Airlines & Lessors

SkyTeam members China Southern Airlines and Air France signed an agreement to launch a joint venture on the Paris–Guangzhou route beginning Nov. 1 that includes revenue sharing. AF said in a statement that the two airlines will have “joint governance” of the JV and a “management committee, with five working groups, will be in charge of implementing it in the fields of network management, revenue management, sales, produces and finance.”

UAL Corporation and Continental Airlines announced that following the merger of United and Continental, the holding company will list its common stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol UAL. United currently trades on the NASDAQ and CO on the Big Board. Upon the closing of the merger, the successor holding company, UAL Corp., will be renamed United Continental Holdings Inc. The companies expect to close the merger by Oct. 1.

Australia's Virgin Blue has asked the US Dept. of Transportation for a three-week extension to argue the merits of its proposed alliance with Delta Air Lines, according to The Australian.

British Airways announced at the World Route Development Forum in Vancouver that it will launch five-times weekly London Heathrow–Tokyo Haneda service on Feb.19, 2011 onboard a 777. Its current daily LHR-Tokyo Narita service will remain unchanged. BA also said it plans to launch direct flights from LHR to Buenos Aires from March 27, 2011. BA passengers now must connect via Sao Paulo to reach Buenos Aires. The carrier also announced it will increase its London Gatwick–Barbados service from 10 to 12 flights a week starting in March 2011.

CAAC said Chinese carriers maintained robust growth and earned an aggregate profit in August owing to the continuing rebound in the domestic market. However, the regulator didn’t reveal the exact figure.

Mesa Air Group’s proposed Chapter 11 reorganization plan filed Sept. 17 would see unsecured creditors receive most of the stock in the reorganized company while US Airways Group would receive a 10% stake.

Cathay Pacific firmed up its previously announced commitment for six more 777-300ERs worth HK$12.5 billion ($1.61 billion) at list prices (ATW Daily News, Aug. 5).

Humberside-based Eastern Airways announced Monday it reached an "agreement in principal" with Plymouth-based Sutton Harbour Group to acquire wholly owned subsidiary, Air Southwest. Pending regulatory approval, the agreement is expected to be finalized in October. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The acquisition will enable Eastern Airways, the UK’s second largest regional airline, to expand its network into the South West of England.

Cathay Pacific and Dragonair traffic figures for August continued the recovery trend for 2010 with growth at nearly 10% for passengers compared to the year-ago period. The two airlines carried 2.4 million passengers in August, up 9.7%, and carried 149,000 tonnes of cargo, up 13.1% from the year-ago period. ASKs were up 7.1% to 10.05 billion with RPKs up 7.6% to 8.49 billion, resulting in a rise in load factor of 0.3 points to 84.4%. Cargo load factor increased 0.7 points to 72.7%.

Airbus announced that Malaysia Airlines firmed options for two A330-200Fs, doubling its orderbook for the freighter variant of the twinjet. The aircraft will be powered by Pratt & Whitney PW4000 engines and will be operated by Malaysia's cargo subsidiary, MASkargo. Delivery dates and value of the deal were not released.

Spirit Airlines, the closely held Fort Lauderdale-based low-fare airline, had a net loss of $2.8 million in the first half of 2010, compared to net income of $41.5 million in the year-ago period.

Okay Airways plans to introduce at least one strategic investor this year, the Tianjin-based carrier's controlling stakeholder said.

More than 70 passengers and crew who were aboard a Qantas A330 that suffered air data inertial reference unit spikes in October 2008 are suing Airbus and Northrop Grumman over the incident ( ATW Daily News, March 9, 2009).

SAS Group announced it reached a final agreement that will result in SAS divesting its 49% stake in Tallinn-based Estonian Air to the Estonian government ( ATW Daily News, June 7).Under a deal announced Friday, the Estonian government will provide approximately SEK200 million ($28.3 million) in a new rights issue and SAS will convert approximately SEK20 million in loans into equity.

Ethiopian Airlines named COO Tewolde Mariam CEO-designate, saying he will officially replace retiring CEO Girma Wake on Jan.1, 2011. Mariam has been with the airline in various capacities for 25 years. Wake has been CEO since February 2004 and has successfully led one of the most ambitious growth periods in the company's history ( ATW Daily News, Jan. 21).

United Airlines and Continental Airlines said Friday that each carrier's stockholders overwhelming voted to approve the companies' merger, and stated that the way is cleared for the all-stock transaction to close by Oct. 1.

Cathay Pacific Airways has firmed up its previously announced commitment for 30 A350s ( ATW Daily News, Aug. 5). The purchase was finalized in Hong Kong Thursday by CX CEO Tony Tyler and Airbus COO-Customers John Leahy. Cathay will use the A350s on routes to Europe as it replaces its A340 fleet and grows its 777-300ER fleet, which is dedicated to longer-range US routes.

SAS's board of directors named Rickard Gustafson the airline's new president and CEO. Gustafson, 46, will replace Mats Jansson, who will step down Oct.1. "Rickard Gustafson is an experienced leader, with extensive international experience, who has demonstrated that he can generate good results....The entire board agrees that Gustafson is the right person to take on the challenges in SAS, to continue the implementation of the Core SAS strategy and ensure profitable growth," said SAS Chairman Fritz Schur.

ICAO's 37th General Assembly, which meets Sept. 28-Oct. 8 in Montreal, will attempt to achieve a unified position on aviation and emissions ahead of the upcoming UNFCCC COP16 meeting in Cancun in late November. But the organization will be challenged, given the differing negotiating positions held by key stakeholders as outlined by Air Transport Action Group Executive Director Paul Steele Thursday at the Air Transport Action Group 5th Aviation & Environment Summit in Geneva.

Vueling Airlines flew 1.21 billion RPKs in August, an 8.6% increase year-over-year. Capacity jumped 12.1% to 1.47 billion ASKs and load factor fell 2.6 points to 82.1%. WestJet operated 1.44 billion RPMs in August, up 8.2% on the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 11.3% to 1.75 billion ASMs and load factor fell 2.3 points to 82.2%.

Air France announced it has completed retrofitting 31 of its 37 A320 family aircraft with new seats that were jointly designed by AF and Recaro to offer an additional 2 to 3 in. of legroom (pitch remains at 32-in. depending on the aircraft) and a 15-degree recline. The seat is 40% lighter compared to the older seat, representing an average of 750 kg. per aircraft, which the airline said enables it to reduce fuel consumption by 1,700 tonnes per year and CO2 emissions by 5,200 tonnes annually.

Germanwings, a subsidiary of Lufthansa, announced it is considering changes to several routes as a result of the country’s new “ecological tax” on air travelers, a GWI spokesman told ATW (ATW Daily News, Sept. 2).

Canadian regional Jazz Air announced Tuesday that its 43 crew schedulers represented by CAW ratified the tentative labor agreement that was reached Sept. 9 ( ATW Daily News, Sept. 10). The agreement covers a 3-yr. period expiring June 30, 2012. Jazz President and CEO Joseph Randell said, "The conclusion of this agreement marks the end of the negotiation process with all our labor groups."