Nicolas Gallo, Argentina's minister of infrastructure, and a delegation of the carrier's labor unions, flew to Madrid late last week to discuss with SEPI and other Spanish majority stockholders three salvage plans for financially crippled Aerolineas Argentinas. They are SEPI's own plan, the workers' plan prepared with advice from U.S. consultant Randy Babbitt, and a third plan submitted at the last moment by Argentine billionaire tycoon Eduardo Eurnekian, who is the force behind Aeropuertos Argentina 2000.
EasyJet maintained its impressive Internet sales performance for the week ending Oct. 1, selling 87,710 seats online, or 74.7% of all seats sold during the period. The airline plans to continue to "incentivize" customers to book their seats online as "the web represents the most cost-effective way to sell seats." EasyJet requires passengers to book directly with the airline.
BFGoodrich Aerospace and SIA Engineering Co. formed a joint venture to repair and overhaul aircraft nacelles, thrust reversers and pylon components in Singapore's Loyang hub. The joint venture is based on SIAEC acquiring a 30% equity position in Rohr Aero Services-Asia, a BFG subsidiary. SIAEC is a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines.
U.S. reached an open-skies agreement with Morocco Oct. 5, sources told The DAILY, with a formal announcement expected at DOT's International Transportation Symposium in Washington this week. Delta and Royal Air Maroc signed a marketing alliance in June and plan to start code-sharing once the open-skies accord is finalized.
In Madrid, Antonio Escolar, Venezuela's Marketing Director for Venezuela's Avensa, announced that operations between Venezuela and Spain will be renewed on Nov. 24 "after two failed efforts in the last six months." He added that there is a backlog of 900 reservations for the first three flights, many booked through the Internet.
DOT Friday tentatively granted U.S.-Brazil air service frequencies to American and Delta, and made a final decision awarding one U.S.-Brazil frequency to Continental. American received approval to operate seven weekly flights between New York Kennedy and Rio de Janeiro, and Delta received approval for three weekly flights between Atlanta and Rio de Janeiro. Delta plans to start its service Dec. 15 with Boeing 767-300ERs pending final approval. Continental received final authority to operate one weekly flight in the Newark-Rio de Janeiro-Belo Horizonte market.
The European Commission approved the use of already authorized state aid to help Olympic Airways move to Athens' new Spata Airport. In 1998, the ailing Greek flag carrier got the EC's green light for a restructuring that included state guarantees for loans to be contracted before Dec. 31, 2000, for the purchase of new aircraft. So far, the aid has been only partly used to buy four Airbus A340-300s; some 67 billion drachmas (US$172 million) remains unallocated.
Virgin Atlantic Airways, the first airline to offer individual video screens, unveiled plans to provide seat messaging and a parental locking system. The service is operated by the inflight supervisor, who has the ability to send a variety of set text messages or a personal message. Messages appear on passenger seat backs. The parental locking system gives parents the option to block out channels they do not want their children to watch. The new services are available on aircraft equipped with the Odyssey Inflight Entertainment system.
FAA is extending the deadline for comments on its interim final rule setting fees for air traffic and related services for aircraft that transit U.S.-controlled airspace without taking off or landing in the U.S. The comment period, which was to close Oct. 4, was extended to Oct. 27 to "ensure that affected entities, mostly foreign, have sufficient time to comment," the agency said.
AeroMexico last weekend added a direct flight between Atlanta and Acapulco via Monterrey, Mexico. The new service operates twice weekly on Saturdays and Sundays with an AeroMexico MD-80 and operates on code-share basis with partner Delta.
Delta and Aerolitoral, a Mexican regional airline owned by AeroMexico, are working on an alliance for code-sharing and other joint operations after Nov. l. Aerolitoral CEO Gonzalo Sanchez said this might be the first step for his carrier to become involved in the SkyTeam Alliance.
Delta's stock price jumped as much as 7% Friday on speculation that an unidentified group was preparing a buyout offer. Business Week reported that a group including ex-airline executives would make a $7.5 billion cash bid, or $61 a share. Delta would not comment, but analysts did not give the report much credibility. "The probability of a consummated transaction is low," said PaineWebber analyst Sam Buttrick. Pilot contract uncertainties will make it difficult to secure financing for the deal, he said.
