Hello, a Swiss charter airline founded by former Crossair CEO Moritz Suter, will add three ex-SAS MD-90s to its fleet from spring 2006. The carrier, which launched in August 2004, currently operates three MD-90s.
Emirates President Tim Clark again floated the concept of operating some of the carrier's A380s in an all-economy configuration seating up to 780 passengers. Emirates has ordered 45 A380s and some of these could be dedicated to the operation, which Clark dubbed Emirates Express. According to press reports, he suggested the concept partly was behind the airline's recent request for 42 additional weekly services between Australia and Dubai. However, it will not proceed with the plan in the near future because its plate already is too full.
Jetstar is in talks with Australia Post about selling its tickets over the counter at post offices in a move designed to expand its market reach in areas with limited Internet penetration such as rural communities. The Qantas low-cost subsidiary currently conducts 90% of its business through the Internet and the remaining 10% through travel agents. Passengers would buy Jetstar tickets at post offices in the same manner they make bill payments to some 400 service providers, including gas and electric companies.
Independence Air parent FLYi, which filed for bankruptcy Monday ( ATWOnline, Nov. 8), has little chance of surviving without new investors, Standard & Poor's said yesterday as it cut its corporate rating on the company from CC to D. Noting that the carrier has just $24 million in cash and entered Chapter 11 without arranging any debtor-in-possession financing, S&P analyst Betsy Snyder said in a report that "absent new investment to support a reorganization, the company likely will be liquidated."
AirTran launched daily nonstop service from Detroit to Atlanta and Orlando Tuesday. As of today, it is operating three daily services to Atlanta and a single flight to Orlando. It adds a fourth Atlanta flight Dec. 9 and begins a single daily Detroit-Sarasota flight Feb. 15. DBA started four daily Dusseldorf- Hamburg flights on Nov 7.
Denmark will abolish its €10 ($11.78) passenger tax. The cut will cost the country approximately €70 million annually, but the government hopes to recoup that loss with more capacity and tourism, Jyllands-Posten reported. "It will create jobs in the service sector and it is a good thing for the regional development," Liberal Party spokesperson Jens Rohde said. Ryanair and Sterling each have said recently that they were reluctant to add flights to Denmark because of the tax.
SunExpress, a Turkish-German charter airline, will add two 757-200s next year. The carrier already operates 10 737s and 757s. It transported 1.3 million passengers through the first nine months, an 18% rise over the year-ago period.
Lufthansa Technik signed a five-year contract with US startup MAXjet covering Total Component Support for the all-business-class carrier's 767-200ERs. Singapore Airlines signed an Integrated Material Management and Airplane Health Management contract with Boeing covering MRO on the carrier's 747-400s and 777s.
American Airlines and Air Sahara reached codeshare and fully reciprocal frequent-flier agreements. Subject to government approval, AA plans to put its code on Air Sahara flights to 26 destinations while the Indian carrier will place its code on American flights between Delhi and Chicago and destinations beyond O'Hare.
Philippine Airlines said Tuesday it will acquire nine new A320s through 2008. The money will be borrowed from export-import credit agencies, PAL President Jaime Bautista told reporters. "We will be flying newer airplanes, which will be acquired under an operating lease agreement," he said. The airline will have the right to purchase the planes during the lease. PAL reported that it has reduced its debt by half to $1 billion and will retire the remaining loans within nine years. It is looking to modernize its 31-plane fleet and will be replacing 707s starting next year.
Ryanair posted a net profit for the fiscal second quarter ended Sept. 30 of €172.5 million ($203.7 million), a 16.5% rise from a €148.1 million profit in the year-ago period.
Mexico's Interjet confirmed its A320 order yesterday, agreeing to 10 firm buys and 10 options ( ATWOnline, June 17). Deliveries of the single-class, 150-seat aircraft will begin in second-quarter 2007. No engine has been selected. "The A320 is without a doubt the reference in the low-cost market," Interjet President Miguel Aleman said. The startup LCC, wholly owned by ABC Aerolíneas SA de CV, will commence operations in December from Toluca with seven used A320s.
