SkyEurope Airlines is planning to expand aggressively from its new Vienna base, possibly to 15 aircraft, in order to challenge Austrian Airlines' "Focus East" strategy, CCO Karim Makhlouf told ATWOnline. Speaking last week at the French Connect seminar in Nantes La Baule, Makhlouf said, "In times of consolidation it is normal to go where you expect a gap in the near future," adding that he considers Austrian to be "the weakest hub carrier in Europe. They have a cost problem. That is why we will attack them."
Indian government yesterday made seat assignments compulsory for all domestic airlines. The Office of the Director General of Civil Aviation said it was imposing the regulation "in order to ensure correct loading of aircraft and keeping the center of gravity of the aircraft within limits at all times during flight."
Shenzhen Airlines is looking to capture a significant share of the Chinese business aviation market with Yalian Business Jet Co., a recently established joint venture with Business Aviation Asia of Hong Kong and National Trust, a Beijing-based financial services provider. The carrier holds a 46% stake in the new entity with an investment of CNY46 million ($6 million), while BAA and NT put in CNY43 million and CNY11 million respectively for 43% and 11%.
Alitalia Group's net debt as of March 31 was €1.07 billion ($1.46 billion), down 2.7% from Feb. 28. During March the company repaid €14 million of medium/long-term financing.
HNA Group, parent of Hainan Airlines and several other carriers, reported net profit of CNY51.2 million ($6.6 million) in the first quarter, a more than fourfold improvement over earnings of CNY12.1 million in the year-ago quarter. Operating revenue rose 20.6% to CNY3.45 billion against a 21.5% lift in costs to CNY2.72 billion. The company attributed the good results to "tightening cost control" and "fleet expansion," pointing out China's air transport market upturn also boosted its traffic revenue.
OVER THE PAST YEAR, COMMERCIAL aviation suddenly has become serious about alternative fuels. Once pie-in-the-sky popular science, the subject now is manifestly mainstream. From January 2004 through July 2006, jet fuel prices skyrocketed $1.16 per gal., according to the Air Transport Assn., and fuel has leapfrogged labor at most airlines as the largest operating expense. But "this is not just about price," says ATA Chief Economist John Heimlich, "it's about supply integrity. We want to make sure we have fuel around at any price, [not just] a good price."
WITH A HISTORY OF 86 YEARS of operation and bragging rights as the fourth-oldest airline in the world, Compania Mexicana de Aviacion is about as "legacy" as a carrier can get. It played a crucial role in building Mexico's airport and airways system, was at one time owned by Pan American World Airways and even can boast that a certain Charles Lindbergh piloted one of its flights. It is a heritage that no one at Mexicana cares to forget, leastwise CEO Emilio Romano, who has led the airline since March 2004.
BOMBARDIER SURVEYED THE regional aircraft market and made a bold decision: Stretch its 86-seat CRJ900 to 100 seats, establishing the CRJ1000, which was launched in February with 38 firm orders valued at $1.2 billion from three customers. The move was not a blind stab at attracting orders from airlines that appear to have grown wearyat least for now and the foreseeable futureof new-build 50-seat regional jets. Rather, Bombardier said customers pushed it to build a newer, bigger CRJ.
THEY SAY THAT THE EYES ARE THE window to the soul and even to health. If the airline equivalent is its Internet site, then Malaysia Airlines is alive and well, its website brimming with bright, colorful fare promotions and special online deals. It's quite a departure from a few years ago when the carrier's future seemed much more uncertain and its website was not stacked with rotating Domestic SuperSavers.
We'll admit to having been caught off guard by the European Council's approval of the US-EU open skies agreement (set to be signed formally at the end of April). With Washington having withdrawn its foreign control NPRM last fall and two previous open skies agreements having failed, there seemed little reason to predict success this time. We also had not expected the Franco-German alignment to prevail over the UK aviation establishment, which had made clear its lack of enthusiasm for the deal.
Are you a leader or a follower when it comes to setting your company's supply chain agenda? In its annual trends report, consulting firm PRTM identifies the differences between the followers (companies focused on basic functions and internal integration) and the leaders (companies that are collaborating with strategic partners, often in real-time). [click here to continue]
The European Commission opened a "detailed investigation" under the EU Merger Regulation into Travelport's proposed acquisition of Worldspan, citing concerns over the competitiveness of the deal. The Commission has 90 working days from the investigation's launch to reach a final decision on whether the concentration would significantly impede effective competition within the European Economic Area, which comprises the European Union plus Norway and Iceland, or a significant part of it.
