Skyteam news

[Johan Z 0]

The article doesn't mention about GA at all. Skyteam also desperately needs Australia network to be covered and MH fits perfectly.

 

Currently, AZ and KL has codesharing agreements with MH to Australia. Being in the same alliance will be beneficial to all of them. While AF still can continue their codeshare with QF because MH Australia network doesn't overlap with QF anyway. If Skyteam dream becomes a reality, I expect KUL will be a major Skyteam hub in SEA and for Australia. Good for MH.

[Ken M. 0]

MH in Skyteam should have happened years ago.

Hope it one day becomes reality.

[mohd sukri abd hamid 0]

im agree with you ken m.

[Pieter C. 5]

Alitalia Q1 Loss Narrows As Pax Numbers Rise

 

May 12, 2010

 

Italy's national airline Alitalia on Wednesday said quarterly operating losses narrowed, boosted by growth in international passenger volumes.

 

The company, which went bankrupt in 2008 and was bought by a group of Italian investors and Air France-KLM, reported earnings before interest and taxes of EUR€125 million euros (USD$158.8 million) in the first quarter, narrowing from EUR€210 million a year earlier.

 

Revenues rose to EUR€639 million in the period from EUR€515 million a year earlier. The company made no reference to any expected impact from disruptions due to the Icelandic volcanic ash cloud last month.

 

Alitalia has had a difficult rebirth since its new owners relaunched it last year, with low load factor initially and flight delays that triggered vociferous passenger complaints.

 

The airline said its flights' punctuality had improved, jumping 8 points to 82.3 percent in the quarter, while its load factor rose 12.5 percentage points to 64.5 percent.

 

Air France-KLM has a 25 percent stake in the carrier.

 

(Reuters)

[Pieter C. 5]

Delta Gets China OK For Seattle-Beijing Route

 

May 19, 2010

 

Delta Air Lines said on Tuesday it received final approval from the Chinese government to launch non-stop flights between Seattle and Beijing beginning June 4.

 

The new route, which will operate five times a week, will offer connecting options from cities in Delta and codeshare partner Alaska Air's network to Beijing via Alaska's Seattle hub, Delta said.

 

The company added that a new non-stop flight between Seattle and Osaka, Japan, starts June 7.

 

Delta is looking to strengthen its presence in high-growth markets as demand for air travel rises in the improving economy.

 

A week ago, the Atlanta-based carrier said it would add more flights between New York City and key global business markets such as London, Moscow and Milan.

 

(Reuters)

[Pieter C. 5]

Air France-KLM Eyes Breakeven After Record Loss

 

May 20, 2010

 

Air France-KLM predicted a return to breakeven despite the ash crisis in its just-started fiscal year after record losses for the 12 months to March 31, which ended on a note of economic recovery.

 

The Franco-Dutch airline group confirmed its outlook for 2010/11 but scrapped its dividend after a year dominated by the global financial crisis and last June's Atlantic jet disaster.

 

It posted an operating loss of EUR€1.285 billion euros (USD$1.6 billion) or EUR€3.5 million a day for 2009/10 and said it expected to break even in the current year, excluding the impact of unfavourable fuel hedges taken out before 2009.

 

The prediction is subject to the definitive cost of last months' closure of European airspace which hit operating income by an estimated EUR€160 million in the current quarter.

 

As with many airlines just emerging from a punishing industry-wide recession, the 2009/10 loss was far steeper than the EUR€186 million deficit seen the year before.

 

Revenues dropped 15 percent to EUR€20.994 billion.

 

Air France-KLM said its priority was to "control costs via headcount reduction" and to boost its unit revenues by holding the growth in capacity, or the number of seats on offer adjusted for the distance flown, to 1 percent.

 

Unit costs rose 4.9 percent in 2009/10 or only 1 percent after stripping out currency fluctuations and fuel prices.

 

The company said revenue trends were positive in both premium and economy cabins in the fourth quarter, growing on average by 2.7 percent.

 

The fiscal fourth quarter ended two weeks before ash from the mid-April eruption of an Icelandic volcano forced Europe to close many of its airports, resulting in a total of USD$1.7 billion of estimated revenue losses for airlines worldwide.

