Jet Airways and Air Sahara continued to spar in a Lucknow court Friday over the fate of a INR5 billion ($108.5 million) escrow account tied to Jet's aborted acquisition of its rival ( ATWOnline, Jan. 23). After hearing arguments, a judge froze the account and postponed the hearing until June 30, according to Indian press reports. The airlines were debating the Lucknow court's jurisdiction over the case. Air Sahara's attorney told the court that as far as his client was concerned, the merger "is still subsisting.
EU signed a so-called "horizontal" aviation agreement with New Zealand allowing European airlines to fly between New Zealand and any EU member state. The agreement does not replace the bilateral agreements in place between member states and NZ but brings them in line with EU law by removing nationality restrictions. Similar agreements have been signed with Chile, Singapore, Ukraine, Georgia and several Balkan countries.
Iberia board last week approved the reorganization of the airline group's top management along with a new management structure. As indicated by Chairman and CEO Fernando Conte to this website during the IATA AGM earlier this month, the position of COO is being eliminated following the resignation of Angel Mullor ( ATWOnline, June 6).
Virgin Atlantic Airways reported rival British Airways to the UK Office of Fair Trading for inappropriate phone calls that a BA executive allegedly made to Virgin executives regarding fuel surcharges, a tip-off that triggered a joint UK-US probe into possible "cartel activity," British media said Friday. BBC and other London-based media reported that BA Head of Communications Iain Burns made a number of phone calls to Virgin executives in which he informed them of BA's plans to raise fuel surcharges on passenger tickets and sought their input on how Virgin would respond.
Norwegian, which will open its first non-Scandinavian base July 13 in Warsaw ( ATWOnline, April 7), announced it will expand its Polish operation with the addition of eight new routes. From Warsaw the LCC will operate a four-times-weekly service to Rome Ciampino from Aug. 10 and four-times-weekly flights to Milan Malpensa, thrice-weekly flights to Athens and Dublin and a daily flight to Stockholm Arlanda, all from Sept. 14.
Lockheed Martin reached agreement with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University to create a multimillion-dollar Airport of the Future testbed in Daytona, Fla. Judy Marks, president of Lockheed's Transportation and Security Solutions division, said Friday in Washington that the venture will involve other companies as well as FAA, which will provide half the funding. The 50/50 public-private project seeks to explore how technology can be deployed at airports to increase the efficiency of airline operations, she said. Funding is included in the FY07 FAA budget proposal.
US Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta announced that he will resign his position effective July 7. Mineta, who is 74, informed President Bush in a letter dated July 20, citing a desire "to move on to other challenges." The Bush Administration announced the decision Friday. It has not nominated a successor. White House Press Secretary Tony Snow said Mineta made the decision on his own. "He was not being pushed out," Snow said during a press conference.
Qantas will scale up its aggressive cost reduction program following Wednesday's warning that a combination of redundancy payouts and a A$1 billion ($737.8 million) additional impost from rising fuel prices will see its full-year earnings fall by 27% ( ATWOnline, June 22). In a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange, CEO Geoff Dixon indicated that further job cuts may be necessary despite the progress made with the carrier's five-year, A$3 billion cost and efficiency improvement agenda.
US Dept. of Transportation yesterday tentatively selected Delta Air Lines, Frontier Airlines and JetBlue Airways to operate new US-Mexico flights that were granted in last December's revised air services treaty between the countries. Delta was selected to operate Los Angeles-Puerto Vallarta flights, Frontier was awarded LAX-San Jose del Cabo service and JetBlue was given New York JFK-Cancun flights. Any objections to the tentative awards are due within 10 days.
Air China yesterday offered HK$3.23 billion ($416 million) to increase its stake in Cathay Pacific Airways to 17.5% as part of a transaction that will privatize China National Aviation Co., which controls Air Macau and catering, maintenance and ground handling services. CNAC agreed to sell its stake in Dragonair last week as part of the deal in which Cathay is taking over its fellow Hong Kong airline.
