Turkish Airlines carried 13m passengers in Q1, down 8% compared to 14.2m passengers in the year-ago quarter. Domestic traffic fell 2.9% and international traffic decreased 11.8% year-over-year in the Q1. The carrier said ASKs dropped 7.8% YOY to 36.3b from 39.4b during the January-March period. RPKs were down 7.3% YOY to 26.9b, producing a load factor of 74.2%, up 0.4 points. Passenger aircraft movement also decreased 9.6% YOY to 97,506. However, by the end of Q1, the number of aircraft increased to 337 from 306 in the year-ago quarter. The number of widebody aircraft rose from 76 to 90; narrowbody aircraft grew from 220 to 234; and cargo aircraft went up to 13 from 10. Turkish Airlines deputy chairman & CE Bilal Eksi said recently the airline had no plans to cancel any new aircraft orders. <br/>
star
LOT launched 4X-weekly Warsaw-New York Newark services April 28, its fifth North American destination and second new route to the US (Los Angeles, California) within 1 month. The service will be increased to 5X-weekly starting in August. The new service will be initially operated with a leased Boeing 767-300 with business and economy class. Beginning in August, the route will be operated using a Boeing 787 in a 3-class configuration. “We have seen huge potential of passenger traffic from Poland to Newark that has not been taken advantage of,” LOT CE Rafal Milczarski said. “Right after New York JFK, Beijing, Toronto and Chicago O’Hare, Newark is the fifth most popular direction [among] long-distance flights among Poles,” he said. <br/>
SIA and the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) are collaborating on a series of "green package" flights on the carrier's San Francisco-Singapore route. The programme, which began May 1, runs for 3 months and involves 12 flights, says SIA. It will involve the use of air traffic control optimisation, as well as a mix of biofuels and normal aviation fuel. The aim is to explore ways to reduce fuel burn and carbon emissions. SIA operates the Airbus A350 aircraft on the route. “SIA’s fleet is already among the most modern and fuel-efficient in the world," says SIA CE Goh Choon Phong. "We now want to push ourselves further and are embarking on this initiative to help promote the use of sustainable biofuel in an operationally and commercially-viable manner.” <br/>
GX Aviation broadband launch customers Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines have completed their 4-month Ka-Band internet trial on short- and medium-haul flights and have transitioned over to a paid service. Passengers traveling on equipped aircraft can access high-speed internet on their mobile devices via 3 packages, priced at E3 (US$3) for messaging (FlyNet Message), E7 for general web browsing (FlyNet Surf) and E12 for video streaming (FlyNet Stream). Ultimately, passengers will also be able to pay for internet access with Air Miles or via roaming partners. “This is a significant milestone for GX Aviation too, which took more than 5 years to develop as the world’s first inflight broadband solution with seamless global coverage delivered through a single operator,” Inmarsat Aviation president Leo Mondale said. <br/>
An American has been detained in Tokyo for allegedly assaulting an airline employee after a fight on a plane bound for Los Angeles, police said Wednesday, in the latest bout of plane rage to go viral on social media. ANA Flight 6 was waiting to take off from Narita Monday when the fight broke out. An airport police officer said the suspect was being held on suspicion of injuring an ANA employee. The video of the on-board altercation, attributed to Corey Hour, showed a man punching another man and then evading a female flight attendant who attempted to calm him. Media said the man also assaulted a gate agent when leaving the plane. "ANA staff and passengers handled the situation with grace and respect. They did the best they could to defuse the situation," Hour said Monday. <br/>
South African Airways says it has successfully halted a potential strike by cabin crew. The South African Cabin Crew Association, representing about 80% of SAA’s cabin crew, went on strike last week over international meal allowances. The strike, which was halted last Wednesday by an interim order, caused about 30 flights to be cancelled as crew demanded an increase in the daily international meal allowance. SAA said Wednesday that the order was granted after the labour union appealed to the court against the interim order granted in favour of the airline. The airline approached the Labour Court and argued successfully to have SACCA and its members interdicted from embarking on industrial action and declaring the industrial action an unprotected strike. <br/>