 

Air France-KLM said it was in negotiations over possible compensation from European authorities over the shutdown.

 

Rival Lufthansa last week confirmed its 2010 outlook after reporting worse-than-expected first-quarter earnings for the 2010 calendar year.

 

(Reuters)

[Pieter C. 5]

Aeroflot looks for consolidation boost

 

By David Kaminski-Morrow

 

Aeroflot views its acquisition of six other Russian airlines as potentially the first stage in a much-needed consolidation of the country's carriers. The post-Cold War dismantling of the Soviet-era Aeroflot resulted in the creation of hundreds of smaller operators, dozens of which subsequently went out of business or were shut down by civil aviation regulators. But federal air transport regulator Rosaviatsia still lists 168 air transport enterprises on its registry, and Aeroflot chief executive Vitaly Savelyev believes this number is simply "too big for the country".

 

Since the break-up of the Soviet Union passengers numbers in Russia and the CIS collapsed from a peak of 94.3 million in 1990 to just 21.8 million in 2000. It has since

climbed but in 2009 was still only 45.1 million - including 23.8 million domestic travellers and 2.9 million flying between Russia and CIS destinations. "This is less than the transportation of British Airways alone," says Savelyev. He says a comparative calculation, based on how many airlines operate in the European Union, suggests Russia needs far fewer carriers. "Thirty to 35 would be pretty much enough." he says. "Certainly we support consolidation. We welcome [prime minister] Putin's decision to merge six airlines with Aeroflot. Probably this is the first start to consolidation of the airline industry in Russia."

 

The six airlines - Rossiya, Orenair, KavminVodyAvia, Vladivostok Avia, Saratov Airlines and Sakhalin's SAT Airlines - accounted for nearly 15% of last year's passenger total. Aeroflot had a share of 19%, meaning a tie-up would cover more than a third of the Russian market.

 

All six carriers are linked to state industrial technology conglomerate Rostekhnologii, which originally intended to use them as the basis of a carrier to rival Aeroflot, with three hubs in Moscow, St Petersburg and Russia's far east. By 2016 the proposed carrier, Rosavia, was to have a single network operating over 100 aircraft. Aeroflot has already gained control of Rossiya and Savelyev believes the transfer of all six carriers will be achieved by mid-2010. Aeroflot will then address the modernisation of the fleet, he says.

 

Aeroflot has been considering the possibility of using the assets to enter the budget sector, either on European routes or within the Russian far east, but Savelyev has reservations about whether Russia can sustain this model. "We will examine the possibility of translating one of the assets into a low-cost carrier," he says. But he notes some analysts have concluded budget carriers are "not viable" under current Russian conditions. "However, we do examine the market and do not exclude the possibility of establishing a subsidiary in this [sector]," he says.

 

Low-cost airlines Germanwings and Air Berlin fly to Moscow, while SkyExpress and Avianova have emerged within Russia. But Savelyev does not view low-cost carriers as a threat. "They have different categories of passengers. We operate in the premium class while low-cost operations are in the economy segment."

[Pieter C. 5]

China Eastern to sign binding SkyTeam agreement in June

 

May 24, 2010

 

China Eastern Airlines will sign a binding agreement with SkyTeam next month, according to alliance MD Marie-Joseph Male.

 

The carrier signed a letter of intent to join the alliance last month. "We have formed a special team to help CEA meet SkyTeam's various requirements regarding IT systems, frequent-flyer program and marketing so that it will be in line with the standards of the other SkyTeam member carriers," Male said.

 

He predicted the Shanghai-based airline will gain formal membership in 12-16 months. Air China and Shanghai Airlines are Star Alliance members and ChinaSouthern is a member of SkyTeam. CZ is CEA's sponsor to join the alliance. With CEA in the process of merging with SAL, it is widely expected that SAL will withdraw from Star and join SkyTeam. Male said he hoped SAL will join the alliance.

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

VN will formally join ST on 10jun10 at HAN

RO will formally join ST on 25jun10 at BUH

[Pieter C. 5]

Air France-KLM order for 100 787s/A350s is “hanging”

 

Air France-KLM is committed to a major order for Boeing 787s and Airbus A350s but is growing increasingly frustrated with the airframers over their inability to provide certainty around the projects.

