Aer Lingus will list on the Dublin and London stock markets on Oct. 2 and will announce its final share price on Sept. 27, it said yesterday, according to press reports. The Irish government unveiled plans for the IPO late last month ( ATWOnline, Aug. 29). Aer Lingus set an indicative price range of €2.1-€2.7 per share, valuing the airline at €601-€773 million prior to the issuance of 208.4 million new shares.
EADS confirmed Sunday that Vneshtorgbank, a state-owned Russian bank, acquired a 5.02% stake in the aerospace giant. The holding in the Airbus parent company is valued at more than $1.1 billion. The bank acknowledged yesterday that it purchased the EADS stake, first reported late last month ( ATWOnline, Aug. 30), but declined to say why.
BWIA West Indies Airways, the money-losing Trinidad and Tobago carrier that unsuccessfully attempted multiple recoveries over the past decade, will shut down Dec. 31 and be replaced by a new carrier, Caribbean Airlines. CEO Peter Davies, who will continue to serve as the top executive at the new airline, decided that a shutdown and clean start were necessary when BWIA's four labor unions balked at concessions proposed in the carrier's latest restructuring plan.
US Airways Executive VP and CAO Jeffrey McClelland, 47, died Sunday, the airline announced. He had cancer. The carrier will rename its flight center building in Phoenix after McClelland, who was responsible for finance, legal affairs, human resources, labor relations, properties and facilities and subsidiary operations.
Delta Air Lines last week announced the recall of up to 65 pilots and around 200 flight attendants "to support changes the company is making to build a profitable network." The airline has added more than 50 international routes in the past year alone. Recalled pilots will begin training next month and return to flying "shortly thereafter." DL recalled 64 pilots in June ( ATWOnline, June 12) and said it is in the process of bringing back 100 maintenance personnel.
South African Airways sold its 49% share in Air Tanzania back to the Tanzanian government for $1, according to press reports. The government sold the stake to SAA in December 2002 for $20 million. "I think South African Airways, when they made the decision to buy into Air Tanzania, they thought it would suit their strategic objectives. It become apparent it was no longer in support of their strategic objectives," TC MD John Coleman told the Associated Press, adding that it will take 3-6 months for the companies to split software, communications equipment and other joint operations.
Lufthansa yesterday said it agreed to pay $85 million to settle a string of class-action lawsuits filed in the US following the February launch of a multinational probe into alleged price-fixing by airlines carrying cargo ( ATWOnline, Feb. 15).
Alitalia initiated an appeal with a regional administrative court against the conditions imposed by the Italian competition regulator on its acquisition of Volare, La Stampa reported. In July, AZ received conditional approval for its €38 million ($48.1 million) bid to acquire Volare. The conditions included the surrender of four slots at Milan Linate--two of Volare's domestic slots to Bari and Lamezia Terme and two pairs of slots for flights to Paris Orly.
Lufthansa flew 10.08 billion RPKs in August, down 0.9% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 0.5% to 13.18 billion ASKs, dropping load factor 1.1 points to 76.5%.
SunExpress, the joint venture between Turkish Airlines and Condor Airlines, said turnover through the first seven months of 2006 increased 26% to €128 million ($163.6 million). Passenger numbers were up 33% to 1.2 million. Separately, SunExpress announced the launch of an Izmir-Gaziantep service and said that InterCockpit, a subsidiary of Lufthansa Flight Training, will handle student pilot training.
Pemco Aviation Group signed an agreement yesterday with ILFC for one passenger-to-freighter 737-300 conversion for delivery later this year, with options for three more conversions in 2007.
Smokers International Airways, or Smintair, plans to operate its first commercial flight on March 26 from Dusseldorf to Tokyo Narita aboard one of two 138-seat 747-400s. The carrier catering to smokers said it will offer 30 first class and 108 business class seats. It also set a deadline of Sept. 30 for investors to purchase shares in the company at €500,000 ($639,000) each. It said it has "a very conservative business plan" and forecasts a yearly profit margin in excess €50 million per aircraft if fully booked.
