Varig and its controlling shareholder the Rubem Berta Foundation have chosen TAP Portugal as its partner in a debt-restructuring process aimed at saving it from liquidation, the Brazilian airline said yesterday. TAP's proposal was chosen over six other offers. The plan includes an initial $62 million in financing to pay off debts owed to overseas leasing companies, avoiding the repossession of 20-40 aircraft. In a second phase, TAP would help Varig with a $500 million recapitalization effort.
Delta Air Lines late Tuesday asked a US Bankruptcy Court to permit it to impose a new contract on its pilots under Section 1113 of the US Bankruptcy Code that would reduce pilot pay rates by 19.5%, providing estimated savings of $325 million annually, according to the airline. The pilots are the only unionized workgroup at Delta. The carrier is imposing $605 million in pay and benefit reductions on its 44,000 other employees.
AirTran Airways reported record traffic for October. RPMs grew 35.2% to 968.2 million against a capacity increase of 25.4%, producing a load factor of 73.1%, a rise of 5.3 points over October 2004.
United Airlines and Swiss International Air Lines announced a codeshare and frequent-flier agreement effective Nov. 9. United's code will appear on Swiss's service between Zurich and Los Angeles, Zurich and Chicago O'Hare, and connecting beyond Zurich to Dubai and Muscat. Swiss's code will appear on United's Washington Dulles-Zurich service as well as between Los Angeles and Honolulu, with more routes to be announced pending regulatory approval.
Cathay Pacific Airways announced a passenger load factor of 76.4% for September, up 1.2 points over the same month in 2004. The carrier is adding a fifth daily flight between Hong Kong and Seoul beginning Jan. 27.
US Airways announced that $777 million in debt, of which $752 is guaranteed by the US government, has been sold at a light premium to par to 13 fixed-income investors.
WestJet expanded its Internet check-in service to include baggage drop counters at each of its 23 Canadian airports. The carrier said more than 30% of its passengers have used the self-serve check-in feature this year.
Viva International said it executed a letter of intent to purchase Smyrna, Tenn.-based RegionsAir, previously known as Corporate Airlines. RegionsAir provides service to 11 cities under the Essential Air Services program. Under terms of the LOI, Viva will acquire the entire operation, including the certificate, maintenance facilities and airport station agreements.
OAG signed a deal with lastminute.com to distribute real-time flight status information directly to UK-registered mobile devices. The lastminute.com Flight Alert Service includes more than 190 airlines and relays any significant changes in the time, terminal or gate of a registered flight directly to individuals via SMS Flight Status Alerts.
BWIA West Indies Airways appointed GM Nelson Tom Yew as CEO and a new five-person board chaired by Arthur Lok Jack. The management restructuring was part of a deal negotiated with the government of Trinidad and Tobago, which pumped $250 million into the airline last month, the Associated Press reported. UAL Corp., parent of United Airlines, announced the appointment of William R. Norman as senior VP-United Services, the company's maintenance and engineering division.
Thai and South Korean investors have partnered to launch Sky Star Airways, a Bangkok-based airline hoping to position itself as a full-service carrier with fares between LCCs and large conventional airlines. The Bangkok Post reported that SSA was registered with capital of 400 million baht ($9.8 million) and expects to obtain its license and be airborne as early as December with service between Bangkok and Incheon.
Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes yesterday announced a record third-quarter net profit of R$138.2 million ($61.1 million), a 19.8% margin and up 42.6% from net income of R$96.9 million in the year-ago period.
Saint-Gobain Flight Structures is expanding its Ravenna, Ohio, plant in order to manufacture lightweight aerospace composites used in components such as cargo doors and wingtips. The Ravenna plant is a self-contained operation specializing in design, manufacture, repair and certification of composites and Saint Gobain's Norton radomes.
American Airlines launched its first new international service from Terminal D at Dallas/Ft. Worth International Airport yesterday, flying nonstop to Osaka. The daily flights will be aboard 777s equipped with 16 first class, 35 business class and 185 coach seats. Osaka is AA's 33rd international destination from its DFW hub and its fifth nonstop route to Japan.
