TAP Portugal and Varig confirmed Monday that they have signed an MOU to hold exclusive talks aimed at a recapitalization of Brazil's failing flag carrier. "TAP may be able to become a shareholder of. . .up to 20% of Varig's capital, which is the maximum permitted by the Brazilian legislation," the Portuguese carrier said in a statement. TAP CEO Fernando Pinto, who served as CEO of Varig prior to joining TAP, stressed that a merger is "out of the question" and that both companies will "remain independent."
Menzies Aviation will take over as the exclusive ramp handler at Las Americas International Airport in Santo Domingo effective July 1 after signing a 10-year contract with airport operator Aeropuertos Dominicanos Siglo XXI SA.
Thomas Cook Airlines UK plans to create two new engineering hubs at Glasgow and Birmingham. The company already maintains its own aircraft at Manchester, Stansted, Gatwick and Newcastle. "Our departures from Glasgow and Birmingham have grown considerably over the past few years and we felt it was the right time to take control of maintenance rather than subcontract this work," said Engineering Director Chris Hubbard. Thomas Cook Airlines UK currently has three aircraft based at Glasgow and two at Birmingham.
CAE was awarded a contract to provide an A320 full flight simulator to Lufthansa Flight Training Berlin, representing the 25th simulator Lufthansa Group has ordered from CAE since 1980. According to CAE, the simulator, which is scheduled for installation at the facility in spring 2006, has a list price of C$14 million ($11 million).
Air Mauritius plans to acquire three new A340-300s valued at $540 million, with the first two scheduled for delivery in October 2006 and the third in October 2007. The carrier also holds options to buy two more. At present, the carrier's fleet consists of five A340-300s, two 767-200ERs, two A319-100s, one ATR 72-500 and two ATR 42-500s.
Servisair/GlobeGround chose ARINC's SelfServ kiosk solution to provide check-in for passengers at Oslo. Servisair said this is the first time a ground handling company has deployed its own common-use kiosks for its airline customers. The launch airlines for the project are Air France and KLM, and others are expected to join over time.
Indonesia's Lion Air expects to make a decision by the end of May on an order for up to 60 737-800s/-900s or A320s to replace its MD-80 fleet. Earlier this year, the carrier signed an MOU for up to 40 737-900s but Airbus made a counteroffer ( ATWOnline, March 1).
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In the future, some observers believe, commercial airlines will continue to offer long-haul services, but some of their passengers will connect with a new generation of microjets operated by private charter companies to complete short-haul legs of their trips. George Khairallah, president of New York-based BusinessJet Class, is prepared for that day. His company has launched a GDS for private aircraft charters.
ANA and Shanghai Airlines have applied to the Japanese government for permission to extend their existing codeshare arrangements from June 15. ANA is looking to place its code on Shanghai Airlines' seven weekly flights between Shanghai and both Chengdu and Chongqing, while the Chinese carrier hopes to begin codesharing on ANA's four weekly flights from Shanghai to Nagoya.
India's Jet Airways has taken leases on four A330-200s from ILFC for delivery in 2006 and 2007 to complement the three A340-300s it leased from South African Airways that it will use to launch services to London on May 23. Those flights will be operated in a codeshare with United Airlines, with Jet codesharing on United's flights to the US ( ATWOnline, April 29).
Arrow Air installed and implemented Cargo Data Management's hosted browser-based booking, tracking and revenue accounting system Easy Track II under a new five-year contract.
EasyJet yesterday announced that Ray Webster will step down as CEO of the low-cost carrier and Stelios Haji-Ioannou, its founder and largest shareholder, is rejoining the airline's board. "Ray's leadership of the easyJet team for almost 10 years has underpinned this sustained achievement. However, his strong personal commitment to the company has been at considerable personal cost. Given that he planned to retire in 2006, he felt the succession process should be accelerated," Chairman Colin Chandler said.
Atlasjet International Airways will be the first airline in Turkey to operate the CRJ700 when it takes two secondhand aircraft to open new service linking Istanbul with domestic destinations.
Global ePoint announced that new German charter carrier Blue Wings installed its Cockpit Door Surveillance System to meet regulations that went into effect in April requiring any German-registered aircraft with more than 66 seats to be equipped with a system allowing pilots to observe any party attempting to gain access to the cockpit area and providing surveillance of the forward area of the cabin.
L-3 Communications Security and Detection Systems received an order from Seoul Incheon for 15 VIS 108 advanced technology systems and eight eXaminer 3DX 6500 explosives detection systems. The airport plans to integrate the equipment into an inline multilevel checked and transfer baggage screening system as part of its continued expansion.
Alitalia reported a consolidated operating loss of €119.6 million ($147.7 million) in the first quarter ended March 31 compared with a €189.7 million operating loss in the prior-year period.
Bombardier selected Montreal as the final assembly site for its planned CSeries of aircraft. Company officials said the Greater Montreal area was chosen because of its "competitive partnership offers," an environment for manufacturing and a recently signed agreement with Bombardier employees in Quebec Province. The company's Belfast plant in Northern Ireland was picked to develop wings, engine nacelles and composite empennage structures.
Alaska Airlines contracted with Menzies Aviation to provide ramp handling services at Seattle-Tacoma International, which will result in the loss of 472 ramp service jobs at the carrier. The airline, which currently contracts with outside companies to provide ramp services in 41 of the 56 cities it serves, expects to save roughly $13 million a year through the move.
Aircraft system architecture is undergoing a major revolution in the design of current and upcoming aircraft as manufacturers increasingly reject long runs of pneumatic and hydraulic lines through the wings and fuselage in favor of electric wires, a design philosophy generically labeled "More Electric Aircraft."
European Court of Justice last week ruled in favor of the European Commission and said the Greek government made insufficient efforts to recover from Olympic Airways €41 million ($52.5 million) in restructuring aid and €153 million in new operating aid, which was found unlawful and incompatible with the Common Market rules on state aid. The court also found that the transfer of all the assets of Olympic Airways free of all debt to the new Olympic Airlines made it impossible to recover the funds in question.
Onur Air has been banned from flying into or out of the Netherlands and Germany for the next month because of repeated safety lapses. On Thursday, the Dutch Transportation Ministry's Traffic and Waterways Inspection confirmed it was withdrawing the Turkish airline's landing rights with immediate effect until June 12 after an aborted takeoff of a flight from Antalya to Amsterdam Schiphol. Germany's civil aviation authority last week revoked the carrier's permission to take off and land effective immediately, citing unspecified safety concerns.
Lufthansa Systems announced an agreement with Thai Airways International to implement the SAP Aerospace & Defense industry solution to optimize Thai's MRO planning processes.
Sabre announced that it will acquire lastminute.com, an independent online travel and leisure group that operates directly in 14 European countries and participates in three international joint ventures. Under the deal, the acquisition price was set at 165 pence ($3) per lastminute.com share, which values the company at roughly £577 million.
