Malaysia Airlines ordered 20 ATR 72-500s for its wholly owned subsidiaries Firefly and MASwings. Each carrier will receive 10 aircraft, with 10 options earmarked for Firefly and five for MASwings. The deal excluding options is valued at $650 million. Firefly will take delivery of its first aircraft next year, while the first for MASwings will arrive in 2009.
South African Civil Aviation Authority announced the resignation of CEO Zakes Myeza. It said he resigned following a ruling by Minister of Transport Jeff Radebe that the CEO and Commissioner for Civil Aviation positions be merged. SACAA board "reluctantly accepted" the resignation, it said, adding that the move was unrelated to the current crisis involving Nationwide Airlines ( ATWOnline, Dec.
Boeing announced yesterday that Indonesia's Lion Air is the customer for 22 previously unidentified 737-900ERs. An order was placed on May 25 for 62 737-900ERs, with 40 confirmed at the Paris Air Show ( ATWOnline, June 19) and the balance confirmed yesterday.
Jordanian government launched an IPO of 71% of Royal Jordanian's issued share capital, the Arab Air Carriers Organization said. In October, RJ President and CEO Samer Majali confirmed to this website that privatization of the carrier would proceed as scheduled this month ( ATWOnline, Oct. 25). Offer price is set at JOD2.75-JOD3.40 ($3.86-$4.77) per share.
Speaking last week on the occasion of the launch of Swiss International Air Lines' new daily service to Delhi, CEO Christoph Franz said his carrier's acquisition by Lufthansa not only will continue to benefit Swiss but should serve as a model as the industry continues down the road to consolidation.
Claiming it is on the verge of a "quantum leap" forward, Turkish Airlines yesterday reported a third-quarter profit of TRY104.9 million ($88.3 million), up 16.2% from the TRY90.3 million posted in the year-ago period. The profit will leave THY well-positioned as it plans to boost its fleet by 20%, taking delivery of seven A320-200s, five A321-200s and eight 737-800s through 2008.
Atlasjet MD-83 accident investigation was joined this week by Boeing and Pratt & Whitney officials who traveled to Turkey and inspected the crash site. There has been no initial discovery of technical problems on the MD-83, which was on wet-lease from World Focus Airlines, and no explanation yielded from tower recordings that reveal the pilots believed they were headed for a routine landing at Isparta Airport, according to Turkish officials ( ATWOnline, Dec. 3).
Qatar Airways will phase out its four A340-600s earlier then scheduled as it takes deliveries of its new 777s, CEO Akbar Al Baker said last week in Seattle as the carrier took its first 777-300ER. He also confirmed that QR will not exercise its six A340-600 options. It took its first -600 in September 2006. Separately, QR will establish a leasing company called Oryx Leasing that will aim to place the carrier's older aircraft. It will start by the middle of next year with six A300-600s and eventually will handle the A340-600s.
An Atlasjet Airlines MD-83 outbound from Istanbul crashed early Friday morning during its approach to Isparta Airport in southern Turkey, killing all 57 passengers and crew onboard. The crash site was located in mountainous terrain approximately 7 mi. from Isparta. The aircraft, which was wet-leased from World Focus Airlines, departed IST at 12:50 a.m., 90 min. late owing to its late arrival inbound from Pristina, according to Atlasjet. The crash occurred about 45 min. after takeoff. Published reports described weather as clear and moonlit.
Ryanair said Friday it filed its fifth lawsuit in recent weeks in the European Court of First Instance against the European Commission, this time alleging it failed to investigate illegal state aid to Alitalia. According to the LCC, AZ's subsidies included a split-up of the company's assets and operations and an uneven allocation of debt, resulting in a €1.7 billion ($2.51 billion) debt write-off. Ryanair said it called on the EC to investigate this "blatant abuse" of EU competition rules more than two years ago but the EC has failed to do so.
A profitable fourth quarter helped SkyEurope Airlines narrow its full-fiscal-year loss to €24.1 million ($35.6 million) from the €57.3 million suffered in the 12 months ended Sept. 30, 2006. Full-year revenue rose 27.4% to €236.2 million against just a 4.2% lift in expenses to €226.6 million. Fuel costs actually declined 5.2% even in the face of a capacity increase thanks to a fuel hedge that expired in August and a weak US dollar, the carrier said. Operating loss improved to €20.9 million from €55.5 million in the 2005-06 fiscal year.
American Airlines parent AMR Corp.'s announcement that it plans to divest subsidiary American Eagle was not enough to reassure shareholder FL Group, which said Friday that it lowered its stake in AMR to 1.1% from 9.1%.
