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The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating how an international flight into Atlanta’s major airport landed on a taxiway instead of a runway early Monday. FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said Delta Flight 60, from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, was cleared to land about 6:05 a.m. Monday on Runway 27R but landed instead on Taxiway M, which runs parallel to the runway. The flight had 194 passengers and crew aboard, according to CNN affiliate WXIA. No other aircraft were on the taxiway, and there was no damage to either the taxiway or the plane, a Boeing 767, Bergen said.

Delta Air Lines (Atlanta) is expected to start flights from its Atlanta hub to Nairobi via Dakar, Senegal on June 3, 2009. The Boeing 767-300ER flights will depart Nairobi every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sundays.

Delta Air Lines is supplying some aircraft from its Northwest subsidiary to offer free charters to evacuate elderly residents and people in assisted living facilities in Fargo, North Dakota, which is preparing to experience heavy flooding. CEO Richard Anderson told his employees in a recorded message Friday that Northwest Boeing 757s and DC9s will be used for the effort. Anderson didn’t say how many planes or flights were being offered, but said the airline was cooperating with the Fargo mayor. Flight crews are volunteering their time.

As Boeing presses towards a first flight in the second quarter, airline customers have begun to raise questions publicly about the 787s performance. Early production aircraft are expected to be delivered overweight, prompting significant concern among airline customers. Boeing now advertises the range of the 787-8 as 14,150-15,170km, a reduction of roughly 560km from the 14,800-15,700km first touted.

Meanwhile, although it continues to talk with Boeing about the 787, Delta Air Lines has given the strongest signal yet that it will not take some or all of the 18 Dreamliners it has on order. The planes were ordered by Northwest, which is now part of Delta, and Delta has said it likely will want more of the bigger 777s from Boeing instead.

Delta Air Lines will drop about 170 gates nationwide as the carrier merges its operations with Northwest Airlines across the carriers’ shared airport networks. Delta chief executive officer Richard Anderson told employees Friday in his weekly address all airports nationwide should be converted by year-end, and international destinations will be integrated by mid-2010.

Atlantic Southeast Airlines, a Delta Connection carrier, says it will furlough 80 pilots next month as Delta Air Lines cuts capacity amid slumping demand. ASA said other employee groups will not be affected by the layoffs, which are expected to last about a year.

Delta Air Lines (Atlanta) announced today that it will start nonstop service from both Pittsburgh and Raleigh/Durham to Paris in June 2009. Delta said it is offering the two new routes through its joint venture with Air France, which will connect passengers to other cities in Europe via its Paris hub. Both new routes will be operated by 174-seat Boeing 757-200 aircraft.

Delta and Northwest Airlines won antitrust approval on Wednesday, with the Justice Department saying the creation of what will be the world’s largest airline will help consumers without hurting competition. The approval means the only thing standing between the two airlines and the deal closing is a trial in San Francisco next week in a lawsuit brought by 28 travelers. Northwest CEO Doug Steenland has said he does not believe the lawsuit will stop the deal, which the carriers have said they hope to close by the end of this year.

The FAA yesterday approved the merger transition plan submitted by Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines that envisions the carriers moving to a single operating certificate within 15-18 months. “The plan outlines the methodology, processes, tools and timing to maintain the safety of the day-to-day operations and to achieve a single operating certificate,” the airlines said in a statement. DL Senior VP-Maintenance Operations John Laughter added that FAA’s acceptance of the plan is “a significant milestone in our efforts to bring together our two airlines.” The merged airline, to be called Delta, will operate a mainline fleet of nearly 800 aircraft and employ approximately 75,000 workers worldwide.

Several of the major U.S. airlines announced second quarter operating results today, with heavy losses. All of the reporting airlines blamed sky high fuel prices for their disappointing results. Among the heavy hitters:

- Delta Air Lines (Atlanta) reported a $1 billion loss including special charges. The airline, however, earned a net profit of $137 million excluding special charges.

