Short Takes
November 1st 2012
AIRLINES: Air China and its subsidiary, Shandong Airlines, are in negotiations with the Qingdao provincial government to establish Qingdao Airlines. British Airways and Japan Airlines launched their business partnership in October with the announcement that the two airlines would share revenue on “applicable” flights between Europe and Japan. Read More »
ALLIANCES: Taiwan’s China Airlines has become the 10th member of the SkyTeam cargo alliance.
BUSINESS: Air Astana, the flag carrier of Kazahkstan, will launch an initital public offering (IPO) in the third quarter of 2013. Its shares in the IPO are planned to only be offered to the country’s citizens. Air Astana is 51% controlled by Kazahkstan’s sovereign wealth fund, Samruk Kazyna, with the remaining equity held by BAE Systems (49%).
CARGO: Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals Ltd (HACTL) has appointed Vivian Lau as managing director of its Hong Kong Air Cargo Industry Services subsidiary.
CODE-SHARES: Garuda Indonesia and Etihad Airways have put into force their planned code-share agreement that will allow the Asian carrier to offer passengers from Indonesia up to 80 destinations beyond Abu Dhabi, Etihad’s home base.
FLEET: New Japanese carrier, LINK, has taken delivery of the first of three ATR72-600s, powered by Pratt & Whitney Canada engines. LINK is Japan’s first customer for ATR aircraft. The carrier plans to begin flying regional routes from April 2013.
INFLIGHT: Hong Kong-headquartered Cathay Pacific Airways has unveiled its new regional business class, which includes a fixed shell Recaro designed seat with greater recline, an extended leg rest, a two-inch increase in pitch to 47 inches and a wider seat width of 21 inches. Aircraft re-configured with the upgraded premium cabin will be rolled out from January next year with the entire Cathay fleet fitted with the new product in 14 months.
LEASING: AWAS has delivered the first of the two A320 aircraft it will lease to Philippine Airlines. China Southern Airlines will lease three A320-200s from BOC Aviation, with deliveries scheduled for the first half of 2014. GE Capital Aviation has delivered two new B737-800s to Shanghai’s China Eastern Airlines.
ROUTES: Japan Airlines will launch its direct Tokyo-Helsinki service in February 2013.
TRAINING: U.S. training company, Frasca International, has signed a contract to deliver one of its Level D Full Flight Simulators to Nanshan International Flight Academy in China, the seventh Frasca training device delivered to the Mainland Chinese flight training school.
