CIT Group arranged and syndicated a $125 million senior secured credit facility to A J Walter Aviation, in which AJW will use to support spare parts acquisitions. AAR Corp. announced its 188,000 sq. ft. Duluth MRO facility is now operational and has completed and delivered its first aircraft.
United Parcel Service (UPS) has unveiled a new service that will enable the shipping of heavyweight airfreight on a “day-definite, door-to-door basis.”
The US FAA and US aerospace companies have been temporarily spared from the consequences of steep across-the-board federal government budget cuts that were scheduled to become law Wednesday.
The US FAA has issued a new airworthiness directive (AD) that revises inspection requirements on certain Boeing 737 Classics regarding fuselage skin cracking.
Virgin Group chairman Richard Branson was irked. With rumors flying last month that Delta Air Lines was on the verge of buying Singapore Airlines’ 49% stake in Virgin Atlantic Airways (51%-owned by Virgin Group), there was speculation in the British media that the carrier would essentially become Delta UK.
After decades of reliable, continuous growth, air cargo traffic has completely stagnated over the last five years. The level of international airfreight traffic was essentially the same in 2012 as 2007.
There is a paradox related to air passenger growth in Latin America that threatens the robust rate of airline traffic expansion predicted as a natural consequence of more people in the region ascending to the middle class.
The good news is that IATA is forecasting another profitable year for airlines; a global net profit of $19.7 billion in 2014 that will mark an almost $7 billion improvement over the profit anticipated for 2013.
Lufthansa Group’s intent to end the codeshare and frequent flyer arrangements that Lufthansa, Austrian and Swiss have with Turkish Airlines has interesting implications for the future of the global alliances, particularly with regards to the major Gulf carriers. Lufthansa, a Star Alliance founding member, sponsored Turkish Airlines’ induction into Star in 2008. Since then, Turkish has expanded rapidly and as a result, Istanbul has become a major global hub rivaling the traditional European hubs such as Frankfurt.
Asia-Pacific airlines—global industry leaders in terms of profitability in recent years—are cautious about 2014 as yields and profits this year have failed to reach anticipated levels, the head of the region’s airline association says.
FedEx and United Parcel Service (UPS) operated for many years under well-established business models predicated primarily on catering to businesses and consumers wanting to ship goods and packages as quickly as possible.
"Which market is the basket case? It’s Europe,” Chris Tarry, principal at UK-based consultancy firm CTAIRA, told ATW. “We have gone from Europe being top of the class in 2007 and 2008 to being bottom since 2009. I think we’re in for much more of the same. The economic outlook is still not great; we’re getting some mixed messages at the moment.”
With Boeing’s official launch of the 777X at the Dubai Air Show, the first commercial widebody engine program of the next decade also formally got underway. Though GE Aviation had already done considerable research and development work on the GE9X, which will exclusively power the 777X and provide most of the aircraft’s promised fuel burn gain, the program’s November launch gave GE a burst of momentum and a slew of orders for its next-generation widebody engine.
It’s tough when you are a small carrier, fighting for survival in a constrained home market, looking on with envy as neighbors Emirates Airline and Etihad Airways place multi-billion dollar new aircraft orders. But Raja Azmi, the charismatic CEO at flynas, is hoping to position his airline in the big league using experience he gained with low-cost giant AirAsia. This was enough of a challenge to lure him back from early retirement.
The board of the Allied Pilots Association (APA), the union representing American Airlines’ pilots, has approved a proposed memorandum of understanding (MOU) that would serve as a framework for the pilots of American and US Airways if the two companies merge.
The head of the US Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) has called massive federal budget cuts that will automatically trigger if not addressed as part of a bill to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff a “mindless meataxe.”
