Singapore Aircraft Leasing Enterprise ordered 10 737NGs valued at $675 million plus 10 options and 10 purchase rights, with the firm aircraft scheduled for delivery between early 2009 and late 2010. The 737-800 is the baseline model SALE specified, although substitutions can be made. CFMI valued the firm engines at approximately $140 million at list price.
SkyTeam is offering a new service, SkyTeam Global Meetings, designed to streamline the process of arranging travel for large-scale international meetings and events. Organizers will be able to coordinate all travel needs across all 10 member carriers through one point of contact. The program has its own website and will feature discounts and special incentives for participants.
Northern Air Cargo will become the first North American carrier to implement TopAir, a flight operations system marketed to small and mid-sized airlines by Avient Solutions.
AeroMexico will launch twice-daily service May 2 between Mexico City and Chicago O'Hare using 737-700s. It also plans to start a daily 737-700 flight between Mexico City and New York JFK on May 15. Virgin Atlantic Airways launched four-times-weekly flights between London Heathrow and Dubai using A340-600 and A340-300 aircraft. Frequency will rise to daily from June 1. Dubai is Virgin's first Middle East destination.
Precision Conversions signed with Babcock & Brown Aircraft Management for two 757-200 cargo conversions. The work is scheduled to be completed by year end and will be done at Flightstar Aircraft Services in Jacksonville. Operating customers for the aircraft were not disclosed.
Air France Industries, the MRO arm of Air France, and Engine Alliance, the GE-P&W joint venture producing the GP7000 for the A380, signed an Industrial Cooperation Agreement under which AFI will open an MRO center in Paris for the engine. The AFI facility "will work as a part of the Engine Alliance MRO network," according to a statement from GE. AF, which chose the GP7000 to power its A380s, will start with partial GP7000 service capability next year when the engine enters service and ramp up to overhaul capability as the fleet grows.
Austrian Airlines narrowed its first-quarter adjusted net loss before taxes to €67.7 million ($83.7 million) from €76.8 million in the year-ago period as increases in traffic, load factor and revenue were offset by rising fuel costs. The net figure is adjusted for profits or losses relating to asset disposal, exchange rate valuations and revaluation of aircraft.
Aeroports de Paris' planned IPO could raise up to €600 million ($740.25 million) through the issuance of new shares, the Parisian airports operator said in a filing with stock market regulator AMF. The French government, which currently owns ADP, intends to remain a majority shareholder with a 51% holding. The IPO would include the issue of new shares and the government selling part of its stake; 10% of the shares would be reserved for ADP employees.
GE Commercial Aviation Services will acquire five CRJ700s for lease to GoJet Airlines of Missouri for its United Express service. Four are conversions of existing conditional orders and one is a new order. List price of the five aircraft is approximately $154 million. Deliveries will increase GoJet's CRJ700 fleet to 15. No schedule was announced.
DayJet, which plans to operate a fleet of so-called microjets offering "per-seat, on-demand" flights, said it will launch service inside Florida before year end using Eclipse 500s capable of carrying six occupants. It will be headquartered in Palm Beach and connect communities "that today have little or no scheduled service." DayJet's plans call for "a region-by-region service rollout" between specific airports it calls DayPorts.
Asiana Airlines earned KRW41.26 billion ($45.4 million) in the first quarter ended March 31, a 28.9% rise over the year-ago period when it earned KRW32 billion. According to wire service reports, the higher net profit occurred despite a 4.1% decline in operating profit to KRW16.6 billion that the carrier attributed to a 37.6% jump in the price of fuel. Operating revenue grew 9.1% to KRW796 billion.
Royal Jordanian is moving from Terminal 3 to Terminal 4 at New York JFK. It begins service from the airport's only privately operated terminal on May 1.
