Hungary's government again is trying to sell loss-making national airline Malev. Reuters reported that on Monday the government published an invitation to potential investors to submit letters of interest by today if they plan to take part in direct negotiations to buy the carrier. Last week the government cancelled the fourth privatization effort, stating that the bids were too low ( ATWOnline, March 31).
Alpine Air Express and its subsidiary Alpine Aviation said they have terminated all discussions with Capitalliance Financial Services regarding a possible merger or acquisition. "Although Alpine seriously considered working with Capitalliance on business opportunities, the Alpine board finally decided that independently seeking other opportunities was more prudent for the company and its shareholders," Alpine Air Express Chairman and CEO Gene Mallette said.
Singapore-based Jetstar Asia is upping the ante in the bitter war for travelers by offering its passengers return flights to Australian cities on its parent Qantas from just $278 excluding taxes.
British Airways reported a 4.5% gain in passenger traffic in March to 9.32 billion RPKs, with increases seen across most of its network. The airline's Africa/Middle East and Asia/Pacific segments led the way with increases of 9.9% and 10.2% respectively. In the UK/Europe market RPKs climbed 6.2%, while traffic to the Americas dipped just 0.4%.
American Airlines flew 12.07 billion RPMs in March, up 9.1% over the year-ago period. Capacity climbed 2.1% to 15.04 billion ASMs and load factor gained 5.1 points to 80.2%. For the three months ended March 31, RPMs increased 6.7% to 32.25 billion, ASMs rose 0.6% to 42.75 billion and load factor jumped 4.4 points to 75.4%.
Aided by a decline in weather-related delays, US airlines posted a better ontime arrival rate in February compared to January 2005 and February 2004, the Dept. of Transportation reported yesterday. According to DOT statistics, the 19 US airlines reporting ontime performance recorded an overall ontime arrival rate of 77.6% in February, up slightly over February 2004's 77.5% and well above January 2005's 71.4%. Of the flight delays in February 2005, 5.3% were caused by weather, down sharply from February 2004 and January 2005 when 6.1% of flights were delayed by weather.
OnAir, the SITA/Airbus joint venture, said it selected the Airbus facility at Buxtehude near Hamburg to develop and seek certification for its airborne system for the use of mobile phones onboard aircraft.
Delta Air Lines flew 10.36 billion RPMs in March, up 14.4% over the year-ago period. Capacity climbed 7.8% to 12.93 billion ASMs and load factor jumped 4.6 points to 80.1%. For the three months ended March 31, RPMs increased 12.3% to 27.22 billion, ASMs rose 6.4% to 36.54 billion and load factor gained 3.9 points to 74.5%.
US Airways flew 3.81 billion RPMs in March, up 9.6% over the year-ago period. Capacity increased 5.2% to 4.72 billion ASMs and load factor was up 3.2 points to 80.7%. For the three months ended March 31, RPMs climbed 5.8% to 9.65 billion, ASMs grew 1.5% to 13.19 billion and load factor rose 2.9 points to 73.2%.
United Airlines flew 9.81 billion RPMs in March, up 2.4% over the year-ago period. Capacity dipped 1.3% to 11.81 billion ASMs and load factor gained 3 points to 83.1%. For the three months ended March 31, RPMs rose 1.9% to 26.53 billion, ASMs declined 2% to 33.94 billion and load factor jumped 3 points to 78.2%.
Emirates has begun construction of a Dhs1.3 billion ($353.9 million) engineering center on a 136-acre site on the north side of Dubai International Airport. The airline will use the facility to perform maintenance on its fleet, which is expected to double from the current 74 aircraft over the next seven years, and for third-party maintenance.
Goodrich Corp. yesterday unveiled the world's largest landing gear test facility, which was built to accommodate the A380 main gear. The facility at Goodrich's site in Oakville, Ontario, encompasses 2,100 sq. m. (22,604 sq. ft.) of floor space. It houses a Super Rig for structural testing that includes strength and fatigue testing of the A380 body and wing landing gears. The test rig rests in a cavity 55 m. long and stands approximately 8 m. high. In addition to the Super Rig, the facility accommodates rigs for endurance testing.