 

"The manufacturers are not willing to give us fixed dates and [aircraft] specifications," Peter Hartman, president of KLM told ATI and Flightglobal at the group's annual results press conference.

 

The group has sent a request for proposals for 100 aircraft to each manufacturer for deliveries that it requires from 2014 but this is "hanging", says Hartman. "We need them in 2014. As soon as positions [are confirmed] we will start ordering." He is hoping for more certainty from the airframers by the end of the year.

 

Air France-KLM requires the mid-size widebodies to replace A340s and the oldest 747s at Air France and MD-11s at KLM, says Hartman. "The order will most likely be a mix of the two aircraft [the 787 and A350]," he says, with the first deliveries having to be leased.

 

KLM had secured delivery positions for 787s from the Royal Bank of Scotland but when this bank pulled out of the leasing market last year it lost those aircraft, says Hartman. The group remains active in the leasing market looking for 787s, he adds.

[Pieter C. 5]

Air France To Restart Plane Order Talks

 

May 26, 2010

 

Air France-KLM plans to start negotiations later this year to buy 100-150 long-haul aircraft worth up to USD$38 billion at list prices, La Tribune newspaper reported on Wednesday.

 

"We are going to restart negotiations with Airbus and Boeing in the autumn. We could make an order in 2011 at the earliest," the paper quoted a senior Air France manager as saying.

 

Air France-KLM has its eye on the Boeing 787-900 version and the Airbus A350-900 to replace its A330s, A340s, 777-200s and MD11s, the paper said.

 

The carrier is also weighing up the A350-1000 and the new version of the 777-300 to replace its existing 777-300s and 747-400s, La Tribune said.

 

(Reuters)

[Pieter C. 5]

Aeroflot Profit Triples But Misses Target

 

June 3, 2010

 

Russian flagship airline Aeroflot said 2009 net profit more than tripled but came in some way below a target set just two months ago while full year revenue slumped 27 percent on lower passenger numbers.

 

The company, about half owned by the Russian government, said net profit for the 12 months to end December was USD$86 million, below the USD$100 million forecast by chief executive Vitaly Savelyev in April.

 

The result was still vastly improved on 2008.

 

Full year revenue fell 27 percent to USD$3.3 billion as passenger numbers fell amid the global economic downturn.

 

Aeroflot also said earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell 11 percent to USD$461 million, while group debt rose 34 percent to USD$1.7 billion.

 

Aeroflot is currently involved in long-running discussions over the future of a 25.8 percent stake owned by media tycoon and former KGB agent Alexander Lebedev.

 

Lebedev agreed to sell the stake back to the airline for a discounted price of USD$400 million in January, but has since threatened to back out of the deal due to the holding's improved value.

 

(Reuters)

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Air France-KLM's Traffic Up In May

 

June 3, 2010

 

Air France-KLM said on Thursday its passenger and cargo business had shown a "marked" recovery in terms of traffic and unit revenues in May due to an improvement in the economic environment and prudent capacity management.

 

Passenger traffic rose 4.3 percent on a year ago while average loads were up 3.3 percentage points at 80.6 percent of capacity.

 

Cargo traffic rose 8.7 percent with the load factor up 7.8 points at 70.6 percent of capacity.

 

The airline made no mention of the impact of the volcanic ash cloud that forced European airport closures in early May, but the closures were less severe than in April.

 

(Reuters)

[Pieter C. 5]

Delta Eliminates Fees To Redeem Award Tickets

 

June 3, 2010

 

Delta Air Lines on Thursday said it is eliminating award fees to redeem tickets for frequent fliers but is boosting charges tied to award ticket re-deposit and re-issuing.

 

The airline said its SkyMiles loyalty programme members will no longer pay fees of up to USD$150 for award tickets redeemed within 20 days of departure.

 

The company said award tickets booked 21 days or more before departure continue to carry no redemption fee.

 

Delta said the move was intended to improve its loyalty programme. Last year, 8.5 percent of revenue miles flown on Delta were tied to award travel.

