduled to be delivered by the end of September.
BAE SYSTEMS leased two ex-Trans States J41s (039/040) to EASTERN AIRWAYS, UK; and sold two J32s (871; ex-Regionsair/873; ex-Discover Air) to ROCKHOPPER, Alderney, UK, which also operates Islanders and Trislanders.
PARAMOUNT AIRWAYS plans September 24 startup of Coimbatore-Delhi-Kochi with EMBRAER 170.
JPMORGAN says Bombardier may be unable to find customers for all 18 planned CRJ200 deliveries in 2006. It expects Delta and Northwest to take all 21 CRJ200/400s on order for delivery through 1Q06, but says Chapter 11 filings decrease chance of any follow-up orders. It adds that filings may increase demand for 70-seaters/90-seaters.
FORECAST INTL projects delivery in 2005-2014 of 3,381 <120 seat regional aircraft (2,731 jets/650 turboprops) worth $80b, including 1,357 jets worth $33.4b from Embraer; 1,244 jets/turboprops worth $32.4b from Bombardier.
SUKHOI CIVIL AIRCRAFT says it intends to build RRJ fuselage and wings in-house. It is developing family (60-63, 75-78, and 95-98 seaters) with Ilyushin, Yakovlev and Boeing, and projects market for 800 aircraft over next 20 years.
CAE has Finnair order for one EMBRAER 170 simulator for delivery to its Helsinki training center in mid-2006.
FINNAIR took delivery of its first of 12 EMBRAER 170s; it is to take three more in 2005 and eight in 2006.
GARMIN, KS has FAA STC to install GDL-69A data link receiver on the Mooney M20 Bravo.
AVIDYNE, MA was selected by The New Piper Aircraft, FL to supply FlightMax Entegra Integrated Flight Deck (glass cockpit) as standard for Malibu Mirage; system is also offered on Piper's Meridian, A-28 family and PA-32 family.
BOMBARDIER delivered first components from new 4,650 sq m European distribution center in Frankfurt.
GOODRICH has American Eagle contract for wheel/brake services at Louisville, DFW and LAX for 206 ERJs.
EXPRESSJET (Continental Express) plans May 2, 2006 to begin daily Newark-Moncton, NB, Canada (ERJ).
JET PROFESSIONALS (Jet Aviation Group), NJ is expanding its law enforcement officer workforce in preparation for October 15 opening of Reagan National (DCA) to general aviation; all corporate aircraft operating to/from airport will require a law enforcement officer on board. Jet Professionals plans to have 500 qualified officers ready by October 15. MSY before Katrina and is dividing capacity around network. Other US airlines are also restarting service to MSY.
AIRBUS was selected by Alitalia to provide FANS B navigation systems, plus associated wiring, for 23 A321s.
TELEDYNE CONTROLS, CA was selected by Aeromexico to provide its AirFASE flight data analysis and reporting software tool to assist with flight operations, safety management and aircraft maintenance programs; AirFASE, which was jointly developed with AIRBUS, has now been selected by over 60 operators and is currently in service with 44.
THE CAVOK GROUP, TX has agreement with FAA to operate as an FAA Qualified Certification Consultant.
AEROMOBILE (Telenor/ARINC) has LOI from Panasonic Avionics (formerly Matsushita) to use its inflight mobile communications technology (for cell phones) with S3000 AVOD IFE system and efx, eX2 and X-wireless systems.
PENTAGON 2000 SOFTWARE licensed PENTAGON 2000SQL ERP solution to JAL for its US operations centers.
SUN COUNTRY AIRLINES flight attendants ratified new 5-year labor contract with the airline.
ARINC was selected by SAS and Finnair to provide GLOBALink/Satellite voice and data services for their fleets.
SWISSPORT INTL has 4-year easyJet contract to provide ground services for about 250 weekly flights at Geneva starting on December 1; as part of deal, Swissport will acquire all of easyJet's assets and employees at Geneva.
A J WALTER AVIATION, UK was approved by Ethiopian Airlines to supply aircraft and engine parts for its fleet of 737s, 757s, 767s, DHC-6s, Fokker 50s, and L-100s. AJW expects to exceed targeted record $120m sales in 2005.
BRUCE INDUSTRIES, NV received FAA PMAs for new family of ballasts and light fixtures that it says operate at temperatures 20-30 degrees cooler than existing OEM units. AAXICO is worldwide stocking distributor for Bruce.
AVSUPPORT was selected by AD Aerospace, UK as North American sales rep for FlightVu aircraft video systems.
AMADEUS, Spain was selected by FlyNordic (Finnair), Sweden to provide its new off-the-shelf IT platform for LCCs to manage reservations, inventory, fares and pricing and departure control; system is to be operational in October.
ROCKWELL COLLINS introduced "Hi-Focus" maps for Airshow 4200 moving map/info system to provide up-close views for several cities and points of interest and reveal details such as rivers, roads, buildings and other features.
TAIS (Ultitek), NJ was selected by Krasnoyarsk Airport (KJA), Russia to install a departure control system.
PHILADELPHIA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (PHL) reduced landing fees for FY2006 from $1.99 per 1,000 lb to $1.93 ($2.12 in FY2004) as part of its "ongoing effort to alleviate the economic hardships many airlines are experiencing."
CHANGI AIRPORT (SIN) handled 2.8m pax in August, up 7% vs August 2004; cargo rose 3.4% to 152k tonnes.
ROMASSOCIATES.COM estimates world airlines flew 161.4b RPMs in July, up 6.3% from 151.8b in July 2004.
ATA says average fuel cost for US airlines was $1.634 per gallon in July, up 47.7% from $1.106 in July 2004.
AITAL (Latin American airlines) members flew 11.9b RPKs in July, up 10.4% vs July 2004; capacity rose 6.6%.
RYANAIR plans to begin Knock-London Luton on October 30 and Shannon-Malaga on November 2 (737-800).
EASYJET plans to begin Basel-Paris CDG on Oct. 31 and Basel-Amsterdam/-Lisbon/-Prague on March 10 (A319).
JETBLUE plans November 17 to begin three-times-daily LaGuardia-West Palm Beach, FL (A320).
WESTJET plans to begin Vancouver-Honolulu, HI on December 9 and Vancouver-Maui on Dec. 17 (737-800).
RYANAIR plans to begin Derry-Liverpool on February 9 and Derry-East Midlands on March 7 (737-800).
DELTA AIR LINES plans April 3 to begin daily nonstop Atlanta-Copenhagen, Denmark (767-300ER).
CONTINENTAL AIRLINES plans May 18 to begin daily Newark-Barcelona, Spain (757), its 26th transatlantic city.
TIGER AIRWAYS plans to begin three-times-weekly Singapore-Kolkata, India (A320), pending Indian approval.