Ryanair's bid for Aer Lingus appears to be dead following yesterday's overwhelming vote to reject the offer by members of EI's Employee Share Ownership Trust, which holds 12.58% of the flag carrier. The SIPTU and Impact unions reported that 97% of voting ESOT members opted to oppose the bid on a 70% turnout. The Irish government already has indicated it will not sell its 25.35% stake. Ryanair holds 19.16%.
Finnair Technical Services and Finncomm Airlines signed a €30 million agreement for maintenance support of ATR engines. The agreement includes four ATR 42-500s and seven ATR 72-500s to be acquired by Finncomm through 2009, as well as a possible five additional aircraft for which the airline has options. The deal covers each engine for 12 years.
Delta Air Lines' pilots union chairman was harshly critical of US Airways' proposed $8 billion takeover, saying in a letter to the carrier's 6,000 pilots that "on the surface, [the offer] appears to lack any substantial benefit for Delta, its employees, our communities, or our customers."
Skybus Airlines selected Rockwell Collins avionics, including WXR-2100 MultiScan Weather Radar and the GLU-925 Multi-Mode receiver, and an eFlight information management solution for the 65 A319s it ordered last month ( ATWOnline, Oct. 27).
Australian unions and analysts are warning that Qantas may be broken up and thousands of jobs lost if a $7.7 billion hostile takeover bid brokered by Australia's Macquarie Bank and led by US corporate raider Texas Pacific Group is successful.
Airbus significantly boosted its long-term projection for commercial aircraft demand in its "2006 Global Market Forecast" released yesterday, predicting that 22,700 new passenger and freighter aircraft valued at $2.6 trillion will be required over the next 20 years, 5,400 more than it predicted just two years ago. Rapid growth in emerging markets like China, India and the Middle East was citied as the main reason for the increase, which boosts the value of commercial aircraft demand through 2025 by $700 billion over the 2004 projection of $1.9 trillion.
Mesa Air Group's fiscal year ended Sept. 30 with a thud as a poor fourth quarter left the company $34 million in the black but with a 40.3% earnings decline from a profit of $56.9 million in the 2004-05 financial year.
Korean Air placed the biggest aircraft order in its history yesterday, signing a purchase agreement valued at $5.3 billion for 10 777-300ERs, five 737-900s/700s, five 747-8Fs and five 777-200Fs.
Southwest Airlines is interested in acquiring assets that may have to be sold off to complete US Airways' proposed $8 billion takeover of Delta Air Lines ( ATWOnline, Nov. 20). Chairman Herb Kelleher reportedly called senior executives at both carriers to convey his interest, especially for assets on the East Coast. Southwest told reporters last month in Dallas that it is pursuing extra aircraft aggressively and has a strong desire to expand.
Boeing named Doug Kight VP-human resources for Boeing Commercial Airplanes effective next month. He currently is VP and assistant general counsel at corporate headquarters in Chicago.
Megadata Corp. said JetBlue Airways purchased a subscription to the Passur ETA feed for New York JFK. Separately, JetBlue finalized a long-term distribution agreement with Amadeus.
Allegiant Travel Co., parent of Allegiant Air, filed a registration statement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in anticipation of an IPO of its common stock. The offer comprises 5 million shares of common stock listed on NASDAQ, or 5.75 million if underwriters exercise overallotment options. Merrill Lynch & Co. will be sole book-runner with Bear Stearns & Co. and Raymond James as co-managers.
Gol yesterday slightly lowered its financial outlook for the full year, citing "the recent problems with the air traffic in Brazil." The airline said "a higher number of delayed and cancelled flights" have "inhibited" traffic and lowered short-term demand, reducing projected 2006 net revenues to BRL4 billion ($1.85 billion) from the previously forecast BRL4.1 billion. Projected operating margin was lowered to 23% from 26%-28% while earnings per share decreased to BRL3.75-4.00 from BRL3.90-4.30.
Aeroflot Chairman and CEO Valery Okulov told ATWOnline during an interview in Vienna that the carrier will post a 2006 profit of more than $200 million (it earned $220 million in 2005) and that there are no plans for an IPO despite the Russian government's August hint that it was prepared to part with its interest in the flag carrier ( ATWOnline, Aug. 17).
SkyWest Inc. said yesterday that it has been selected for the first allocation of regional jet flying by Delta Air Lines. It will operate 12 CRJ700s from Cincinnati previously flown by Comair beginning in February, bringing the number of aircraft it operates for DL to 228 RJs and 24 turboprops. SkyWest said it has not determined which of its operating companies will fly the aircraft.
Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary said yesterday in a letter to Aer Lingus shareholders that the LCC will not raise its €2.80 ($3.59)-per-share bid despite the poor response from EI shareholders. "In our opinion, there is nothing in the Aer Lingus defense document or its strategy as articulated by the chief executive that justifies a price in excess of €2.80," O'Leary said in the letter, according to press reports. Ryanair has extended the deadline for its offer until Dec. 4 ( ATWOnline, Nov.
The recent shift in political power in the US Congress is unlikely to create a wave of change in the Senate and House committees that handle aviation issues, according to staff members who spoke yesterday at a Washington luncheon sponsored by the International Aviation Club.
Lufthansa will launch daily Munich-Denver service on March 31 aboard an A340-300 and add a second daily Frankfurt-Detroit flight on March 25 aboard an A330-300. It also will offer thrice-weekly Munich-Seoul-Busan service beginning March 27 aboard an A340-300. It already flies daily to Seoul.
Aeroflot is looking to consolidate the domestic airline industry further, according to Chairman and CEO Valery Okulov, and will launch a regional carrier in eastern Russia that will combine several smaller airlines and "quickly help to better organize air traffic in this area...on both long-haul and local routes," he said on the company's website.
British Airways will launch service from London Gatwick to Port of Spain (thrice-weekly via Barbados aboard 777s), Dresden (daily aboard 737s) and Sarajevo (thrice-weekly aboard 737s) from March. At the same time, it will suspend flights from LGW to Athens, Kiev, Newcastle and Riga. BA reached a codeshare agreement with Caribbean Airlines, which will place its code on BA flights to Port of Spain, Barbados and Antigua. Separately, BA flew 9.58 billion RPKs in October, a 1.1% increase over the year-ago month.
SkyEurope Airlines is nearing a decision to open a base in Vienna, which is just 60 km. from its Bratislava hub. It currently serves Innsbruck and Salzburg in Austria. A source close to the project told ATWOnline that the carrier plans to base up to three 737s at VIE and launch services to both Western and Eastern Europe. SkyEurope also plans to operate a twice-daily VIE-INN service, which will be the first domestic LCC route in Austria.
Delta Air Lines said yesterday that it will recall 700 additional furloughed maintenance workers beginning in mid-December, bringing to more than 2,000 the number of employees the bankrupt carrier has recalled in recent months, including 200 previously announced maintenance personnel, 1,000 flight attendants and 130 pilots ( ATWOnline, Nov. 10).
Air India started construction on a INR500 million ($11.1 million) maintenance base at Thiruvananthapuram Airport. The 15 acres of land was transferred to the carrier by the Kerala government free of charge. Construction is scheduled to be completed in mid-2008. The base will service primarily 737-800s operated by Air India Express.
