The group of Italian investors including Air One that reportedly had been willing to invest up to €1 billion ($1.4 billion) in an Alitalia restart withdrew from negotiations with the carrier's labor unions Friday, leaving the troubled airline on the verge of collapse.
Alaska Airlines said its winter schedule starting Nov. 9 will see an 8% year-over-year capacity cut, leading to a 9%-10%, or 1,000-employee, workforce reduction. It will cancel low-demand flights on Saturdays and holidays, reduce frequencies in some markets and shift some flying from its 737s to regional subsidiary Horizon Air's Q400s or CRJ700s. Chairman and CEO Bill Ayer explained that the cuts are driven by "the one-two punch of record oil prices and a softening economy on top of increased competition."
SAS Group said it "is in the process of evaluating various structural possibilities" in a statement issued Friday in response to widespread speculation in European media that Lufthansa is considering a takeover bid. SAS has been enduring heavy losses ( ATWOnline, Aug. 15) and considering its future "structure" throughout this year ( ATWOnline, April 2008).
Ryanair said that owing to delayed deliveries caused by the Boeing machinists' strike, it will defer the opening of its Reus base by five weeks to Nov. 5 and postpone the basing of its seventh aircraft at Bergamo by four weeks to Oct. 29. The LCC already had confirmed it was postponing the opening of its Edinburgh base by six weeks to Nov. 5 owing to the strike. Ryanair was scheduled to base two new 737-800s at EDI and two at REU, but these aircraft "are now indefinitely delayed due to a strike by Boeing employees," Deputy CEO Michael Cawley said.
XL Airways UK grounded all flights Friday after its parent company, XL Leisure Group, the UK's third-largest tour operator, was put into administration, leaving an estimated 85,000 passengers stranded abroad. The shutdown was caused by "volatile fuel prices, the economic downturn and [an inability] to obtain further funding," a statement of the joint administrators said on the xl.com website. The administrators added they were not able "to continue trading the business and therefore all flights. . . have been immediately cancelled and the aircraft grounded."
TAM signed a contract with OnAir, a joint venture between Airbus and SITA, that will enable its passengers to use cell phones or other mobile devices in flight on its A320s for voice, SMS messaging or e-mail on South American routes. The service is expected to begin in the second half of 2009 but is dependent upon approval from Brazil's National Agency of Civil Aviation and National Agency of Telecommunications. Also required is a legislative adjustment because current Brazilian law only authorizes cell phone use when aircraft are on the ground and doors are open.
Jet Airways CEO Wolfgang Prock-Schauer is expecting another loss in the current financial year but believes the carrier will pass Air India in terms of revenue for the 12 months ending March 31, 2009, to become India's leading airline.
Austrian Airlines Group's deadline for potential bidders ends today, and CEO Alfred Oetsch told ATWOnline that at "the latest by the end of October we will know who will be our partner for the future." AAG's majority shareholder, state holding company OIAG, is offering its 43% stake in Austrian but may sell a smaller share because the deal is tied to the condition that Austrian shareholders retain 25% of the carrier.
Lufthansa will base six A319s at Milan Malpensa next year to be operated by subsidiary Air Dolomiti and from February 2009 will offer direct flights from MXP to Barcelona, Brussels, Budapest, Bucharest, Madrid and Paris Charles de Gaulle. It will add London Heathrow and Lisbon in the 2009 summer. The carrier originally planned to operate E-195s but said "demand is high" and the upgrade is warranted. LH added that its expansion at MXP will create 150 new jobs.
Emirates said yesterday that its new service from Dubai to Los Angeles and San Francisco, scheduled to start Oct. 26 and Dec. 15 respectively, will operate initially on a thrice-weekly basis rather than daily as planned owing to delayed delivery of a 777-200LR caused by the Boeing machinists' strike. EK already has pushed back upgrading its Dubai-JFK A380 service from thrice-weekly to daily on Oct. 1 because of an unexpected delay in receiving its second A380.
Alitalia labor unions yesterday continued negotiations on whether to accept a restructuring plan and associated layoffs and new working conditions with the Italian government, AZ Administrator Augusto Fantozzi and representatives from CAI, the group of Italian investors including Air One that reportedly is willing to invest up to €1 billion ($1.4 billion) in an AZ restart.