AeroMexico and its SkyTeam partners will try to entice Grupo TACA away from its current partnership with American. TACA Peru started Mexico City-Lima service in July and AeroMexico will put its code on that service. TACA also partners with Air France through Miami. "We are trying to woo them our way as they would be a good addition to our group," AeroMexico VP-Commercial Planning Jared Harckham told The DAILY.
FAA wants to continue the safety inspection for smaller airports that has been conducted under a contract with the National Association Of State Aviation Officials (DAILY, Oct. 5). FAA said funding for the program had come from its operating budget, which Congress continues to constrain. "We are trying to find a regular flow of funds that are not subject to the vagaries of the operating budget," the agency said. The airports are used by general aviation and as relievers.
AirTran Airways signed interline ticket and baggage agreements last week with five carriers -- Delta, TWA, United, US Airways and American Trans Air. The agreements enable AirTran to issue tickets over the other carriers' routes and provide for the seamless transfer of baggage from one carrier to another.
After recently losing a lawsuit against the Brazilian government seeking compensation of up to $1.5 billion for alleged price-fixing by the state, VASP -- once Brazil's second airline -- has been deteriorating steadily. In drastic cost-saving measures, it canceled all international routes and had two widebody aircraft repossessed by lessors. Its fleet has been reduced from 49 to 17 aircraft. The crisis has deeply affected VASP's subsidiaries, Ecuatoriana de Aviacion and Lloyd Aereo Boliviano.
TRAFFIC DATA FOR SEPTEMBER 2000 RPMs Change ASMs Change In From In From Load Airline Millions 9/99 Millions 9/99 Factor AirTran 334.3 +46.9% 483.9 +14.4% 69.1% Air Wisconsin 99.3 +.3% 176.5 +18.6% 56.3% American Eagle 290.2 +8.1% 528.5 +8.8% 54.9%
Potomac Air is intended to be "nothing more than a surrogate" for US Airways-owned DC Air and should not be given commuter air carrier authority, AirTran said in a DOT filing last week. US Airways purchased the operating certificate of a small, defunct airline with the intention of establishing Potomac Air as a new subsidiary that will become DC Air if the merger with United goes through (DAILY, Sept. 20).
Continental's CFO Larry Kellner was awarded the 2000 CFO Excellence Award in the Information/Knowledge Management category, making him the first three-time winner in the history of the awards, sponsored by CFO Magazine and Arthur Andersen. "We were in the Stone Age in terms of information technology when Larry arrived," said CEO Gordon Bethune in the article published in the October issue of the magazine. "Today, we have some of the most sophisticated systems anywhere."
Travelocity.ca and British Airways signed a partnership agreement this week, elevating Travelocity.ca to a preferred provider for buying online travel and booking BA flights from Canada. "With online sales expected to triple by 2004 in Canada, alliances with leaders in travel like British Airways truly strengthen e-commerce growth and opportunities across Canada," said Travelocity.com CEO Terrell Jones. As part of this agreement, Travelocity.ca will provide users with BA fare and schedule information, as well as promotional exposure for the airlines' U.K.
KLM's September traffic grew 4.6% on 1.5% more capacity, which improved load factor 2.6 percentage points to a record 82.4%. The strongest growth occurred on Africa and Asia/Pacific routes, which grew 13% and 11%, respectively. Transatlantic load factors rose 1.7 points to 87.7%.
Sabre yesterday signed an agreement to provide Alaska Airlines with an Internet booking engine to handle hotel and car rentals. AlaskaAir.com claims it will become one of the first airline web sites to offer direct booking to more than 50,000 hotels and more than 50 car rental companies. "Alaska was the first U.S. carrier to sell tickets online," said Steve Jarvis, VP of e-commerce. "Now we are going a step further by offering our customers a one-stop solution for air, hotel and rental car booking." Alaska did not say when the new service will be launched.
FAA, as part of the initiatives resulting from the June 2000 National Runway Safety Summit, is requesting demonstration of any new or emerging technologies that could increase safety of airport runways. The agency is particularly interested in technologies that show potential for reducing runway incursions and improving safety on airport movement areas. The technology can relate to small, medium or hub airports, commercial or general aviation, and surface vehicles.
