Russian investor Alexander Lebedev intends to sell half his 30% stake in Aeroflot through his National Reserve Corp. and go after the Russian government's 25% share of S7 Airlines, NRC Deputy GD Leonid Dushatin told Reuters.
Vietnam Airlines ordered six ATR 72-500s valued at more than $112 million, ATR announced. They will be equipped with the Elegance cabin, powered by PW127Ms and bring the number of -500s it currently has on order to 11. All are scheduled for delivery in 2009 and 2010. Its current ATR fleet comprises seven 72-200s and three 72-500s.
SAS Group airlines flew 2.59 billion RPKs in November, a 12.9% decline from the year-ago month. Capacity dropped 11% to 4.02 billion ASKs and load factor slipped 1.4 points to 64.5%. SAS Scandinavian Airlines flew 1.95 billion RPKs, down 10%, against a 6.8% fall in capacity to 2.94 billion ASKs. Load factor was down 2.4 points to 66.4%. Finnair flew 1.8 billion RPKs in November, up 12.3% year-over-year, against an 8.2% rise in capacity to 2.42 billion ASKs. Load factor rose 2.8 points to 74.1%.
Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore will extend its existing Air Hub Development Fund for an additional year to Dec. 31, 2009, with a 30% increase to S$130 million ($87.1 million) in order to "help airlines and airport partners affected by the global economic downturn." A 25% landing fee rebate will be offered to carriers operating at Singapore Changi and nearby Seletar, up from 15%, in addition to a 15% rebate on office, lounge and warehouse leases.
Russia's treasury is set to provide RUB30 billion ($1.08 billion) in soft loans to the air transport industry to help it through the current credit squeeze. Last month the government established a state-backed dedicated relief facility to finance the working capital needs of a few major airlines. According to sources, the five carriers that transport more than 1 million passengers per year, with at least half on scheduled flights, are eligible to receive funds.
Compagnia Aerea Italia investor group officially took control of Alitalia's flight assets Friday, hours after two flight attendant unions reportedly agreed to back the deal and one day after buying Air One. The deals are worth a combined €1.05 billion and the restructured airline is scheduled to relaunch Jan. 12 ( ATWOnline, Dec. 5). CAI reportedly still plans to choose a foreign partner ( ATWOnline, Dec.
Under pressure from the industry downturn and, potentially, Lufthansa's acquisition of Austrian Airlines, LOT Polish Airlines is seeking help from both Star Alliance and a future industry partner, President and CEO Dariusz Nowak told ATWOnline. Speaking to this website on the way to last week's Star board meeting in Chicago, Nowak said LOT is working on selling a 49% stake to a strong industry partner. "We will try to sell it next year, preferring a European airline," he said.
Air India plans to ask for INR25 billion ($502.8 million) from the government to help finance expansion and its continued integration with Indian Airlines, Chairman and MD Raghu Menon told the Indo-Asian News Service. "We have a very small equity base of INR1.45 billion but our aircraft acquisition plan alone is worth INR450 billion," he said.
China Southern Airlines Group Chairman Liu Shaoyong was appointed as the new chairman of China Eastern Airlines parent China Eastern Air Holding Co. Friday, appearing to pave the way for the merger of CEA and Shanghai Airlines.
Air France KLM flew 15.96 billion RPKs in November, a 0.8% fall from the year-ago month. Capacity was down 0.7% to 20.39 billion ASKs and load factor slipped 0.1 point to 78.3%. Cathay Pacific Airways and Dragonair flew 7.13 billion RPKs in November, up 1% year-over-year. Capacity rose 7.4% to 9.43 billion ASKs, lowering load factor 4.7 points to 75.7%. WestJet flew 1.06 billion RPMs in November, up 14.4% year-over-year, against a 13.5% increase in capacity to 1.39 billion ASMs. Load factor rose 0.5 point to 76.1%.
Spanair said it received approval from national labor authorities to move ahead with a restructuring plan that includes the layoff of 517 permanent employees and conversion of an additional 185 fulltime jobs into part-time positions ( ATWOnline, Aug. 12). The "viability plan" is worth an estimated €90 million, the carrier said yesterday, adding that it "expects to break even or generate a small profit" by 2010.
