Lufthansa launches 747-8, orders more A340s

Lufthansa confirmed an order today for twenty Boeing 747-8 aircraft with options for twenty more, being the first airline to announce an order for the type. The list price of the planes is $5.5 billion, but with discounts that Lufthansa most likely got the price comes down to about $3.2 billion or less.The new 747-8 features the same engines as the 787 and is cleaner and quieter. It also has a 787-style cabin and has a newer, more efficient wing....

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US Air and Delta - merger tidbits

A little update on the US Airways/Delta merger situation. I read over the letters that the CEOs of the two airlines sent each other. I chuckled at the fact that US Air CEO Doug Parker called his Delta counterpart as "Jerry". (You can read the two letters here and here.)Yet despite all the amicable talk, Jerry isn't giving in to Doug's request. Instead, both sides have launched massive PR campaigns in order to try to sway public opinion towards...

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Iberia could split with BA, oneworld

Spanish airline Iberia is thinking about ending its seven-year-old partnership with British Airways and the oneworld alliance. The airline's finance and strategy director said recently that Iberia didn't feel 'tied' to BA, stating that "In a marriage you need two parties and Iberia and British Airways' priorities have not always been the same...They [BA] have their priorities...and Iberia is not in first place." He also added that Iberia could potentially...

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Use the bathroom before flying China Southern

China Southern has recently figured out that since it takes a liter of fuel to flush a toilet in-flight, passengers are recommended to use the bathroom prior to boarding the plane. That, according to a China Southern captain, is enough for "an economical car to run at least 10 kilometers". The captain, Liu Zhiyuan, also said that flying around one kilogram of items like pillows, blankets and magazine for one hour consumes 0.2 kg of fuel, meaning...

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Radioactive 767s

This isn't really relevant when it comes to the airline industry, but it's still something you don't see everyday. Apparently British Airways is grounding three 767s - two at Heathrow Airport and one at Moscow's Domodedovo - indefinitely due to very low traces of radioactive substances.The groundings are happening as part of the investigation into the poisoning of ex-KGB man Alexander Litvinenko, and the two events might be related. Of course, the risk to anyone on board the planes was probably next to nothing, but people who flew on affected flights...

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Possible takeover of Alitalia by Air France?

Air France/KLM, the airline group that's the largest in Europe, said yesterday that it was in talks with Alitalia about a possible takeover of the Italian flag-carrier. Alitalia is half-owned by the Italian government, and hasn't made a profit since 1998, but has instead remained flying over the past few years due to government bailouts. A potential problem that stands in the way of the airline's profitability is the fact that it has two main hubs: one in Milan and one in Rome. Most European airlines, by comparison, really have one main hub: British...

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Could a United-Delta merger happen? It might

United will probably enter this merger madness that's gripping the industry at the time, some analysts predict. At a Citigroup investor conference yesterday, United's CFO, Jake Brace, said that "the industrial logic of mergers in the airline industry is so compelling... We believe mergers in the airline industry have significant synergies, and we believe the industry needs to consolidate." He also wouldn't say much about the subject of Delta, but wouldn't rule out anything in way of a merger. "We're going to do what makes sense for our company,...

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US Airways/Delta merger update

Here’s a mid-day update (done during lunch break) about the possible Delta-US Airways merger. CNN talked to US Airways’ CEO Doug Parker, who said that his airline’s hub in Charlotte, North Carolina would remain if the two airlines were to merge. Delta’s hub in Salt Lake City would also stay, although each hub is rather close to an existing one: Delta’s in Atlanta and US Airways’ in Phoenix, respectively. Delta has stated that it wants to remain independent, at least during its stay in bankruptcy. Delta’s CEO said that his airline’s plan “has always...

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US Airways seeking to purchase Delta

US Airways has just announced this morning that it would make an $8 billion bid (with cash and stock) for Delta Air Lines once the latter emerges from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Delta creditors would get about $4 billion cash and and 78.5 million shares of US Airways stock which, based on yesterday's closing stock price, has a combined value of about $4 billion.There isn’t much information available at this time, since the story was just released about an hour ago, but US Airways said that the deal would ‘generate $1.65 billion in annual...