Thomas Cook Group, TUI Travel and Lufthansa talks regarding a merger of their German carriers Condor, TUIfly and Germanwings are still ongoing and a decision could come soon, according to Thomas Cook Chief Executive Manny Fontenla-Novoa. "Pretty soon we will have to give the Condor staff some certainty," he told Reuters. He said he expects that antitrust authorities will approve the merger, which would create a carrier with 142 aircraft carrying 30 million passengers annually. "The advice that we are getting from lawyers involved is that we will probably get approval," he said.
SkyWorks Leasing arranged the sale of two Frontier Airlines A319s to a special-purpose company affiliated with VTB Leasing, Moscow, for onward lease to Rossiya Airlines.
Developed by Boeing and certified two years ago in order to allow Gol to fly more efficiently to and from Brazil's urban airports, the 737-800 Short Field Performance aircraft now will help the company target business travelers more comfortable with the Varig name.
Oxford Aviation Academy said this week that it acquired General Flying Services, an Australia-based ab initio training provider, under a deal backed by STAR Capital Partners. Financial details were not disclosed. GFS, which operates from two airports in Melbourne, last fiscal year trained more than 300 cadets (many from Southeast Asia, China and the Middle East) and anticipates more than 500 pilot graduates over the next few years.
Farelogix signed a multiyear agreement with Air Canada to distribute ala-carte fare products, product attributes and flight passes to users of its FLX Platform through a direct connect with the carrier's AC2U platform. Technology allows travel agents to shop, price, book and service exclusive Air Canadae content.
AiRUnion COO Gustav Baldur said the struggling Russian airline alliance will be shut down at the latest by Sept. 30 ( ATWOnline, Sept. 9). Speaking to ATWOnline at an international symposium of the Austrian Aviation Assn., Baldauf said the AiRUnion project had failed. "Now we will present a new concept [to the State of Russia] today in Moscow [to show] how a replacement airline project could be functional."
Air Canada said yesterday that it will begin offering passengers inflight Internet service in spring 2009 via Aircell's Gogo mobile broadband service. AC plans to roll out the Gogo system on select flights to the US next year, initially installing the system on its A319s operating on transborder routes. VP-Marketing Charles McKee said the carrier ultimately plans "systemwide" deployment. AC becomes Aircell's first non-US customer for inflight Internet service. Passengers will be able to access Gogo with a standard Wi-Fi-equipped laptop or personal electronic device.
AWAS announced the acquisition of two A330-200s from ILFC. Aircraft were part of a six-aircraft buy and are operated by Malaysia Airlines and Vietnam Airlines. It also leased one 737-400 to Indonesia's Sriwijaya Air.
China Eastern Airlines rejected widespread reports that it plans to merge with Shanghai Airlines, saying it has received no such directive from the Chinese government and that there have been no negotiations, CEA Board Secretary Luo Zhuping told ATWOnline.
Airbus yesterday presented details of its Power8 Plus restructuring program to labor unions representing its employees, telling workers that the cuts envisioned in the original Power8 restructuring program no longer are sufficient.
Alaska Airlines said its entire fleet will be equipped by the end of this month with Honeywell's Runway Awareness and Advisory System, which provides audible alerts in cockpits when aircraft approach and enter taxiways and runways. RAAS aims to prevent pilots from using the wrong runway. Alaska said it began installing the system on its 737s in July.
Air France KLM will launch a nonbinding bid for the Austrian government's share in Austrian Airlines, Deputy CEO Pierre-Henri Gourgeon told ATWOnline yesterday. Speaking during a ceremony marking the opening of AF's new 2G Terminal at Paris Charles de Gaulle, Gourgeon also reiterated that the group is interested in taking a minority stake, "which could be anywhere between zero and 49%," in a possible restart of Alitalia. "We have to be present in all consolidation discussions in Europe," he said.
Malev Hungarian Airlines, which has come under massive pressure as a result of the increasing debt facing its controlling shareholder, KrasAir affiliate AirBridge, announced it was granted access to €30 million ($42.8 million) in capital as a result of an agreement between AirBridge and Vnyeseconombank. KrasAir leads the AiRUnion alliance that has required a bailout and rescue by the Russian government ( ATWOnline, Sept. 9).
