Unite, which represents approximately 25,000 workers at British Airways and Iberia combined, said it has scheduled an "urgent" meeting with Spanish counterpart CC.OO. in order "to ensure workers' interests are protected as these companies inevitably seek greater efficiencies and cost savings, as well as the opening up of markets in the wake a successful merger." BA and IB announced their entrance into merger negotiations last week ( ATWOnline, July 30). Overall, Unite said it was "cautious" about the potential combination.
Airbus announced the sale of its Laupheim plant to Diehl and Thales effective Oct. 1. The manufacturer had selected the partnership as its preferred bidder two months ago ( ATWOnline, June 3). Financial terms of the sale were not disclosed. The Laupheim facility employs 1,100 and produces cabin linings, crew compartments and air ducts for the A320 family, A330/A340 family and the A380. It generates €240 million ($374.4 million) in annual revenue.
Lufthansa and the ver.di union, which conducted strike actions throughout Germany last week, reached a deal on a pay raise for some 34,000 ground employees.
Gategroup, parent company of Gate Gourmet and 10 other subsidiaries, promoted President Guy Dubois to CEO effective Sept. 1. He succeeds David Siegel, who will remain chairman.
Aeroservice Aviation Center of Miami said Sim Industries sold it a 737-800 FAA and JAA Level D FFS. Slated for operation in the fourth quarter, the simulator will be the first from SI installed in the US.
B/E Aerospace's acquisition of Honeywell Aerospace's Consumable Solutions unit is intended to expand B/E's most profitable business dramatically and help the firm's continuing revenue growth while allowing Honeywell to concentrate on advanced aircraft technologies.
SOME CALL IT "MERCHANDISING," others "retailing." Still others call it "unbundling" or "attribute selling" or "a la carte pricing" or "product differentiation." The unimpressed call it "having to pay for things that used to be included in the price of an airline ticket."
FOR THE PAST TWO YEARS, HEICO Corp. has been recognized in Forbes as one of the 200 best small companies. It also was named among the magazine's 200 "hotshot stocks." It has two main divisions: HEICO Aerospace Holdings (aka Flight Support) and Electronics Technologies. Beneath HEICO Aerospace are three smaller divisions: HEICO Parts Group, HEICO Component Repair and HEICO Distribution.
AIR TAHITI DESCRIBES ITSELF AS "AN ENGINE FOR THE economic and social development" of Tahiti and her islands, and indeed it is. It is the closest thing to a local bus service that can be achieved to serve the 4,000 sq. km. of land made up of 118 far-flung islands and atolls that speckle the 4 million sq. km. of ocean that constitute French Polynesia, as Tahiti officially is known. Covering virtually the same area as Europe, French Polynesia boasts a population of slightly less than 300,000.
Kayak.com stopped displaying American Airlines' fares in search results after the two companies clashed over how Kayak and its subsidiary, SideStep.com, refer consumers to sites for booking American flights. American wanted Kayak to direct consumers only to its own site for booking its flights. Kayak, however, shows results from Priceline, Expedia, Travelocity and other third-party sites, and it refused to suppress those options for American flights.
TO KEEP PLANES ALOFT in a challenging market, some carriers have eliminated flights, reduced staff or tacked new fees onto customers' tickets. Now several are looking at their vendor contracts too. Creatively designed, or thoughtfully restructured, these supplier agreements have become effective sources of additional liquidity, yielding quick cash or debt relief. Often, they can sustain financial benefits over time.
On July 24, 1988, a 747 carrying 260 passengers and 15 crewmembers was speeding toward takeoff at Indira Gandhi International when a signal light warned of an engine fire. The crew decided to abort the takeoff and the aircraft overran the runway and plowed through 1,000 yards of mud before it could stop. Fortunately, everyone onboard survived, but the impact caused the main gear to collapse and tore up the underbelly. Nearly 70% of the aircraft required repair or replacement.