Open skies agreement between the UK and Canada signed last week ( ATWOnline, April 24) offers virtually unlimited passenger and cargo flights to and from third countries to UK carriers via Canada and to Canadian airlines via the UK. Under the new bilateral, Canadian and British carriers will face no restrictions on how they set prices when carrying traffic through their own country's cities to the third country. More than 2 million passengers fly annually between Canada and the UK.
Following three days of deliberation, the Master Executive Council of the Delta Air Lines pilots union ratified the tentative labor agreement reached April 14 and sent it to members for a May vote. The accord then will be subject to approval by the US Bankruptcy Court and is scheduled to go into effect June 1 and become amendable on Dec. 31, 2009. The MEC voted late Friday and approved the deal by a 12-1 count.
Emirates is boosting its presence in the Middle East with additional services from Dubai to Kuwait, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Following the Kuwait government's decision to open its skies, Emirates will introduce five additional weekly flights starting July 1, bringing its weekly total to 23 operated with a mix of 777-200s, A330-200s and A310s. On March 26, it added one flight to Amman, bringing its total to 10 services per week. On May 1, Emirates will introduce a sixth weekly service each to Jeddah and Riyadh and starting Oct.
Aviapartner signed a contract with four Star Alliance members--Lufthansa, Swiss International Air Lines, Austrian Airlines and TAP Portugal--to provide full handling activities at Amsterdam Schiphol effective May 1. Value of the contract was not disclosed, but the Brussels-based ground handler said it is "one of the largest contracts" it has signed and covers more than 10,000 flights per year for three years. SAS Ground Services signed an agreement to provide ground handling for Asiana Airlines at London Heathrow beginning May 4.
The tentative pilot contract at Delta Air Lines, if ratified by ALPA membership, will drop the carrier from having the third-highest-paid narrowbody captains to the middle of the pack, while Northwest Airlines, if its pilots ratify their agreement, will fall even further, from having the second-highest-paid work group to the No. 8 position, just above JetBlue.
Midwest Air Group, parent of Midwest Airlines and Skyway Airlines, continued to show progress on its bottom line, reporting an $8.7 million loss for the first quarter, lowered from a $15.9 million deficit in the year-ago period.
SITA said it had revenue of $1.56 billion last year as it moves toward consolidation of its business units that were separated several years ago. SITA INC revenues rose 13% to $726 million while SITA SC revenues totaled $828 million.
European commercial airframe and engine MRO market generated revenues of $10.6 billion in 2005 and the figure will rise nearly 50% to $15.2 billion by 2012, according to consultancy Frost & Sullivan. Growth is being driven by strong air traffic demand between Eastern and Western Europe as well as the continuing trend toward outsourcing MRO. According to the firm, many of the A320 and 737 aircraft delivered in 1997-2002 will experience their first airframe heavy checks and engine removals "and correspondingly create a short-term spike in demand" during the forecast period.
BAE Systems Aircraft Trading and Management Services sold two A319s on behalf of a consortium of European banks and investors and Magritte Aircraft Leasing Ltd.
Kingfisher Airlines signed an order for five A340-500s with options for five more. The Rolls-Royce Trent 500-powered aircraft are scheduled for delivery in 2008. Kingfisher currently operates eight A320s and four A319s and has placed firm orders for five each of the A380, A330 and A350. Vijay Mallya, chairman of Kingfisher parent UB Group, said the new aircraft will allow the Indian airline to launch direct flights to the US for the first time.
US Air Transport Assn. on Friday criticized the Transportation Security Administration's plan to begin rolling out its Registered Traveler program this year, saying it "firmly believes that limited TSA resources should not be diverted from efficiently and effectively screening all passengers to a program that provides limited and questionable benefits for some customers.
Volito Aviation, through its wholly owned subsidiary Volito Aviation Leisure KB, placed an A320 with Donbassaero Airlines through April 2012. The aircraft is financed by PK AirFinance. Separately, Volito Aviation increased its facility with HSH Nordbank AG in Kiel to $250 million. The facility is secured by commercial jet aircraft on lease to various carriers worldwide.
