Air Lease Corp. mandated KfW IPEX-Bank as arranger and sole lender for an eight-year commercial debt financing of a Boeing 777-300ER acquired from Air France in a sale/leaseback deal.
International Lease Finance Corp. announced a commitment for a $1.3 billion secured term loan with a group of 15 banks from Europe, Asia and North America. The company said it also has the right to "upsize the transaction" by $200 million in commitments from other lenders.
US FAA said it is proposing a $550,000 civil penalty against Executive Airlines Inc., the Puerto Rico-based carrier that operates under the American Eagle brand, for allegedly operating two ATR 72s without completing required inspections of the aileron control systems. According to FAA, “Executive Airlines operated the two aircraft when they were not in compliance with regulations on at least 35 revenue flights between June 13 and June 19, 2009, because the airline exceeded the mandated number of flight hours for a re-inspection.”
SITA said that more than 29.4 million bags were mishandled in 2010, or 12.07 bags per 1,000 passengers, a 6% increase over the mishandling rate of 11.38 per 1,000 in 2009 when 25 million bags were mishandled. Mishandled bags cost the air transport industry $2.94 billion, said SITA, which defines a mishandled bag as “a delayed, damaged and/or pilfered bag.”It noted that the rise in mishandled bags claims was "significantly less than the 10.4% rise in passenger volumes."
The World Trade Organization on Thursday publicly released its final report on EU claims that Boeing benefited from illegal subsidies, reaffirming that the company did receive improper government assistance but also rejecting many of the EU's allegations.
The UAE General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) has signed a cooperation agreement with the Abu Dhabi Airports Company's Gulf Centre for Aviation Studies (GCAS) with the aim of developing specialised civil aviation human resources through the provision of specialised scientific, technical and administrative training courses.
US National Transportation Safety Board said it is investigating a March 27 incident involving a Southwest Airlines 737 headed for Orlando "that was requested to veer off course by Air Traffic Control to view into the cockpit of a general aviation airplane that had been out of radio communication." FAA said in a statement that the SWA pilots complied, and "preliminary information indicates that there was a loss of required separation between the two aircraft."
Representatives of the Spanish government, Iberia and Airbus signed an agreement Wednesday to develop "a complete Spanish ‘value chain’ for sustainable and renewable aviation biofuel for commercial use."
The US, which on Wednesday commemorated the signing of its 100th open skies air services accord, is eyeing agreements with countries that have yet to sign such pacts, most notably China, Mexico, Russia and the Dominican Republic, according to a State Dept. official.
US President Barack Obama said Wednesday that he has directed the Departments of Energy and Agriculture and the Navy "to work with the private sector to create advanced biofuels that can power not just fighter jets, but trucks and commercial airliners."
The UK Competition Commission said it saw no grounds to alter its initial decision regarding UK airport ownership and again ordered BAA to sell London Stansted and one of its two Scottish airports, either Edinburgh or Glasgow.
The US, which on Wednesday will formally commemorate the signing of its 100th open skies air services accord, is eyeing agreements with countries that have yet to sign such pacts, most notably China, Mexico, Russia and the Dominican Republic, according to a State Dept. official.
Turkish Technic and GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS) have signed an APS3200 APU repair services contract which covers two APS3200 model APU repair of GECAS. Services will be carried out at Turkish Technic's APU shop in Istanbul, Turkey.
Travelport reached a renewed multi-year content agreement with Saudi Arabian Airlines. Under terms, Galileo and Worldspan-connected users will gain enhanced connectivity to the carrier’s inventory of flights and fares on over 80 domestic and international routes. Lufthansa Systems signed a five-year contract with Cebu Pacific to provide its Flight Management System.
Air India has completed the double migration of Air India and Indian Airlines to SITA's Horizon Passenger Services System. "SITA successfully took the two separate airlines' IT platforms and completed this complex migration to the new PSS in a record 293 days.This included the successful transfer of more than half a million Passenger Name Records with 99.99% accuracy," SITA said. The migration is a key step toward merging the two airlines and is a requirement for Air India's entry into Star Alliance set for mid-year.
The Dept. of Transportation's tarmac delay rule, introduced in April 2010, has resulted in a "42% surge in bad-weather airline cancellations," at a cost of "billions of dollars"in airline costs, business disruption and lost productivity, according to an extensive study by aviation consultants Darryl Jenkins and Joshua Marks released Tuesday.
Low-cost carrier AirAsia and Expedia announced the launch of a joint venture to sell "a complete range of value flights, hotels and holiday packages" in the Asia/Pacific region.
Alaska Airlines and regional affiliate Horizon Air were forced to cancel 150 combined flights on Saturday affecting around 12,150 passengers owning to computer system problems. In a YouTube.com video posted by Alaska, President Brad Tilden explained that "a transformer blew and took down the central computer systems for both Alaska and Horizon." In addition to the cancellations, there were also extensive delays, the company said. The systems were restored by Sunday. "I offer my profound apology to customers inconvenienced by this disruption," Tilden stated.
Japan Airlines on Monday completed its court-monitored bankruptcy restructuring under Japan's Corporate Rehabilitation Law, and also announced more flight reductions as it contends with a steep drop in demand in the aftermath of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami crisis that devastated the country.
The MA600, the AVIC-produced 60-seat turboprop, began formal flight operations over the weekend when the Civil Aviation Flight University of China put it into operation to replace a phased out Yun-7.
The European Commission on Monday said it is committed to a “complete modernization of Europe's air traffic control system by 2020, delivering the Single European Sky … and the completion of the European Common Aviation Area of 58 countries and 1 billion inhabitants by 2020.”
