Mechtronix World Corp. announced that Richardson Capital, the private equity arm of Richardson Financial Group, has invested C$39 million ($37.8 million) in the Montreal-based simulator maker for a minority stake. The company said the funds will be used for "widening of turnkey services for new-generation training centers, expanded market development efforts" and expansion of manufacturing and R&D. "We're multiplying our manufacturing capacity by three," Mechtronix President Xavier Herve told ATWOnline.
Jat Airways, which the Serbian government put up for sale over the summer ( ATWOnline, Sept. 22), has not found an investor willing to purchase the state's 51% stake and now must depend on the government for a rescue, CEO Sasa Vlaisavljevic told the daily Blic. He said the state will have to assume Jat's €250 million debt.
IATA reported that global international RPK growth in August slowed to 1.3% year-over-year from 1.9% in July and 5.4% in the first half of 2008. August load factor fell 1.8 points to 81%. "The slowdown has been so sudden that airlines can't adjust capacity quickly enough. While the drop in the oil price is welcome relief on the cost side, fuel remains 30% higher than a year ago," DG and CEO Giovanni Bisignani said, reiterating IATA's forecast of a $5.2 billion industry loss for the full year ( ATWOnline, Sept.
Turkish Airlines is expected to announce its long-awaited fleet order this month, President and CEO Temel Kotil told ATWOnline in Istanbul. Kotil declined to elaborate on the order's size or composition and confirmed only that it will be "big" and include both narrowbody and widebody aircraft ( ATWOnline, Sept. 5). "We intend to double our narrowbody fleet in the next ten years," he said. "We will have about 200 of them at Istanbul [Ataturk]. We will then be a good player."
Sun Country Airlines moved to become financially independent from parent company Petters Group Wordwide, which has become ensnared in a US federal criminal investigation that led to this week's abrupt resignation of Chairman and CEO Tom Petters. Petters Group offices and Petters' personal home were raided by the FBI and Internal Revenue Service, which allege that the company head and certain associates were involved in a massive multimillion-dollar fraud scheme.
Alitalia's rescue by Italian investment group CAI appears fully on track after the last of AZ's nine labor unions yesterday backed the €1 billion ($1.46 billion) plan to re-launch the troubled airline that is estimated to be losing €3 million daily.
Welcome Air of Innsbruck, one of Europe's few small independent regional carriers, recently took delivery of its fourth Do-328, a 328JET version. Aircraft originally was for Hainan Airlines. Welcome will launch a weekly Innsbruck-Weeze service for the upcoming winter schedule but will stop operating to Rotterdam and Antwerp because of "massive pressure" from Dutch LCC Transavia.com, Welcome owner Jakob Ringler told ATWOnline.
Frontier Airlines reported a $5.6 million net loss in August but posted its second consecutive monthly operating profit ($3.3 million). Net result included a $4.7 million loss on a sale-leaseback transaction, $1.8 million in professional fees, a $500,000 mark-to-market noncash loss on fuel hedging contracts and a $300,000 loss on early extinguishment of debt. It reported a $500,000 gain on a reversal of severance accrual. Net income excluding those items was $1.2 million.
Discussions about a potential three-way merger among German charter/low-cost carriers Condor, TUIfly and Germanwings failed following Thomas Cook Group's decision to withdraw.
News from Travel Technology Update: Getting people to put "awesome" and "airline" into the same sentence these days is no easy feat. But JetBlue Airways managed it with its recent auction of flights and vacation packages on eBay. The idea came about when the carrier was thinking of ways to stimulate travel during the fall lull. "We were looking for something unique to get people thinking about travel," Don Uselmann, manager of business development, said. "We wanted a 'water cooler' story, something that people would talk about."
Japan Airlines yesterday said it is canceling cargo flights between Tokyo Narita and New York JFK from Oct. 1, part of a reduction in freighter services for the second half of its fiscal year ending March 31. "The airline is currently facing a tough environment, particularly in terms of its North American freighter business," JAL said. "Even though the price of fuel has stabilized, it has remained at a very high level.
