MAIR Inc., parent of Mesaba Airlines, warned Friday that it may have to file for bankruptcy protection in light of actions taken by its bankrupt partner Northwest Airlines. Northwest has defaulted on $28 million owed to the Airlink carrier and is removing nine of 35 Avro RJ85s it subleases to Mesaba by the end of this month in order to return them to the lessor. It has said it intends to repossess the remaining 26 by year end.
TNT Express signed a contract with GECAS for two additional 737-300SFs, bringing the total number of 737s in its fleet to nine. The new aircraft will be converted from passenger to freighter configuration by IAI's Bedek Aviation Services and modified to comply with Chapter IV noise emission standards. TNT will introduce the aircraft to its European Air Network in August and December 2006.
United Airlines parent UAL Corp. will exit bankruptcy via a $3 billion, six-year, all-debt financing package, the company said yesterday. JP Morgan and Citigroup will be lead managers for the offering, which UAL said has "very competitive terms." The interest rate is LIBOR plus 450 basis points. Exit financing will be used to repay the debtor-in-possession facility, make other payments required to exit bankruptcy and insure a strong cash balance when the company leaves bankruptcy.
Prisma Aviation Services remarketed an ATR 42-300 together with a package of spare parts to aircraft inventory and parts specialist Dart Aviation in France. The aircraft, which had been stored at Rome Fiumicino since March 2005 following the voluntary liquidation of Air Industria in 2003, will be parted out.
RASSA Holdings said Aeropostal Alas de Centroamerica signed an agreement to use its R@N Web-based passenger service system. The proposed startup airline is based in Costa Rica and plans to begin operations this month using DC-9s and MD-80s.
Italian government, as expected ( ATWOnline Oct. 6), approved a financial assistance package for Italian airlines amounting to €200 million ($239 million). Deputy Transport Minister Mario Tassone stressed that the aid package is directed to the Italian airline industry as a whole to "help them overcome moments of crisis owing to the rising fuel price," La Republica reported. It added that Alitalia will receive approximately €80 million.
American Airlines Cargo raised its fuel surcharge from $0.50/kg. to $0.55/kg. for most international shipments of US origin and from $0.20/lb. to $0.22/lb. for US domestic shipments. New rates take effect Oct. 19. The fuel surcharge also will be adjusted in local currency for most shipments not of US origin unless the adjustment is not allowed for regulatory reasons.
Ray Siegfried II, who built Nordam Group into one of the largest privately owned aerospace companies in the world, died Thursday at the age of 62. He had been suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. Siegfried, who stepped back from the CEO position in 2001 when he was diagnosed with ALS, served as chairman. When he took over what was then Northern Oklahoma Research, Development and Manufacturing Co. in 1969, the firm was bankrupt and had only eight employees. Today it has more than 2,300 people at locations around the globe.
Iberia financed an A340-600 on a 12-year Spanish operating lease. Equity was supplied by Madrid Leasing while the debt was underwritten by Caja Madrid and Royal Bank of Scotland.
Ultra said its Airport Systems business signed a $9 million contract to provide IT integration services to Shanghai Pudong. Ultra will install its UltraIB integration broker product at the airport. It is supplying UltraIB services for the London Heathrow T5 project as well.
Lufthansa and the ver.di public service workers union reached agreement yesterday on a new contract that will secure the jobs of 12,000 ground staff employed by Deutsche Lufthansa AG and seven other group companies. In return for layoff protection through March 31, 2009, the union accepted changes to the pay structure. Although no current employee will see his or her pay reduced, "the future salary progression may change in some cases," LH said.
Globe Air Cargo will become Ethiopian Airlines' cargo general sales agent in the UK. Ethiopian currently operates six weekly 757 flights from London Heathrow to Addis Ababa and plans to increase its capacity later in the year when 767s will be introduced on the route.
Contrary to conventional wisdom, "there is no clear evidence" that US airlines operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection "harm the industry by contributing to overcapacity or underpricing their competitors," according to a new study by the US General Accounting Office, the investigative and research arm of Congress.
Michael Brag was appointed acting CEO of SAS Component following the departure of Per Boll. Brag is CCO at SAS Technical Services and will retain this position.
AirBaltic celebrated its 10th anniversary Oct. 1. Over the decade, the Latvian carrier enplaned more than 3 million passengers, launched direct flights to 46 destinations and opened a second hub in Vilnius. Main shareholders are the Latvian state with 52.6% and SAS AB with 47.2%. The fleet numbers seven 737-500s and seven F50s.
Gol today begins operating six weekly flights from Sao Paulo to Campina Grande via Recife. Separately Gol said it flew 890 million RPKs in September, up 77.8% over the year-ago period. Capacity rose 59.1% to 1.18 billion ASKs and load factor jumped 8 points to 75.5%.
American Eagle flew 676 million RPMs in September, a 26.2% increase over the same period a year ago. ASMs were up 20.4% to 977 million while load factor rose 3.2 points to 69.2%. The number of passengers boarded increased 14.2% to 1.6 million. Year-to-date, RPMs grew 26.7% to 5.9 billion, ASMs were up 22.6% to 8.4 billion and load factor improved 2 points to 69.9%. Mesa Air Group's RPMs increased 12% in September to 509 million as ASMs grew at the same rate to 739 million. Load factor remained flat at 68%. The number of passengers carried rose 14% to 1 million.
Boeing yesterday confirmed that Ryanair exercised options for nine 737-800s valued at upward of $500 million with deliveries beginning in September 2007. Five airplanes will be for replacement of 737-800s delivered in 1989 and four are for growth ( ATWOnline, Oct. 5). Separately, Boeing said it will supply its Enterprise One software to China Airlines, which will use selected modules to standardize management of airplane configurations and maintenance requirements across its entire fleet.
JetBlue Airways launched new service from Newark to Ft. Lauderdale and Orlando yesterday, offering five daily roundtrips in each market in a direct challenge to Continental Airlines, which maintains its most important hub at the New York-area airport. The low-fare carrier will continue its growth at Newark on Oct. 19 when it begins double-daily nonstop service to Ft. Myers, Tampa and West Palm Beach with single daily roundtrips. JetBlue adds San Juan Nov. 17 with daily service.
Wizz Air carried its 2 millionth passenger Tuesday. Martyna Lelinska was traveling from Katowice to Milan Bergamo and will receive unlimited tickets for a year on the Wizz Air network. The airline carried its millionth passenger in April, 11 months after it began operations.
AeroData's ACARS Performance and Weight & Balance System was selected by AirTran Airways, which operates more than 500 daily flights across North America, for use by its pilots.
JAL Group announced yesterday that Japan Airlines Domestic will be merged into Japan Airlines International effective Oct. 1, 2006. JAL Sales, which handles group travel sales, will transfer its activities to JAL International six months earlier, on April 1.
British Airways flew 9.85 billion RPKs in September, an increase of 7.8% on the year-ago period, on a 5.5% capacity hike to 12.37 billion ASKs. Load factor rose 1.7 points to 79.6%. The increase in traffic comprised an 11.6% gain in premium and a 7.2% rise in nonpremium traffic. Passenger boardings grew 2.8% to 3.21 million and compared with 3.03 passengers million on Ryanair's network. Cargo measured in CTKs rose 0.5% and overall load factor dipped 0.2 point to 72.2%.