Precision Conversions will provide Babcock & Brown Aircraft Management with a 15-pallet-position 757-200PCF. Following modification next year at the Flightstar facility in Jacksonville, CargoJet will operate the Rolls-Royce-powered aircraft under a lease from BBAM.
Aeroports de Paris plans to increase main airport fees at Charles de Gaulle and Orly by 3.8% in 2008, down from the 4.25% hike it applied this year. The proposal represents a preliminary estimate of the average increase in passenger fees, landing fees, aircraft parking fees and fees for the use of fueling facilities, ADP noted. It added that the 3.8% figure takes into account "buoyant" passenger traffic growth in 2007 as required by a "ceiling adjustment mechanism" included in its contract with the French government as part of its privatization.
Silverjet reported £11.8 million ($24.4 million) in passenger revenue in the six months ended Sept. 30, its first full fiscal semester since launching operations in January. The all-business-class carrier launched a second daily London Luton-Newark service during the period. It also announced a proposed placing of £12 million and a proposed convertible loan of £10 million from TFB Ltd.
Pinnacle Airlines bought out all of Northwest Airlines' common stock holdings in the regional carrier. Pinnacle announced the purchase of 2.5 million shares from NWA for $13.22 per share, or $32.9 million. It also agreed to purchase the Class A Preferred Share retained by NWA in January. It has repurchased 4.5 million shares of its common stock since launching a repurchase program in May, leaving 20% of total shares outstanding.
SkyWest Inc. placed a firm order for 18 CRJ700 NextGen aircraft and four CRJ900 NextGens, plus 22 options that can apply to either type, Bombardier announced Friday. SkyWest subsidiaries SkyWest Airlines and Atlantic Southeast Airlines operate the world's largest CRJ fleet of 244 CRJ200s, 102 CRJ700s and 17 CRJ900s. This is its first NextGen order. Firm aircraft are worth $773 million at list prices. The new CRJ700s, configured with 66 seats in three classes, will be operated by SkyWest Airlines for United Express.
Delta Air Lines named former Pinnacle Airlines Chairman and Greyhound Lines CEO Stephen Gorman executive VP-operations, succeeding the retiring Joseph Kolshak. Gorman previously was executive VP-flight operations and technical operations at Northwest Airlines and became Pinnacle chairman in 2003.
Nationwide Airlines of South Africa announced Friday that the South African Civil Aviation Authority suspended the carrier's Aviation Maintenance Organization license, resulting in the grounding of all flights. "We have approached the CAA for further details and guidance in respect of any actions they would like us to implement that would enable them to reinstate the AMO's license at which point normal operations will resume," Nationwide CEO Vernon Bricknell said in a message to customers posted on the airline's website.
Attempting to leave no trace is a noble, often unsung pursuit. You don't have to tiptoe across rice paper to sense the courage of that ideal. For aviation manufacturers and suppliers, a greener footprint calls for vision, commitment and stewardship. Practices that foster energy efficiency, pollution prevention, longer lifecycles, recycling and responsible disposal no longer bow to the bottom line. "There's more consistency around the world about the need to be environmentally accountable," says Goodrich Environmental, Health and Safety Director Dennis Hussey.
BASED IN COPENHAGEN but with warehouses scattered around the globe, Satair is one of the leading distributors of aircraft production parts and spares. In the year to June 30, 2007, it boasted revenues of almost $360 million, up 37% from the previous year. Of this growth, 18% was organic with the remainder attributable to acquisitions that made a sizeable contribution. For the current FY it is forecasting revenue in the range of $400-$410 million, up 13%, reflecting a period of consolidation following considerable acquisition activity in the last couple of years.
The speed at which revenue is processed and understood together with the level of accuracy that results from certain accounting methods has been a growing concern in the airline industry for some time now. Greater processing complexity tends to drive cost up, and these days cost is a factor that most airlines can't afford to be complacent about.
DURING ITS DRAMATIC 19-MONTH stint in Chapter 11, the third-largest US carrier focused adeptly on costs, especially the folks in purchasing. "To put a bit of scale to it," says Shawn Anderson, Delta Air Lines VP-supply chain management, "we renegotiated over 2,000 contracts600 separate sourcing initiatives."
US airlines enjoyed another strong financial quarter in the three months ended Sept. 30, with the 10 largest carriers all in the black for the second straight reporting period and posting a cumulative net profit of $1.67 billion compared to a $738 million loss in the year-ago quarter. But executives worry that the next down cycle may not be too far away. Fuel costs are ascending rapidly and the US airline industry doesn't exactly have a history of long-term financial stability.