South Korea's Jeju Air will launch 737-800 service from Incheon to Osaka (daily) and Kitakyushu (thrice-weekly) on March 20, becoming the country's first LCC to operate internationally, The Korea Times reported. Jeju launched domestic flights in June 2006 and currently flies two 737-800s and four Q400s. It plans to take delivery of two more 737s next year.
ACE Aviation Holdings, which was created in 2004 as part of Air Canada's restructuring and still holds a 75% stake in AC, this week revealed plans to use C$811 million ($644 million) in cash reserves to purchase all of its outstanding convertible shares and senior notes, allowing it to seek shareholder approval for liquidation.
Star Alliance yesterday confirmed that Brussels Airlines, which is owned partially by Lufthansa, will join the organization, and Star CEO Jaan Albrecht said the 21-member group eventually may more than double in size.
Air France KLM lodged a formal complaint with the European Commission regarding the conditions under which Lufthansa intends to take over Austrian Airlines. The Franco-Dutch group said it "strongly believes" that the transaction "is not being conducted in the best interest of Austrian Airlines stakeholders and at a fair market price. This sale therefore entails state aid elements that need to be thoroughly investigated."
Ryanair yesterday confirmed that it will shutter its Fuerteventura operation on Jan. 31 "after local tourism group AIE failed to honor the commercial agreemen. . .to promote Fuerteventura as a tourist destination" ( ATWOnline, Nov. 20). It will cancel 23 weekly flights to Birmingham, Bremen, Dublin, Dusseldorf Weeze, Nottingham East Midlands, Frankfurt Hahn, Liverpool, London Stansted and Shannon. " It said that "legal action" would continue against AIE and its members.
Virgin Atlantic Airways and Lufthansa confirmed discussions regarding future cooperation and the latter's impending takeover of bmi ( ATWOnline, Dec. 10). "Lufthansa can confirm that it is exploring options regarding the future ownership of BMI. These options include different scenarios," the German carrier said in a statement cited by the BBC.
United Airlines flew 7.47 billion system RPMs in November, a 17% decline from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 14.2% to 9.71 billion ASMs and load factor was down 2.7 points to 76.9% Continental Airlines said November consolidated RASM rose 1%-2% year-over-year and mainline unit revenue climbed 2%-3%. It flew 6.58 billion consolidated RPMs last month, down 10.5%, against a 7.3% fall in ASMs to 8.51 billion. Load factor dropped 2.8 points to 77.3%.
Siemens PLM Software signed a deal with Safran Group's Snecma to provide its Teamcenter lifecycle management solution, which is expected to increase partner and supplier collaboration and improve product development practices. Deployment through three implementation phases will occur over the next three years. Separately, Satair will continue to provide Siemens with product support and serve as its authorized distributor in the Asia/Pacific region under a renewal agreement.
PASSUR Aerospace said Orlando International selected its Pulse Proactive landing fee management technology featuring radar network intelligence, flight information validations, Web transparency and specialized activity filters.
Air New Zealand will conduct the world's first commercial aviation test flight powered by a sustainable second-generation biofuel on Dec. 30. The flight was scheduled for Dec. 3 but was postponed after the loss of one of the airline's A320s during a "return from lease acceptance test flight" in France ( ATWOnline, Nov. 12). The 2-hr.
Mexicana took delivery of an A330-200 on lease from CIT Aerospace. A second will arrive later this month. Aircraft is powered by Trent 772Bs. Separately, MX recently unveiled a new logo and livery featuring an angled eagle's head and two shades of blue.
American Airlines Chairman and CEO Gerard Arpey said this week that the US airline industry "should certainly be at the top of the list of the industries that are deserving of economic stimulus as it relates to infrastructure," the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported. The US government is debating a $14 billion bailout of the country's automobile manufacturing industry, while President-elect Barack Obama said his economic stimulus package likely will include hundreds of millions of dollars of investment in national infrastructure improvements.
China Eastern Airlines, whose stock has been suspended from trading since Nov. 27, said yesterday that it will receive a CNY3 billion ($435.8 million) cash injection from the government, according to press reports. China Southern Airlines received a similar payout late last month ( ATWOnline, Dec. 8).
Nordam Group named Repair Group COO and former CFO Bill Peacher as its new CEO, effective Jan. 1. He succeeds Ken Lackey, who will remain executive chairman.