- American Airlines (Dallas/Ft. Worth) lost $1.45 billion in Q2, much of which was attributed to write downs of the value of American’s jet fleet, which the airline is trimming to save money. Excluding writedowns, AMR would have lost $284 million.

- Continental (Houston) lost $3 million in Q2 2008. Excluding a net gain of $22 million from one-time events, the carrier lost $25 million, or 25 cents per share. A year ago, Continental earned a profit of $228 million.

- US Airways (Phoenix) will report its quarterly earnings on Tuesday. Analysts, on average, expect the airline to lose $1.21 per share during the second quarter on revenue of $3.27 billion.

American Airlines (Fort Worth) could be eliminating more than 6,800 jobs later this year as the carrier struggles to survive record fuel costs. AMR Corporation, the parent of American Airlines and regional carrier American Eagle, said that it will cut domestic service 11-12% by the fourth quarter, which becomes a systemwide reduction of 8% when including international flights. In a memo to all employees, AMR said the employment reduction will be commensurate with the capacity cuts. AMR has about 85,500 employees, which means an 8% decrease would be about 6,850 workers.

American’s announcement is the latest furlough announcement in the airline industry, which also is trying to raise fares and fees to cope with record fuel prices. Other announced staff cuts include 4,000 at Delta Air Lines (Atlanta), 3,000 at Continental Airlines (Houston), 2,550 at United Airlines (Chicago) and 1,700 at U.S. Airways (Phoenix).

Representatives of Northwest Airlines’ (Minneapolis) pilots have asked the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) to deny an application to transfer the airline’s routes to Delta Air Lines (Atlanta) as part of a planned merger because it will “harm the public interest by creating a weaker merged airline than Northwest would be on its own". The two carriers announced their intention to merge in April and subsequently made an application to the DOT to transfer Northwest’s route authorities to Delta as part of the plan. As part of their application, the airlines said it would create annual sustainable synergies of $1 billion USD.

However, the Northwest Master Executive Council of pilots union ALPA says these synergies are unattainable since Northwest’s existing pilots agreement precludes putting the airline’s code on Delta’s flights. The council also argues that Delta will not be able to use Northwest aircraft, which it says are most suited to international routes, without their prior approval.

The union said in their submission to the DOT, “Failure to reach a new accord with Northwest’s pilots not only will impair the merger’s anticipated gains to the parties and to the public, but also will increase the merger’s recurring anticipated costs. Indeed, the higher costs and reduced synergies from failure to reach an accord with Northwest’s pilots may imperil the very viability of the new Delta/Northwest. The merger represents a bet that, by paying (we are told, the actual number may, as in most mergers, end up greater) a billion dollars in one-time integration costs, the combined entity will achieve sufficient recurring short-term synergies and savings to absorb this cost and sufficient recurring long-run benefits such that each airline is better off merged than each would be on its own. However, since the parties announced their merger agreement, some of the fundamental economic assumptions on which it was based no longer hold. Most significantly, since the merger was planned, the price of oil has shot up from $100 to over $130 a barrel. The bet of a long-run payoff from incurring greater short-term costs is accordingly less attractive today than when Delta and Northwest announced the merger.”

After recently attempting the same maneuver with Mesa Airlines, Pinnacle Airlines Corp. said Tuesday that its Pinnacle Airlines (Memphis) subsidiary had been notified by Delta Air Lines (Atlanta) of their intent to terminate Pinnacle’s contract as a Delta Connection carrier, effective July 31. Pinnacle said the attempt to terminate the contract is ‘wrongful.’

Delta alleges that Pinnacle didn’t meet minimum arrival-time performance requirements for a period, while Pinnacle President and Chief Executive Phil Trenary said many factors affecting on-time performance are beyond Pinnacle’s control. Trenary also said Delta is required to collaborate with Pinnacle to create a mutually acceptable operating schedule and that Delta has failed to do so since the beginning of operations in December 2007.

“We are extremely surprised and disappointed that Delta is attempting to take this drastic and improper action,” Trenary said.

