Virgin America is denying adamantly that it is in danger of losing the financial support of its US-based investors and claims that it may be profitable by year end. The airline is majority owned and operated by US investment groups Black Canyon Capital of Los Angeles and Cyrus Capital Partners of New York, which are rumored to be preparing to divest their stakes. Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin brand, maintains a 25% share.
AVIC is expected to launch an aero engine company, airborne systems company and composite material engineering center in conjunction with the Beijing municipal government. According to the strategic cooperation agreement signed yesterday, the three new companies will have total registered capital of CNY11.5 billion ($1.68 billion), with total investment of CNY21 billion.
Southwest Airlines announced a tentative three-year labor agreement with the Transport Workers Union covering freight agents and ramp, operations and provisioning employees. Negotiations began in January 2008 and the contract, if approved, will run through June 30, 2011. The TWU board has submitted to deal to its 7,780 SWA employees for a ratification vote.
Southwest Airlines yesterday agreed to pay US FAA a $7.5 million fine to settle an enforcement action stemming from the carrier's operating 46 737 Classics for nine days in March 2007 after it had disclosed to the agency that the aircraft were in noncompliance with an airworthiness directive.
General Electric said it signed a definitive agreement to purchase Teleflex Inc.'s 51% share of Airfoil Technologies International-Singapore for $300 million in cash. GE and Teleflex are partners in the Singapore-based compressor airfoil overhaul facility. According to GE, ATI-Singapore started operations in 1998 servicing CF6 and CFM56 components "but has expanded to service all GE commercial aviation, marine and industrial engines, as well as Pratt & Whitney and Honeywell components." Its 535 employees repair more than 2 million compressor airfoils annually.
Thomson Airways, the new name of the merged Thomsonfly and First Choice Airways ( ATWOnline, June 17, 2008), and the British Airline Pilots Assn. reached an agreement in advance of the May combination that will see 11 aircraft removed from the fleet. None of the 96 surplus pilots will be laid off. All Thomson pilots will take pay cuts of up to 5%, receive extra days off and be eligible for voluntary redundancy.
SITA and Swissport announced deployment of the world's first common-use bag-drop solution at Zurich, allowing passengers from multiple airlines to use the same queue. Eleven Star Alliance carriers will use 10 common-use counters at the airport, where the departure control system will employ SITA's PassengerBagdrop software. Star Manager-Product and Services Anita Elste said the common-use bag drops have helped reduce processing time to under 30 sec. per passenger.
Carpatair Saab 2000 safely executed an emergency landing Saturday in Timisoara, where the aircraft touched down on a 200-m. bed of foam after a nose gear malfunction. The aircraft, en route from Chisinau, circled above the airport for nearly 2 hr. to spend fuel before landing. None of the 47 passengers or four crew onboard was injured. The pilots discovered the landing gear problem some 6 mi. from the airport, the Associated Press reported. Carpatair, based in Timisoara, operates 14 Saab 2000s and three F100s to 30 destinations.
DAE Capital, the aircraft leasing arm of Dubai Aerospace Enterprise, signed an operating lease agreement with Garuda Indonesia for eight 737-800s. The deal is a sale-and-leaseback transaction covering aircraft scheduled to begin delivery in June. The eight -800s covered in the contract are the first of 50 737NGs (25 firm plus 25 options) that Garuda ordered at last year's Singapore Air Show ( ATWOnline, Feb. 20, 2008).
BOC Aviation finalized a sale-and-leaseback deal with Virgin Blue for one 737-800 delivered late last year and -800s scheduled for delivery in the 2009 fourth quarter. Aircraft will be leased for an average of 10 years each. BOCA has a portfolio of 104 aircraft and has 70 more on firm order for delivery through 2013.
Thai Airways reported a THB21.38 billion ($592.1 million) loss in 2008 compared to a THB4.43 billion profit in 2007 as the economic downturn and the protest-induced closure of Bangkok Suvarnabhumi in the fourth quarter proved too much to overcome. Thai suffered a THB14.8 billion fourth-quarter loss that represented a reversal from a THB1.84 billion profit in the final three months of 2007 ( ATWOnline, Dec. 5, 2008).