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Austrian Airlines to start Iraq service

Austrian flag carrier Austrian Airlines said today that it would start flying scheduled flights to the northern Iraqi city of Erbil twice a week, starting December 11. According to the airline, the city is the 4th largest in Iraq and it is a logical new destination for its extensive Middle Eastern network - the airline claims that it is 'already the number three carrier in Europe when measured by services into the Middle East'.The flights are on...

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Aeroflot lets 787 slots expire, retires Il-86

Russian flag carrier Aeroflot lost twenty-two production slots last week for the Boeing 787 aircraft because the government wouldn't approve its order. "The original conditions on the contract have expired... We will now be looking for other alternatives. We remain in contact with Boeing," said Aeroflot Deputy CEO Lev Koshlyakov. Originally Aeroflot remained undecided between the A350 and the 787 and seemed like it would split its order both ways....

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Reactions to FedEx's A380 cancelation

After FedEx's decision yesterday (see previous blog post) to cancel its A380 orders because of prolonged delays on Airbus' part, there have not been any other cancellations by other airlines ordering the A380 - as of yet. Singapore Airlines, which will be the first airline to put the A380 into service, says that it has no plans whatsoever to scrap its order, although it will get its first A380 in October of 2007 instead of December of this year, as originally planned. The airline said that it won't be affected greatly by the delay because it's...

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FedEx Dumps Airbus, Goes to Boeing

Cargo delivery giant FedEx announced today that it has canceled its order for 10 A380-800F planes and instead has ordered 15 Boeing 777 (777F) freighters. Notably, this is the first A380 customer that Airbus has lost.CEO Frederick Smith said, "The availability and delivery timing of this aircraft, coupled with its attractive payload range and economics, make this choice the best decision for Fedex." He went on to say, "Global demand for air cargo...

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Aer Lingus Says 'No' To A Ryanair Takeover

Irish 'flag carrier' (this term his been disputed) Aer Lingus has recieved, and promptly rejected, a $1.9 billion (£1 billion) takeover offer from low-cost archrival Ryanair. The reason? The bid "significantly undervalues the group's businesses and attractive long term growth potential", according to the Aer Lingus board. Of course, the real reason could be that Aer Lingus, which has a rich history as a full-service, international airline, doesn't want to be bought out by Ryanair, which has gone from being a dowdy puddlejumper of an airline to...

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A380 Faces More Delays as Customers Rethink Purchases

Just when the news over at Airbus couldn't get any worse - lagging behind Boeing in the orders count, A380 delays, etc. - it did. Airbus confirmed recently that the A380s scheduled to be delivered to customers will be further delayed due to 'wiring problems'. The planes will be delayed another year.Emirates, the largest customer of the type, will have to wait an addition ten months for its planes, something that it's president is not too happy about: "It's a very serious issue." Emirates, along with Virgin Atlantic, have announced that they are...

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UAL Head to Stay Until 2011 While Merger Rumors Swirl

United Airlines today extended the contract of its CEO, Glenn Tilton, until 2011, ending speculation about his departure (his previous contract expired next year).Tilton joined United in September of 2002 and headed the airline during its long Chapter 11 bankruptcy process. But now that United's out of bankruptcy, Tilton is calling for 'more consolidation' in the industry - meaning mergers of some sort. "Deregulation has done its work," he told the Financial Times earlier this year. "It's time to recognise that we should compete on a grander scale....

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United: Help Us Get Into China

Not to be outdone by American, United yesterday emailed its Mileage Plus members a similar plea to sign a petition to help the airline fly from Washington to Beijing (see last post). United, with the support of the governors of Virginia and Maryland and the mayor of Washington DC (as well as other economic organisations) set up a website to explain their petition.United is petitioning the Department of Transportation to be allowed to be the first domestic carrier to have a direct route between Washington, D.C. Dulles (IAD) and Beijing, China (PEK)....