Northwest Airlines said it reached agreement with its pilots and flight attendants on voluntary pay and benefit reductions that will save it $332 million on an annual basis, but failed to reach a similar deal with workers represented by the International Assn. of Machinists ( ATWOnline, Nov. 7). As a result, it filed a Section 1113 (e) motion with the bankruptcy court to impose $114 million in "temporary wage and benefit reductions" on IAM members.
Gol yesterday began operating four-times-weekly service between Campo Grande, Brazil, and Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. Santa Cruz is the Brazilian LCC's second international destination after Buenos Aires.
GoJet Airlines took delivery of three of six leased CRJ700s last week. The new Regional, flying as United Express, ordered 10 CRJ700s, four from the airframer and six through GECAS ( ATWOnline, June 23). The remaining three GECAS aircraft will be delivered by April.
Japan Airlines Group blamed stagnant traffic in key markets and soaring fuel prices for a ¥12.04 billion ($102.3 million) net loss for the first half ended Sept. 30 compared to income of ¥83 billion last year. JAL warned that it expects to show a full-year loss of ¥47 billion. It previously forecast a small profit of ¥17 million, but high fuel prices and flat traffic in key markets will push it into the red for year to March 31.
Aer Lingus confirmed the appointment of Merrion Capital and Goldman Sachs as its advisers to assist in the privatization process recently initiated by the Irish government. New investment is essential to fund fleet acquisition and other development expenses required to underpin growth in both the medium and long term, the Irish state-owned airline stressed in a statement.
Amsterdam Schiphol's new low-cost carrier pier opened Nov. 1 with easyJet, Thomsonfly.com, bmibaby, Jet2 and SkyEurope as tenants. Wizz Air joins Dec. 1. Initially, 20-30 daily flights will operate from Pier H, which has seven gates but no airbridges. The airport's seventh pier, it can accommodate a maximum of 64 daily inbound and outbound flights and was designed to handle around 8 million passengers annually. It was constructed in just nine months, Schiphol said.
Cape Town Treaty, an international legal framework intended to protect the interests of aircraft financiers and lessors in cross-border aircraft financings, is set to take effect March 1 following accession to the treaty by Malaysia last week, the Export-Import Bank said Friday. Malaysia became the required eighth country to ratify or accede to the treaty. Others are Ethiopia, Ireland, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Panama and the US.
Sixteen months after FLYi declared its independence and began operations with a fleet of 50-seat RJs, the low-fare carrier Monday filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company said it will maintain operations as it seeks outside investors, attempts to restructure aircraft leases and establishes an auction process to sell off some of its assets. In a petition filed with the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, it listed assets of approximately $378.5 million and liabilities of approximately $455.4 million with just $24 million in cash.
JetBlue Airways sold 7.5 million shares of stock yesterday priced at $18 per share, raising gross proceeds of $135 million. Net proceeds will be used to fund working capital and capital expenditures, including aircraft purchases. The offering was made under a Nov. 4, 2004, shelf registration statement. Morgan Stanley acted as the sole book-running manager and Raymond James acted as co-manager. JetBlue granted an overallotment option covering 1.125 million shares, which if exercised in full would raise an additional $20.3 million.
GE Commercial Aviation Training installed an Embraer 170/190 simulator at its London Gatwick training center and said that FlyBE will be the first customer under a letter of intent covering initial conversion and recurrent training on the 170/190.
Continental Airlines lost approximately $115 million last month and expects to post a "significant loss" for the fourth quarter and all of 2005, Chairman and CEO Lawrence Kellner said in a recorded message to employees, the Associated Press reported.
Virgin Group purchased 10,000 doses of Tamiflu for its staff and is looking into new technologies to combat germs aboard aircraft in anticipation of an avian flu pandemic, which "will most certainly affect the airline industry," according to Chairman Richard Branson, Time reported.
