Gol reached an agreement yesterday to acquire Varig from VarigLog and Volo, the controlling shareholders of the airline that was Brazil's market leader before hitting hard financial times in recent years and barely surviving bankruptcy last summer.
Royal Jordanian officially joined oneworld yesterday, becoming the first Middle East carrier to enter an alliance and oneworld's first new member in six years. Yesterday's ceremony in Amman marked the start of a significant expansion for the alliance that also will include Japan Airlines, Malev Hungarian Airlines, Dragonair, LAN Argentina and LAN Ecuador. Aer Lingus will leave the grouping next month.
US Airways named former American Eagle and Polar Air Cargo President Robert Martens as senior VP and president of US Airways Express. Martens, 61, will have direct oversight of US's Piedmont Airlines and PSA Airlines subsidiaries.
Seven months after solidifying its position in Germany with the purchase of dba, Air Berlin established itself as the fourth-largest carrier in Europe with the acquisition of leisure carrier LTU, for which it will pay €140 million. The deal, which is subject to approval from competition authorities, was signed Monday evening and includes a provision requiring Air Berlin to assume €200 million in LTU debts.
In touting its restructuring at yesterday's Investor Day in Atlanta, Delta Air Lines said it expects to be profitable in its first year following emergence from bankruptcy protection, that it has succeeded in delivering on the "three pillars" of its transformation plan and that it remains interested in selling certain assets, including regional subsidiary Comair.
Harmony Airways of Canada announced suspension of its scheduled services. It will fly to Toronto for the last time on March 30 and cease all other flights by April 9. Launched in 2002 and based in Vancouver, the full-service airline operates 757s to six Canadian cities, five Hawaiian destinations, Las Vegas and Palm Springs. It reportedly is exploring continuing to fly as a charter or ACMI provider. "Harmony has always been committed to providing the best inflight service in Canada and we apologize for the inconvenience this causes," it said on its website.
Assn. of European Airlines members flew 736.94 billion RPKs in 2006, up 5.2% from the previous year. Capacity climbed 4.4% to 963.48 billion ASKs and load factor rose 0.6 point to 76.5%. Passenger numbers were ahead 4.5% to 343.6 million. Among 30 members, Spanair enjoyed the largest RPK increase at 20.6%, followed by THY Turkish Airlines at 20%. THY's 25% capacity increase was by far the largest. Adria Airways' 4.5-point improvement in load factor to 63.7% was the organization's biggest. Highest load factor overall was 83.7% at KLM.
Garuda Indonesia yesterday confirmed its widely reported order for 25 737-800s ( ATWOnline, March 27), saying on its website that it will take delivery of eight aircraft in the May-December 2009 period, 10 in 2010, five in the final five months of 2011 and a pair in the first two months of 2012. Boeing did not confirm the order. Garuda also confirmed it will begin taking delivery of 10 787-8s in 2011 ( ATWOnline, Sept. 20, 2005).
British Airways yesterday finalized last month's order for four 777-200ERs valued at more than $800 million plus options for four more of the type. BA has said the compatibility of the 777-200ERs, scheduled for delivery in 2009, with the 43 777s in its existing fleet was the key driver behind the order ( ATWOnline, Feb. 22).
Lineas Aereas Azteca was grounded this week ( ATWOnline, March 27) "due to a series of findings by the [Mexico] Bureau of Civil Aviation, which has determined that this airline has not guaranteed operations within basic security standards, mainly due to problems with maintenance and training," according to airports operator Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico, which issued a statement to assure passengers that other carriers can fill the traffic void.
UK airports operator BAA said yesterday it is spending an additional £40 million ($78.5 million) to hire 1,400 extra security guards and open 22 new security lanes across its seven airports in order to reduce lines to 5 min. or less "95% of the time." It also said it is planning a "multibillion-pound investment program" that will "add vital new facilities, improve existing terminals and add significantly to the UK's overall airport capacity" by 2012.
Hawaiian Airlines told the US Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday that it expects first-quarter yield to fall 11%-12% from the 11.66 cents reported in the first quarter of 2006 owing to "intensified price competition" on services to the US mainland and the "continuing impact of increased industry capacity" on inter-island routes since Mesa Air Group's go! launched service last June ( ATW, December 2006). First-quarter capacity will rise 13.8% and load factor is expected to fall 0.6 point to 87%.