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American: Help Us Get Into China

It seems like American Airlines is needing a bit of help to fly into China, or so it seems from an email that they sent out to the AAdvantage members:Two Days Left To Support Our New Gateway To ChinaAmerican Airlines recently applied to the U.S. Department of Transportation for the authority to fly from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport to Beijing, China, beginning March 2007. Three other airlines have also submitted an application for an additional China flight, but only one U.S. airline will be awarded the right to add a daily flight to...

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Russian Airline Alliance?

Russian news agency RIA Novosti is reporting that a 25% stake in number-two Russian airline S7 might be transferred to flag-carrier Aeroflot if the two airlines establish an alliance. If no alliance occurs, then the stake will be put up for auction.The government, which owns the 25% stake, has been trying to sell it as part of its privitization plan. Of course Aeroflot is pleased with the idea of holding a large stake in its biggest rival, which...

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The Smoker's Airline

Are you tired of the continual cutbacks and restrictions that almost every airline has implemented over the last few years? No meals in economy, or if you're on Northwest, no food at all... Less seatroom, no magazines, no pillows, no blankets... And for some people, the worst restriction is on that little habit that many take up that's called smoking. Smoking is understandably banned on all US flights and in most countries by now (Aeroflot bans smoking...

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Airports: They Wreck the Air Travel Experience

Yesterday I flew United Airlines from Boston to Spokane, Washington via Denver. The flight itself was quite enjoyable. The check-in process was not.Of course, United's check-in facilities in Boston were crowded, even at 6:45 in the morning. I spent close to half an hour waiting in line, and saw one check-in person even go on break and return fifteen minutes later, when there were still lots of people waiting to be processed. By the time my bags were...

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Best Airline TV Ad?

Here's a post that I hope some of the readers of this blog will get involved in: what, in your opinion, is the best airline TV ad ever? Even notable or just interesting ones would be nice to list. If possible, I'll try to find it online and post it here. (Please add your response in the form of a comment.)Here are some interesting ones. Note that the first two don't feature aircraft too prominately:Aeroflot:Air France (1999):Braniff Airways (1975:)United Airlines (199...

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Delta Buys NYC-London Route From United

Delta Air Lines announced that it would purchase United's JFK-London route authority for up to $21 million, pending approval from the Department of Transportation and bankruptcy court (Delta is still in Chapter 11).Delta has been trying unsucessfully to fly this route for over a decade. It has an international hub at JFK and flies to many European destinations from the airport but has yet to serve London. If all goes well, it plans to start its first...

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Clickair To Be Iberia's New LCC Product

Spanish flag-carrier Iberia has announced that its new low-cost carrier's name will be Clickair. The low-cost airline was originally called Catair, it being based in Barcelona, but in a statement Clickair said that the reason behind the change was that it had to do with computers, since its main sales medium will be the internet. (Strategic Name Development has more on the name change.)However, Clickair's future may be shaky. Pilots at Iberia, concerned...

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United Posts Profit, Stays in Chicago

Chicago's Mayor Daley must be thrillled.United Airlines, Chicago's self-proclaimed Hometown Airline, announced this morning that, after an amazing six years (!) of losses, the company was finally posting a (preliminary) modest quarterly profit. The reason? Mostly higher ticket prices and strong demand, two factors that have helped push up black ink (or at least stem the flow of the red ink) industry-wide. After this morning's announcement, the company's shares jumped up to thirteen percent.United also announced on Saturday that it plans to move...

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Troubled Air Scotland Changes Name

Scotland's self-proclaimed 'flag-carrier' is getting an overhaul. Air Scotland, operated by other airlines based in Greece and the Netherlands, suffered from a bad image as a delay-prone airline with bad service. There's never been anything 'Scottish' about the airline, maybe except for the huge Scottish flag branded on the tails of their airplanes. Even the the logo banner at the top of the airline's website reads, 'Air Scotland - Operated by Greece...