 

The company also said fees for award ticket re-deposit and re-issue had risen to USD$150 from USD$100, to make them consistent with charges for non-award tickets. It added that those fees would still be waived for its SkyMiles Diamond and Platinum Medallion members, loyalty programme participants who fly most frequently.

 

This month, Delta began waiving the fee for a first checked piece of luggage for holders of Delta SkyMiles credit cards from American Express. That card benefit applies to up to nine people travelling on the same reservation.

 

(Reuters)

[Pieter C. 5]

Delta To Add First-Class Seats To Longer Flights

 

June 10, 2010

 

Delta Air Lines on Thursday said it would add first class seats to domestic flights longer than 750 miles or about two and a half hours long later this year.

 

Once upgrades are completed, 50 routes that feature Delta Connection flights with just one service class will have both first and economy class, the company said.

 

By autumn, Delta's fleet will include 219 regional aircraft with two-class service, the company said. Service on the new two-class flights may be operated by regional carriers SkyWest, Pinnacle Airlines, Chautauqua and others, it added.

 

Meals and linen service are offered on all regional flights that feature a first class cabin, Delta said. It said planes that have first class include Embraer and Bombardier models.

 

The moves are part of Delta's plan to spend USD$1 billion in coming years on upgrades that include equipping some planes with flat-bed seats that offer extra legroom and adding amenities such as more overhead bin space.

 

Delta is also looking to attract more business travellers and bolster its presence in high-growth cities such as New York.

 

For example, in May, the company said it would add more flights between New York and business centres such as London, Moscow and Milan.

 

Separately on Thursday, Delta said that Vietnam Airlines is joining the SkyTeam global airline alliance, which includes Air France-KLM and China Southern Airlines.

 

(Reuters)

[Pieter C. 5]

Vietnam Airlines aims to launch US services in early 2011

 

New SkyTeam member Vietnam Airlines expects to begin codesharing with Delta Air Lines next month and hopes to finally be able to launch its own services to the US in early 2011.

 

Vietnam Airlines first planned to launch services to the US in 2007, starting with Boeing 777-200ER flights from Ho Chi Minh City to Los Angeles. But the carrier has since been unable to launch the service because Vietnam is not yet part of the FAA's international aviation safety assessment (IASA) programme.

 

Vietnam Airlines CEO Pham Ngoc Minh says the carrier is ready to begin serving the US as soon as Vietnamese aviation authorities prove to the FAA they are in compliance with IASA category 1 standards. Foreign carriers are unable to add any services to the US unless their home country is in category 1.

 

Minh says the Vietnamese government "revised their plan a few times" for meeting category 1 requirements but "the latest I understand is early next year they can qualify. As soon as they qualify with category 1 we will perform our flight. The market is there and we have no problem with our operation or marketing side".

 

Vietnam Airlines has been serving the US since 2006 via a codeshare with Oneworld member American Airlines. Earlier this year Vietnam Airlines forged a codeshare agreement with Delta Air Lines, which envisions its passengers switching between Delta- and Vietnam-operated flights in Japan.

 

Minh says Vietnam will begin codesharing with Delta in July and at the same time end its codeshare with American. The transition from American to Delta follows Vietnam formally joining SkyTeam earlier this month.

 

"Today the traffic between USA and Vietnam is almost over 400,000 passengers per year. I think the codeshare arrangement between Delta and Vietnam Airlines is not yet sufficient to satisfy the demand. I think both sides - US and Vietnamese carriers - need to perform more direct flights between the two countries," Minh said on the sidelines of this week' SkyTeam meeting in New York.

 

Currently only United Airlines, which serves Ho Chi Minh from San Francisco with a stop in Hong Kong, operates direct flights between the two countries. Minh believes there is enough demand for Delta to launch its own direct flights to Vietnam but for now he says Delta is only interested in serving Vietnam via a codeshare on Vietnam Airlines-operated Japan-Vietnam flights. He says Delta is also interested in placing its code on Vietnam Airlines' direct flights to the US when it finally is able to launch such services.

 

"Of course a direct flight needs a codeshare partner. We're not thinking we're going to operate alone. We are now a member of an alliance. It should be a common interest," he says.