Delta Air Lines (Atlanta) announced that it was able to get 3,000 of its employees to participate in its voluntary severance program, 1,000 more than expected. In March, the carrier reported plans to eliminate up to 2,000 jobs, or 3% of its work force, through voluntary payouts. In April, Delta offered two buyout packages to non-pilot U.S. employees, a total of about 30,000 people. “It’s possible in future plans that some of those positions could be hired back,” Delta spokesman Kent Landers said, “but this gives us more flexibility to adapt to rising fuel prices without having to involuntarily reduce the number of front-line employees.”

A Delta Air Lines (Atlanta) McDonnell Douglas MD-88 aircraft made an emergency landing at John F. Kennedy (JFK) International Airport in New York after the crew received an indicator light warning of possible problems with the airplane’s hydraulic system. The aircraft was en route to LaGuardia Airport in New York; however, a spokesman for the airline says the flight crew decided to land at JFK because it has a longer runway. The flight landed at 4:42pm local time. None of the 139 passengers aboard were injured in the incident.

Mesa Air Group (Phoenix) said earlier today that it might be forced to file for bankruptcy protection if it loses a legal fight with Delta Air Lines (Atlanta). Should this occur, it would be the eighth airline to seek Chapter 11 protection or close down operations in the past five months, following Frontier Airlines (Denver), Skybus Airlines (Columbus), ATA Airlines (Indianapolis), and others, as they struggle with record fuel prices.

Mesa, which operates regional flights for Delta Air Lines, United Airlines (Chicago) and US Airways (Phoenix), has been in dispute with Delta since March, when the carrier told Mesa that it planned to terminate their partnership, accusing Mesa of failing to complete a specified number of flights. Mesa denied the allegation, and in April filed suit against them, saying the airline had breached their agreement. Earlier this month, Mesa filed a motion in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia to prevent Delta from terminating the agreement. A court hearing is set for May 27, and Mesa said it expects a ruling when that is completed.

An Atlantic Southeast Airlines (Atlanta) CRJ-200 was evacuated on Sunday after the starboard engine caught fire. Flight 4320, operating on behalf of Delta Air Lines, made a rejected takeoff at the Baton Rouge Metro Airport after the crew heard a loud “pop". All passengers and crew were evacuated on the runway and no injuries were reported. Emergency response teams were at the aircraft within 90 seconds.

Delta Air Lines (Atlanta) and Northwest Airlines (Minneapolis), as well as Northwest’s subsidiaries, today filed application to the Department of Transportation (DOT) for transferring all route authorities held by Northwest and subsidiaries to the Delta name.

Docket: 2008-0162

In a major step forward towards a merger, Delta Air Lines (Atlanta) announced on Wednesday that its pilots had cleared merger plans with Northwest Airlines (Minneapolis). The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) had informed the carrier that their pilots had overwhelmingly voted to approve a change in their current contract that would promote revenue synergies in the new company. “We are pleased with the Delta pilots’ decision to ratify a modification to their current contract, marking an important step towards combining our two great airlines,” said Delta chief executive Richard Anderson. The future Delta and its regional partners would serve 390 destinations in 67 countries, have combined revenues of more than $35 billion USD, a fleet of nearly 800 aircraft (barring any cuts) and about 75,000 employees worldwide. Both parties expect the deal to be completed by the end of the year, after approval from regulators and shareholders.

It may not offer all of the benefits of a First Class suite, but Delta’s new “Cozy Suite” seats promise to make economy class seating less of a hellish, crippling nightmare. The design features a staggered layout that increases privacy while simultaneously creating a space for weary travelers to rest their heads. Passengers will also enjoy 31 inches of leg room (32 inch seat pitch) and the ability to recline without disturbing the person behind them. Also upgraded is seat width. On a typical narrowbody aircraft, width can be increased by as much as 2 inches. Delta is planning on installing the Cozy Suite in its Boeing 777 and 767 economy class aircraft by 2010.

For more information on the new “Cozy Suite” seats, please visit here.

Photo 1: Overhead view of the staggered configuration. (Photo Copyright Thompson Solutions)

Photo 2: Reverse view of a possible layout. (Photo Copyright Thompson Solutions)