Mexico's antitrust regulator, the Federal Competition Commission (CFC), last week called on the government to take advantage of positive conditions in the current world investment markets to sell Cintra, the public sector holding company that controls AeroMexico and Mexicana. Only last week the Mexico's DOT recommended that the sale be postponed "until the worldwide aviation crisis improved" (DAILY March 11). Fernando Sanchez, president of CFC, said, "The time is right. We are seeing a recovery of the stock markets of developed economies, for instance in the U.S.
Boeing will expand the responsibilities of its senior leadership effective March 15, adding three executives to its Office of the Chairman. CFO Michael Sears will add corporate strategy development and the company's annual business planning to his current responsibilities. David Swain, chief technology officer, will provide "strategic guidance" to Boeing's Connexion and Air Traffic Management programs.
A modern airport with a 5,700-foot-long runway for cargo aircraft and two docks to handle 270 tons of freight is being built at Las Malvinas oil camp, close to a new natural gas processing plant going up in Peru's south/central coastal region of Pisco. The facility will be run by petroleum consortium Camisea. The airport also will handle exploration and drilling equipment for new oil fields in the neighboring area of San Martin.
U.S. and French regulators will order ultrasonic inspections of Airbus A300-600 and A310 composite tails after NTSB investigators working the American 587 crash found post-production damage on a key part of another AA A300-600 tail.
Chautauqua Airlines parent company Republic Airways Holdings yesterday filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission to proceed with an initial public offering of common stock in an attempt to generate $85 million in new funds. Chautauqua is the third regional carrier in a month -- after Express I and Continental ExpressJet -- to signal plans for an IPO. Republic said it will use the proceeds of the IPO to repay debt, redeem preferred Chautauqua stock and acquire additional capital.
JetBlue has launched a third daily flight between Oakland, Calif. and New York Kennedy. It will introduce twice daily Washington Dulles service from Oakland May 1 and add a fourth daily flight to JFK on May 8.
Continental tomorrow in New York will unveil a "substantial investment" upgrading its international BusinessFirst product. Since Sept. 11, Continental has striven to differentiate itself by retaining onboard meals and amenities, and the BusinessFirst upgrade is part of that strategy, officials said.
Air Canada plans to report a first quarter operating loss but will recall more employees this spring in preparation for an expected jump in demand. "We continue to anticipate a return to profitability in the seasonally stronger quarters," said Chief Financial Officer Rob Peterson. "The result of an improved revenue environment and our relentless cost reduction efforts which must continue if we are to achieve our goal of sustained profitability." He added that higher load factors and "firming yields" have led to unit revenue improvements.
The Boeing 717 program "will hang in there and is there to stay," predicts Lawrence Crawford, CEO of Spectrum Aviation Services. Crawford last week said the 717 and Airbus 318 might be the answer to filling the gap between 70- and 90-seat regional jets and larger mainline aircraft. While some have predicted the demise of the 717 program, especially after TWA turned back its aircraft when it merged with American, Crawford noted that the 717 "may not be a winner in the sense of the 737," but it will have enough demand to keep the program viable.
There will be no resolution to the US Airways regional jet problem, at least not in the near term, and talks between the company and its Air Line Pilots Association have broken down completely, the pilot union contends.
BAE Systems Aircraft Services Group is remarketing five Airbus narrowbodies operated by now-defunct Sabena. The four A319s (manufacturer serial nos. 1068, 1145,1336 and 1388) and one A321 (msn 1012) can be bought or leased from a consortium of six banks.
Sabre's consulting services group recently completed a full evaluation of the business processes of Brazil's TAM airlines. As part of the deal, valued at more than $1 million, Sabre provided proposals that "will allow the airline to improve its strategic, tactical and commercial business practices."
U.S. airline passenger traffic will return to pre-Sept. 11 levels early next year and grow at about 4% annually, increasing pressure on the National Airspace System (NAS) as enplanements hit 1 billion passengers in fiscal 2013 -- three years later than predicted last year, FAA is expected to project today.
