As British Airways and Iberia parent International Airlines Group (IAG) assesses potential acquisitions, the company will be less concerned with pricing than the strategic fit the target provides, says group Chairman Antonio Vazquez. There are deal opportunities now, but Vazquez says it is important to be patient.
Safran and Honeywell expect to begin tests on an electric taxi system attached to an Airbus A320’s main landing gear in 2014 in preparation for being able to offer the environmentally friendly system as an option for the A320NEO program. Safran bought an A320 to conduct the tests and expects its best sales opportunities to come from airlines flying short-haul, quick turnaround routes that require numerous daily rotations, says Alain Coutrot, deputy director of research and development for Safran’s Aerospace Division.
If the European Union loses control of its sovereign debt crisis, airline industry losses could reach $8.3 billion, and the effects could be felt worldwide, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) says. Europe would be the most affected, “but we doubt any region will be able to escape losses,” the organization warned yesterday during its annual media day.
Delta Air Lines’ enhanced code-share agreement with GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes excludes the Brazilian carrier from maintaining any other U.S. code-share partnership, in effect ending its two-year relationship with American Airlines.
The U.K. government yesterday rejected proposals to change the way its controversial air passenger duty (APD) is calculated. An anomaly in the four-band system means that passengers flying from London to the Caribbean will continue to pay more tax than those traveling to U.S. West Coast points and Hawaii. Premium economy fares will also continue to be taxed at the same rate as business or first class.
The European Commission’s (EC) slot trading proposal in its “Better Airports” legislative package has split the European Union’s airlines, although all are against the proposed change in the “use-it-or-lose-it” threshold. The proposal would require airlines to use a slot 85% of the time or risk losing it, raising that threshold from the current 80%. The Association of European Airlines said this will hamper airlines’ ability to react to changing demand (Aviation Daily, Dec. 2).
With a month to go, Airbus has formally topped its revised 2011 order intake target, with 1,521 gross orders booked in the first 11 months. Airbus parent EADS had set the order target at 1,500 for gross orders, although Airbus COO for customers, John Leahy, says the full-year total could amount to about 1,650-1,700 orders. Airbus has already announced commitments to reach that level, although those contracts remain to be finalized.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak wants to see AirAsia give more of its maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) work to Malaysian service providers, rather than outsourcing the work overseas. Noting that “AirAsia is the single biggest operator of Airbus A320s,” Najib said, “we need to convince these companies [AirAsia and its suppliers] to expand Malaysia’s market share in maintenance, repair and overhaul,” Najib said during a speech at the official opening ceremony yesterday of the LIMA Airshow in Langkawi, Malaysia.
The Hungarian government is searching for new ways to save its financially distressed national carrier Malev and may be prepared to let it fail. Development Minister Tamas Fellegi says negotiations with a potential European investor are at an advanced stage and could be concluded by next year. Business daily Vilaggazdasag reported on Tuesday that the government is in talks with Unimex Group, the parent of Czech charter airline Travel Service.
The chairman of the Senate panel dealing with the FAA is placing the odds of reaching a deal on the long-extended reauthorization bill at better than 50-50. Last month, in a cantankerous speech to the Aero Club, Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va,) was extremely pessimistic about the bill’s prospects, calling out the airline industry for failing to lead. But today, Rockefeller rated the chance of a breakthrough at “seven” on a scale of one to 10.
Click here to view the pdf Top Carriers: Madrid - Sao Paulo, November 20-26, 2011, Ranked By Scheduled Seats Top Carriers: Madrid - Sao Paulo, November 20-26, 2011, Ranked By Scheduled Seats Daily Each Way Departures Share ASKs (000) Share S
Just days into its Chapter 11 reorganization, AMR Corp. has unveiled a new senior management team for its mainline division that no longer includes Executive VP of Operations Robert Reding and assigns key positions to two people experienced in company divestitures.
Air France plans to significantly increase its presence at Toulouse as part of its broad initiative to expand in the French provinces. The airline plans to allocate 10 Airbus A320 family aircraft to Toulouse next year and is launching 16 new destinations in April. The new cities to be served from Toulouse will include Berlin, Hamburg, Athens, Geneva, Brussels, Malaga, Seville and Istanbul, among others. With the new flights and destinations, Air France will operate 430 flights between Toulouse and 28 destinations.
EasyJet founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou is exploring the creation of a low-cost carrier in Africa. His Easy Group has entered into an agreement with Rubicon Investments to develop a business plan for the venture. The work is planned to take several months, so a new airline likely would not start before the end of 2012 at the earliest.
FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt has resigned after being charged with driving while intoxicated on Dec. 3, and in a statement says, “I am unwilling to let anything cast a shadow on the outstanding work done 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by my colleagues at the FAA.” U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood accepted Babbitt’s resignation and thanked him for his service.
A story in the Dec. 5 edition of Aviation Daily on the profitability of international routes for U.S. carriers misquoted Campbell-Hill Aviation Group Senior VP Kevin Healy. The story should have read that domestic revenues for U.S. carriers were down 22% since 2000.
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling in the U.S. airline suit challenging the inclusion of aviation in the European Union’s emissions trading system (EU ETS) likely will be issued on Dec. 21, 11 days before the ETS is to be extended to all operations into and out of EU airports.
Southwest Airlines and its employees “have a cost challenge, and it is one that looms large,” especially in light of American Airlines’ restructuring under bankruptcy protection, Southwest CEO Gary Kelly declared in a memo to employees this week.
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Cessna is launching one of the largest aging aircraft inspection programs to be undertaken for a fleet of single-piston airplanes. The Wichita plane maker has developed a supplemental inspection program designed to stem concerns of possible corrosion and fatigue stress on nearly 145,000 100- and 200-series single-engine aircraft it produced between 1946 and 1986. The inspections are being added to service manuals for 200-series aircraft this month and for 100-series aircraft in April, the airframer says.
Lufthansa and Boeing will conduct a three-day, pre-delivery evaluation of the 747-8I passenger aircraft this week following the overnight ferry flight of test aircraft RC021 to Frankfurt.
The U.S. Transportation Dept. (DOT) has accepted FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt’s request for a leave of absence following his arrest in Northern Virginia Saturday for allegedly driving while intoxicated. Deputy Administrator Michael Huerta will serve as acting administrator, DOT says.