[Pieter C. 5]

Delta To Sell 2 Regional Carriers

 

July 1, 2010

 

Delta Air Lines said on Thursday it would sell regional carriers Mesaba and Compass for a total of USD$82.5 million to pare its network and save costs.

 

Delta is selling Mesaba to Pinnacle Airlines for USD$62 million and Compass to privately held airline operator Trans States Holdings for USD$20.5 million.

 

Pinnacle operates as one of Delta's largest regional carriers.

 

Under the terms of the deals, Mesaba and Compass would continue to fly as members of Delta Connection.

 

Both regional carriers, which were acquired by Delta as part of its 2008 purchase of Northwest Airlines, would remain based in Minneapolis and be led by their current presidents.

 

The move comes as bigger airlines move to improve the economics of their regional flying over the longer term.

 

Delta spokeswoman Kristin Baur said in a statement that the Comair regional unit was also "considered by interested parties during the exploratory sale process" but garnered no purchase offers. Comair is Delta's remaining wholly-owned regional subsidiary, she said.

 

The Delta sale comes weeks after American Airlines said it also could shed its American Eagle regional affiliate.

 

Mesaba operates more than 430 flights a day to 95 airports and has a fleet of 96 planes. Compass operates more than 170 flights a day to 35 airports and has a fleet of 36 planes.

 

(Reuters)

[Pieter C. 5]

Aeroflot Hit By Surprise Moscow Road Work

 

July 1, 2010

 

Russian flag carrier Aeroflot said on Thursday it lost EUR€700,000 (USD$856,500) on one day this week after unscheduled road works caused tailbacks on the main highway to Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport.

 

"The first day of this disaster, Monday, was a killer for us -- 1,300 people were late for their flights. We lost EUR€700,000 without taking reputational losses into account," Aeroflot deputy chief executive Andrei Kalmykov told reporters.

 

Sheremetyevo, built in time for the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, is the main base for Aeroflot.

 

Traffic along Leningradskoye highway ground to a standstill on June 28 after the Moscow government started repair works at a bridge close to Sheremetyevo partially closing the road.

 

Sheremetyevo CEO Mikhail Vasilenko alleged commercial interests were behind the decision, writing on his blog that the opening on July 3 of a new terminal at the rival Vnukovo airport owned by the Moscow government was not just a coincidence.

 

"As it is known, there are two ways to achieve success -- offering better quality, service and prices or making trouble for competitors using any available means, including political resources," Vasilenko wrote.

 

The Moscow government said the 50-year-old bridge over a busy rail line required urgent repairs and threatened traffic safety. Thousands missed their flights while others spent hours in traffic in record high temperatures.

 

"No one informed either Sheremetyevo or us about the work," said Kalmykov. He added that the actual repairs have not even started despite the road being partially closed since the start of the week.

 

The repair works are expected to last until October 2010 but public discontent with the Moscow government's decision has attracted the attention of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin who asked his cabinet to take urgent action.

 

"It is impossible to reach Sheremetyevo, people are complaining. Work with the colleagues from the Moscow government. Together take action necessary to improve the situation," Putin told the government session.

 

Moscow, along with Johannesburg and New Delhi, was among five cities with the world's worst traffic jams according to the IBM Global Commuter Pain survey released this week.

 

(Reuters)

[Pieter C. 5]

Alitalia To Join Air France-KLM, Delta JV

 

July 5, 2010

 

Italian carrier Alitalia will join Air France-KLM and Delta Air Lines' joint venture, sharing revenues and costs on transatlantic routes and giving the venture access to Europe's third biggest market.

 

In a statement on Monday, the airlines said the addition of Alitalia means the venture represents about 26 percent of total transatlantic capacity with annual revenues of over USD$10 billion.

 

Alitalia, in which Air France-KLM holds a 25 percent stake, joins as part of an agreement running to at least March 31, 2022.

 

Loss-making Alitalia went bankrupt in 2008, and was relaunched as a private airline by Italian investors last year.