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Aloha Airlines Goes Retro

Like many other airlines, Aloha Airlines has decided to paint one of its planes (a Boeing 737) in a livery from the past. Aloha used the 'Funbird' scheme starting in 1969 and throughout the 1970s. The paint job was shown off for the first time yesterday at Honolulu International Airport, complete with a party featuring 70s cars and music."It's a feel good time. We've gone through a lot the last year and a half," Aloha Airlines President and Chief...

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BA Center of Price-Fixing Investigation

Today's news reads that British Airways is being investigated by the UK Office of Fair Trading (OFT) and the US Deparment of Justice (DOJ) for allegedly fixing fuel surcharges on some of its longer flights in and out of the UK.According to the BBC, passengers on long-haul BA flights currently pay a £35 fuel surcharge for a one-way ticket, compared with a £37 surcharge on AA flights in and out of the UK. While American is not under investigation at...

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U.S. Airlines Expand Internationally

Delta Air Lines recently announced that this winter it will start flying to Accra, Ghana from New York-JFK with a Boeing 767-300ER, becoming the only scheduled airline to do so. And they're not planning on stopping there. "With more additions planned by winter," a statement by the airline reads, "Delta is proud to operate nonstop flights to 12 unique trans-Atlantic destinations not served by any other U.S. carrier." As of now, the destinations out...

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Varig To Close Down Today?

So I've said that Varig might shut down earlier (see last post), even saying that a shutdown was imminent. However, Varig was saved (for the time being) - a group comprised of employees made a bid for it, and even though it was the only bid, the judge approved it.Now, however, there are strong rumors floating around that Varig will cease operations sometime today - mostly because of a lack of cash. According to this source, this rumor is substantiated...

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Final Hours for Varig?

Assets of the bankrupt Varig, Brazil's flag carrier, did not sell at auction yesterday - meaning that Varig could liquidate any day now.There was only one bid - from a group of Varig employees. And even that bid only totaled half of the asking price for the airline's aircraft and routes. The bankruptcy judge said that he would return a verdict in 24 hours whether to accept the bid or not - which means that a verdict should arrive, literally, any...

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Mergers Possible?

Many analyists agree that the US airline industry is badly in need of consolidation. If this is the case, which it very well might be, which airlines would merge? Here are the combinations that I see might work. Keep in mind that many of these airlines are in no financial shape to merge, and even if they were, airline mergers have usually not gone off well in the past (with a few notable exceptions). Readers out there are welcome to post comments/criticisms about my ideas. So here goes:1) Northwest and DeltaThere are several advantages with this...

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Alliance Update

Hm. This could be the shortest post yet. Portugalia is going to join SkyTeam whilst Air China will join Star Alliance. Star has fought long and hard for an airline in China to join, and it finally got one of the big ones. Now I just wonder if Shanghai Airlines will join Star as well...

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Aer Lingus To Leave oneworld

Irish carrier Aer Lingus, one of the first members of the alliance oneworld, has announced its desire to pull out of the group, which is headed by British Airways and American Airlines. "Alliance membership has inevitably become less relevant for the airline over time, with an increasing number of customers availing of our new direct services at low fares," Aer Lingus Chief Executive Dermot Mannion said.Why is Aer Lingus leaving? There are a few...

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United To Move World HQ?

United Airlines, according to economic development corporation World Business Chicago, might move its headquarters from Chicago to Denver. UAL is currently based in Elk Grove Village a suburb of Chicago. World Headquarters for United has been in the same location since 1961. All United would say is that it is seeking to 'consolidate its facilities', as a spokeswoman put it. UAL wouldn't speculate if it would move to Denver or San Francisco, as several...

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ANA To Start Domestic LCC

Japan's All Nippon Airways' chief executive has told the Financial Times that the airline plans to launch two, separate low-cost international and domestic airlines by 2009. "In 2009 competition will increase and low-cost carriers, particularly from elsewhere in Asia, will start flying into Tokyo," said the CEO. "We have to be well prepared for it." The international routes would be inside Asia.The possible main reason behind the launch: Tokyo's...

