NewsCathay Pacific warns exchange rate shifts, typhoons may affect results Although Cathay Pacific Airways reports healthy demand in its latest update, the carrier also warns of looming problems that could hurt its results. Cathay’s operational performance for August showed encouraging improvement.
LinkAir France pilots' union confident new CEO will resolve pay crisis Air France’s main pilots' union has confidence in new Air France-KLM group CEO Ben Smith’s ability to solve a pay crisis that cost his predecessor his job and is still unresolved, its president told France’s RTL Radio.
LinkNorth Carolina airports slowly returning to normal after hurricaneCommercial-service airports in North Carolina disrupted by Hurricane Florence as it hit the US east coast Sept. 14 were slowly resuming normal operations on Sept. 18. North Carolina’s Wilmington International Airport (ILM) saw airlines begin to resume flying a limited schedule Sept. 18, four days after commercial flights were halted and its main terminal closed as Florence moved in. The airport lost line power as well as its primary generator.
LinkQatar Airways posts $69.1 million net loss on ‘illegal blockade’ Qatar Airways slumped into the red in its last financial year, recording a net loss of QR251.6 million ($69.1 million) after what the airline described as “the most challenging year in its 20-year history.” In the previous financial year, the airline recorded a net profit (restated) of QR2.8 billion.
LinkBrussels Airlines to expand Africa service; end Mumbai flights in 2019Lufthansa Group subsidiary Brussels Airlines is making changes to its long-haul network, reinforcing its presence in Africa as it ends flights to Mumbai, India for economic reasons and refocuses the capacity on its core intercontinental region of Africa. As of next year, Brussels Airlines will add three extra flights per week to Banjul, Gambia, taking it to a daily service and will operate three out of seven weekly frequencies to Dakar, Senegal as a direct flight from Jan. 7.
LinkFAA extends high-density restrictions at New York LaGuardia, JFK airportsThe FAA has extended existing operating limitations at New York’s LaGuardia (LGA) and JFK airports until 2020. In dual order extensions published Sept. 18 in the Federal Register, the agency said it will continue restrictions dating to its 1968 high-density rule (HDR) that limited arrivals and departures at the two airports during peak demand periods to reduce congestion. With the phase-out of the HDR in 2007, the FAA ordered temporary limits at LGA in December 2006 and JFK in January 2008 that have been periodically extended—most recently in 2016 at both airports.
LinkNew national carrier for Albania launchedThe small Balkan state of Albania, which has been without a national airline for seven years—has launched Air Albania. The new airline operates a single Airbus A319, but reportedly plans to acquire two A320s in the future. The former national carrier, Albanian Airlines, ceased operating in 2011 and the privately owned Belle Air closed down three years later. The small southern European nation has had a succession of short-lived national carriers since the country emerged from a pro-Beijing Communist dictatorship in the early 1990s.
LinkGulf Air considers keeping A330sGulf Air is apparently reevaluating its plan to phase out its Airbus A330s in favor of incoming Boeing 787s. The Bahraini flag carrier operates six A330-200s on long-haul services to destinations such as London Heathrow Airport and Manila, Philippines. It is phasing in 10 Boeing 787-9s as its new widebodies. Five are scheduled to arrive this year.
LinkUnited to fly 787s to Europe from Newark in 2019 United Airlines will fly Boeing 787s to Europe from its Newark Liberty International airport by next summer, as it preps for the introduction of its latest Dreamliner variant. The Chicago-based carrier plans to operate the 787 on "six international Atlantic routes" from Newark in its next summer schedule, which begins 31 March 2019, United says in an internal newsletter to pilots.
LinkWashington Dulles to lower airline costs with land dealWashington Dulles International airport will use $237 million from the sale of unused land on its western periphery to further lower airline costs. The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) board approved the sale of 424 acres, acquired for the fourth runway that opened in 2008, to Digital Realty Trust for a new data centre at a meeting today.
LinkLHT eyes part-sale of Aviatar digital services platformLufthansa Technik is planning a part-divestment of its digital services platform, Aviatar, in an effort to establish a "neutral" system for operators to access and analyse aircraft onboard data. Johannes Bussmann, chief executive of the German MRO provider, tells FlightGlobal that Aviatar will be established as a standalone entity in the short term, and that its ownership will be shared with other players – including competitors – in the MRO sector.
LinkChina Southern outlines plan for 2,000-aircraft fleetSkyTeam carrier China Southern Airlines expects to have 2,000 aircraft in service by 2035. Speaking at the World Routes event in Guangzhou on 17 September, the airline's chief executive Tan Wan Geng said: "We plan to have 1,000 aircraft by 2020 and by 2035 it will increase to 2,000.”
LinkQatar Airways defiant as blockade generates heavy lossesMiddle Eastern carrier Qatar Airways has revealed a full-year group pre-tax loss of QR156 million ($43 million), as the airline reeled from the effect of a Gulf blockade on the state. Qatar Airways Group has turned in a net loss of more than QR251 million for the year to 31 March 2018, compared with the previous full-year profit of QR2.9 billion.
LinkFormer Rossiya chief to take over at Vnukovo airportRecently departed Rossiya chief executive Dmitry Saprykin is to take the helm at Moscow's Vnukovo International airport. Speaking to FlightGlobal at the World Routes conference in Guangzhou today, Anton Kuznetsov, Vnukovo's deputy chief executive and chief commercial officer, says the airport's board of directors is set to confirm Saprykin as the next chief executive today.
LinkHistoric Cathay 777 heads for US museumThe first Boeing 777 will be parked permanently at a museum, following its retirement from commercial service with operator Cathay Pacific in May. In a statement, the carrier states that the aircraft, registered B-HNL (MSN 27116), will be flown from Hong Kong on 18 September to Tucson-based Pima Air & Space Museum, where it will be displayed permanently alongside 350 other aircraft.
LinkBirmingham aims to regain transatlantic flights by 2020Birmingham airport may have to wait until 2020 to regain transatlantic services after Primera cancelled its flights to Newark, Boston and Toronto from the UK gateway this summer. Speaking to FlightGlobal at the World Routes show in Guangzhou today, Tom Screen, Birmingham’s acting aviation director, says there might be an "option" for an alternative airline to start a New York service in summer 2019. He says it is "more likely", however, that such connections will come in 2020 when JetBlue is likely to receive deliveries of Airbus A321LRs and WestJet is also expected to be in a position to start a Toronto-Birmingham service.
LinkNorway persists with NH90 helicopters for coastguard missionsNorway has reversed course and determined that it will be able to use its fleet of NH Industries NH90 helicopters for both naval and coastguard operations, following a volte-face by the country's FFI defence research institute. Earlier this year, the FFI concluded that the Royal Norwegian Air Force's eventual fleet of 14 NH90 NFHs would only generate 2,100h flight hours per year, rather than the 5,400h required to support both anti-submarine warfare and fisheries and border protection missions.
LinkF-35 stress tests raise possibility of longer service lifeAfter completing static, drop and durability testing on the F-35A, Lockheed Martin believes that early results indicate potential for an increased service life certification of the stealth fighter. The F-35’s service lifetime is designed to be 8,000h, but each test airframe is required to successfully complete two lifetimes of testing, the equivalent of 16,000h. The F-35A exceeded the requirement by completing three full lifetimes of testing, 24,000h, prompting Lockheed to moot the potential service-life extension.
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