 

(Reuters)

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Air France-KLM Could Place Big Aircraft Order

 

July 5, 2010

 

Air France-KLM could place a "very big order" for Airbus or Boeing aircraft to cover its needs for many years, chief executive Pierre Henri Gourgeon said on Monday.

 

"We could have a very big order of the size you mentioned," Gourgeon said when asked by reporters in Rome about plans to buy up to 100 medium-sized planes, a segment in which the Airbus A350 competes with the Boeing 787.

 

"What we say to the aircraft manufacturers is, let's go through a tender and do your best to address our needs over many years and then we will make a choice," he added.

 

(Reuters)

[Pieter C. 5]

Air France To Cut Over 4,000 Jobs By 2013

 

July 5, 2010

 

Air France plans to cut over 4,000 ground and administrative jobs over three years to reduce costs after the impact of the economic crisis on air travel pushed the airline to a record loss in the year to March.

 

The carrier will reduce its workforce through voluntary redundancies and by not replacing retiring staff, a spokeswoman said.

 

Air France-KLM group employs 103,000 staff overall, of which 63,000 are at Air France.

 

"The equivalent of 4,109 full-time staff would have to leave the company by 2013," the spokeswoman said.

 

The plans drew immediate criticism from the CFDT union, which slammed management for "the lack of coherence" between its overall strategy and the reality of its operations.

 

The union also said managers had failed to anticipate the challenges facing its short- and medium-haul network.

 

"This (announcement) does nothing to address the growing malaise among staff who are seeing their employment conditions deteriorate," the CFDT said in a statement.

 

Air France-KLM said in May that it expected to break even this year after losing EUR€1.3 billion (USD$1.74 billion) in the year to March 31.

 

The International Air Transport Association last month reversed its forecast for the global airline industry, saying it now expected the world's carriers to make a collective profit this year and scrapped its prediction they would continue to lose money.

 

But IATA warned that Europe was expected to lag, with the region's airlines seen losing USD$2.8 billion this year, as it remained mired in debt and bad feelings over flight cancellations during the volcanic ash crisis.

 

(Reuters)

[Tamizi Hj Tamby 1]

Congratulations to TAROM Romanian Air Transport on becoming the latest member of Skyteam alliance! TAROM officially joined the alliance on June 30th,2010.

[Pieter C. 5]

Air France-KLM Unit Revenue Up As Traffic Improves

 

July 8, 2010

 

Air France-KLM said its unit revenues had risen strongly in June as growth in both passenger and cargo activity outpaced capacity, which has deliberately been held down during the recession.

 

Passenger traffic rose 4.7 percent and the load factor rose 3.5 points to 83.8 percent, the Franco-Dutch airline said.

 

Capacity edged up 0.4 percent.

 

"Unit revenue per available seat kilometre excluding currency rose strongly compared with June 2009, driven by both the economy and premium classes," a company statement said.

 

"In long-haul the rise was especially marked on the Asia, North America and Latin America networks."

 

Cargo saw a 0.8 percent increase in traffic and the load factor rose 2.4 points to 67.7 percent as capacity fell 2.8 percent.

 

Improved unit revenues reflected both an underlying recovery in demand and efforts to keep a lid on capacity, said the group which operates Air France and KLM networks separately.

 

Delta Air Lines, a joint-venture partner with Air France on the Atlantic, posted a 4.2 percent increase in June traffic.

 

The airlines have extended the venture that shares revenues and costs on transatlantic routes to include Alitalia.

 

The traffic increases came after British Airways revealed its June traffic had been hit sharply by cabin crew strike action.

 

BA will be able to guarantee all of its flights should there be any new strike action, chief executive Willie Walsh said in an interview published in Italy on Wednesday.

 

BA cabin crew are set to vote on whether to accept a revised pay offer from the airline.

 

(Reuters)

[Pieter C. 5]

Air France Flight Lands In Brazil In Security Alert

 

July 12, 2010

 

A security alert over a possible bomb on board forced an Air France flight flying from Rio de Janeiro to Paris to make an unscheduled landing in Brazil's northeast city of Recife, the airline said on Sunday.

 

Air France said the 405 passengers and 18 crew on flight AF443 had been evacuated while security checks were carried out on the Boeing 747-400.