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Revenge in Russia

Russian flag-carrier Aeroflot has announced that it will purchase Airbus A350 airliners, when only a few months ago it had said it would purchase Boeing's 787. The reason? The U.S. has opposed Russia's potential membership in the World Trade Organization, and this move by Aeroflot is seen as politically motivated.In December 2005, according to the newspaper Vedomosti, Aeroflot was considering a purchase of 22 Boeing 787s. But as relations between...

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The Frequent-Flyer Program Turns 25

Yesterday was the 25th anniversary of the start of AAdvantage, the frequent flyer program of American Airlines. Even though it seems like every airline nowadays has a FFP, the idea was a foreign concept twenty-five years or so ago. On the eve of the deregulation of the industry in 1977, executives at American Airlines knew that there had to be a better way to gain the loyalty of their top customers. United Airlines gave customers a wall plaque...

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Olympic Airlines To Change Its Name?

Olympic Airlines has been in quite a bit of trouble recently. After the Hellenic government's failed privatization bid back in 2004, when it aimed to privatize the state-owned Greek flag carrier, Olympic finds itself in more troble with the government.This time, it's over illegal loans. The European Union alleges that hundreds of millions of euros were illegally given to the airline through loans by the Hellenic government. Kathimerini, a Greek...

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Swan(Song) For An Airline

First off, I apologize for my absence. I've got lots of catching up to do with this blog. Hopefully the few readers I've got haven't abandoned me yet.That said, today's big story: the final flight of Song Airlines. Song was the low-cost arm of Delta Air Lines. First flying on April 15, 2003 (mostly to stave off stiff competition from jetBlue at JFK), it tried to emulate jetBlue's model (except with Boeing 757-200s instead of Airbus A320s). For a...

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(More) Bad News for Airbus

Singapore Airlines said the other day that Airbus has to redesign its Airbus A350 if it wants to really compete with Boeing's 787.Bloomberg reports that it took Airbus four attempts to come up with today's A350. And the most interesting fact is, the A350 is pretty much a revised A330. Just use more composites, new parts, and a new tail, and you have a totally different aircraft, right?Wrong, says pretty much all of the industry executives. Singapore...

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United vs. Southwest (Part 2): Showdown in DC

Southwest Airlines, that bastion of low fares for the past thirty-five years, has announced it will serve Washington's Dulles airport this year. And to make matters even more interesting, it's the second hub of United Airlines that Southwest has invaded this year. (It started servicing Denver International in January.)CEO Gary Kelly said that Southwests moves into markets that "are overpriced and underserved", and with the liquidation of Dulles-based Independence Air in January, there's been a low-cost carrier gap at the airport that hasn't been...

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Behind The Name: Compass Airlines

I recently was contacted by a reader that referred to this blog in his article about the reasons why Compass is a good name for Northwest's new subsidiary. Read this excellent and interesting article at http://www.namedevelopment.com/blog/archives/2006/04/northwests_comp.ht...

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Northwest's New Subsidiary: Compass Airlines

In June, Northwest Airlines (which, by the way, lost almost $500 million in February) wants to start its new way to screw pilots over- whoops, start a new subsidiary airline called Compass Airlines. Compass will fly from Northwest's three hubs in Minneapolis, Detroit and Memphis. The first flight, in June, will be the Minneapolis-Washington Dulles route. Compass is part of what I see as Northwest's big plan to a) cut costs, b) retire those Flying...

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LAN To Get More 767s

LAN Airlines SA said it will purchase three Boeing 767-300s, to be delivered in 2007 and 2008. The cost: $270 million. LAN already bought a dozen of the type from Boeing last August....

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AA & Others Eager To Fly To China

Reuters is reporting that American Airlines is going to fly to Shanghai from Chicago on Sunday. Not only that, but they've been waiting fourteen years to get in. That's right - over a decade ago they set up an office in Beijing, and it's only now that they're getting to fly to China. The airline expects to fly up to 245 passengers to China a day, and the load factor's pretty nice, too: AA predicts that 86% of its seats will be full. They'll definately...

