Etihad Airways completed its first European export credit agency-guaranteed transactions covering $233 million to finance the purchase of two A340-600s. In the first deal, HSBC Bank, acting as the mandated lead arranger, lender, facility agent, security trustee and hedge provider, will furnish financing valued at $122 million to the airline over 12 years. The second $111 million agreement was signed with Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg, which acted as mandated lead arranger, lender, facility agent and security trustee. Debt placement for this deal was undertaken by SkyBlue Capital LLC.
Saudi Arabian Airlines took delivery of its first A320, acquired under a long-term lease agreement with ALAFCO. It will deploy the aircraft from Riyadh to routes in the region as well as to Europe and to the Indian subcontinent.
Pratt & Whitney Canada said it will cut 250 employees by year end and additional 160 workers next year in order "to align with a projected decline in customer demand and weakness in the global aerospace market with no signs of a recovery in 2010." President John Saabas described the job reductions as necessary owing to "difficult times," adding, "We need to make strategic decisions and structural changes to remain competitive and preserve our future in the face of continuing economic headwinds." P&WC said it will consolidate its activities into "three key strategic manufacturin
The unbundled fare is the airlines' new best friend, enabling them to boost revenues through fees for checked bags, seat assignments and other items that used to be included in the fare. And while the airlines know that the fees can be a lifeline -- the industry collected $669.6 million in baggage fees in the second quarter, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics -- they have difficulty pinpointing which flights are ancillary revenue generators.
Amadeus told its German subscribers it will begin partially compensating them for payments they make to Lufthansa under the carrier's Preferred Fares program on Jan. 1. Lufthansa's PFP, which went into effect in July 2008, imposes a €4.90 per-segment surcharge for Germany-originating flights booked through Amadeus. Lufthansa reached agreements for lower distribution costs with Sabre and Travelport that exempt their subscribers from the surcharge, but Amadeus, the largest GDS player in the German market, did not.
The European Commission won't formally announce a baseline aviation sector CO2 emissions standard until mid-2010, postponing the announcement for the second time, Bloomberg reported.
United Airlines Chairman and CEO Glenn Tilton told reporters in Washington yesterday that the company "expects to get further information for manufacturers by the end of the year" regarding its request for proposals to Airbus and Boeing covering a large order for widebody aircraft ( ATWOnline, June 5). Separately, UA announced yesterday that it plans to offer 19 million shares of its common stock in an underwritten registered public offering.
China Southern Airlines decided to sell its 50% stake in MTU Maintainance Zhuhai to its parent China Southern Air Holding Co. for CNY1.61 billion ($235.5 million) in an effort to concentrate on its mainline business and reduce its debt. The deal requires approval from CZ's minority shareholders and relevant government organs. MTU Maintainance Zhuhai was launched in 2001 with registered capital of $63.1 million. CZ holds 50% while MTU Aero Engines GmbH owns the other half.
US Senate's proposed cap-and-trade climate change legislation, formally introduced yesterday by Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and John Kerry (D.-Mass.), contains more aggressive emissions reduction targets but covers aviation emissions in the same way as the House-passed version of the bill ( ATWOnline, June 30), according to Air Transport Assn. VP-Environmental Affairs Nancy Young.
Austrian Airlines Group said it will present its "Austrian Airlines Next Generation" plan on Oct. 6 in Vienna. "We'll announce the concept and strategy for how the company will be integrated into Lufthansa, where help is needed from LH and so on," a spokesperson told ATWOnline.
Air New Zealand 777-300ER was deployed to ferry supplies to Samoa to help with tsunami recovery efforts. GM-Airline Operations David Morgan said the aircraft left for Samoa yesterday stocked with several hundred blankets, more than 1,000 t-shirts and basic amenity packs with items such as toothbrushes and toothpaste.
United Airlines Chairman and CEO Glenn Tilton, in his role as chairman of the Air Transport Assn., yesterday called for large-scale government loans, loan guarantees and grants to jumpstart development and mass production of alternative fuels, including biofuels for the airline industry.
British Airways CEO Willie Walsh described the carrier's new all-business-class A318 New York JFK-London City service, launched Tuesday, as a "vote of confidence in the future." He told ATWOnline, "It's a bold step. We are putting down a marker that we are confident about the future." He said the service will be profitable if it achieves a 70% load factor.
Air India cancelled at least 30 flights yesterday and took the unusual step of suspending bookings for the next 15 days as a standoff between pilots and management extended to its fourth day. About 400 pilots have engaged in a wildcat work action since Friday to protest not being allowed to form a union. "We have deployed additional staff at airports across the country and will ensure that passengers are shifted to flights operated by other airlines," an AI official told India's Economic Times.
Goodrich Corp. said its Landing Gear business signed an "innovative agreement" with an unidentified major airline under which Goodrich will use the carrier's rotable landing gear as part of its landing gear overhaul services. Under the agreement, Goodrich will offer the rotables as exchange units to other airlines that purchase overhaul services. Covered types are 737NGs and 777-200ERs. Embraer signed a five-year Flight Hour Pool Program service contract with Arkia Israeli Airlines covering an E-195 operated by the carrier since last December. Under the cost-per-flight-hr.
Purolator USA said its Itasca, Ill., processing facility gained TSA approval to participate in the Certified Cargo Screening Program. The facility will be able to screen customers' air shipments so they can be loaded onto designated flights upon arrival at airports.
Scandinavian Avionics said it was chosen to provide full design, EASA certification and installation support for complete glass cockpit upgrades on a "significant number" of BAE ATP aircraft operated by West Air Sweden. The installations will include a five-panel suite of Universal Avionics' large format EFI-890R flat-panel displays as well as a Rockwell Collins TWR-850 Enhanced Weather Radar System. They will be performed at West Air Sweden's facilities in Malmo.
US Airways named Capt. Chesley Sullenberger, who famously piloted an A320-200 to an emergency water landing on the Hudson River in January, to its flight operations safety management team and announced that he will return to piloting scheduled flights shortly.
