Boullioun Aviation Services' acquisition by Westdeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale (WestLB) of Dusseldorf/Munster, was finalized Friday after gaining regulatory approval. WestLB's purchase will "secure Boullioun's growth plans" as it takes delivery of 61 firm new Boeing and Airbus aircraft over the next eight years, said Boullioun CEO Bob Genise. Boullioun was previously owned by Deutsche Banc, which acquired it from Sumitumo Trust in October 1998.
United and its flight attendants will return to the bargaining table Wednesday to consider the company's assertions that it will have to divest three US Airways regionals if its merger plans go through because the flight attendants' contract prohibits United from owning and operating another carrier. United CEO Jim Goodwin told flight attendants, who are represented by the Association of Flight Attendants, that unless they are willing to negotiate a waiver to the rule, it will have to sell off US Airways subsidiaries PSA, Piedmont and Allegheny.
AIRCRAFT TRANSACTIONS FOR NOV 17 - NOV 20, 2000 Seller/ New Type / Previous Operator Owner Engine Operator Boeing Saudia Saudia Boeing 777-200ER/ GE90-92B Embraer American American Embraer Eagle Eagle ERJ135/
Hawaiian Airlines has named Paul Casey Vice Chairman and CEO. Casey was president and CEO. Robert Zoller, executive VP-operations and service, was named president and chief operating officer. Chairman John Adams said Casey's new appointment will allow him to focus on long-term strategies and goals.
Aerospace Products International named Don Cox VP-general aviation sales and services; Glen Golden VP-product services and Alan Arnett VP-API Asia Pacific.
Express Airlines 1 will begin expanding service from Detroit in May, bringing nearly 400 new jobs and more than $11 million annually into Michigan's economy by 2003, the company said last week. Express 1 on May 1 will begin phasing the service over three months, offering three-times-daily service between Detroit and Burlington, Vt., and upgraded jet service on two flights each between Detroit and Traverse City and between Kalamazoo, Mich., and Canton-Akron, Ohio.
American Eagle has introduced regional jet service between Boston and New York/Newark with seven daily roundtrips. Service is aboard 37-seat Embraer ERJ-135 regional jets.
Iberia plans to boost capacity 10% this year, focusing on its key markets in Europe and Latin America. In Europe, the carrier will expand its capacity by 15%, mainly through new flights. It will add new direct flights from Madrid to Stuttgart, Dublin and Hamburg, destinations previously served only from Barcelona. Iberia will boost frequencies from Madrid and Barcelona to Amsterdam, Brussels, Rome and Milan, as well as from Madrid to Dusseldorf and Paris.
FAA's Free Flight initiative could reduce the average flight path by 2%, saving $1 billion in fuel, and might allow airlines to double the number of flights through an air sector while maintaining current safety levels, according to a study by MIT Professor Arnold Barnett. Actual savings could be less if congestion around airports forces more fuel to be used before landing. Two-dimension free flight might be "considerably more prudent" than three dimension, he says. That is, allowing choice of latitude and longitude but not altitude.
European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co. has set up an office at 815 Connecticut Ave. N.W., Suite 700, Washington, D.C. 20006, telephone 202-766-0988, fax 202-776-9080, [email protected].
Legend's creditors removed several aircraft from the property on Friday, after a bankruptcy court judge removed a lien on Legend that had been stipulated as part of a promised $20 million Debtor in Possession loan. An attorney for Legend Funding Group, which promised the loan to help the bankrupt airline resume operations, apologized to the court for failing to come up with the money and said the group still intended to fund.
Senate antitrust subcommittee Chairman Mike DeWine (R-Ohio), ranking Democrat Herb Kohl (Wis.) and six members of the Judiciary Committee asked John Nannes, acting assistant attorney general in Justice's antitrust division, to examine pending airline mergers "with a special focus on the impact such consolidation will have on competition and consumers." The subcommittee will hold a hearing Wednesday on proposed mergers.
ARINC has formed Aviparts, a business unit providing solutions to the problem of obsolete and unsupported parts by operators of high-value commercial and military assets, such as aircraft and machinery. Support includes reverse engineering, re-engineering, rapid prototyping, internal and virtual manufacturing and first-article testing.
Mexico's Transportation Secretary Pedro Cerisola announced that country will not replace international time with local summer time during five months beginning in May to accommodate airline schedules. The aviation and travel industries had protested the proposed change because adjustments at the beginning and the end of the summer season would have generated losses up to $20 million and inconvenienced more than 75,000 passengers.
Sun Country has taken delivery of the first of eight Boeing 737-800s. The remaining aircraft will be delivered over the next 15 months. The airline has a new blue and orange paint scheme and features an all-leather interior, a front row area with eight roomier seats for upgrades and 160 other seats equipped with an inflight audio system. Sun Country will move into the new Hubert H. Humphrey terminal in Minneapolis May 2 and on the same day will launch its new Sabre computer reservations system.
SkyWest is on a fast track to growth, and its shares could climb to $50 within the next two years, according to analyst Jim Parker of Raymond James&Associates. SkyWest's coverage stretches from Denver to the Pacific thanks to expanded pacts with Delta and United. Parker forecasts earnings to grow 19%, 42% and 26%, respectively, over the next three years.
Canada 3000 is eyeing Airbus's A330-500, but Chief Financial Officer Don Kennedy said the biggest problem is delivery -- the aircraft won't be available until 2004-2005. The A330-500 would replace Canada 3000's A310s and 757s now being flown to Europe. The airline is taking delivery of A319s during the next three years to replace 737s or 757s.
Australian regulators say shortcomings in Ansett Australia Airlines' maintenance program are part of the reason the carrier missed key Boeing 767 inspections, but they hinted that better communication between the U.S. manufacturer and its customers could have prevented the problems. Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) has been looking carefully at Ansett after the carrier revealed last month that it allowed seven 767-200s to fly through key inspection intervals.
New York jet fuel spot prices ended last week at $0.86 per gallon, down 2.5% from the beginning of the week and down 35.8% from a year ago, according to Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown.
Nordam Group promoted John Calvert director-engineering for the Interiors&Structures Division and named Bob Brooks director-marketing for the Repair Division and Jerry Massegee manager-performance excellence.
AirTran's stock price last week hit a new 52-week high at $10.40 share, soaring 51% in January alone. The stock boost came after the carrier reached a tentative deal with its pilots two months before the contract became amendable at the same time several analysts raised their ratings on the carrier after it posted an 82% jump in earnings. "The addition of new, efficient airplanes in markets that demand a low-cost carrier translates into a growth story," said ING Barings analyst Ray Neidl.
New DOT Secretary Norman Mineta believes transportation infrastructure development, including accelerating runway construction and expanding airport capacity, is critical to improving an overwhelmed aviation system. Speaking for the first time as DOT secretary, Mineta told the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Friday that "transportation infrastructure has always been, and always will be a work in progress." He acknowledged that "additional runways is one of the most efficient ways to add capacity."
Harry Stonecipher, Boeing president and chief operating officer, will receive the Distinguished Achievement Award from the Wings Club on Oct. 16. Stonecipher will received the award after a 40-year career in aviation that includes being CEO of both McDonnell Douglas and Sundstrand, as well as many roles at GE. Former Airbus CEO Jean Pierson received the award last year.