 

"Air France confirms that the crew was informed in-flight of a threat of a possible presence of an explosive device on board," said an Air France spokesman.

 

The plane landed in Recife late Saturday and was positioned in a remote area of the airport and all the passengers evacuated, Brazil's airport authority Infraero said in a statement.

 

The passengers were to be put up in hotel rooms while the plane was awaiting clearance, Infraero said.

 

Police finished their inspection of the plane without finding a bomb, Infraero said early Sunday.

 

"Our flight left at 16:30," a passenger identified only as Livia told Brazil's GloboNews. "Around 19:00, a little after dinner, we were informed that we would make a stop because of problems that they didn't explain."

 

The passengers remained calm, Livia told GloboNews.

 

(Reuters)

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Air France-KLM Settles Cargo Price-Fixing Claims

 

July 12, 2010

 

Air France-KLM said on Monday it had agreed to pay USD$87 million to settle civil anti-trust claims in the United States over an alleged price-fixing conspiracy in the air cargo business.

 

The deal affects claims against three group airlines -- Air France, KLM and Martinair -- but does not affect the outcome of a European Union anti-trust probe, which is still pending.

 

"Air France, KLM and Martinair have entered into an agreement to settle damage claims brought against them in the United States alleging violations of the anti-trust laws in connection with air cargo shipping services," the Franco-Dutch airline group said on Monday.

 

"Under the terms of the settlement agreement, which is subject to court approval, the carriers will pay a total of USD$87 million in exchange for a release from all claims by direct purchasers of air cargo shipping services to and from the United States between 2000 and 2006," it said in a statement.

 

The sum will be deducted from provisions posted in 2008.

 

The trio are among a number of airlines swept up in global investigations into an alleged air freight cartel.

 

The three airlines were facing class-action lawsuits filed in 2006 after the US Justice Department and the European Commission launched investigations into the air cargo industry.

 

The US probe was resolved in 2008 through plea agreements.

 

(Reuters)

[Pieter C. 5]

Air France, Flybe sign wide-ranging cooperation pact

 

July 14, 2010

 

Air France and Flybe concluded an extensive commercial agreement under which Air France will market and add its AF code to 45 Flybe routes between the UK and France and 17 UK domestic routes through Birmingham, Manchester and Southampton.

 

In turn, Flybe will market and add its code to five AF routes between France and the UK as well as to seven new domestic French routes and 11 international routes.

 

Under the agreement, which is being described as a “landmark tie-up," Flybe will feed AF’s hub at Paris Charles de Gaulle, “allowing seamless and easy access to all of Air France’s extensive international services.” British Airways holds a 15% stake in Flybe and it is unclear how it will respond.

 

“We are delighted that Flybe’s successful business model has been recognized with such prestigious and positive endorsement from one of the world’s most respected carriers,” Chairman and CEO Jim French said.

 

“The future cooperation with Flybe is a major opportunity for Air France to strengthen its position in the UK, Europe’s biggest market,” said AF COO Bruno Matheu, adding, “Over the past few years we have watched with great interest Flybe’s growth and development and been impressed by its performance in becoming a respected leader within the sector.” The codeshare agreement will take effect in October.

[Pieter C. 5]

Airbus Wins EUR€2 Bln Order From Aeroflot

 

July 15, 2010

 

Airbus has won an order worth more than EUR€2 billion (USD$2.5 billion) to deliver A330 planes to Russian airline Aeroflot, a source familiar with the deal said on Thursday.

 

"Aeroflot has made the order already a few days ago," the source said.

 

EADS would not comment while Aeroflot was not available for comment.

 

Aeroflot chief executive Vitaly Savelyev had already said in a TV interview last weekend that the company expected to acquire 22 Boeing 787s and 22 Airbus A350s by 2016 in a move to expand its fleet.

 

(Reuters)

[Y C LEONG 1]

not sure if this is new, but skyteam is in talks with saudi arabia, mea and aerolineas argentina for possible new members of the skyteam..

[Tamizi Hj Tamby 1]

China Eastern will be the newest member to join Skyteam this October,and since Shanghai Airlines will merge with them,FM will leaving Star Alliance and joining Skyteam.