Austrian Airlines Group will need €1 billion ($1.39 billion) in new capital if its pending acquisition by Lufthansa falls through, Chairman Peter Michaelis told shareholders yesterday at a Vienna meeting. The company has spent two-thirds of the €200 million loan from the Austrian government and is carrying more than €1 billion in debt, Reuters reported.
News from Travel Technology Update: If you disappoint your passengers, "it will be public, and it will live forever," Forrester Research analyst Henry Harteveldt said at the recent SITA IT Summit in Cannes, France. Harteveldt was talking about social media phenomena such as Facebook, YouTube, Flickr and Twitter, which allow travelers to broadcast their experiences immediately to hundreds, thousands, even millions of people.
Ukrainian Mediterranean Airlines and Iran's Mahan Air were added to the EU's list of banned airlines, while Garuda Indonesia, Airfast Indonesia, Mandala Airlines and Premiair were removed from the "blacklist." The latest update, issued yesterday, did not include Yemenia Yemen Airways despite recent controversy following the June 29 A310-300 crash that killed 152 passengers and crew ( ATWOnline, July 8).
British Airways CEO Willie Walsh continued to maintain yesterday that the carrier is in a "fight for survival" and that "just hoping for old high-roller times to return is the road to oblivion" at the company's annual shareholders meeting in London.
Jetlink Express, a Nairobi-based regional, will take delivery of a BAe 146 this month on wet-lease from Albanian Airlines. Aircraft will be in use for six months to serve Kisumi, replacing a CRJ200 that will be unable to handle that airport's shortened runway during refurbishment. Albanian operates three BAe 146s but can spare one following its recent wet-lease of an MD-82.
Key US senators yesterday introduced an FAA reauthorization bill that would provide more than $40 billion in funding for agency operations in 2010 and 2011 and set accelerated deadlines for modernizing the US ATC system, but would push contentious questions over long-term funding and how to cover the cost of upgrading ATC to 2011.
AirTran Airways said it has completed installation of Gogo inflight Internet in its entire 136-aircraft fleet ( ATWOnline, May 13). Continental Airlines said it has completed installation of live DirecTV service on 15 aircraft operating in the continental US. It plans to offer the service on its entire 737NG fleet, numbering more than 200 aircraft, by the end of 2010. First class passengers can watch for free while economy passengers must pay $
Atlantic Southeast Airlines will furlough 56 pilots beginning Sept. 1 in addition to the previously announced 80, it confirmed yesterday ( ATWOnline, Jan. 12). "The furlough is a result of the recessionary economy that has driven down demand, resulting in our fall schedule to be lower than our original estimate," an ASA spokesperson told ATWOnline. The wholly owned subsidiary of SkyWest Holdings operates as a regional partner for Delta Air Lines.
Indian airlines carried 10.9 million domestic passengers in the second quarter, up more than 11% compared to the 2008 quarter. Kingfisher Airlines led with 2.8 million (25.3% market share), followed by Air India with 1.9 million (17.5%) and Jet Airways at 1.8 million (16.3%). Through the half year, domestic passenger numbers were down 8% to 21.1 million. In June, Kingfisher led with 901,000 domestic passengers, followed by AI at 645,000 and Jet at 612,000.
Air New Zealand's first 767-300ER fitted with Aviation Partners Boeing blended winglets arrived in Auckland yesterday. ANZ estimated that it will save more than 6 million liters of fuel and 16,000 tonnes of carbon emissions annually with installation of winglets on its five 767s. It also is fitting each with CTT Systems' zonal dryers, which will remove about 200 kg. of water trapped in the insulation between the aircraft's outer skin and cabin lining. It estimated the dryers will save an additional 320,000 liters of fuel and 800 tonnes of CO2.
Virgin Blue denied Australian media reports that it is planning a A$400 million ($311.3 million) capital increase. It has not changed its guidance that it will have "difficulty breaking even" in the 2008-09 fiscal year ended June 30.
Brazil's Civil Aviation Council last week approved a draft law increasing the maximum amount of foreign ownership in Brazilian airlines to 49% from 20%, Dow Jones reported. The proposal will be sent to the National Congress.
Virgin Atlantic Airways CEO Steve Ridgway acknowledged yesterday that he was aware of the collusion between executives at VS and British Airways to fix fuel surcharges on long-haul flights in June 2004-April 2006.
British Airways pilots represented by the British Airline Pilots Assn. ratified the £26 million ($42.1 million) concession package proposed last month, the union announced yesterday.
Sukhoi Civil Aircraft suffered a $114.7 million net loss in 2008, reversed from a $3.6 million profit in 2007, the manufacturer announced last week. Revenue rose 9.5-fold to $6 million and operating result swung to a $44.8 million loss from a $2.7 million profit the previous year. It cited a 75% reduction in grants from the Russian government, the weakening of the ruble and rising interest payments for the result.
Boeing announced that Alaska Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways, TUIfly and Virgin Blue have joined the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Users Group, which already comprised Air France, Air New Zealand, ANA, Cargolux, Gulf Air, Japan Airlines, KLM, SAS Group and Virgin Atlantic Airways as well as Boeing and Honeywell subsidiary UOP ( ATWOnline, Sept. 26, 2008).
US airlines continued to suffer losses despite a 22% fall in the industry's cost index, the Air Transport Assn. revealed. "The combination of rising nonfuel costs and a significant deterioration in passenger revenue in the first quarter proved too great to offset the year-over-year plunge in fuel prices," ATA Chief Economist John Heimlich said.
Largely overruling last-minute objections by the US Dept. of Justice, the Dept. of Transportation on Friday gave final approval for antitrust immunity to Continental Airlines for its participation in Star Alliance and also granted ATI to the carrier's entry into Atlantic Plus-Plus, the transatlantic joint venture with Air Canada, Lufthansa and United Airlines.
ST Aerospace signed a $32.5 million component support program with Icelandic operator Primera Air covering landing gear MRO over five years and an eight-year component Maintenance-By-the-Hour program that includes parts exchange, MRO, component engineering services and logistics. Contracts cover the airline's six 737NGs plus six additional aircraft set to join the fleet in the near future.
Cabot Aviation, on behalf of TCS Investment Holding, arranged the purchase of two V2500-powered A320-200s from Cyprus Airways; both aircraft were leased back to Cyprus Airways until the end of October.
ICAO President Roberto Kobeh Gonzalez last week rejected European Commission VP-Transport Antonio Tajani's call for a global "blacklist" banning airlines for safety reasons, Reuters reported. Tajnai outlined plans for a global list that would be similar to the EU's list of banned carriers following the Yemenia Yemen Airways A310-300 crash ( ATWOnline, July 8). "I don't think [a blacklist] is the solution at the global level," Gonzalez said.
The European Commission said Friday that Lufthansa's latest offer regarding its planned takeover of Austrian Airlines Group contains insufficient concessions, making it unlikely the EC can grant antitrust clearance for the deal by the end of this month.
Qantas last week was fined C$155,000 ($133,000) by Canada's Competition Bureau after it pleaded guilty to participating in an air cargo cartel. The guilty plea in a Canadian court is the latest consequence of the airline's admission of price fixing between 2002 and 2006. It was fined A$20 million ($15.5 million) by the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission in 2008 and $61 million by the US Dept. of Justice in 2007 for the same offences. Qantas is the fourth carrier to be convicted in the Canadian investigation.