In an about-face for an airline that has shunned travel search engines, American Airlines formed a partnership with San Mateo, Calif.-based Mobissimo, one of the new meta search companies. An American spokesman would not provide details of the agreement but said American had determined that Mobissimos business model represents a low-cost form of distribution.
News from Travel Technology Update:
In an about-face for an airline that has shunned travel search engines, American Airlines formed a "partnership" with San Mateo, Calif.-based Mobissimo, one of the new meta search companies. An American spokesman would not provide details of the agreement but said American had determined that Mobissimo's business model represents "a low-cost form of distribution."
Patrick Corp. has reinforced its move to control Virgin Blue by lifting its holding to more than 62% despite the continuing refusal of founder Richard Branson and CEO Brett Godfrey to sell their shares. Following the close of Patrick's A$1.90 ($1.48) a share bid last Friday, the diversified transport group said it has garnered acceptances from most of the independent shareholders in Virgin Blue. However, Branson's Virgin Group and Godfrey, with 25.6% and 2.7% respectively, have held tight to their stakes. Patrick Corp.
United Airlines reached agreements with SkyWest and GoJet, a new subsidiary of Trans States Holdings, to replace some of the services currently provided by Air Wisconsin in its United Express codeshare operation. The two carriers will operate a total of 30 70-seat CRJ700s under yesterday's accord. Subsequent to the announcement, SkyWest ordered 20 additional CRJ700s in a deal valued at $637 million. Air Wisconsin currently flies 70 aircraft in the United Express network, but last fall United issued an RFP to replace that service ( ATWOnline, Nov. 12).
Aloha Airgroup and subsidiary Aloha Airlines finalized a $65 million debtor-in-possession financing facility with Ableco Finance, an affiliate of Cerberus Capital Management, and Goldman Sachs Credit Partners. Aloha said it used some of the funds to pay off the last portion of its Air Transportation Stabilization Board federal loan guarantee and certain local bank term loans.
The world's airlines will lose $5.5 billion in 2005 if oil prices average $43 per barrel for the full year, IATA DG and CEO Giovanni Bisignani stated yesterday in New York (on April 1, the price of the May crude-oil contract hit a record $57.70 a barrel on the NY Mercantile Exchange, the Wall Street Journal reported).
Continental Airlines last week recalled the last of the 637 pilots that were furloughed following 9/11. Separately, Continental said it flew 6.92 billion RPMs in March, up 14.8% over the year-ago period. Capacity climbed 7% to 8.6 billion ASMs and load factor jumped 5.6 points to 80.5%. In March, the carrier said consolidated passenger RASM is believed to have increased 4%-5% compared to March 2004, while mainline passenger RASM is estimated to have climbed 4.5%-5.5%. For February, consolidated passenger RASM rose 2.1% over February 2004 and mainline passenger RASM grew 3%.
European Regions Airline Assn. reported a 7.1% increase in traffic for its member airlines in 2004. Capacity climbed 6.9% year-over-year and load factor rose almost 1 point to 60.3% for the year. Passenger growth averaged 4.1% with the largest increases seen in the Baltic states. Ireland and Finland also saw significant growth in passenger numbers by ERA members based in these countries.
B/E Aerospace was selected by Air France to provide business class seating for two of the carrier's widebody fleets in programs valued at up to $40 million. Under the agreements, B/E will manufacture and deliver versions of its MiniPod lie-flat business class seats for AF's A380s and part of its 777 fleet.
Virgin Group chief Richard Branson has floated plans to establish a second Australian flag carrier in partnership with local investors that will focus on routes to China, Japan and the US by the end of 2005. In a move that is sure to antagonize Singapore Airlines, Branson said the Australian government should give precedence to the proposed new venture in allocating rights to service the US West Coast. SIA, a 49% shareholder in Virgin Atlantic, is seeking to gain rights to begin Sydney-Los Angeles flights in the middle of next year.
