MAXjet Airways will launch twice-weekly Las Vegas-London Stansted service Nov. 2. The all-business-class carrier currently operates scheduled services out of New York JFK and Washington Dulles. Earlier this month, MAXjet said it had reached "an agreement in principle" to add its fourth and fifth 767s early next year. It will introduce its third aircraft next month and said it is considering expanding into Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Embraer announced the closure of a $500 million syndicated standby facility with BNP Paribas, which the manufacturer said will reduce its debt costs. The facility comprises a $250 million trade finance credit facility and a $250 million revolver credit facility.
SkyEurope Holding AG announced an agreement with York Global Finance II for injection of €38.8 million ($49.6 million) of fresh capital into the airline as part of a €56.3 million financing package that also will include a €17.5 million public rights offering.
JetBlue Airways named System Chief Pilot Scott Green, an A320 captain, VP-flight operations effective Oct. 1. Germanwings named Thomas Winkelmann MD effective Sept 1. He formerly was VP-the Americas for Lufthansa. AerCap Group named GECAS CFO Keith Helming as its new CFO. Helming succeeds Heinrich Loechteken, who will assume the new position of chief investment officer.
Aer Lingus and the Irish government yesterday formally announced details of their plan to float more than 50% of the government's shares in the airline on the Dublin and London stock exchanges in late September. Net proceeds of the IPO will be used primarily to finance expansion of the carrier's short-haul and long-haul fleets in addition to a one-off pension contribution. The sale is expected to raise €400-€500 million ($509.9-$637.4 million) in fresh equity.
CAAC announced it will double fuel surcharges on domestic flights under 800 km. to CNY60 ($7.50) per passenger and raise surcharges on flights of more than 800 km. to CNY100 from CNY60. The changes are effective Sept. 1, according to press reports
Biman Bangladesh Airlines removed five of its 13 aircraft from service because it cannot afford maintenance and is cutting international flights as a result, Deputy GM Khan Mosharraf Hossain was quoted as saying by Reuters. The aircraft--two DC-10s, one A310 and two F28s--were sent abroad for service. Biman will cut frequencies on routes to Europe and Asia. It ended its New York JFK service last month. It is projecting a BDT6.91 billion ($96.3 million) loss for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2007. It owes BDT12 billion to Bangladesh Petroleum Corp., Reuters reported.
Midwest Air Group flew a consolidated 388.6 million RPMs in July, an 18.5% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 14.4% to 463.3 million ASMs and load factor rose 2.9 points to 83.9%. Yield grew an estimated 8.6% to 14.1 cents and passenger RASM was up an estimated 12.5% to 11.9 cents.
FedEx Express and pilots represented by the Air Line Pilots Assn. announced a tentative four-year labor agreement reached with the help of the National Mediation Board, which intervened in October 2005. The parties have been negotiating since 2004 and said the deal "is subject to review and finalization of contract language." Details of the agreement were not released.
Air Canada named Senior Director Daniel Shurz VP-network planning. He succeeds Benjamin Smith, new president and CEO of Air Canada Vacations. Also, Senior Director-Strategic Marketing Charlie McKee was named VP-marketing.
Qantas announced yesterday that it will partner with Telstra, Panasonic Avionics Corp. and AeroMobile to develop technology enabling passengers to use their cellphones or PDAs in flight. AeroMobile is a joint venture between ARINC and Telenor. New systems will be tested over three months on a 767 operating domestic routes. "This evaluation is the first step toward building a product which will support our customers' business and communication needs into the future," Qantas Group GM-Customer Product and Services Lesley Grant said. "The service will be simple to use.
Boeing confirmed yesterday that Air Sahara is a previously unidentified customer for 10 737-800s. The order, worth more than $700 million at list prices, was placed in the first quarter of this year. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in mid-2009. "This order reflects our confidence both in the growth of India's aviation market and Air Sahara's modernization and expansion plans," President Alok Sharma said.
