AMC Airlines MD-82 was destroyed following an emergency landing in Istanbul last week, according to press reports. All 156 passengers and seven crew aboard the aircraft, which reportedly requested the landing owing to problems with the landing gear, escaped before fire consumed it. AMC is an Egyptian charter and ACMI carrier.
Delta Air Lines announced the sale of $1.4 billion in Pass Through Certificates, which were sold in a private placement to qualified institutional buyers. The funds generated will be used to refinance nearly $1 billion in existing debt currently secured by aircraft.
Mexico's Federal Competition Commission last week rejected Mexicana's bid to acquire AeroMexico, ruling that a merger of the country's two largest airlines would be unfair to competitors and "unfavorable to consumers."
Singapore Airlines today will take delivery of the first A380 at the Airbus Delivery Centre in Toulouse, where the carrier also will unveil the cabin interior. The Trent 900-powered aircraft is scheduled to depart for Singapore Tuesday and will begin operating on SIA's Sydney service with a special charity flight on Oct. 25-26.
Megadata Corp. said US Airways will use PASSUR FlightPerform live airspace analysis tools at US's Pittsburgh operations control center "for improved airspace utilization, fuel management and diversion management."
SkyWest Airlines and Atlantic Southeast Airlines parent SkyWest Inc. announced plans to acquire 22 larger regional jets, replacing 23 30-seat Brasilia turboprops and four 50-seat CRJs that will be transitioned out of the fleet. Operating as a regional partner of United Airlines and Delta Air Lines, SkyWest said it has not selected a manufacturer for the new aircraft but will begin discussions with Bombardier and Embraer. It expects deliveries to begin in late 2008 and continue through 2009.
Russian airlines have been ordered by the Transport Ministry to follow a list of customer service regulations beginning Oct. 20 or risk fines and the eventual loss of their operating licenses, The Moscow Times reported. Under the new directives, airlines are forbidden from denying travel in the case of lost or stolen tickets and must provide hot meals every 4 hr. and hotel rooms in the case of extended delays, among other things, the paper said.
Air Canada named Michael Rousseau as its new CFO, effective Oct. 22. Rousseau was president of Canadian retailer Hudson's Bay Co. and replaces Joshua Koshy, who is leaving the airline. Separately, AC announced the launch of a daily Toronto-Madrid service on June 15, 2008, aboard a 767-300. AC and its Jazz subsidiary flew a combined 4.48 billion RPMs in September, up 3.3% from the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 3.7% to 5.7 billion ASMs and load factor slipped 0.2 point to 78.7%.
VGS Aircraft Holding (Ireland) through its wholly owned subsidiary VGS Investments One Ltd. acquired an A320 from JetBlue Airways that is leased to TAM until February 2014.
Air France KLM flew 17.91 billion RPKs in September, up 5.3% from the year-ago month, against a 5.9% rise in ASKs to 21.76 billion. Load factor fell 0.5 point to 82.3%.
IATA yesterday announced a standard it said "paves the way for global mobile phone check-in using two-dimensional barcodes." DG and CEO Giovanni Bisignani said the standard, which will use both the Aztec and Datamatrix codes popular in Europe and North America and the QR code used in Japan, "is an important step in getting rid of paper that bogs down processes and drives up costs." IATA has set a 2010 deadline for implementation of barcoded boarding passes.
Southwest Airlines unveiled a new gate design to complement the adjusted, numbered boarding procedure announced last month ( ATWOnline, Sept. 20) that it hopes will "alleviate the need for customers to 'camp out' in line at the gate." Stainless steel columns and television monitors will be installed to support the boarding procedure at each of SWA's 64 airports, with a family area, power stations, a business/leisure section with padded seats and tables and flat screen TVs to follow.
VRG Linhas Aereas, the new Varig, reached interline agreements effective this month with Hahn Air, Malev Hungarian Airlines, El Al, Air One, Mexicana and Qatar Airways in addition to its deal with partner carrier Gol.
China Eastern Airlines has an optimistic outlook about its cooperation with Singapore Airlines as the carriers share common business interests, CEA President Li Fenghua said yesterday.
Air India expects revenue of $4 billion in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2008, as it moves forward with the merger between the old AI and Indian Airlines, Dow Jones reported from New Delhi. The two carriers reported pro forma revenue of $3.5 billion in the 12 months ending last March, AI Executive Director-Finance S. Venkat told the newswire. Separately, AI parent National Aviation Co. of India signed a $1.23 billion financing package with the Export-Import Bank of the US to support the acquisition of 17 Boeing aircraft and four spare engines, the bank announced.
Star Alliance said US Airways has relocated to the new South Terminal at Miami International, beginning the process that will see all five Star member carriers at MIA operating from the same terminal. The Star area is located in the new Concourse J and has 50 shared ticketing and check-in counters.
Tiger Airways confirmed its Paris Air Show order for 30 A320s plus 20 options, Airbus announced. The LCC currently operates nine A320s, with 11 scheduled for delivery by 2010. Airbus said that no engine choice had been made but Tiger announced in August that it had selected the V2500 ( ATWOnline, Aug. 31). The reason for the discrepancy was unclear. Aircraft will seat 180 in a single-class configuration.
Ryanair said it is taking France to the European Court of Human Rights over a recent ruling by the French Conseil d'Etat, the country's highest administrative court, requiring that the carrier apply French labor laws to employees located in Marseille, where it opened a base in November 2006. The LCC's decision relates to a December 2006 decree compelling foreign carriers to apply French employment laws to crews based at the country's airports.
Lufthansa Group flew 12.68 billion RPKs in September, up 25.2% from the year-ago month owing to the addition of Swiss International Air Lines. Capacity climbed 23.6% to 15.84 billion ASKs and load factor was up 1 point to 80.1%. SAS Group carriers flew 3.9 billion RPKs in September, a 5.9% increase from the year-ago month. Capacity grew 3.9% to 5.16 billion ASKs and load factor gained 1.5 points to 75.5%. SAS Scandinavian Airlines flew 2.56 billion RPKs, up 0.2%, against a 1.4% fall in capacity to 3.29 billion ASKs. Load factor rose 1.3 points to 77.8%.
Wizz Air yesterday signed a contract for 50 firm A320s plus 25 options, an order that the manufacturer said was the largest ever from Central and Eastern Europe for a single Airbus type.
Japan Airlines announced that its JAL Premium Economy cabin will be introduced beginning Dec. 1 on its daily Tokyo Narita-London Heathrow service. It will be added on flights to Frankfurt and Paris Charles de Gaulle next year, "followed by the expansion of the new service onto US and other Europe[ean] routes," JAL said. The product will feature what the airline called the world's first shell-shaped premium economy seat with 97-cm. pitch, a business class amenity kit and enhanced food service. Forty-four seats in 2-4-2 configuration will be available on 777-300ERs and 40 on 777-200ERs.
Northwest Airlines will pre-fund the financing of 27 76-seat E-175LRs with $454 million in secured public aircraft financing structured with Enhanced Equipment Trust Certificates. Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and JPMorgan were joint bookrunners. Aircraft will be operated by NWA subsidiary Compass Airlines.
AWAS delivered the second of four 767-300ERs to Gol this week. Aircraft will be operated by VRG Linheas Aereas, the new Varig that now is a Gol subsidiary. Two further 767s will be delivered over the next six months. AWAS also finalized the acquisition of an A321 to Livingston S.p.a. from Bank of China Aviation. Livingston is the Italian leisure carrier owned by Ventaglio Group, AWAS said.
