Air New Zealand and Virgin Blue Airlines Group yesterday announced their intention to seek regulatory approval to create an alliance on transtasman routes. Both airlines, which have had legal teams working on the alliance proposal for some months ( ATWOnline, April 30), said applications will be filed with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and the New Zealand Ministry of Transport shortly. Regulators are expected to take six months to review the applications.
"Bureaucracy gone mad," is how British Airways CEO Willie Walsh characterized the closure of most Western European airspace by air navigation service providers and aviation authorities last month following the volcanic eruption in Iceland.
EU transport ministers are holding an extraordinary meeting in Brussels today to discuss possible short-term actions and structural measures to respond to the repercussions of the Icelandic volcanic eruption that led to the closure of European airspace for six days last month.
Reactions to the United Airlines/Continental Airlines merger announcement were swift yesterday, with lawmakers representing CO hubs in Houston and Cleveland registering concern over how those cities will be affected and unions representing employees from both carriers pushing for management to take steps to gain workers' backing.
The merger between Continental Airlines and United Airlines announced yesterday will, if consummated, create the world's largest airline by RPKs, serving 370 destinations in 59 countries with 692 mainline aircraft.
In what they described as "a merger of equals," Continental Airlines and United Airlines today announced the two companies will combine in an all-stock transaction in which Continental shareholders will receive 1.05 shares of United common stock for each CO share they own. United shareholders will own approximately 55% of the combined holding company, which will be named United Continental Holdings with United the name of the surviving airline. The transaction has a "combined value of over $8 billion," the companies said.
ANA may take another look at whether it should place an A380 order owing to looming competition from airlines that operate the aircraft through Japan, a senior executive said. Hitoshi Kawahara, ANA's director-international and regulatory affairs, said the carrier has become "more interested" in the A380 because rivals such as Singapore Airlines soon may be able to use it to pick up passengers in Japan and carry them to/from the US and other key markets.
China Southern Airlines reported first-quarter net income of CNY1.42 billion ($208.3 million), a more-than-sixfold increase over a CNY222.2 million profit in the year-ago quarter, on a 30.5% jump in revenue to CNY16.87 billion. It cited domestic market recovery as the key driver of the revenue improvement. Operating expenses climbed 20.5% to CNY16.51 billion.
Hainan Airlines posted first-quarter net income of CNY252.5 million ($37 million), a more-than-sevenfold increase over a CNY31.8 million profit in the year-ago period. Operating revenue rose 36.4% to CNY4.7 billion against a 30.9% lift in expenses to CNY3.5 billion. The Haikou-based carrier credited "domestic market recovery" and its effective "fleet expansion" for the positive performance.
Aviation Capital Solutions, based in the UK, acquired five BAe 146-300s from BAE Systems for delivery through June. Aircraft will be used in the European air charter market and Africa with existing clients and initially will be based in Europe on ACMI contracts.
GuestLogix reached a "multiyear" agreement with Aer Lingus to provide its onboard retail technology and OnTouch merchandising platform, which the Irish carrier will deploy on all its flights. Globe Air Cargowas named United Airlines' exclusive GSA in Spain.
Americans can always be trusted to do the right thing,” Winston Churchill is said to have remarked before adding mischievously, “Once all other possibilities have been exhausted.” Sometime in the not-too-distant future...
Lufthansa announced yesterday that it will initiate scheduled flights aboard its first A380 on June 11 with thrice-weekly service between Frankfurt and Tokyo Narita.
US Airways Chairman and CEO Doug Parker expressed strong reluctance to invest in cockpit technology that is seen as being vital to achieving the goals of FAA's NextGen air traffic management system, stating that the cost/benefit case has not been made.
CFM International said development on its next-generation LEAP-X1C engine, selected late last year to power Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China's 150-seat C919 slated to enter service in 2016, is progressing well with second-phase core testing underway and scheduled to conclude by mid-May.
El Al said yesterday that it is cancelling an order for four 777-200s placed two years ago. "Since the agreement with Boeing was signed in 2008 and the global crisis occurred in world markets, there have been substantial changes in the aviation sector," El Al CEO Eliezer Shkedi said, according to Reuters.
