Following a landmark decision by the Australian Senate Chamber to allow changes to government restrictions on the ownership of the national flag carrier, Qantas is said to be looking at a potential split of its operations into international and domestic.
Singapore-based MRO ST Aerospace (STA) has extended its TRUEngine authorized maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) provider license for CFM56 turbofan engines. The agreement should help bolster Singapore’s position in the increasingly competitive regional MRO market. The deal is further indication of Singapore’s commitment to developing itself into a major aviation MRO hub, as indicated by Singapore Economic Development Board Managing Director Yeoh Keat Chuan.
Mexican low-cost carrier Volaris eased its 2014 losses in the second quarter, reporting a net loss of MXP75 million ($6 million), narrowed from the company’s first-quarter net loss of MXP370 million. The second-quarter net loss, however, is a reversal from the MXP173 million net profit Volaris posted in the year-ago June quarter.
Royal Jordanian (RJ) will further slim down its network as part of its restructuring plan aimed at bringing the airline back to profitability and making operations sustainable in the wake of continuing unrest in the region and cutthroat competition with the larger, better-funded Gulf carriers. The Amman-based airline will pull out of India and stop services to Delhi and Mumbai on Sept. 10 and Oct. 31, respectively. It is also shutting down its route to Lagos, Nigeria, starting Oct. 10. The new cuts will narrow RJ’s global network to 51 destinations.
EasyJet remains confident that building a market-leading position at London’s Gatwick airport provides a platform to deliver growth and sustainable return, but the low-cost carrier’s strong capacity hike at the airport has weighed on its performance for the fiscal quarter that ended June 30.
Air France-KLM will begin negotiating with pilot unions in France about changing the scope clause at Transavia to allow more growth and to head off competition from low-cost carriers.
Privately held Virgin America signaled its intent to go public by filing a registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on July 28 for an initial public offering (IPO) of its stock. The registration statement does not indicate when an IPO would occur nor the price and quantity of shares to be offered, but names Barclays and Deutsche Bank as underwriters for the IPO.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has sent its fourth letter to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro petitioning airlines to repatriate funds, now estimated to be $4.1 billion, at the original exchange rate. To date, Venezuela has allowed the repatriation of $425 million to airlines, but the country also is offering to allow airlines — and other companies — to repatriate funds at a much lower exchange rate than the 6.3 bolivars to the dollar at which the revenues were accrued.
More passengers, higher average fares, an improved seat-load factor, higher revenues and a surge in profits marked Ryanair’s performance in the quarter ending June 30 as Europe’s largest low-cost carrier is reaping the benefits of its strategy to improve service levels and focus a large part of its growth on primary airports.
As its integration with Air Tran Airways nears completion, Southwest Airlines says it is evaluating 50 new destinations in Hawaii, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America and Northern South America, all of which it says are within the range of its Boeing 737 fleet.
The congressional mandate that FAA impose drug and alcohol testing standards on some workers at foreign repair stations has the agency between a rock and a hard place: opponents say the requirements would be unnecessary or illegal, while many U.S.-based entities believe the playing field can’t be leveled soon enough.
Startup People Express has put its effort to obtain FAA certification on hold to focus on its fledgeling start-up that--for the time being--relies on a wet-lease deal with Vision Airlines. The operation began service June 30 as Vision Airlines, Inc., doing business as (DBA) People Express, a move that was required when the airline could not gain its own operating certificate (Aviation DAILY, May 26, 2014.)
Allegiant’s long-planned and now-pending push into Mexico will not signal a souring of the carrier’s U.S. domestic growth prospects, the airline’s top executive emphasizes.
Aleris is working on getting major aircraft manufacturers to qualify production from its new aluminum rolling mill in Zhenjiang in eastern China, and intends to begin shipping product to them this quarter. The mill’s move into the final stages of the qualification process follows its achievement of Nadcap accreditation, a necessary precondition that was announced last month.
Taiwan has begun an investigation into the crash of a TransAsia Airways ATR 72 in weather that was bad but deemed acceptable for the aircraft’s attempted landing. Of 58 people aboard, 48 died. The aircraft crashed short of the runway at Makong in the Penghu Islands on July 23 after a flight from Kaohsiung, Taiwan. The pilots were making their second landing attempt.
Alaska Airlines has no plans to unravel its codeshare relationship with Delta Air Lines, despite the two carriers fighting over dominance in Seattle--a fight analysts say may be overblown.
Air France-KLM is readying a follow-up for its three-year Transform 2015 restructuring plan, which ends in a couple of months and has “delivered as planned, is on schedule and on track,” CEO Alexandre de Juniac said. The results “are satisfactory, even for us,” he noted. While Transform 2015 focused on rapidly mending the Franco-Dutch group’s deficient financial state, the successor plan will emphasize growth and performance. Dubbed Perform 2020, the new restructuring plan will stretch over five years.
You can now register online for Aviation Week events. Go to www.aviationweek.com/conferences or contact: Lydia Janow, 212-904-3225 or 800-240-7645 ext. 5 (U.S. and Canada only) Oct. 7-9 —MRO Europe, Madrid Spain Nov. 4-6—MRO Asia, Singapore Nov. 19-20—A&D Programs, Wigwam Resort, Liltchfield Park, Ariz.
/site-files/aviationweek.com/files/uploads/2014/07/avd_07_25_2014_dataw.pdf Data Watch: Seats Added and Lost on Flights At Latin American Airports, 2013 Airport (code) Seats Added Rio de Janeiro (GIG) -626,269
