Copa Holdings, parent of Copa Airlines and AeroRepublica, announced last week that it secured a $240 million loan from DVB Bank, Natexis Transport Finance and NORD/LB to finance the acquisition of 10 Embraer 190s due for delivery through next year.
Third annual FAA International Aviation Safety Forum took place last week in Washington and some 500 aviation professionals from 50 countries shared their concerns about the challenges in maintaining safety standards in increasingly crowded skies. "Right now, the commercial fatal accident rate in the US is about two fatal accidents for every 10 million takeoffs," FAA Administrator Marion Blakey said.
Air France Industries and KLM Engineering & Maintenance are looking into uniting under one brand, KLM E&M VP-Marketing, Sales & Customer Services Rob Pruim told ATWOnline at MRO Europe in Amsterdam. "We haven't taken any decision," he stressed, "but we have appointed consultants to see what the possibilities are.
ATR is opening a new office in Sydney to serve customers in Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific islands. Since January 2005 it has booked orders for 86 turboprops from Asia/Pacific carriers.
Turkish Technic, a wholly owned subsidiary of Turkish Airlines founded last May as a profit center, is moving ahead with a new heavy maintenance facility, dubbed HABOM, at Sabiha Gokcen International Airport in Istanbul.
Lufthansa generates half of its transatlantic sales from US-based customers, new VP-Americas Jens Bischof told reporters in Washington Friday, a fact that makes the airline particularly supportive of an EU-US open skies treaty. The negotiations are "a very long and tough process," he said. "But it has to happen--better sooner than later. The strong airlines will benefit and the weaker will struggle. The weakest will not survive, which is needed to get rid of excess capacity.
LAN Argentina and LAN Ecuador will join oneworld, the alliance announced last week. LAN Airlines of Chile became a full member in June 2000 along with LAN Express and LAN Peru. LAN Argentina and LAN Ecuador will become affiliate members "as soon as the necessary joining technicalities can be completed," which the alliance said would be "as early as possible" next year. Japan Airlines, Malev Hungarian Airlines and Royal Jordanian also will join in 2007.
Hit hard by the August terrorist scare and subsequent security measures, British Airways took a slight step backward after three consecutive quarters of rising profits, posting net earnings of £168 million ($320.5 million) in the fiscal second quarter ended Sept. 30, down 1.8% from a £171 million profit in the year-ago quarter.
Aer Lingus board on Friday strongly advised shareholders to take no action on Ryanair's hostile takeover offer of €2.80 ($3.53) per share, dismissing it as "ill-conceived, contradictory and anticompetitive." In a circular, the board told shareholders that the Ryanair offer "significantly undervalues Aer Lingus [and] ignores Aer Lingus' excellent prospects as an independent company." At its current offer price, Ryanair would be buying EI "at a significant discount," the board concluded.
Bulgaria Air will be sold to Balkan Hemus Group, the Bulgarian government announced Thursday. Hemus, which outbid Air One for the flag carrier ( ATWOnline, Oct. 19), will buy a 99.99% stake. It plans to invest €62 million ($79.1 million) over the next two years and €82.1 million in the next five, launching service to 36 new destinations.
AerCap Holdings, the Netherlands-based aircraft lessor, yesterday submitted a filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed US initial public offering of 26.1 million ordinary shares. It said the shares will be offered at $22-$24 each. "The securities to be offered in the proposed IPO will include shares to be issued and sold by AerCap as well as shares to be sold by shareholders of AerCap," the company said in statement, adding that the shares are expected to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AER.
In a significant departure from the LCC one-plane-fits-all strategy, Australia's Virgin Blue yesterday ordered three Embraer 170s and 11 190s plus six options. The aircraft will replace 737-800s on some thinner routes while adding frequency at off-peak times on others. The carrier said they will be used to expand domestic and regional markets. The airline, which currently operates a fleet of 53 737s, is Embraer's first customer in Australia.