Boeing is considering selling or shutting down its Connexion by Boeing onboard Internet venture because the unit shows no sign of becoming profitable six years after launch, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the situation. A Boeing spokesperson contacted by ATWOnline declined to comment on the article but said, "We are evaluating the long-term business model for Connexion, trying to assess what's best for customers. It is a good product.
With its share/management restructure with Dragonair bedded down, Cathay Pacific Airways moved quickly to expand its freighter fleet with an order for six 747-400ERFs that takes up all the remaining slots for the standard 747. The PW4062A-powered aircraft are scheduled to arrive between May 2008 and April 2009. They will be deployed on routes to North America.
AirTran Airways resumed mediated negotiations with its pilots yesterday in White Plains, N.Y. Further talks are scheduled for Washington later this month and Philadelphia in August. Since talks began in 2004, only two of 19 contract sections have been tentatively agreed to, the National Pilots Assn. said.
British Airways is among the targets of a joint investigation by UK and US authorities into "alleged cartel activity," the airline said in a statement issued yesterday. The probe involves BA and "other airlines" and relates to the "pricing of passenger air transportation, including fuel surcharges," the carrier said. BA added that it has "given leave of absence" to Commercial Director Martin George and Head of Communications Iain Burns while the investigation is ongoing.
Goodrich broke ground on a 300,000-sq.-ft. expansion of its Singapore-based nacelle/thrust reverser MRO facility. Expected to be complete in December 2007, the expansion more than doubles the size of the existing 230,000-sq.-ft. complex. Goodrich Aerostructures Service Center-Asia will occupy most of the facility.
Five months after sealing a merger that would have created an airline with control of nearly half the Indian market, Jet Airways and Air Sahara have parted ways in acrimonious fashion and will head to court.
Twin Otter operated by Yeti Airlines crashed in Nepal June 21 while apparently attempting a go-around near Jumla. All nine persons onboard were killed, according to the Aviation Safety Network. The aircraft was en route to Jumla from Nepalganj after an intermediate stop in Surkhet. Jumla is situated in the mountains at an elevation of 9,400 ft. (2,875 m.). The crash occurred on a mountainside to the east of the airport.
SITA Annual General Assembly voted to endorse the recommendations of the SITA Group board to consolidate SITA SC, a nonprofit provider of network communications, and SITA INC (Information Networking Computing), a commercial provider of IT solutions, into a single SITA organization under one management team ( ATWOnline, Jan. 20).
TAM signed an agreement with Boeing yesterday that will allow the carrier to have access to documents, standards and technical handbooks regarding the manufacturer's maintenance of components and aircraft with the intention of getting certified by Brazil's civil aviation authority to provide MRO services on Boeing aircraft at its Sao Carlos technical center.
Boeing is coming under growing pressure to boost capacity on the 747-8 Intercontinental by two seat rows as airlines start to look at it as a possible alternative to the A380 rather than a model positioned between the 365-seat 777-300ER and 555-seat A380. Increasing the length of the dash 8 to that of the 747-8F adds 20 seats. Moving galley carts into the overhead space would add another 30, lifting seating capacity to 500 in the standard Boeing configuration compared to 416 for the 747-400 using the same rules. Currently the passenger variant has a 3.6-m.
Flight Safety Foundation announced that former ICAO Director-Air Navigation William Voss will replace Stuart Matthews as president and CEO following Matthews' retirement on Oct. 1 after 13 years of leading the organization.
Alenia Aeronautica and Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Co., as expected, signed an agreement establishing a strategic partnership on the Russian Regional Jet program ( ATWOnline, June 1). Under the terms, the Finmeccanica subsidiary will acquire a 25% stake plus one share in SCAC subject to Russian government approval, plus a corresponding financial stake in the RRJ program.
Syrian Arab Airlines plans to order up to four Tu-204s and two Il-96s. According to RIA Novosti, Syrian Minister of Transport Yarub Sulayman Badr was traveling to Moscow Tuesday to examine details of the deal. "The Russian offer is very attractive and looks optimistic," he said, adding that the carrier needs more capacity.