MWW Group Executive VP and Global Corporate Communications Practice Head Matthew Rose recently spoke with Airline Procurement about MWW's deal with JetBlue Airways to provide contingency planning and training services, incident response support and issues management counsel. (Edited for clarity and length.) AP: Can you please describe MWW's background and expertise, particularly as it relates to the aviation industry?
WHILE FEW FORESAW THE LATEST economic shock to shake commercial aviation "sustained per-barrel crude oil prices well over $130" one of the consequences of the "fuel crisis" has been all too predictable: US airlines, particularly the big legacy carriers, are taking the hardest hit. The largest and most profitable airlines in Europe, Asia and other parts of the world generally navigate through crises with their bottom lines and service levels intact even if earnings become temporarily modest, but US carriers drop to the depths of economic despair during periods of turmoil.
THE FIRST CONFERENCE to be held in the US devoted exclusively to airlines and the environment attracted a diverse audience committed to understanding and reducing the air transport industry's impact on the environment, from greenhouse gas emissions to deicing fluid. Held June 18-20 in Washington, Eco-Aviation was sponsored by ATW and Leeham Company.
HERB KELLEHER has never met Wang Zhenghua, and the legendary co-founder and former chairman and CEO of Southwest Airlines might be surprised to know that he inspired Wang to launch a low-fare airline in China that is built upon the same uncomplicated business model as SWA. "Kelleher is my idol as I learned a lot from him on how to operate a low-cost carrier, so Spring Airlines can only be the student of Southwest Airlines to some degree," the chairman of the Shanghai-based new entrant tells ATW here.
THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE when you board a Virgin America A320 is the subdued mood lighting. There are 12 different shades that can be changed according to, well, the mood. There are plush leather seats in the two-class cabin and, following in the tradition of an earlier trendsetting transcontinental startup, free live television at every seat. VX also offers more than a dozen pay-per-view movies and streaming audio and claims to have more than 3,000 MP3s onboard, plus AC power for laptops.
DEAN DUVALL IS A NUMBERS GUY who wants to keep open multiple lines of communication. He likes to come to the negotiating table and say, "Here's what we see happening in the marketplace." The managing director of Supply Chain Management for Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air is a true believer in informed perspective, outlook predicated on fine-grain documentation. If knowledge is indeed power, then the two-dozen souls who work in the Alaska/Horizon procurement shop are armed to the teeth.
Ryanair said it will cancel all bookings made through screen-scraping Web sites. "We believe this is a quicker and more effective way of discouraging this unlawful activity and we hope that by getting rid of screen-scrapers we will speed up passenger processing times on Ryanair.com, as well as ensuring that Ryanair passengers are not paying unnecessary handling charges or higher fares to screen-scrapers," the carrier said.
Prompted by a doubling of fuel prices, a slowing economy and decreasing fares, SAS Group sent a letter to suppliers in late May requesting a 10% price reduction for goods and services. The company plans to strengthen relations with suppliers that help out with price cuts. The initiative is part of SAS's Strategy 2011, which will see a cutback in the number of suppliers.
Delta Air Lines customers no longer have to wait in long and time-consuming security lines at airports in New York and Los Angeles this summer as a national program using innovative security identification enables passengers to speed through checkpoints in a matter of minutes.
HE ASSUMPTION THAT YOU ARE going to get really intense, severe, cutthroat competition just seems to be unrealistic when you are talking about a small number of carriers who meet in one market after another. I just do not see any reason to believe that the airline industry cannot prosper and attract capital--Alfred Kahn, "father" of US airline deregulation, testifying before Congress in 1977.
TAM's Paraguayan subsidiary, formerly known as TAM Mercosur and now called TAM Airlines, said yesterday that it will cut 120 employees and transfer 133 to TAM as part of an "administrative restructuring."
Avio-Diepen, Interturbine Logistik and Satair entered a joint venture to form Blue Sky Alliance for aftermarket spares including consumables, expendables and standard hardware materials to be handled through a single point of contact. The trio endorsed a potential partnership with Airbus Spares Support & