Gol's main shareholder would have to get special permission to buy back more than 4% of outstanding shares, analysts note, pointing out a requirement that 25% of outstanding shares must be in a free float listing of Brazil's Bovespa stock exchange. Analysts at Raymond James examined the share repurchase framework after news stories from Brazil speculated that Gol's major shareholder -- the Oliveira family -- might consider taking Gol private.
The European Commission is taking steps to ensure full visa reciprocity between all its member states and third countries, a report from the EC to the European Parliament shows. The EC has been working to ensure visa reciprocity with all 27 of its member states as the EU expands. Several third countries did not have reciprocity agreements in place with Bulgaria and Romania, which acceded to the EU earlier this year. In its report to Parliament, the EC noted several countries have "made progress" in working toward full visa reciprocity.
Virgin Atlantic just got a leg up on North American sales by becoming a preferred supplier for Vacation.com, a leisure travel sales organization with $18 billion in annual sales and about 25% of all travel agencies in the U.S and Canada as members. Virgin agreed to up-front commissions, which prompted Vacation.com to push it to members as a preferred airline. It only has three others -- Air New Zealand, Blue Star Jets and Mexicana.
Japan Airlines and Expedia yesterday announced they are teaming up to offer online hotel reservations on JAL's Web site. With Expedia, JAL will have five online hotel booking tie-ups on its Web site. The Expedia deal raises the number of hotels available through the JAL site by 14,000 to a total of 34,000. JAL and Expedia are planning a marketing campaign, which kicks off tomorrow and runs through the end of the year. [email protected]
Germany's Fraport AG is forecasting that traffic at Frankfurt Airport will rise 2% by the end of 2007 compared to a 1.1% increase for the previous year.
Qatar Airways upgraded to Airbus A330s from A300s on its Doha-Kuala Lumpur route. The carrier is now using an A330-200 and an A330-300 on the route, giving it 53 more seats than the A300. Starting Sept. 23 Qatar plans to start two weekly flights from Doha to the Indian city of Nagpur, followed by four weekly flights to Stockholm beginning Nov. 27. Daily service to the Indian city of Ahmedabad is scheduled to start Dec. 12.
Spanish National Superior Court Judge Fernando Grande-Marlaska dismissed claims from two Spanish consumer protection associations against former international low-cost carrier Air Madrid for the alleged fraudulent sale of tickets during the airline's financial and operational crisis last December (DAILY, April 20).
Boeing predicts the Chinese market will require 3,400 new passenger jets over the next 20 years, making it both the fastest-growing market and the largest outside the U.S.
Israel Aerospace Industries' Bedek Aviation Group won new maintenance business from Jet Airways to repair CFM56-7 engines for the carrier. Both powerplants are being repaired at Bedek's CFM56 engine shop in Tel Aviv.
El Salvador's international airport at Comalapa will be privatized and upgraded in a three-stage, $700 million expansion to include the construction of new passenger and cargo terminals and runways. Its strategic master plan, recently completed by Aeroports de Paris International (ADPI), was delivered last week by French ambassador Francis Rodiere to Hugo Barrera, chairman of El Salvador's Executive Port Authority.
Injecting an extra EUR2.4 billion (US$3.35 billion) of public money into Galileo, Europe's future satellite navigation system, will not have any noticeable impact on the EU's existing five-year budgetary plan, the European Commission said.
British Airways yesterday revealed new details of its plans to significantly bolster its London Heathrow connections to the U.S. once the European Union-U.S. open skies agreement takes hold in March.
Mexico aviation authorities have told Azteca Airlines and its new owners it has 30 days to prove its financial stability or the carrier will be shut down permanently.
SAS Group reports that prosecutors in Stockholm have begun a preliminary investigation into incidents involving two Dash 8-400s (Q400s) that occurred on Sept. 9 and Sept. 12. The legal terms for the investigation are "suspicion of creating danger to another person." SAS representative Hans Ollongren said the company "reject[s] the claim that there are grounds for the public prosecutor's suspicions...we will naturally cooperate with the prosecutor and provide all necessary information."
The Air Line Pilots Association's executive committee is debating whether to join in an arbitration to determine whether any of the parties may have violated a merger transition agreement between the carrier and its two conflicting ALPA pilot unions. US Airways asked ALPA to consider the arbitration. A system board of adjustment set up under the transition agreement would make a determination if ALPA's board agrees to it. It would be comprised of two company representatives, two union representatives and an arbitrator.
Haiti's civil aviation authorities recently suspended operations at the country's sole commercial airline, Caribintair, until full investigations are complete of recent emergency landings by two Cessna Caravan aircraft operating the Port-au-Prince-Cap Haitien trunk route. The carrier noted in a release that "aircraft involved in the two accidents were recent models of a brand considered reliable all over the globe." Four passengers and the pilot were seriously injured in the Sept. 11 emergency landing. The other landing occurred on Aug. 31.
The Southern California Regional Airport Authority (SCRAA) has approved a $47,000, sole-source contract with RRM Design for consulting services to help it come up with a mission statement. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa reconstituted the authority, which is intended to create a comprehensive regional air service program for Southern California, earlier this year (DAILY, March 13). SCRAA has been in the start-up phase for almost a year, and it has still not created a final mission statement. [email protected]
Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings has promoted Jason Grant from senior VP of network planning and business development to senior VP and CFO. He replaces Michael Barna who resigned to pursue other interests. Grant has held several positions at Atlas in the finance department since leaving American, where he was manager of financial planning and financial analysis.
Air France and Qantas will code share from Paris to Denpasar in Bali, thanks to an expansion of their agreement announced earlier this week. Qantas will put the AF code on its flights from Singapore to Denpasar in Bali, and both codes will appear on flights the airlines offer between France and Bali. Air France flies daily service between Paris and Singapore.
Allegiant CFO Linda Marvin resigned from the company, and officially gives up the title Sept. 30. Marvin plans to work with Allegiant during a transitional period that ends Dec. 31.
Airbus continues to adhere to its philosophy of choosing suppliers for the A350 earlier in the design process, handing Honeywell a major contract for the aircraft's auxiliary power unit and air management systems. Previously, Airbus has said its philosophy for the A350 is to choose fewer partners that offer more incorporated packages (DAILY, April 30). The deal with Honeywell is worth $16 billion over the contract's 20-25 year time span. Aftermarket support and service is also included in the deal's value.
