Only two weeks after a New York federal bankruptcy court confirmed Avianca's restructuring plan (DAILY, Nov. 23), the company's pilots on Tuesday submitted a last-minute offer to acquire the airline, only days before the court's deadline for submission of additional proposals ends this Friday.
Florida-based public charter carrier Southeast Airlines shut down operations yesterday citing in part the "unplanned and uncontrollably high cost of fuel" combined with low yield that "makes it impossible for Southeast to continue offering low-cost air transportation," according to a statement posted on the company's web site.
The German state of Hesse this week cleared the way for Lufthansa's planned Airbus A380 hangar to be built. The facility is planned to be opened in 2007, when the airline takes delivery of its first A380. Lufthansa ordered 15 of the type and threatened to move A380 maintenance work to its second hub in Munich if Frankfurt did not get the approval. -JF
Peter Mandelson, the European Union's new trade commissioner, will meet U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick Monday in Paris in an effort to revive transatlantic talks. The two officials are expected to address state subsidies to aircraft manufacturers, among other trade issues, said a European source. The U.S. and the EU are engaged in a formal consultation procedure about support to manufacturers after filing complaints against each other in October at the World Trade Organization (DAILY, Oct. 7). -MT
Flight delays over the Thanksgiving holiday period were up 37% from last year, due mainly to bad weather Tuesday and Wednesday, according to preliminary FAA data requested by The DAILY. There were 7,423 delays at the top 45 airports from Tuesday, Nov. 23, through Sunday, Nov. 28, compared with 5,430 last year. Overall traffic volumes were up slightly during the six days, with Tuesday and Wednesday once again the busiest days.
Singapore Airlines is interested in operating to Peru during 2005, Peruvian Minister of Transport Jose Ortiz reports. Ortiz met with his counterpart in Singapore last week and told DAILY affiliate AvNews Latin America & Caribbean that the flag carrier is interested in turning Peru into its South American gateway.
N3 Engine Overhaul Services, a joint venture between Lufthansa Technik and Rolls-Royce, will be based near the city of Erfurt, Germany, the company said this week. N3 will offer maintenance work for the Trent 500, 700 and 900 engines powering Airbus A330s, 340-500/-600s and A380s. The facility will be opened in 2007 and will be responsible for Europe, the Americas and Africa. The companies invested EUR100 million in the site. -JF
Only a day after beleaguered ATA unveiled new flights at its Indianapolis hub, Northwest upped the ante in that market by boosting its own schedule. Northwest will begin nonstop daily flights to Dallas/Fort Worth and Kansas City, the fourth expansion of its Indianapolis schedule in the past five months. When the new flights begin in February, Northwest will have 51 frequencies a day from Indianapolis, making it the largest carrier at the airport.
A Lion Air MD-82 carrying 141 passengers and five crew members skidded off the runway at the Adi Sumamo Airport in Solo, Central Java, Indonesia, killing 33 and injuring more than 60 others.
Delta's pilots union says 235 pilots will retire this month, with 202 of them taking early retirement. The union says as many as 75 of the retiring pilots may be temporarily rehired by Delta until replacement pilots can be trained. Pilot retirements have risen this year since it became obvious that a concession deal would be necessary.
Although ExpressJet has posted about 14 consecutive quarters of profitability, uncertainty surrounding the carrier's long-term plans led at least one Wall Street analyst to reserve judgment on the airline's viability. Caylon Securities analyst Ray Neidl initiated coverage on ExpressJet and five other regional carriers this week. Neidl tacked a neutral rating to ExpressJet, noting, "We prefer to wait for better visibility on the company's future growth plans before revisiting our rating."
Air New Zealand yesterday launched a weekly nonstop flight between Christchurch and Rarotonga in the Cook Islands, using Airbus A320 aircraft. The carrier also operates a weekly service on the Christchurch-Auckland-Rarotonga route.
Korean Air resumed flights to Taiwan yesterday after a 12-year hiatus, offering a daily service from Seoul Incheon Airport to Taipei, using Boeing 737-800s. Flights were stopped abruptly in 1992 after Seoul established diplomatic relations with China.
Boeing VP-Sales, Marketing and In-Service Support of the 7E7 John Feren says the airframer plans to decide by the end of the year if 7E7 will remain the official model number of the aircraft or whether it will switch the number to the 787.
Madrid-based travel distribution company Amadeus plans to "introduce more complexity" in its pricing system in 2005 to help full service airlines compete with low-cost carriers. Amadeus spokesman Edward Ross said the structure will be segmented in four categories: standard, standard plus, premium or premium plus -- compared with the current two categories.
By Steve Lott Eclat Analyst: Aaron Taylor Analysis of a full year of data from Delta's Song operation questions the definition of success: Is the glass half full or half empty? The numbers show that the newest version of an airline-within-an-airline managed to maintain market share in two dozen U.S. domestic city-pairs but didn't make a dent in the aircraft economics that hamper Delta.
American plans to furlough 128 pilots on Jan. 6 and another 60 on Jan. 31, mainly from its New York LaGuardia and St. Louis bases. The furloughs are part of the airline's plan to cut 450 pilots by next summer (DAILY, Oct. 25). American will have 2,778 pilots on furlough at the end of January, the Allied Pilots Association says.
KLM named Frederic Gagey its new CFO. Gagey, currently Air France's VP-finance, will join the airline on Jan. 1, KLM said. The move is part of the Air France-KLM merger agreement, which sees each partner deploying one senior manager to the other airline's executive board. KLM said it will name one new member for Air France's board shortly. Gagey replaces Rob Ruijter, who will join Dutch media group VNU as CFO (DAILY, Sept. 8).
Malaysia Airlines (MAS) is revamping its inflight operations with the hope of increasing its 43% passenger load in the high-yield, premium-class cabins. Among other changes, the airline is retrofitting flat-beds in first and business class on its Boeing 747-400s; retrofitting has already started for the beds on the carrier's 777s. Flight attendant uniforms and the inflight menu will also be changed, and MAS is replacing its existing inflight entertainment system with the Matsushita 3000i.
Faced with a large US$850 million debt, cash-strapped Indonesian flag carrier Garuda is hoping for a government decision on intervention that would let the carrier refinance its debts to avoid collapse. The carrier's president, Indra Setiawan, said the government should make a decision immediately for the airline to refinance its debt to reduce the high interest it is currently paying and also enable the carrier to seek more loans for fleet expansion.
