British Airways announced changes to its baggage policy on mainline services, including allowances for hand, checked and excess baggage that will be phased in over the next five months. BA will not, at least yet, start charging for checked luggage as do LCC peers like FlyBE and Ryanair ( ATWOnline, Jan. 26). "We have created new policies which are easier to understand and will reduce queuing time at airports," BA Commercial Director Martin George said.
Finnair said a €100 million bond issued Wednesday and directed at Finnish institutional investors was fully subscribed. It matures in 2012. "With this emitted bond we wanted to expand our financing flexibility. Our fleet investment program is over €1 billion for the years 2006-2015," CFO Lasse Heinonen said.
Republic Airways Holdings promoted Tim Dooley to VP-financial planning & analysis. Alaska Airlines named Chris Glaeser VP-safety. He comes from Northwest Airlines, where he was director-flight safety, quality assurance and industry affairs.
Copa Holdings, parent of Copa Airlines and AeroRepublica, filed a registration statement yesterday with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for the sale of 6.6 million nonvoting shares held by Continental Airlines, which would hold a 12.3% stake in Copa following the sale or 10% if the overallotment is exercised. Copa said it will not receive any of the proceeds.
SITA signed an agreement with Athens International Airport to distribute and sell its AirportConnect CUTE, AirportConnect Kiosk, BagManager and BagMessage IT applications in Greece. This is the third agreement of its kind since SITA announced plans in February to establish a global network of Indirect Channel partners to provide its IT solutions to medium-size and small airports that handle 5 million passengers or fewer per year ( ATWOnline, Feb. 3).
Gol flew 1.17 billion RPKs in May, a 55.9% rise over the year-ago month. Capacity increased 53.8% to 1.6 billion ASKs, lifting load factor 1 point to 73%.
China and Taiwan continued to relax air transport restrictions with the decision to allow more direct flights during holiday periods and cargo charters for the first time, Reuters reported. Flights operated between the countries during the Chinese New Year proved popular and led to calls for increased service ( ATWOnline, Feb. 9). Passenger flights could take place as early as October's Mid-Autumn Festival, Taiwan Mainland Affairs Council Chairman Joseph Wu said.
Varig and the group of employees and unidentified investors who bid for the carrier, NV Participacoes, were granted another extension by Rio de Janeiro bankruptcy court Judge Luiz Roberto Ayoub, who had given the group until Wednesday to make a case for its BRL1.01 billion ($439 million) bid ( ATWOnline, June 13). The court now will reconsider the bid next week, giving it time to examine documents NVP delivered just half an hour before the Wednesday deadline and the opportunity to consider other offers.
Air China intends to raise CNY8 billion ($996.3 million) through the sale of 2.7 billion shares on the Shanghai stock exchange later this year, an airline official told reporters yesterday. The offering constitutes 28.62% of its existing share capital, the Associated Press reported. The carrier, which already has shares traded in Hong Kong, is awaiting approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission. China International Capital Corp., CITIC Securities and Galaxy Securities reportedly will be the underwriters.
Hawaiian Airlines flew 555.1 million RPMs in May, a 1.6% rise over the year-ago month. Capacity fell 0.1% to 639.4 million ASMs, lifting load factor 1.4 points to 86.8%. SkyWest, parent of SkyWest Airlines and Atlantic Southeast Airlines, said its airlines flew a combined 1.36 billion RPMs in May, a 117.6% rise over the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 100.6% to 1.71 billion ASMs and load factor increased 6.2 points to 79.6%.
DayJet, which plans to offer what it describes as "the world's first Per-Seat On Demand" jet service ( ATWOnline, April 25) using Eclipse 500 very light jets, said it will begin by operating in five Florida cities--Boca Raton, Gainesville, Lakeland, Pensacola and Tallahassee--later this year. The company is in "final negotiations" with FBOs and airports in each of the cities to operate what it calls DayPorts.
United Airlines will lay off at least 1,000 salaried workers by year end, CEO Glenn Tilton said yesterday at the Merrill Lynch Global Transportation Conference in New York. The figure represents approximately 11% of UA's salaried employees. Overall, the airline is targeting savings of $400 million in 2007 ( ATWOnline, May 9).