David Marchick, who served the Clinton administration for seven years, including as deputy assistant secretary of state for transportation affairs from 1998 to 1999, has joined Covington&Burling's Washington, D.C., office as a special counsel on international trade and transportation issues.
Japan Airlines next month plans to launch a new range of cargo products and services. The airline in 2000 launched a J-Products brand that had several services for specific cargo niches. The new line, available as of April 1, will include four new categories -- "J Care" for sensitive instruments and equipment, "J Art" for air shipments, "J Fresh" for produce and "J Cool" for temperature-controlled shipments. J Freight, J Speed, and J Special in 2000 were introduced to meet shipper requirements for speed and time-defined shipments.
America West this summer plans an additional boost of service from Phoenix and Las Vegas. Overall, the carrier will add of 46 daily departures to 31 markets from Phoenix between Feb. 27 and July 15. About half of the flights will be resumption of service that was cut after Sept. 11, but 23 are new flights to existing markets. Once this new service takes effect, the airline will provide 330 daily departures to 84 destinations from Phoenix. "Beginning in May, America West will expand service to 10 destinations from Las Vegas and launch new service to Mexico City.
Fairchild Dornier has confirmed that it is "pursuing discussions with prospective strategic partners" and that it needs a strategic investor going forward. The company said that its investors agree "a strategic partner would be useful to further develop Fairchild Dornier's promising airliner program," but it did not officially disclose the identity of the potential buyers.
Julio Disi, legal counsel for AeroContinente Chile, said last week that the Peru-based carrier is suing the Chilean state for financial, material and moral damages stemming from an investigation conducted last year by the State Defense Council (CDE) for alleged money laundering, charges that were thrown out of court after the airline was grounded and its top executives jailed for more than one month. Although earlier news reports mentioned $1 billion as retribution for said damages, Disi did not confirm this amount.
Infraero, the Brazilian government's agency in charge of airport infrastructure, has budgeted $385 million for 2002, or almost four times as much as the $105 million it has been historically investing. Most funds are earmarked for airports in the state of Sao Paulo. In 2001, Infraero posted $145 million profit, 34% more than in the previous year, and this encouraged larger investments.
Former Southwest and Braniff CEO Howard Putnam yesterday was named to become a strategic adviser to Centerpost Corp. Putnam was brought onboard to boost Centerpost's "client development initiatives." Centerpost offers different services to help companies cut call center costs and improve customer service
The nine largest U.S. passenger airlines will pay an about $102 million in the next year -- an average of nearly $28,000 per aircraft, well above FAA estimates -- to upgrade cockpit doors on nearly 3,700 Airbus and Boeing jets, a DAILY analysis shows. The figures are based on door kit list prices quoted by Airbus and Boeing and a forecast of the projected yearend 2003 fleet by Deutsche Bank Alex. Brown (DBAB).
All Nippon Airways plans to add six daily flights to Sapporo, Fukuoka, Okayama, Hiroshima, Takamatsu and Kagoshima from Tokyo Haneda Airport, starting July 1. The additional flights will be added thanks to an expansion of Haneda slots. With the additional flights, ANA will operate 55 daily flights, or 110 roundtrips, between Tokyo and the six cities. "ANA selected these destinations based on projections for high demand and revenue," said CEO Yoji Ohashi.
An increase in demand is prompting Varig to up the size of its aircraft on daily New York Kennedy-Sao Paulo-Rio de Janeiro and weekly Miami-Manaus flights. Starting March 4, the run through Sao Paulo will be done with 279-seat MD-11s, replacing 191-seat Boeing 767-300s. The Manaus route will be flown with 187-seat 767-200s, compared with 117-seat 737-800s now. "We are encouraged by the steady recovery of business and leisure travel since of the depths of last fall's dramatic dropoff," said Varig's Director-North America Vicente Cervo.