SkyEurope Holding AG announced the launch of its €17.5 million rights issue Friday via the sale of 10 million shares arranged by UBS Investment Bank and CA IB. The flotation was announced late last month ( ATWOnline, Aug. 30). The subscription period will close Sept. 22.
US Airways Group said its consolidated passenger RASM in August rose 15% over the year-ago month, an increase 3-4 points lower than forecast due to the terrorist alert. The company is revising its third-quarter unit revenue guidance to an increase in the "mid teens" from one in the "high teens." The group flew a combined 5.73 billion RPMs in August, down 5.3% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 7.6% to 7.2 billion ASMs and load factor gained 1.9 points to 79.5%. Domestic RPMs dropped 6.1% to 4.6 billion against a 9.6% decline in ASMs to 5.77 billion.
Skymark Airlines is set to join the 787 club, according to sources at the Japanese carrier. Skymark, which operates five 767-300ERs, has advised Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport that it will add four 787s between 2010 and 2012. It operates a 10-times-daily shuttle service from Tokyo Haneda to Sapporo and Fukuoka in addition to four-times-daily flights to Kobe and twice-daily service to Naha. It is expected to be granted additional slots at HND when the fourth runway is opened in 2009.
AirTran Holdings reported record traffic in August, but it was not strong enough to counter the "softening demand" that the carrier expects to continue this month and that prompted a revision to its third-quarter guidance and future growth plans.
Gol announced the withdrawal of the May registration statement filed in Brazil and the US for a secondary and primary preferred share offering totaling 14.4 million nonvoting shares ( ATWOnline, May 18). The carrier did not give a reason for the move, but Bloomberg News reported that prospects for the sale, worth approximately BRL1 billion ($463.5 million), were hurt by a 13% drop in the Bovespa index since May. Separately, Gol launched daily Sao Paulo Guarulhos-Ilheus flights.
WestJet Executive VP-Guest Services and EVP-IT Russ Hall resigned on Sept. 8. Hall's departure came a day after the company promoted Executive VP-Sales and Marketing and Airports Sean Durfy to president, succeeding airline co-founder Clive Beddoe ( ATWOnline, Sept. 8).
Bmibaby pilots, represented by the British Airline Pilots Assn., reached a deal with the company last week and will not strike, the union announced. The company has signed the agreement, which has been sent to membership for ratification. The pilots, along with those at bmi and bmi regional, voted to strike late last month over a variety of compensation and work rule issues ( ATWOnline, Aug. 25).
EasyJet said it lost approximately £4 million ($7.6 million) as the result of last month's security alert as it canceled 469 flights Aug. 10-14. "In spite of this, easyJet maintains its current guidance for pre-tax profit growth for the full year ending Sept. 30 to be in the region of 40%-50%," it said. The LCC transported 3.1 million passengers in August, an 8.4% increase over the year-ago month. Load factor was up 0.9 point to 89.2%.
Qantas yesterday blasted a draft report from Australia's Productivity Commission that said it is too soon to tell whether regulatory restrictions on airport pricing removed in 2002 should be reinstated. The report called for six more years to study the current "light-handed" system. Qantas believes the system in place gives airports too much leeway to set landing and terminal rent fees, especially in major markets. Executive GM-Associated Businesses Grant Fenn said it was "particularly concerning" that Qantas's request that binding arbitration solve pricing disputes was rejected.
Continental Airlines said yesterday that its application to launch daily Newark-Shanghai service in March 2007 ( ATWOnline, April 8, 2005) should be approved by the US Dept.
JetBlue Airways achieved an estimated 15% increase in passenger RASM in August, a figure that was "not as strong as anticipated," according to CEO David Neeleman. He said the security alert, Tropical Storm Ernesto and "lower-than-expected demand toward the end of the month" contributed to the result. JetBlue flew 2.22 billion RPMs in August, an 11.6% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity surged 20.1% to 2.65 billion ASMs and load factor fell 6.4 points to 83.7%.
AerVenture, a joint venture between AerCap and Kuwaiti cargo startup LoadAir ( ATWOnline, Feb. 3), placed an order valued at $360 million for CFM56-5Bs to power the 30 A319s/A320s ordered late last year.