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Siberia Airlines To Get A319s

Siberia Airlines, or Sibir as it's officially called, announced that it will try to lease ten ex-Northwest Airlines Airbus A319s as it tries to phase out the aging Russian-built Tupolevs. As of now the airline operates six Airbus A310s, ten Boeing 737-500s, nine Ilyushin Il-86s, twenty-eight Tupolev Tu-154Ms and two Tu-204s. It plans to lease at least two more 737s and two more A310s this year, according to Flight International. Sibir will also obtain...

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BA: No Merger w/ Iberia - For Now

The head of British Airways' Spanish and Portuguese operations has ruled out a merger with fellow oneworld alliance carrier Iberia, but when asked if such a thing might occur down the road said, "There's a clear trend for consolidation. When will we arrive at this point? That's the million dollar question." BA and American Airlines collectively own 10% of the Spanish carrier.I don't see a 'complete' merger in the works at all. Both are flag carriers for their respective countries, so that has to be taken into effect. They might be able to do a...

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United Airlines, Shanghai Airlines Sign Code-Share Deal

Here's a small post: United Airlines and Shanghai Airlines are scheduled to begin code-sharing on May 15 (pending government approval). The two airlines will code-share on 11 flights in the US and China. However, there have been reports that Shanghai will join Star Alliance in the first half of this year. If this is the case, then the two will codeshare on probably almost every rou...

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Airbus Rolls Out A300 In Old Colors

Airbus has long since allowed the original A300 to go to the scrap yard. Which was surprising, considering that the A300 was the plane that put Airbus on the map. But now, it picked up an idle A300 and painted the original paint scheme on it.The Airbus first flew in February 1983. It was slated to go to Laker Airways but the airline went defunct before the aircraft was finished. The aircraft, an A300B4, was delievered to Pan Am in 1985, was bought by Sempati Air of Indonesia in 1993 and then it went on to DHL in 1999.(View picture at http://img482.imageshack.us/img482/7763/yourfile6xs.jpg...

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US Airways To Stick with Star - For Now

US Airways has decided to keep its code-sharing deal with United Airlines - for the time being, anyway. A code-sharing deal is where each airline is allowed to sell seats on the other airline. This arrangement brings in over $200 million annually to United.The two airlines began code-sharing in 2002, after the government anti-trust unit said no to a merger between the two. In 2003 US Airways joined Star Alliance, which was co-founded by United in...

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Delta: We're 'Tapped Out'

Edward Bastian, the CFO at Delta Air Lines, warned yesterday that the airline is 'tapped out' financially, and that Delta can't get any more loans. "We are clearly in the worst shape and are the most fragile of anyone in the industry," the AP quoted him as saying. He went on to say that because of its precarious finances, Delta must extract huge pay and benefit cuts from its pilots if it wants to survive.Delta's section of the ALPA (Air Line Pilots Association), of course, said that it would strike if that plan of action was carried out. And, to...

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Aeroflot to Join SkyTeam

Although the news that Aeroflot is going to join the airline alliance SkyTeam is nothing new, there's now an official date to its entry: April 14.Air France-KLM CEO Jean-Cyril Spinetta will fly to Moscow to welcome Aeroflot to SkyTeam, Aeroflot deputy CEO Lev Koshlyakov said Tuesday in a telephone interview from Moscow, reported Bloomberg.Aeroflot will gain access to SkyTeam's 684 destinations in 133 countries. It flies to 88 destinations, 27 of...

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A Look at Boutique Airlines

A Brandweek article called them 'boutique airlines', so I will too. Perhaps you've heard about some of these boutique airlines. You know, the ones that offer cushy seats, decent food, attentive flight attendants, etc. Here are the big three boutique airlines (at time of writing). One is transcontinental (across the US) and the other two are transatlantic. 1. United's Premium Service (p.s.)United's p.s. service is flown on Boeing 757-200 aircraft...

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