American Airlines signed a four-year, $30 million deal with Allegiant Air for the provision in Tulsa of heavy MRO, including C checks, on Allegiant's 24 MD-80s. The deal leaves room for additional aircraft if Allegiant grows its fleet. Separately, AA will launch daily Seattle-Austin service on April 10 aboard a 136-seat MD-80.
Kenya Airways boosted its 787-8 commitment with an additional three firm orders announced over the weekend. It now has orders for nine firm aircraft plus four options, up from the six firm and six options placed in March ( ATWOnline, March 8). It will take first delivery in October 2010, with the balance of the order arriving through late 2012.
Varig received its new operating certificate last week, Merrill Lynch said. The restructuring carrier is operating 15 737-300s and up to three MD-11s to nine Brazilian destinations plus Bogota, Buenos Aires, Caracas and Frankfurt. ML said Friday that Varig must relaunch service on abandoned domestic routes by Jan. 13 or risk losing them to other Brazilian airlines. It has 180 days to restart its international operations or face the same consequence.
Delta Air Lines flew 8.91 billion system RPMs in November, down 1.8% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 6.5% to 11.51 billion ASMs and load factor rose 3.7 points to 77.5%. Domestic RPMs dropped 8.4% to 6.47 billion, ASMs declined 13.8% to 8.29 billion and load factor rose 4.6 points to 78.1%. International traffic climbed 21.2% to 2.44 billion RPMs against a 19.7% rise in ASMs to 3.22 billion, lifting load factor 1 point to 75.9%. Northwest Airlines flew 6.13 billion system RPMs in November, up 3.2% from the year-ago month.
Thales said it will supply the "majority" of critical avionics on up to 90 new A320s ordered by Air One. Deal includes Thales' Topflight Line of avionics and an LCD head-up display. Aircraft deliveries are scheduled through 2008. Thales also signed a 16-year deal with GoJet Airlines of St. Louis to provide spare and component services and MRO on avionics on GoJet's fleet of 15 CRJ700LRs.
Dutch aircraft lessor AerCap signed a firm contract with Airbus for 20 A330-200s. "The A330-200 is an excellent aircraft that helps us to expand our business and respond to market needs in the passenger markets," AerCap CEO Klaus Heinemann said. No engine choice was announced. The company's relationship with Airbus includes previous orders for a combined 102 A320 family aircraft.
Malaysia Airlines suspended its Kuala Lumpur-Cairo service. It will maintain a marketing presence in Cairo and serve it via codeshare. It also will cancel its KLIA-Stockholm Arlanda-Newark service on Jan. 15. It will codeshare with KLM from Amsterdam to ARN and said it is "in active discussions" with other carriers to develop links to the US via AMS.
Singapore Aircraft Leasing Enterprise, Asia's largest, announced Friday that it has been acquired by Bank of China for $965 million in cash. The bank said the purchase is part of its "overall corporate strategy in expanding its scope of diverse financial services and increasing its diversification into noninterest income."
Swiss International Air Lines CEO Christoph Franz told ATWOnline at the Star Alliance meeting in Istanbul earlier this month that the carrier no longer is in a crisis situation but that it will have to add liquidity to be safely positioned for the future. It will stay cautious in 2007 and not open any new long-haul destinations until 2008, he said. "We are not satisfied," he added. "It is not our goal to just maintain our position.
Ryanair sent a comprehensive letter to all Aer Lingus shareholders Friday urging them to approve the LCC's €2.80 ($3.70)-per-share takeover bid before a Dec. 22 deadline. Ryanair investors voted overwhelmingly to back the takeover at an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders last week. The LCC appears to be making a last push to convince El shareholders to accept its offer, which it said is "generous" and will not be increased.
Air Madrid suspended operations Friday, saying on its website that a row with Spanish civil aviation authorities over the publicly threatened suspension of the LCC's operating certificate has "destroyed, completely, the commercial image of Air Madrid," harmed ticket sales, caused problems with suppliers and made it impossible to continue flying. The airline reportedly incurred authorities' ire over repeated and lengthy flight delays. Founded in 2004, it operates nine Airbus aircraft and has a significant Latin American presence.
Allegiant Travel Co., parent of Allegiant Air, announced yesterday the closure of its IPO of 5 million shares of common stock with net proceeds of $94.8 million. Money will be used as working capital and to pay off company debt ( ATWOnline, Dec. 11).