SAS Group airlines flew 3.66 billion RPKs in August, down 0.7% year-over-year. Capacity rose 2.2% to 4.91 billion ASKs and load factor dropped 2.1 points to 74.4%. SAS Scandinavian Airlines flew 2.51 billion RPKs, down 0.4%, against a 4.6% rise in ASKs to 3.41 billion. Load factor fell 3.7 points to 73.5%. Aer Lingus flew 1.68 billion RPKs in August, up 8.8% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 10.3% to 2.08 billion ASKs and load factor was down 1.2 points to 80.5%.
Six Hong Kong carriers, including Cathay Pacific Airways and Dragonair, will cut fuel surcharges on international and domestic routes by 10% and 15% respectively through October and November. Surcharges will be HK$832 ($106.97) on long-haul flights and HK$196 on short-haul. The decision, as well as cuts implemented by some foreign carriers, have put pressure on airlines from the Chinese mainland.
Gulf Air yesterday signed a deal with Bahrain Real Estate Investment to build a maintenance hangar at Bahrain International. Slated for completion in 2011, the facility will accommodate three widebodies.
Boeing announced successful completion of the "high blow" high-pressure test on the 787 static test airframe at its Everett factory Sunday. It is one of three static tests that must be cleared prior to first flight. During the high blow test, air pressure in the airframe increased to an internal pressure of 150% of the maximum level expected in service--14.9 lb. per sq. in. (1.05 kg. per cm.) gauge (psig).
Aeroflot posted a RUB2.25 billion ($90.1 million) first-half profit, its board of directors announced. The result represents a 29.7% drop from earnings of RUB3.2 billion in the year-ago semester. Revenue in the six months ended June 30 rose 39.4% to RUB42.98 billion while expenses were RUB41.11 billion. SU said fuel costs were 21.3% over budget.
Assn. of Asia Pacific Airlines members flew 52.4 billion RPKs in August, down 1.2% from the year-ago period, as traffic in the region continued to soften. Passenger boardings declined 3.7% to 12.3 million. Capacity continued to rise, however, with ASKs up 2.4% to 68.3 billion. As a result, load factor fell 2.8 points to 76.7%. AAPA international air cargo traffic was down 6% to 4.4 billion FTKs. For the first eight months of 2008, traffic rose 2.5% to 408.6 billion RPKs against a 3.6% climb in ASKs to 534.5 billion. Load factor dipped 0.9 points to 77.3%.
Boeing said last week that AeroLogic selected its Maintenance Performance Toolbox and Airplane Health Management Web solution for its 777 freighter maintenance documentation platform. Technology is expected to streamline management of technical publications, training and customization of online maintenance manuals.
AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes said the airline is "much closer to achieving our dreams of boosting the growth of Kuala Lumpur as the low-cost hub in Asia" as the LCC announced the addition of four additional daily KUL-Singapore flights beginning Dec. 1.
Delta Air Lines will offer a first class on its MD-88 shuttle service beginning Dec. 1. Each aircraft will feature 14 first class seats and 128 in economy and the shuttle will continue to feature open seating. DL said first class customers will "enjoy an expanded selection of snack options, a more expansive offering of complimentary cocktails and wider, more comfortable seats." By next spring the shuttle fleet will be equipped with Aircell's Gogo inflight broadband service. Delta Shuttle operates 30-times-daily from New York LaGuardia to Washington National and Boston.
SITA said Boryspil International selected its AirportConnect solution to support its goal of processing 18 million passengers by 2020. Solution enables faster check-in and easier adoption of self-service technology. The airport anticipates 20% growth this year to some 6.7 million passengers. Deal also includes SITA AirportHub, a shared wide area network offering high-resiliency and cost-effective in-airport connectivity.
Qantas Group named Jetstar Airways GM Bruce Buchanan to take over the CEO role on Oct. 1, replacing Alan Joyce, who will take over the reins at Qantas Group in November ( ATWOnline, July 29).
Alitalia's pilots and flight attendants still have not signed on to the revived AZ rescue plan backed by the airline's other major unions, stalling its re-launch even as Lufthansa became a possible investor.
Assn. of Flight Attendants-CWA said that 1,550 United Airlines flight attendants accepted voluntary furloughs in increments of six, nine, 12, 18 and 21 months beginning Oct. 31, eliminating the need for involuntary furloughs ( ATWOnline, Aug. 29).