Pinnacle Airlines reported a third-quarter net loss of $21.4 million and an operating loss of $32.4 million, which company officials attributed to an after-tax charge of $34.5 million for items related to the recent bankruptcy filings of Northwest Airlines and Mesaba Airlines. The Northwest Airlink carrier posted a net income of $12.6 million in the year-ago period. Excluding the charge, Pinnacle reported pro forma net income of $13.1 million for the 2005 quarter.
After an all-night flight to Brazil, JetBlue CEO David Neeleman was ready to take delivery of the first 100-seat, GE CF34-powered Embraer 190. But there was an unexpected snag: He had forgotten to pack a necktie for the ceremony. Aides scrambled to find one. After a few phone calls, someone came up with a yellow silk print tie that would go with Neeleman's dark blazer and tan pants. And who helped out early that September morning? "My job is to make David look good," says JetBlue COO Dave Barger with a laugh. "I'm the operations guy, so it is expected that I should have a tie."
In 1920, the Australian states of Queensland and Northern Territory lent their names to a new airline that would grow to be, 85 years later, one of the premier air transportation companies in the world. Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Ltd., or Qantas, was formed in the years after World War I to serve the vast reaches of the Outback.
Aeromexico appointed Carlos De Uriarte regional dir.-US West Coast. Air Transport Assn. named David Castelveter VP-communications. Alaska Air Group announced the retirement of Executive VP-Operations George Bagley. ASIG tapped David L. Aschenbach as VP-sales & customer service. Atlantic Southeast Airlines welcomed Bryan T. LaBrecque as president & COO. Boeing chose Ahmed Jazzar as president-Boeing Saudi Arabia and Michael Probasco as president-Boeing Middle East Ltd.
Two issues must be resolved before China can experience explosive growth in online travel, and neither is insurmountable, according to participants at TravelSky Technology Ltd.'s China Travel Distribution Future Forum 2005 in Beijing. The first is widespread implementation of electronic ticketing in what is expected to become the world's largest travel market. The second issue may prove more challenging: facilitating online payment for online purchases in a country in which credit cards are relatively scarce.
You can say this about Piedmont Airlines: It is a company with staying power. Since its formation in 1931 it has changed names, ownership, aircraft and location, yet still it lives today as a wholly owned subsidiary of US Airways operating in the Major's Express network. That resilience will serve Piedmont well as it confronts the possibility of still more change ahead after US Airways' merger with America West Airlines in late September.
Paramount Airways, a new Indian Regional carrier, signed a nine-year, $12 million OnPoint Solutions service agreement with GE Engine Services for MRO of the CF34-8Es powering the airline's five Embraer 170s/175s.
News from Travel Technology Update: AirTran Airways will end its participation in Worldspan effective Nov. 10. The carrier said it could not come to terms with Worldspan on the cost of participation. AirTran did, however, reach an agreement with Cendant Travel Distribution Services to distribute its fares, schedules and inventory through Cendant's Galileo/Apollo systems. It reached an agreement to distribute through Sabre and Travelocity last month.
Air New Zealand's first 777-200ER delivered on Oct. 28 ( ATWOnline, Oct. 31) marks the beginning of a significant ramp-up in capacity for the airline. ANZ's long-haul fleet currently consists of 5,251 available seats across 17 aircraft, but by early 2007 the fleet will consist of 6,826 available seats across 21 aircraft. "We have some catching up to do," said new CEO Rob Fyfe. "During the 1990s we only grew at 1% a year while the industry grew at 5% a year.
Rockwell Collins said that Indian low-cost startup IndiGo selected Collins avionics for its recently ordered fleet of A320s, deliveries of which begin in 2006. The avionics package includes the WXR-2100 MultiScan Weather Radar, ADF-900, DME-900, HFS 900 D HF system, CPL-920D HF communications, VHF-920 transceiver, VOR-900 and AOC-900 data link.
Airbus North America named John O'Leary senior director and Bill James director of ANA Engineering Wichita and David Trent senior director of ANA Engineering Mobile.