Midwest Airlines said it is rejecting overtures from AirTran because the offer isn't in the best interests of its employees, shareholders, customers or the communities it serves. AirTran revealed the $290 million deal Wednesday ( ATWOnline, Dec. 14), saying the two carriers are compatible and together could become a "national low-cost, high-quality airline" generating $3 billion in pro forma revenue next year.
British Airways CEO Willie Walsh is in Calgary this week and plans to meet with WestJet executives today to hold preliminary talks on potential cooperation, Bloomberg News reported. "WestJet is a good airline," Walsh told the news service. "If there was an opportunity to do something, we'd certainly be pleased to look at that. Anything that provides connectivity is a plus."
Regional Airline Assn. named Roger Cohen president. He is a director at SmithBucklin, which oversees management of RAA and several other organizations. He takes office Monday, replacing Airports Council International-North America Senior VP Deborah McElroy. United Airlines parent UAL Corp. promoted Senior VP-Planning Greg Taylor to senior VP-corporate planning and strategy.
There is turbulence ahead for Qantas, with News Corp.'s influential The Australian calling on the government to open up access to all Qantas routes in the wake of the airline's Wednesday acceptance of an A$11.1 billion ($8.74 billion) takeover bid from the Airline Partners Australia consortium.
Thomas Cook AG board chose Manny Fontenla-Novoa chairman. Dubai Aerospace Enterprise appointed Munther Akram Juma as senior VP-marketing and corporate communications.
Following its rejection of the initial takeover bid early yesterday, the Qantas board last night unanimously accepted a revised and higher offer from Airline Partners Australia, the consortium led by Australia's Macquarie Bank and Texas Pacific Group of the US. In a filing with the Australian Securities Exchange, Qantas Chairman Margaret Jackson said APA's A$5.60-per-share cash offer "allows Qantas shareholders to realize significant value for their shares that has not been fully recognized in the public market."
IAE International Aero Engines and China Southern Airlines announced that the carrier ordered V2500s to power 50 A320 family aircraft and signed a long-term V2500Select aftermarket agreement in a deal worth more than $1.35 billion. The aftercare program also will cover China Southern's 74 existing V2500-powered aircraft. The 50 aircraft are its allocation from China's 150-aircraft order placed one year ago ( ATWOnline, July 10).
Singapore Airlines once again applied pressure on the Australian government for access to the Sydney-Los Angeles/San Francisco route after Virgin Blue announced it will not launch transpacific services until 2008 at the earliest. In a statement, SIA said, "Consumers will now be waiting at least another two full years before there's any new competition on that route.
United Airlines and Continental Airlines each declined to confirm numerous US media reports that they are discussing a potential merger. UA Chairman, President and CEO Glenn Tilton said this week that the carrier is actively exploring consolidation "options available" but did not name any potential partners ( ATWOnline, Dec. 13).
Oneworld announced that it will welcome Dragonair next year following the Hong Kong carrier's merger with oneworld founding member Cathay Pacific Airways ( ATWOnline, Sept. 29). "All parties are committed to bring Dragonair onboard oneworld as soon as possible in 2007, immediately all necessary joining technicalities and processes have been completed," the alliance said.
American Airlines flew 10.71 billion system RPMs in November, a 1.1% drop from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 3.7% to 13.43 billion ASMs and load factor rose 2.1 points to 79.7%. Domestic traffic declined 3.2% to 7.15 billion RPMs against a 4.8% fall in ASMs to 8.75 billion, lifting load factor 1.4 points to 81.7%. International RPMs rose 3.3% to 3.56 billion, capacity was down 1.5% to 4.68 billion ASMs and load factor climbed 3.5 points to 75.9%. British Airways flew 8.76 billion RPKs in November, down 0.8% from the year-ago month.
AirTran Airways revealed yesterday that it continues to be willing to wager approximately $290 million on the notion that opposites do indeed attract, as the prototypical low-cost carrier said it intends to forge ahead in its bid to acquire Midwest Airlines despite the Milwaukee-based full-service carrier's rejection of its initial overture.
United Airlines Chairman, President and CEO Glenn Tilton said yesterday that the carrier is actively exploring consolidation options as it closely follows the proposed US Airways takeover of Delta Air Lines.
