Global demand for air travel up 6.1 per cent in May

S7 Airlines is to transition its main IT platform to Amadeus’ Altea for its reservations, passenger management and inventory handling.

First Deputy General Director Tatyana Fileva said: “Amadeus Altea will allow us to optimise the business processes associated with issuing tickets and registering passengers, as well as automate a number of manual operations. We chose the best passenger service system.

“Partnership with Amadeus will allow us to change and develop as actively as we want, and provide the best service to our passengers without encountering technological limitations.”

Ten other oneworld member airlines also use Amadeus as their main IT platform.

LATAM has become the seventh oneworld member airline to serve Boston, with the launch of flights from its Sao Paulo hub with four Boeing 767-300s a week.

LATAM has also opened a new Peruvian domestic route, linking Cuzco with Iquitos.  Both destinations were already on the airline’s network.

Iberia carried 11.5 per cent more passenger traffic in June than a year ago, on capacity increased by 8.2 per cent, firming its load factor by 2.6 points at 87.2 per cent. Its IAG stablemate British Airways reported demand up 6.9 per cent on capacity hiked by 2.5 per cent, improving its load factor by 3.5 points, at 87.1 per cent.

Star member airlines are to be allowed to develop code-share relationships with unaligned Etihad – but the Gulf carrier insists it still has no plans to seek membership of the global alliance.

Star’s Austrian is suspending five destinations – including oneworld hubs Hong Kong and Colombo.

Other stations closing are Havana and Iran’s Isfahan and Shiraz.

Its final flights to Colombo and Hong Kong will operate in October.

The airline will also close its domestic link to Linz from its Vienna hub.

While it will convert its Miami service to operate during the summer season only, rather than year-round, it will increase frequencies to a number of other US destinations, including Chicago and New York, and to Mainland China.

Star’s Egyptair is to open service to Hong Kong, with two Airbus A330-300s a week from its Cairo hub from 17 September.

Emirates has added the Santiago hub of oneworld’s LATAM to its network, with five two-class Boeing 777-200LRs a week from its Dubai hub, as an extension of its established Sao Paulo route.

Unaligned Alaska Airlines has opened service to New York JFK from California’s San Jose.  It now serves JFK 15 times a day from a total of six US West Coast gateways.

Boeing has taken control of Embraer's commercial jet business after agreeing to take an 80 per cent stake in a new joint venture to be established between the US and Brazilian airframe manufacturers.

It follows a deal which will see Airbus effectively take over Bombardier’s regional jet programme.

Star’s SAS carried 2.8 per cent more passenger traffic in June than a year ago, on capacity increased by 1.5 per cent, easing its load factor up 1.0 point to 81.8 per cent.  The airline boarded a total of 2.7 million passengers in the month.

Global demand for air travel in May rose 6.1 per cent year-on-year in capacity increased by 5.9 per cent, leaving the industry’s passenger load factor all but unchanged at 80.1 per cent, according to data released by IATA.

Airlines based in Asia-Pacific reported the biggest growth, with carryings up 8.1 per cent, followed by carriers in Latin America and Europe, up 7.5 and 6.2 per cent respectively.  Those in North America saw demand rise 4.9 per cent, while those in Africa and the Middle East claimed 3.8 and 0.8 per cent increases respectively.

The HNA Group’s Chairman Wang Jian died in an accident while on a business trip to the South of France, the company has announced.  He was 57 years old.