Aer Lingus intends to add 26 long-haul flights per week following delivery of two new A330s in May and June that will boost its long-haul fleet to nine aircraft. "The arrival of two new long-haul aircraft next year marks the first phase of the long-haul expansion plan and gives Aer Lingus the opportunity to develop its presence in the US market," CEO Dermot Mannion said in a statement. The Irish carrier, which is the target of a hostile takeover by Ryanair, currently serves four destinations in the US and one in the Middle East.
AirCell yesterday received a US Federal Communications Commission frequency license that the company said will enable it "to provide exclusive broadband connectivity to US airlines and business aircraft beginning in early 2008." AirCell President and CEO Jack Blumenstein said, "Receiving this exclusive air-to-ground broadband license is a historic event in the airborne telecommunications industry. In just over a year, the flying public will have the ability to use their own Wi-Fi-enabled laptops and PDAs to communicate just like they do on the ground."
Delta Connection carrier Comair yesterday asked a US Bankruptcy Court to allow it to impose pay concessions if it fails to reach agreement with its 1,500 pilots on cost cuts. The bankrupt Regional is seeking $15.8 million in annual savings from pilots.
FedEx Express, the delivery giant's airline unit, yesterday signed an agreement to acquire its Indian service provider, Prakash Air Freight, for $30 million in cash. PAFEX has 384 offices in India and serves nearly 4,400 destinations. It has been FedEx's service provider there since 2002, providing domestic logistics and courier delivery support for the US express company's airline operations in India. The deal is subject to regulatory approval by India's government.
Insisting that his carrier has "a number of weapons to choose from," Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly told reporters and analysts at the company's Dallas headquarters this week that a 15% increase in year-end earnings remains a goal for both 2006 and 2007.
Austrian Airlines said yesterday that it will cut its long-haul fleet from 16 to 10 aircraft, resulting in route eliminations and likely job reductions. The carrier's supervisory board on Nov. 1 approved a proposal to eliminate four A330-200s in 2007. With the sale of two remaining A340-300s slated to be completed next year, the long-haul fleet will consist of four 777-200ERs and six 767-300ERs by no later than the end of 2007.
Eos Airlines, which operates premium-class service between New York JFK and London, secured $75 million in capital investment funding that will be used to expand its fleet in 2007. Currently, Eos operates three 757-200s configured with 48 fully horizontal flat bed seats and features curbside access for "fast track" check-in for passengers. Company officials said it is maintaining load factors in excess of 65%.
TAM said late Tuesday that it placed a firm order for four 777-300ERs, the first Boeing jets it has ever purchased, and will take delivery of the aircraft in mid-2008. Additionally, Brazil's largest airline reported that it more than doubled its third-quarter net profit to BRL212.7 million ($99.2 million) from BRL93.3 million in the year-ago quarter on a 34.8% jump in revenues to BRL2.08 billion.
Turkish Airlines President and CEO Temel Kotil told ATWOnline yesterday in Istanbul that the carrier is moving forward with preparations to join the Star Alliance and expects to achieve full membership by the fourth quarter of 2008 at the latest. Tokil said Star will benefit from access to a Turkish market with 70 million people and Istanbul's proximity to Central Asia, the Middle East, the Far East and Africa. "We want to make Istanbul a strong hub for Star," he said. "From here we reach 85 capitals in three hours flying time."
Mexicana Airlines reached a cost-cutting agreement with its pilots that the carrier said will lower expenses by $50 million annually. Reuters reported that the more than 800 pilots agreed to benefit cuts, including lower overtime pay and a shortening of vacations, in exchange for pay raises in each of the next four years. The wage increases will be calculated by taking the rate of inflation and adding one percentage point.
HLX and Hapagfly plan to announce a new name for their joint airline operation this month. The carriers will offer a joint summer schedule that they estimate will increase collective capacity by 25%. The new airline will operate flights to 16 countries with a fleet of 56 aircraft.
Mesaba Airlines, which has been working to avoid work stoppages as it goes through a Chapter 11 restructuring, reached a tentative agreement yesterday on a new labor contract with its mechanics, represented by the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Assn., one of three unions representing the Regional's employees. Members of the Assn. of Flight Attendants and Air Line Pilots Assn. reached tentative agreements late last week on new wage and benefit packages ( ATWOnline, Oct. 31).
