FL Group last week unveiled plans to sell its majority stake in Icelandair this month, which will lead to an inital public offering in the carrier before yearend.
Airlines flying out of Paris Charles de Gaulle's Terminal 1 are unhappy with a French government decision on awarding new ground-handling licenses, saying they are being forced to deal with suppliers they have roundly rejected. The French civil aviation agency, DGAC, has renewed the ground-handling license at the facility for Air France and granted the second to a unit of World Flight Services, now a unit of LBO France. The latter is taking over the concession from another French supplier, Penauille Servisair.
Northwest revealed last week it is not only getting help from Bombardier to finance 36 new CRJ-900s, but is also garnering significant rent reductions on a portion of its existing CRJ fleet as well as getting off the hook for 13 planes it has yet to receive under an existing deal.
U.S. airlines' on-time and cancellation rates for August improved slightly compared with the same month last year, and these rates were also better than in July this year, the U.S. Transportation Dept. said.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Ingrid Lee at [email protected] OCT. 17-19 -- National Business Aviation Association 59th Annual Meeting & Convention, Orlando, Fla., 202-783-9000 OCT. 18-20 -- Air Transport Association e-Business Forum, Louisville, KY., 202-626-4039, e-mail: admin@ ataebiz.org, www. ataebiz.org/forum.
Continental on Friday announced plans to contribute $70 million to the airline's pension plans. The latest contribution brings its 2006 pension contributions to $246 million to date, which tops the minimum funding requirement applicable to Continental's plans. "I'm pleased that we have achieved a solid record for making our required contributions -- plus some," said CEO Larry Kellner. Since the beginning of 2002, Continental has contributed more than $1.1 billion to its pension plans.
Virgin America on Wednesday plans to unveil its "first" aircraft even though the carrier has been taking deliveries for months and now has nine aircraft -- seven A320s and two A319s. The planes are grounded until next year, when the carrier hopes to win regulatory approval to launch. The San Francisco event this week features a plane-naming ceremony with politicians and celebrities, but the interiors will remain a secret.
Talks between the Star Alliance and Turkish Airlines about the latter's joining the network are progressing and could lead the carrier to gain member status by the end of next year, says Philip Saunders, Star's VP-commercial. The timeline, which isn't fixed yet, would mean the allaince would grow by three carriers next year, with Shanghai Airlines and Air China still slated to accede in 2007.
After more than a week of talks, the European Union and the U.S. on Friday signed a interim deal on transferring passenger-name records, which will last through July 31, 2007. Both sides hope that they can hash out a permanent deal within the next nine months.
Southwest is eyeing more flights to New Orleans as the city works to rebound from Hurricane Katrina more than a year ago. The carrier now has 24 flights per day, compared with 54 daily flights the month before the storm hit the city. "We always think we're close to the right capacity, but we've been surprised every time that we still don't have enough seats," CEO Gary Kelly tells The DAILY.
If U.S. air traffic grows as expected, delays would increase 62% from 2004 levels by 2014 unless system capacity is enhanced, FAA Chief Operating Officer Russell Chew says. Under this scenario there would be 29 days in 2014 with more delay than on the worst day in 2004, Chew estimates. These extra delays would cost airlines at least $2 billion a year.
Appointed Pierre Bosse to succeed Pierre Reville as senior VP-components and logistics services and named Patrice Mathonniere general manager-narrow body overhaul to succeed Bosse.
The U.K.'s Civil Aviation Authority will stick with its original timetable to review price controls at Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and Manchester airports.
Southwest will likely take 2007 to build frequencies within its existing markets rather than add new cities, reports CEO Gary Kelly, especially due to concern over a recent slowing of the strong revenue and yield growth seen during the summer.
While EADS and Airbus officials admit that A380 production problems could have a spillover effect on the A350, analysts say the A350 is too important to Airbus' future to be seriously under threat.
Hawaiian carrier Island Air is in talks to fly Bombardier 70-seat Q400 turboprops on the U.S. mainland, and could strike a deal within the next four to six weeks, The DAILY has learned.
British startup Silverjet this week moved closer to launch its all-business class transatlantic service after it acquired two other airlines, which give it access to a operating certificate and an additional aircraft.
Northwest's new Compass subsidiary will fly 36 Embraer 175s starting in the second quarter of 2007. Not wanting to disappoint the competition in its long-awaited order, Northwest also agreed to buy 36 Bombardier CRJ-900s, which will be operated by an Airlink partner, to be determined at a later date. Both planes will fly in a two-class configuration. Executives are still shopping for a DC-9 replacement.
JetBlue could take advantage of FAA's lifting of the ban on buying, selling and leasing slots at Chicago O'Hare now that it has requested eight slots at the heavily congested airport for flights beginning in November.
After talks on passenger name record (PNR) data transfer collapsed this week in the U.S. without a deal, European Union negotiators will meet in Luxembourg today with the interior ministers from the 25 EU member states to present them with an interim deal proposed by U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.