US Airways Group yesterday completed a $1.6 billion, seven-year debt refinancing transaction arranged by Citigroup Global Markets and Morgan Stanley Senior Funding that it said will improve "liquidity over the next seven years by reducing principal payments and lowering near-term interest expense." Upon finalization of the refinancing, US extinguished a $1.25 billion senior secured credit facility and a $325 million unsecured debt facility.
Flyglobespan earned a pre-tax profit of £4.7 million in the fiscal year ended Oct. 31, down 24.2% from a £6.2 million pre-tax profit in the prior year, according to the Scottish LCC's annual report cited yesterday by The Herald. The drop largely was the result of a £2.7 million charge related to aircraft acquisition. The airline intends to operate 13 737s, three 757s and five 767s by year end, Chairman Tom Dalrymple said. FY revenue rose 27% to £208 million and operating profit fell 5.7% to £5.2 million. Passenger boardings grew 25.4% to 1.8 million.
Lufthansa Technik is investing up to $500 million in preparing for the A380, Chairman August Hennigsen told ATWOnline during last week's proving flight from Frankfurt to New York JFK ( ATWOnline, March 20). "We intend to offer complete MRO support for the aircraft," he said, noting that LHT acquired expertise as its engineers were involved in the A380 specification. LHT also was involved closely in defining Lufthansa's cabin and IFE configuration.
Northwest Airlines' disclosure statement was approved by a US Bankruptcy Court yesterday, clearing the way for the company to seek approval from creditors for its plan to emerge from Chapter 11 by the end of the second quarter with an anticipated equity value of $6.5-$7.7 billion.
Days after the release of an Indonesian Directorate General of Civil Aviation report that found that none of the country's 20 major airlines meets all safety standards and just three weeks after it suffered a fatal 737-400 accident in Yogyakarta, Garuda Indonesia appears to be planning for the future with a significant 737NG order and a return to profitability.
Airbus and Lufthansa continued the A380 route-proving program through yesterday, flying the aircraft between Germany and Hong Kong and then to the US for a demonstration flight over Washington. ATWOnline was a guest on both flights.
GECAS and Lynxs Holdings of Texas have formed a 50/50 joint venture, Lynxs Group, to develop, finance and manage new air cargo facilities. GE holds an option to expand its stake over the next five years. The companies did not announce potential sites.
Assn. of European Airlines named Athar Husain Khan, formerly of KLM, as GM-infrastructure. Boeing named 787 program CFO Craig Saddler as president of Boeing Australia.
China Southern Air Holding Co., parent of China Southern Airlines, announced its intention to launch a reform next month of the company's split-share structure, which comprises noncirculating and publicly traded shares. But it must overcome significant hurdles if it is to match Air China and China Eastern Airlines, which completed similar reforms at the end of 2006. The intention is to turn the state-owned noncirculating shares into circulating shares. China Southern said its A shares suspended trading Friday and it plans to release further details to shareholders on April 9.
Marek Mazur is out as CEO of LOT Polish Airlines after just 38 days, according to press reports from Warsaw. His replacement, when named, will be the airline's fourth CEO since last fall ( ATWOnline, Feb. 15). Mazur told Polish television he did not know why he was let go, according to the Associated Press, but several reports indicated that the Ministry of the Treasury was against the appointment from the start and ousted Mazur once it secured the backing of "bankruptcy officers" on LOT's board.
European transport ministers, in addition to approving the EU-US open skies agreement last week, established an "equalization mechanism" or fund to ensure airlines launching new services over Siberia do not gain competitive advantage over those currently paying overflight charges. Last fall Russia agreed to phase out the charges by 2013 and said carriers starting new services before that date would be exempt ( ATWOnline, Nov. 28, 2006). The regulation will apply from Sept.
Air Canada introduced subscription flight passes in the US allowing customers unlimited air travel for a flat monthly rate for three or six months or a predetermined number of flights during a 12-month period. Passes can be bought for specific zones in the US or the whole country and prices include airport fees, charges and taxes and feature AC's various fare/benefit levels ( ATWOnline, Oct.
Airline Partners Australia's A$11.1 billion ($8.96 billion) bid for Qantas hit considerable turbulence Friday when Balanced Equity Management, which holds approximately 4% of the carrier, informed the Australian Stock Exchange that it would not accept the offer.
