Standard & Poor’s has put Auckland International Airport Ltd. on CreditWatch with negative implications. The debt watcher made the move after a majority of AIAL’s shareholders approved Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board’s 40% bid for the airport. “The CreditWatch action reflects uncertainty regarding the final outcome of the CPPIB offer, which is now subject to approval by the New Zealand government by April 11, 2008, and the implications of the ownership changes for AIAL,” said the company in a report.
In a strange twist suggestive of political playoffs, operations at India’s first greenfield airport in Hyderabad were held up a day before they were to start despite a glitzy launch last Friday. The civil aviation ministry made the announcement minutes after the official inauguration by sending text messages to journalists saying the new Rajiv Gandhi International Airport opening was delayed by a “few days.” The reason given was that some airlines were not ready to operate from or to the new airport.
Delta has unveiled a plan to cut capacity by another 5%, find another $550 million in productivity and shed up to 2,000 jobs to help mitigate high oil prices. Having built its strategy last year on an oil price of $90 per barrel, the Delta now needs to “recalibrate,” said CFO Ed Bastian in remarks at the JP Morgan Aviation & Transportation conference March 18. Fuel will be $2.2 billion higher this year — Delta had already announced fuel would increase by $1.3 billion, and now it is adding another $900 million to its guidance.
The most profitable of China’s big-three airlines, Air China, has delivered a 57% surge in 2007 net earnings to CNY4.2 billion (US$593 million) on operating revenues of CNY49.7 billion (US$7 billion), up 14.6%. Foreign-exchange windfalls flattered the result, as has been common across the Chinese airline industry since the country began to let the yuan appreciate against the dollar in 2005. The yuan value of the airlines’ large dollar-denominated debt falls as the local currency rises, and the gain is booked as profit.
Five more European states have begun enforcing a European Commission requirement covering radio equipage in upper airspace, meaning all states now comply. As of March 13, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Malta, Portugal and Spain have been enforcing the mandatory carriage of 8.33kHz radio equipment above Flight Level 195, Eurocontrol says. This brings them into line with EC Regulation 1265/2007, which is aimed at alleviating “the current difficulties in obtaining VHF assignments in the aeronautical communications VHF band from 118-137 MHz,” said Eurocontrol. -
More efficient operations, lower costs, increased revenue and more airline service have been the result of a move in November 1999 to create the nine-member Allegheny County Airport Authority, which oversees Pittsburgh International and Allegheny County airports, according to a new report.
Global Aero Logistics, parent company of ATA, is looking for a new CEO after the resignation of Subodh Karnik. Global Chairman John Denison will step in as interim president and CEO until a permanent replacement is found. Denison was CEO of ATA from February 2005 to December 2006. He joined Global in January 2005 after a three-year retirement from Southwest, where he was CFO.
FAA yesterday launched an audit on all carriers in the wake of the highly publicized lapses in Southwest’s aircraft inspection program. FAA Acting Administrator Robert Sturgell directed the agency’s aviation inspectors to “reconfirm that commercial carriers operating within the United States have complied with all airworthiness directives.” One recent failure — by Southwest — to comply with a directive prompted Sturgell to “validate that all other carriers are in full compliance.”
The U.S. Transportation Dept. and the European Commission are launching a study to find out what effect the U.S./EU open-skies agreement — which goes into effect this month — has on airline competition.
At least four of the major U.S. airlines yesterday either announced plans to reduce capacity or warned they are considering cuts, as the industry looks to fight through a weakening economy and rising oil prices.
Astar is filing an arbitration claim against Merrill Lynch for more than $36 million in damages after much of ASTAR’s cash reserves, invested in Auction Rate Securities on Merrill Lynch’s recommendation, have become locked up in these securities.
Colombia decided to move on President Alvaro Uribe’s preferred plan to demolish the present terminal at Bogota’s Eldorado International Airport and construct a brand-new facility located halfway between this site and the Puente Aereo (Air Shuttle) complex. The new facility is expected to be ready in 2012.
Correction: Overseas arrivals in 2007 were down from 2000 but up 32% from 2003, per data from the U.S. Commerce Dept.’s Office of Travel & Tourism Industries. A typographical error in the March 18 issue of The DAILY made the statistic unclear.
Midwest asked the U.S. Transportation Dept. to activate its backup authority to use Washington National slots recently awarded to Spirit and AirTran (DAILY, Feb. 25) on the grounds that the carriers can’t comply with the award conditions, but the carriers dismissed the attempt through filings indicating compliance with the order.
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan will speak at the first Annual Caribbean Tourism Summit in Washington being organized by the Caribbean Tourism Development Co.
Alitalia’s shares dropped sharply on Monday, even though the carrier’s board of directors accepted an offer by Air France-KLM to take over the airline. The stock plunged 38% in the morning after news emerged that the Air France-KLM offer values the Italian carrier at only EUR139 million, an 81% reduction from last week’s market capitalization.
VRG (operating as Varig) continues to add to its store of interline agreements, this week announcing a deal with Taiwan’s China Airlines. The deal is one of several the carrier has inked since the start of the year, leveraging its participation in IATA’s Multilateral Interline Traffic Agreement to build new partnerships. Varig has similar deals with 20 airlines, including sister carrier GOL.
FAA believes more airlines this summer will begin using a new continuous descent approach (CDA) procedure available on one of the approaches to Los Angeles Airport. The CDA was introduced on the RIIVR One approach on Dec. 20, and FAA plans to roll out two more CDAs at LAX this year.
The Transportation Security Administration will use its own screeners to launch a new canine program to check for explosives at air cargo facilities across the country. On the passenger side, dogs are paired with law enforcement officers (LEOs) to search aircraft, vehicles, terminals, warehouses, and baggage in the airport environment for explosives. But with the launch of TSA’s program, the agency is training its own employees to be explosives detection canine handlers.
Traffic at U.K. airports rose 2.4% year over year to 241 million passengers in 2007, according to a new report by the Civil Aviation Authority. “This growth is slower than that seen over the last decade and continues a trend which began in 2005,” said the report, titled “Recent Trends in Growth of UK Air Passenger Demand.”
As Singapore Airlines brings in the first Airbus A380 passenger flight to London Heathrow today, British Airways is making preparations to begin its own A380 service at Heathrow. BA will already have a lot of experience with the aircraft by the time its first A380s arrive in 2012. The U.K. carrier won the contract to provide maintenance for SIA’s A380s at Heathrow, with the work to be carried out by BA’s Customer Engineering Group.
