ATW Daily News

Other News

Tuesday October 27, 2009

British Airways said it is "extremely disappointed" by the Unite union's decision to ballot 14,000 cabin crew regarding strike action. "We have put together a package of changes, which despite the unprecedented financial circumstances facing the company, not only protects current cabin crew but also offers many new benefits," the airline said, noting that those changes are effective from Nov. 16 (ATWOnline, Oct. 21). Unite claimed BA's decision "to impose unacceptable contractual changes on cabin crew leaves us no alternative." BA said voluntary redundancies and status changes announced three weeks ago cut the equivalent of 1,700 fulltime positions (ATWOnline, Oct. 7). It wants to eliminate 3,700 fulltime-equivalent positions by March 31. It stressed yesterday that "in fact some 75% of crew will receive a pay scale increase worth between 2% and 7% this year and again next year."

Southwest Airlines revealed in a regulatory filing that it has settled a shareholder lawsuit related to safety issues for $3.5 million. The lawsuit stemmed from SWA's $7.5 million fine paid to US FAA for operating 46 737 Classics for nine days in March 2007 after it had disclosed to the agency that the aircraft were in noncompliance with an airworthiness directive (ATWOnline, March 3). The shareholders alleged in the lawsuit that SWA management failed to protect their interests when it was unable to prevent safety violations from occurring. SWA said the settlement includes "the adoption and/or implementation of a variety of reforms," including changes in its safety management and maintenance systems. The settlement is subject to court approval.

Czech government rejected the CZK1 billion ($57.8 million) bid for CSA Czech Airlines from Unimex and Travel Service (ATWOnline, Aug. 20). "There will be a hard restructuring, namely to the expense side," Prime Minister Jan Fischer told reporters, according to Dow Jones.

Ryanair said it notified Shannon Airport that it will reduce the number of based aircraft to one from three if the Irish government does not repeal its €10 ($15) passenger tax by Feb. 1 or if the airport does not extend the LCC's cost base "on a competitive basis for a further five-year period." Ryanair said it has lost money in each of the five years it has operated at SNN and it announced a cutback over the summer (ATWOnline, June 18). It said it is seeking a 50% reduction in its costs to reflect the 70% decline in average fares from the airport in the past five years.

Jat Airways CEO Srdjan Radovanovic told the Associated Press that the airline will be forced to cut one-third of its staff, or around 550 people, in order to complete its reorganization. It expects to lose around €20 million ($30 million) this year and will have to transport some 1.5 million people in 2010 in order to avoid a loss, he said.

Jat's winter schedule, which began Sunday and runs through March 27, will feature 163 weekly flights to 36 destinations in 25 countries. A Belgrade-Gothenburg service is set to launch on Dec. 19.

AirTran Airways said mechanics and inspectors represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters ratified a new 48-month collective bargaining agreement. Contract covers around 400 employees at seven US airports.

Delta Air Lines announced the following new routes: Five-times-weekly Seattle-Beijing beginning June 4 aboard a 767-300, daily SEA-Osaka Kansai on June 7 aboard a 767-300, five-times-weekly Detroit-Hong Kong on June 2 aboard a 777-200, five-times-weekly DTW-Incheon on June 1 aboard a 777-200, daily flights from New York JFK to both Copenhagen and Stockholm Arlanda on May 27 aboard 757-200s, thrice-weekly Atlanta-Accra on June 1 aboard a 767-300, thrice-weekly JFK-Abuja on June 1 aboard a 767-300.

Air Berlin said its summer schedule starting in March will include new thrice-weekly flights from Zurich to Bari, Naples and Palermo and expanded service to Lamezia Termi, Olbia and Catania. A weekly flight between Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg and Catania begins in May.

Frontier Airlines will launch daily service from Denver to Louisville (from April 19) and New Orleans (June 15) aboard A319s. Seasonal service from Oklahoma City to both Orlando International (four- or five-times-weekly from Jan. 15) and Tampa (twice-weekly from Jan. 17) will be operated with E-190s.

Flydubai will launch daily Dubai-Khartoum flights on Nov. 8.

Etihad Airways will re-launch four-times-weekly Abu Dhabi-Colombo in January aboard an A320. SriLankan Airlines will codeshare.

Monarch Airlines launched service to Gran Canaria from Birmingham (weekly), London Gatwick and Manchester (each 1-2 times weekly) and to Fuerteventura from BHX, LGW and London Luton (weekly) and MAN (1-2 times weekly).

Baboo will launch a weekly Geneva-Oxford service on Dec 19.

Air France launched its new premium economy product, Premium Voyageur, on Sunday's 777-200ER flight from New York JFK to Paris Charles de Gaulle. Aircraft featured 24 Voyageur seats (ATWOnline, March 23).

Airbus said EASA certified brake-to-vacate and runway overrun warning and protection systems for the A380. BTV and ROW/ROP were trialed on the aircraft for the first time in May 2008 and will be added to the first A380s delivered to Air France and Lufthansa.

Assn. of Asia Pacific Airlines' 17 members transported 10.8 million international passengers in September, a figure "effectively matching" the year-ago month for the first time in more than a year, the group said. International RPKs fell 0.9% but capacity was cut 6.1%, boosting load factor 4.1 points to 76.4%. The 6.5% year-over-year decline in FTKs was the smallest this year, AAPA said. Freight capacity was down 11.2% and load factor climbed 3.4 points to 68.7%.

Cabot Aviation arranged the sale of one ex-American Airlines MD-82 from Verizon Capital to AvtecUSA.

SITA won a five-year contract from SriLankan Airlines to implement and maintain a global IP network covering connections in 44 sites across 19 countries.

Wizz Air named Frontier Airlines COO Chris Collins as its new COO, effective next month.