REGIONAL AIRLINES IN the US have been forced to find new resiliency as they respond to mainline carriers' increasing demands for lower costs. No longer partners in the traditional sense of the word, they have become interchangeable suppliers of commodity lift to the legacy airlines under the fee-for-departure arrangements that reshaped the industry in the 1990s. "These guys are vendors competing against other vendors," says Doug Abbey, an analyst with The Velocity Group, while one regional airline CEO describes the current climate as "hypercompetitive."
THE MAJOR US AIRLINES AND THE global distribution system companies believe that a sort of equilibrium has been achieved with the latest round of participating carrier agreements, but the era of good feeling may not last as long as the contracts. In general, both sides got what they wanted: The airlines got lower segment fees and the GDSs got guarantees of full content, a critical issue for their subscribers, for the life of the five- to seven-year agreements.
Need help in devising a plan to keep counterfeits out of your supply chain? The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Coalition Against Counterfeiting and Piracy recently introduced a resource designed to help. Called the No Trade in Fakes Supply Chain Tool Kit, this documentation outlines a variety of strategies for manufacturers to consider as they prepare to protect their supply chains from counterfeiters. [click here to continue]
One big problem with supply chain forecasting is that companies don't draw on enough resources when creating their forecasts. "Done well, forecasting contributes to supply chain performance, customer satisfaction and financial success," observes Terry Harris, managing partner with Chicago Consulting. "Done poorly, little else matters." [click here to continue]
Airbus appointed Gerald Weber head-operations and member of the Executive Committee, Tom Williams acting head-procurement, Patrick Gavin executive VP-engineering and Charles Champion to succeed Gavin as executive VP-customer services. Air Dolomiti named Jorg Eberhart VP-marketing, network & commercial. Alaska Air Group promoted Wendy Jones to MD-internal audit and Jeff Butler to staff VP-station operations. Alpha Aviation Group tapped Groeme Ogilvie as VP-global operations. ALTA selected Gonzalo Yelpo to succeed Celestino Pena as chief legal counsel.
"Alarming" is how Anthony C. Laplaca describes the rate at which counterfeit and knock-off replacement parts are entering the North American market. "Their product depth and level of sophistication are expanding as well," he says. Appearing before a U.S.
There is little agreement among airlines on either side of the Atlantic on whether the European Commission's CRS Code of Conduct should be amended or abolished altogether. The airlines, along with GDS companies and organizations representing travel agencies and consumers, weighed in on the issue following a call for public consultation by the EC, which was closed on April 27.
IT WAS AN ADVERTISEMENT THAT STRUCK A CHORD among millions of Indians. A poor carpenter in a village carves an aircraft model out of a block of wood for his school-going child. The child loves the model and plays with it all day, even placing it by his pillow while sleeping. Fast-forward 20 years to the now aged carpenter, who is surprised to receive an airline ticket by mail from his son who lives far away in the city. The whole village shares the carpenter's joy as he leaves for the airport to visit his son on what is obviously his first airplane trip.
MAXjet Airways named Extra Space Storage CEO Kenneth Woolley as chairman, replacing Richard Sharp. It also named former Spirit Airlines CFO John Severson as CFO, George Paul as COO and Ceciley Bachnik as VP-people services.
Air China reported a net profit of CNY403 million ($52.1 million) for the first quarter, a result that contrasts sharply with the recently announced losses by China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines. CA did not provide year-ago figures. The company cited "expansion of its principal operations and the investment income derived from Cathay Pacific Airways" as key to its performance ( ATWOnline, March 21). Operating revenue reached CNY10.47 billion against costs of CNY10.44 billion.
Pinnacle Airlines signed a 10-year capacity purchase agreement with Delta Air Lines to operate 16 CRJ900s as Delta Connection. Pinnacle will acquire and finance the 76-seat aircraft, to be delivered November 2007-July 2008, and begin flying for DL in December. "We are excited about this opportunity to join the Delta family," President and CEO Phil Trenary said.
Airline Partners Australia's A$11.1 billion ($9.21 billion) bid for Qantas was dealt yet another blow yesterday as acceptances fell to 25.52% from 27.8% as the offer moves into its final week ( ATWOnline, April 24). APA must secure 50% acceptance by Friday evening to trigger a two-week extension of the offer, giving it time to reach the revised target of 70%. It did say that more than half of QF shareholders have accepted the offer.
US House of Representatives will consider a bill called the Airline Personnel Training Enhancement Act, introduced by Rep. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) that will require airlines to provide cabin staff and gate attendants with initial and annual training on serving alcohol and identifying and dealing with intoxicated passengers.
