ATW Daily News

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Friday August 25, 2006

Dutch authorities yesterday released all 12 passengers detained Wednesday after a Northwest Airlines DC-10-30 bound for Mumbai abruptly returned to Amsterdam (ATWOnline, Aug. 24). US air marshals onboard the flight thought the 12 male Indian citizens aged 25-35, reportedly dressed in traditional South Asian clothing, were acting in a suspicious manner. The plane returned to Schiphol accompanied by Dutch fighter jets shortly after departure. The passengers reportedly were passing cellphones to each other, behavior deemed potentially threatening in light of UK authorities' contention that the transatlantic airline bombing plotters may have been planning to use phones to detonate explosives. A Dutch prosecutor's office said in a statement that "a thorough investigation of the cellphones in the plane found that the phones were not manipulated and no explosives were found onboard the plane." It added that interrogations of the men and other witnesses yielded "no evidence...that these men were about to commit an act of violence."

China Southern Airlines ordered GEnx engines to power its 10 787s to be delivered beginning in 2008 (ATWOnline, Sept. 1, 2005). Value of the order is estimated at $240 million.

US Transportation Security Administration said there has been a 20% increase in checked baggage since it banned liquids and gels from carry-on bags on Aug. 10, but insisted there is "no negative impact" and "no flight delays" as a result of the higher volume. TSA head Kip Hawley said the agency is "paying close attention so the system doesn't become overwhelmed."

Regional Express of Australia pulled the plug on its previously announced plans to acquire Brisbane-based Sunshine Express (ATWOnline, Aug. 16). Rex MD Geoff Breust said that Sunshine came up with new, last-minute conditions that were "not acceptable" to the company or its shareholders. "We extend our best wishes to Sunshine Express and hope that its management and owners are able to overcome its current difficulties," Breust said. "We have been assured that its current owners Aeromil will continue to provide full backing to the airline."

Sun-Air of Scandinavia, a Danish British Airways franchise carrier, reached an agreement to acquire three previously owned Dornier 328JETs. Two will be configured with 32 seats and the third will be fitted with a VIP layout. The first will be delivered in October, with the others expected to enter service in December and January.

Lufthansa will launch services from Hamburg to Moscow Sheremetyevo (four-times-weekly from Oct. 30), Geneva (daily from Oct. 29), Innsbruck (twice-weekly from Dec. 21) and Palma (thrice-weekly from Feb. 17).

Frontier Airlines will launch Saturday Kansas City-Cabo San Lucas service on Dec. 16.

Germanwings will add a fourth daily Cologne-Berlin Schoenefeld flight on Oct. 30.

Qantas and Air China reached a codeshare agreement effective Sept. 15 that will see Air China place its code on Qantas's thrice-weekly Sydney-Beijing flights.

Delta Air Lines said it is using a new decision support tool called Attila that allows it to manage landings in Atlanta better during congested periods. The program sends information from Delta's operations control center to cockpits to provide pilots with coordinated speed adjustments so landings are more evenly spaced.

Yemenia Yemen Airways secured European Aviation Safety Agency Part 145 certification for services provided by its maintenance and engineering division. The airline will offer heavy MRO and checks on A330-200s, A310-300s, 737-200s, 737-800s and 727-200s in its own fleet as well for third parties.

SkyEurope Airlines said that passengers now can pre-select seats when booking flights on its website.

Oasis Hong Kong Airlines, a startup slated to launch in October, yesterday selected PAM (Oasis) Ltd. to establish, operate and maintain its Hong Kong-based call center.

Sabre Airline Solutions signed a five-year contract with Russian airline KDAvia to upgrade the carrier's operational and decision-support technology.

Separately, Eos Airlines signed a deal to implement a suite of Sabre software solutions.

SITA and SIIC Shanghai International Trade Co. were awarded a four-year, $8 million contract to equip Shanghai Pudong's new Terminal 2, scheduled to open next year, with integrated airport management systems including SITA's Common Use Terminal Equipment passenger check-in system and BagManager baggage system.

Crane Aerospace & Electronics was selected by Diehl Avionik Systeme to provide proximity-sensing equipment for doors on A380 freighters.

SAS Group executive Hakan Ericson, who had been responsible for the company's Airline Support Businesses including SAS Ground Services, SAS Technical Services, SAS Cargo, SAS Flight Academy and SAS Media, will resign Aug. 31 to become president of Loomis Cash Handling Services. His duties will be assumed by John Dueholm (Technical Services), Gunna Reitan (Cargo Services), and Bernhard Rikardsen (Ground Services, Flight Academy and Media).

AirTran Airways' board of directors elected Mark Osterberg VP and chief accounting officer.