While noting that last year was "one of the most difficult in recent memory," Iberia Group still managed to achieve its 13th consecutive full-year profit with net earnings of €32 million ($40.8 million), down 90.2% from the €328 million reported in 2007.
Aeroflot transported 635,900 passengers in January, up 0.3% from the year-ago month. Traffic climbed 2.6% to 1.97 billion RPKs and load factor slipped 1.4 points to 62.5%.
China Eastern Airlines is looking to drive load factors by making it easier and more economical for potential passengers to connect. CEA said its point-to-point network has made it difficult to attract more passengers in a declining market, so it has identified some 900 "transit routes" featuring multiple segments between markets that may have growth potential.
Virgin America's poor financial showing has led to speculation that the San Francisco-based startup may be in jeopardy of losing the support of its US-based investors. Founded by impresario Richard Branson and designed to capitalize on the success of the Virgin brand, the airline is majority owned and operated by US investment groups Black Canyon Capital of Los Angeles and Cyrus Capital Partners of New York. Branson maintains a 25% share ( ATW, August 2008).
Jeppesen said Friday that Continental Airlines completed the first flight using the company's Airport Moving Map on a Class 2 electronic flight bag. Jeppesen's Airport Moving Map "uses a high-resolution database to dynamically render maps of the airport," employing GPS technology to show pilots their own-ship position on runways and taxiways, the company said, adding that CO plans to retrofit its 757s and 767s with navAero Class 2 EFBs that will include the Airport Moving Map technology.
Turkish Airlines confirmed Friday that the nine people killed in last week's 737-800 accident in Amsterdam comprised three pilots (including one trainee), one flight attendant and five passengers ( ATWOnline, Feb. 27). THY said it will pay €50,000 ($63,720) to the families of each of the deceased and €5,000-€10,000 to those being treated in hospitals.
Lufthansa announced the submission of its public takeover offer to all shareholders of Austrian Airlines Group for €4.49 ($5.72) per share. Acceptance period runs from today through May 11. LH said the offered share price is approximately 30% higher than the Feb. 26 closing price. LH already has agreed to acquire Austrian state holding company OIAG's 41.56% share in AAG for €366,000 plus an earn-out option that could reach €164 million depending on Austrian's future performance.
V Australia operated its inaugural flight Friday, a Sydney-Los Angeles service that departed at 3 p.m. local time aboard a 777-300ER. The thrice-weekly flights will become daily on March 20. The Virgin Blue subsidiary also will fly to LAX from Melbourne and said it "has set its sights" on serving South Africa ( ATWOnline, Feb. 10). Qantas will launch thrice-weekly Singapore-Mumbai service on June 2.
AirAsia reported a 2008 net loss of MYR471.7 million ($128.3 million), reversed from a MYR697.6 million profit in 2007, but insisted its 2009 outlook is strong because its low-fare model is attracting new traffic and it has "unwound" fuel hedges that weighed down second-half earnings.
Cyprus Airways reported a €1.7 million ($2.2 million) profit in 2008, up 41.7% from the €1.2 million earned in 2007, on a revenue increase of 8% to €311.4 million. It credited fuel surcharges and rising passenger numbers for the boost in turnover. Full-year operating profit plunged 64.8% to €1.9 million from €5.4 million as expenses rose 9.9% to €311.3 million. Fuel costs were up 42.1%. The year-over-year comparison in net results was helped by €3.3 million in finance costs in 2007.
ACG Air Cargo Germany took delivery of its first 747-400SF Friday. The privately held carrier is based at Frankfurt Hahn and plans to use the leased aircraft for charter operations. A second aircraft should follow this spring. First flights will operate to the Middle East, Far East, Russia and Turkey, ACG said.
Ryanair is considering charging passengers £1 ($1.43) to use onboard lavatories, CEO Michael O'Leary told the BBC. "One thing we have looked at in the past and are looking at again is the possibility of maybe putting a coin slot on the toilet door so that people might actually have to spend a pound to spend a penny in future," O'Leary said. A UK CAA spokesperson told The Times that "there is no legal requirement for an aircraft to have a toilet onboard, so if an airline does have a toilet they can charge to use it. Ryanair is legally able to do this."