China Eastern Airlines lost CNY1.72 billion ($215.4 million) in the first six months of 2006, it told the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, according to the Associated Press. The result compares to a CNY580.6 million loss in the year-ago period. The carrier did not offer additional details. It reported a loss of CNY 955.1 million in the first quarter ( ATWOnline, April 27), implying a CNY764.9 million deficit in the quarter ended June 30.
Air New Zealand described its full-year result as "solid" in a "challenging environment," with a net profit decline of 48% to NZ$97 million ($61.7 million) for the year ended June 30 from NZ$180 million in the prior year. Chairman John Palmer said, "We clearly acknowledge this is not the result we would have liked to have achieved at the end of the financial year. But given the extraordinarily challenging business environment the airline is operating in, this is a respectable result."
Ryanair followed through on its threat Friday and submitted a claim for compensation worth just over £3 million ($5.7 million) to the UK Dept. for Transport.
ABX Air, which was Innovative Solutions & Support's first customer for its Flat Panel Display System retrofit on the 767, announced Friday that the two companies will partner in developing and installing a system on a 767-200ER belonging to an unidentified third party. ABX holds a supplemental type certificate for the work, which is scheduled to be completed in the first quarter of 2007. IS&S announced development of an FPDS for the 737-300/-400/-500 at the Farnborough Air Show ( ATWOnline, July 20).
Delta Air Lines said it received US Dept. of Transportation permission to begin selling seats on its daily New York JFK-London Gatwick service scheduled to begin Nov. 15. Delta purchased the route authority from United Airlines last month ( ATWOnline, July 31). Final government approval is expected "within the next few weeks," DL said. It plans to add a second daily flight May 1.
SkyWest Airlines flew 1.47 billion RPMs in July, a 107.5% increase over the year-ago month reflecting the acquisition of Atlantic Southeast Airlines. Capacity climbed 99.4% to 1.79 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 3.2 points to 82.3%. Mesaba Airlines flew 100.5 million RPMs in July, down 43.9% from the year-ago month. Capacity dropped 42.1% to 147.1 million ASMs and load factor dipped 2.2 points to 68.3%.
The US District Court for the Southern District of New York issued a temporary injunction Friday afternoon preventing Northwest Airlines flight attendants represented by the Assn. of Flight Attendants-CWA from conducting any strike or work action, granting the airline's appeal and reversing an earlier ruling by the US Bankruptcy Court ( ATWOnline, Aug. 18).
KLM appointed Arend de Jong as senior VP-marketing & network within the Joint Cargo Management Committee of Air France-KLM Cargo. He succeeds Bram Graber, who will become senior VP-KLM Benelux. Pieter Elbers succeeds De Jong as KLM senior VP-network.
The pilots of the Comair CRJ200 that crashed into a field while taking off from Lexington, Ky., Blue Grass Airport early Sunday morning used the wrong runway, National Transportation Safety Board Member Deborah Hersman confirmed in an evening briefing. The aircraft apparently was cleared to depart from Runway 22, the main runway with a length of 7,003 ft. However, it lined up on the shorter general aviation runway, 26, which is 3,500 ft. in length, insufficient for the fully loaded jet to become airborne.
Finnair subsidiary FlyNordic said it will trim last year's €17 million ($21.7 million) loss as it cut unprofitable routes during the summer and changes its focus to charter service. It was profitable in July as it transported 116,390 passengers, up 20% year-over-year, with a load factor of 80.6%. It said it will continue to trim its network during the winter. "This year we have begun hedging our fuel purchases in the same manner as Finnair," Deputy CEO Henrik Arle said.
Bmi faces pilot strikes following a vote by British Airline Pilots Assn. members who fly for the mainline, bmi regional and bmibaby units. Mainline pilots approved strike action by an 89%-11% margin while 86% of regional pilots voted to strike, according to results released yesterday. Bmibaby pilots were balloted last week, with 73% voting to strike. The airline had said that just 47% of bmibaby pilots favored a work stoppage, but the union contradicted that figure yesterday.
