U.K. regional airline Flybe is in talks with several airlines about the sale of 25 daily slot pairs at London Gatwick Airport. In a statement to the London Stock Exchange on May 13, the Flybe board says it “is in discussions with a number of parties which may or may not lead to a transaction regarding the exchange for compensation payment of the arrival and departure slots at Gatwick Airport.” The airline stresses that there is no certainty that any transaction will be completed.
SkyWest Inc.’s ExpressJet Airlines subsidiary lost $25.5 million in the first quarter, nearly tripling its losses from the same quarter in 2012, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing by the U.S. regional airline holding company.
Click here to view the pdf Top Carriers: Antalya - Istanbul, May 15-21, 2013, Ranked By Scheduled Seats Top Carriers: Antalya - Istanbul, May 15-21, 2013, Ranked By Scheduled Seats Daily Each Way
Thai carrier Nok Air next month plans to issue an initial public offering (IPO) to fund a fleet expansion. In a filing with Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission, the airline says 30% of its equity will be offered with the sale of 187.5 million ordinary shares, 125 million of which will be newly issued and 62.5 million from existing stock. Nok declines to confirm a price for the shares, which is still being determined. However, local media, citing industry sources, say the airline intends to raise 4.7-5.6 billion baht ($158-188 million).
Iberia’s new CEO Luis Gallego has overhauled the management structure at the distressed airline. The change eliminates general management units and reduces the number of directors reporting directly to the CEO from 11 to nine. New appointments include five managers from within the company and four from outside.
Signs of a power struggle at Turkish Airlines are emerging, and the carrier appears to have reversed an earlier plan to suspend CEO Temel Kotil. The airline is understood to have temporarily suspended Kotil on May 11, but the board of directors met May 13 and decided to keep Kotil in his position. In a statement the board said there was “no disagreement” among top management.
UPS has started equipping its entire Boeing 767 fleet with winglets and has contracted Aviation Partners Boeing, Delta TechOps and Evergreen Aviation Technologies to perform the retrofits. The cargo company operates 54 767s, and has five on order. UPS plans to have the winglets on all 767s by the end of 2014. Winglets are already installed on UPS’s Boeing 747 and MD-11 fleets, and it’s Airbus A300-600 fleet has been retrofitted with a wingtip fence.
Thailand’s long-haul travel market is set for a shake-up now that Malaysia’s AirAsia X’s is planning to launch a long-haul carrier. In its initial public offering prospectus, AirAsia X says it owns a 33% stake in Bangkok-based Thai AirAsia X, which was incorporated March 12. The airline will provide long-haul, low-cost airline services, says the filing.
May 12-14—International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading (ISTAT) Asia 2013, Tokyo, Japan http://www.istat.org/p/cm/ld/fid=60 May 13—25th Greater Washington Aviation Open (GWAO), Lansdowne Gold Resort near Leesburg, Va., call 202-383-2358 or email: [email protected] May 13-15—31st Annual Texas Aviation Conference, Hilton Austin Hotel, Austin, Texas, www.tti.tamu.edu/conferences/tac13/ May 18-22—Latin American & Caribbean Airline and Suppliers Annual Meeting (ALTA CCMA), Panama City, Panama, www.alta.aero/ccma/2013/home.php
Mainline carrier mergers have led to shrinking or disappearing hubs. Rising fuel costs have sucked the profitability out of the 50-seat regional jet markets. The rapid increase in passenger count of the last 15 years is over. In short: The U.S. regional airline industry has to look outward for new opportunities to grow.
Controllers at the San Francisco, Houston and Memphis international airports will have a new tool to reduce delays starting May 15, May 20 and August 5, respectively, as part of a one-year FAA pilot program. Called wake turbulence mitigation for departures (WTMD), the program, under certain wind conditions, allows aircraft departing from closely spaced parallel runways (those less than 2,500 ft. apart laterally) to avoid the standard 2-3 min. wait time between departures.
International Airlines Group (IAG) has scrapped its profit forecast for the current year while it awaits shareholder approval for Airbus A350-1000 and Boeing 787 orders made earlier this quarter. The parent of Iberia, British Airways and soon Vueling Airlines, expects its shareholders to approve the investment no sooner than October.
As other overseas carriers increase their investment in Virgin Australia, attention is shifting to Etihad Airways’ interest in the Australian operator. Etihad currently owns about 9% of Virgin Australia, but that is now dwarfed by the stakes of just under 20% held by both Air New Zealand and Singapore Airlines. The latest to boost its share was Singapore Airlines, which recently acquired a 10% stake in Virgin Australia from the U.K.-based Virgin Group. This move increased market speculation that the sale would spur Etihad to boost its holding.
Click here to view the pdf Top Carrier: Istanbul - Izmir May 15-21, 2013, Ranked By Scheduled Seats Top Carrier: Istanbul - Izmir May 15-21, 2013, Ranked By Scheduled Seats Daily Each Way Departures Share ASKs (000) Share Seats/Dept.
A U.K. government committee has discarded plans to build a new hub airport to serve London in the Thames Estuary, and is now backing the expansion of Heathrow Airport. In a report on the U.K.’s aviation strategy, the cross-party group of parliamentarians said that a hub airport east of London would not be commercially viable without significant public investment in new infrastructure, and would only make sense if Heathrow closed. However, the committee also states that such a closure would be “unacceptable.”
The FAA has ended plans to cease funding for 149 contract towers on June 15, after the U.S. Transportation Department (DOT) determined that a recently enacted law allows the agency to reallocate funds to the towers program.
Bombardier’s CSeries is progressing towards a first flight at the end of June, but its order book is going backwards. Firm orders have slipped to 145 with the removal of three CS100s due to “financial difficulties” at the undisclosed customer. Firm orders now stand at 63 CS100s and 82 of the larger CS300s, for nine airlines. Bombardier’s goal is to have 300 firm orders by the planned entry into service of the CS100 in mid-2014. Total commitments now stand at 388 aircraft.
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Indonesia’s low-cost carrier Citilink is planning to base some of its ATR 72s turboprop operations at Jakarta’s Pondok Cabe Airport instead of Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. The airline’s CEO, Arif Wibowo, says Pondok Cabe Airport in south Jakarta—primarily a military airport—is currently used by charter operator Pelita Air Service, but the two airlines are cooperating to upgrade the airport to handle scheduled passenger traffic. Citilink will not start operations at Pondok Cabe until next year.
