Consortium of Chinese airlines is negotiating an approximately $5 billion purchase of at least 70 new A320s. The deal includes Air China, China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines and is expected to be signed during Premier Wen Jiabao's visit to France this week, Reuters reported. The Chinese government ordered 70 737s on behalf of its airlines during meetings with US government officials last week ( ATWOnline, Nov. 22).
The Russian Assn. of Air Transport Operators, supported by Aeroflot, asked the government to eliminate the heavy duties imposed on the importation of Western-built aircraft by Russian airlines. According to the organization, the tariffs "have not proved their effectiveness but instead acted as a brake on development of the entire air transport industry."
Kingfisher Airlines bid to take over 100% of Sahara Airways, parent company UB Group head Vijay Mallya revealed, according to media reports. Mallya said the offer was lower than the $750 million-$1 billion Ernst and Young said Sahara was worth. In addition, he told reporters that UB Group plans to raise $400 million, half of which will come through an IPO for Kingfisher.
Australian Airlines, Qantas's international low-fare airline unit, will introduce a Premium Economy cabin in mid-2006 featuring more spacious seating, priority boarding and priority food service. The current all-economy, 271-seat cabins of its 767s will be reconfigured to feature 28 premium and 238 economy seats. Separately, the carrier said it will begin twice-daily service between Cairns and Tokyo next year, replacing Qantas. Weekly capacity on the route will increase by 500 seats.
THY Turkish Airlines CEO Temel Kotil told ATWOnline he is confident the carrier will maintain the profitability reached in the first nine months of the current fiscal year ( ATWOnline, Nov. 29), which included a net margin of 5% and an EDITBAR margin of 19%, despite a plan to increase seat capacity 30% by 2008.
Northwest Airlines was given permission to reject leases on 15 CRJ200s operated by Pinnacle Airlines by a US bankruptcy judge, who ruled in favor of the bankrupt carrier yesterday in a dispute with lessor Wells Fargo. The judge also permitted NWA to sell assets worth no more than $7 million without approval, the Associated Press reported.
TNT will launch passenger flights from Liege beginning in April, TNT Airways MD Niky Terzakis told La Libre Belgique. The integrator already offers passenger service from Brussels with 737-300s in QC configuration. Terzakis said TNT has contracts with several major tour operators including Thomas Cook, Club Med and Interconfort for its Brussels service. It has transported about 160,000 passengers from BRU this year. Liege destinations will include Barcelona, Ajaccio, Monastir, Palma and Ibiza.
ICAO will host a worldwide safety conference for directors general of civil aviation at the organization's headquarters in Montreal March 20-22. Main issues will include transparency and sharing of information.
JetBlue Airways signed a 30-year lease for the new 635,000-sq.-ft., 26-gate Terminal 5 under construction at New York JFK. In a Form 8-K filed last week with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the carrier said it will pay a minimum of $110 million in rent through 2010 and $1.23 billion thereafter. JetBlue will be responsible for construction of the terminal, set for completion in early 2009, as well as a parking garage, roadways and a light rail connector.
Spanish government will comply with demands from the European Commission and give up its "golden share" in Iberia, Expansion reported. The government retained the right to veto strategic decisions and attempts by third parties to buy into the carrier despite no longer holding a controlling stake.
Finnair launched thrice-weekly direct service between Helsinki and Delhi aboard MD-11s. The carrier said a quarter of its scheduled service revenue comes from its Asian routes. Estonian Air will start twice-weekly service between Talinn and Dubrovnik in April.
El Al Israel Airlines earned $52.2 million for the third quarter ended Sept. 30, up 10.1% over $47.4 million netted in the year-ago period. Revenues rose 17% to $485.2 million. The strong quarterly performance pushed nine-month earnings to approximately $63 million, the carrier said, the highest total for El Al in any nine-month period over the past decade.
Air Canada parent ACE Aviation Holding is preparing to sell a share of its Regional subsidiary Jazz through an initial public offering of units of Jazz Air Income Fund, which will hold a minority interest in the carrier with ACE retaining majority control. CIBC World Markets and RBC Capital Markets are acting as joint bookrunners for the IPO, which follows a favorable ruling by the Ottawa government with regard to tax treatment of income trusts.
Japan Airlines chose the GEnx to power up to 50 787-3s and dash 8s, comprising 30 firm and 20 option aircraft. JAL receives its first Dreamliner in 2008. GE valued the firm engine order at more than $700 million. Separately, JAL said it will "temporarily resume" normal flight operations between Japan and Indonesia over the Christmas and New Year holiday period. It reduced flight frequency and changed routings on its Japan-Indonesia flights at the end of October owing to a significant decrease in passenger demand following the Oct. 1 Bali terrorist attack.
Norwegian will expand service to Eastern Europe from spring 2006. The LCC will add daily flights between Oslo and Prague, Warsaw and Budapest. Oslo-Krakow will increase to five-times-weekly and Oslo-Gdansk to thrice-weekly.
SAS and Star Alliance signed a two-year global travel agreement with Volvo AB, "which means that Volvo has selected SAS and the Star Alliance as its main supplier of air travel," according to SAS. It is the largest such agreement that the automaker has signed with an airline alliance, according to SAS, and was completed after a year of tough competition with SkyTeam. It covers 12 of Star's 16 alliance members.
Southwest Airlines will double its presence next year at Philadelphia International Airport from six to 12 gates. It will assume leases on four gates from Delta Air Lines and two from United Airlines, the Associated Press reported. Southwest currently operates 53 daily flights at PHL.
TRAX USA was selected by Air Plus Comet to implement the TRAX maintenance software, becoming the 48th operator to choose TRAX. Air Plus Comet operates a fleet of 747-200s, 737-300s and A310-300s.
East Star Airlines, a Wuhan-based startup, signed a letter of intent yesterday for the purchase of 10 A320s directly from the manufacturer plus a firm lease deal with GE Commercial Aviation Services for an additional 10. The agreements reportedly are worth $1.48 billion. The 10 purchased aircraft will be delivered in 2009-10. The carrier will begin taking delivery of the leased A320s in the second quarter of next year. All of the aircraft will be powered by CFM56-5Bs.
Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings President and CEO Jeffrey Erickson said in London yesterday that Atlas is looking to go into the passenger ACMI business using 747-400s. Speaking at the Air Cargo Seminar that opened the Future of Air Transport Conference, Erickson said the company hopes to build on its business relationships with cargo ACMI customers, grow its ACMI base and add a new revenue stream.
Turkish Airlines reported "strong growth" in net earnings to $96 million during the third quarter ended Sept. 30, up 28% over the year-ago period, as revenues jumped 27% to $716 million on a 15% increase in passenger numbers to 4.3 million.
SAS Scandinavian Airlines' Swedish operations could see a 5%-6% drop in revenues if a proposed environmental tax on airline travel is enacted, the company warned ( ATWOnline, Sept. 21). For flights within Sweden, the revenue decrease could reach 15%, CEO Jorgen Lindegaard told Reuters.
OzJet, Australia's first all-business-class airline, entered the domestic market amid signs that the price war of recent years is set to shift to the premium sector. The startup's launch was greeted by business fare discounts by Qantas and a more aggressive campaign by Virgin Blue for the corporate market, underpinned by the introduction of its Velocity frequent-flier scheme. Former racing team head Paul Stoddart's OzJet is offering eight flights a day between Sydney and Melbourne using two 737-200s configured with just 60 seats each.
