Airline Industry News
Tens of thousands of American Airlines Inc. retirees can relax, at least for a while — they won’t be required to begin paying their own health insurance premiums.
Airline earnings for 2014 will be $1 billion or 5 percent lower than previously predicted as political tensions drive up oil prices and growth in emerging markets slows, the International Air Transport Association said.
Despite unusually severe winter weather, analysts expect robust airline earnings for the first quarter. "Broadly speaking, we feel demand trends are good and we expect highly upbeat commentary on earnings calls," said Hunter Keay, an airline analyst for Wolfe Research Inc.
American Eagle changed its name to Envoy Air, but will continue flying planes with the American Eagle livery. "Our name change is driven by our need to differentiate ourselves from the other regional carriers flying as American Eagle," said Pedro Fabregas, Envoy president, in a letter to employees.
Southwest Airlines plans to adopt a new maintenance program called EPIC for its Boeing 737s. EPIC will allow the carrier to perform overnight line checks on the next-generation aircraft instead of relocating the 737s to hangars for checks that take a longer time.
American Airlines plans to reconfigure its fleet of Boeing 777-200ERs later this year, boosting the number of seats from 247 to 260. The carrier aims to enhance the overall travel experience for passengers by adding new seats, new configurations and new entertainment systems when the rework into a two-class configuration begins later in 2014.
The offices of the Airline Division are closed for the Easter and Passover holiday. We will re-open on Monday, April 21st.
On behalf of the Division, we wish to extend best wishes for a Good Passover and Happy Easter to our members and families.