Virgin delays A380 entry
Virgin Atlantic Airways has put back the entry into service of its first Airbus A380 by 18 months. Virgin was due to be the first European carrier to operate the aircraft in June 2006. The carrier says the decision is due to delays in finalising cabin interiors and doubts about the ability of some airports, notably Los Angeles, to handle the aircraft.
CSA flies onwards
CSA Czech Airlines is to begin fifth-freedom services onwards to Barcelona on its Prague-Marseille service. The carrier is planning to take advantage of the entry of the Czech Republic to the European Union by operating on west European routes. CSA will operate the route four times a week with a Boeing 737-500.
Flywest plans June launch
French low-cost start-up Flywest is to launch operations in June, flying the Brest-Toulon route with a Boeing 737 supplied by La Post subsidiary Europe Airpost. The service will operate twice weekly on Fridays and Sundays.
Swiss mulls all-business flights
Swiss says it is in discussions with business-jet operators about offering a business-only service on one or two of its long-haul routes, including Zurich to New York Newark. The airline is studying the option to supplement its long-haul services since cutting back its widebody fleet to 18 aircraft.
Passenger data deal
European foreign ministers have given the go-ahead to an agreement with the USA on the exchange of passenger air data. The deal gives US authorities access to passenger name record data on selected flights into the USA on Euroepan airlines as part of US counter-terrorism efforts. The European Parliament has referred the matter to the European Court, however.
Lufthansa outsources pensions
Lufthansa is setting up a dedicated securities portfolio fund to cover its domestic company pension commitments over 10-15 years and progressively remove them from its balance sheet. At the end of 2003 the group's pension provisions totalled g4.3 billion ($5.2 billion) . The outsourcing of Lufthansa's pension obligations is to be completed at the latest by 2020.
Source: Airline Business