Lufthansa Cargo will take over sales and marketing of Air Madrid's freight capacity and handling effective Sept. 1. The agreement calls for LHC to open five new handling stations in Latin America.
WestJet said its executive VP-finance and CFO position, vacated this week with the departure of Alexander Campbell ( ATWOnline, March 9), will be filled jointly on an interim basis by VP-Controller Janice Paget (internal) and VP-Finance & Corporate Services Derek Payne (external). The carrier is continuing its search for a permanent successor.
Lufthansa flew 9.74 billion RPKs in May, a 2.2% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity rose 1.4% to 13.06 billion ASKs, lifting load factor 0.6 point to 74.5%. Iberia flew 4.33 billion RPKs in May, an 8.1% rise over the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 6% to 5.68 billion ASKs and load factor increased 1.5 points to 76.2%. Copa Airlines flew 309.5 million RPMs in May, a 31.3% rise over the year-ago month. Capacity increased 22.6% to 418.4 million ASMs and load factor jumped 4.9 points to 74%.
Goodrich Corp. was selected by Hawaiian Airlines to perform heavy maintenance checks, interior standardizations, painting and ETOPS modifications and other work on four 767-300s prior to their entry into service later this year.
Air France and Ryanair are at odds again, with AF initiating legal action to prevent Ryanair from benefiting from lower charges at Marseille-Provence and Ryanair filing another complaint to the European Commission concerning "Air France's latest attempt to block competition from low fares airlines in France." "We filed a case at the Conseil d'Etat in Paris last Friday against the CCI [Chambre de Commerce et d'Industrie] Marseille-Provence, which holds the concession to operate MRS, claiming it is breaching the law by offering lower airport charges to Ryanair than to us for similar se
CSA Czech Airlines, which plunged to a CZK496 million ($22.1 million) loss in 2005 from a CZK324 million profit the year before ( ATWOnline, June 7), yesterday unveiled a three-year plan to return to profitability dubbed "OK 06-08" that will include a 10%-20% workforce reduction, "especially in administrative positions." President Radomir Lasak said, "An immediate change to internal procedures and business practices is critical to the future of Czech Airlines," adding that "CSA will not become a low-cost carrier.
Airbus has made 10 flights totaling 30 hr. with an A320 equipped with winglets and plans additional flights in July with an A320 equipped with a second winglet design. Senior VP-A320 Mario Heinen said no decisions have been made. "This is a research program still," he said. "We are collecting data." He added that customers such as JetBlue Airways, which provided one of its A320s for the test flights ( ATWOnline, Feb.
Varig representatives said yesterday at a hearing in New York that a second, unidentified investor offered $450 million in cash for the airline, a figure higher than the bid offered last week by a group of employees that included just $125 million in cash, Bloomberg News reported. The employees' bid was approved in principle yesterday by a Rio de Janeiro bankruptcy court judge ( ATWOnline, June 13), who asked the group to double its cash commitment before he issues a final ruling today.
Embraer consolidated its offices in France into a single location near Paris Charles de Gaulle. The new office provides customer support, administration, information technology and spare parts sales for Embraer operators in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Only one day after SAS Braathens CEO Petter Jansen resigned ( ATWOnline, June 13), the Norwegian National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime (Okokrim) said it filed charges against the airline for illegal computer access and misuse of business secrets.
A Brazilian bankruptcy court judge granted Varig a glimmer of hope yesterday, approving an employee group's BRL1.01 billion ($445.5 million) offer for the beleaguered airline with certain conditions. NV Participacoes (TGV), composed of pilots and flight attendants, presented the only bid at last week's auction, one that fell well below the minimum ( ATWOnline, June 9).
Aer Arann appointed Garry Cullen as its new chief executive, ending a months-long search for a successor to the airline's founder and outgoing MD, Padraig O'Ceidigh. He will take up the post of executive chairman while outgoing chairman Paul D'Alton will become a nonexecutive director. Cullen was chief executive of Antigua-based LIAT. Separately, Aer Arann will launch four-times-weekly London Luton-Newquay service from July 3 aboard a 66-seat ATR 72. It already serves Newquay from Cork.
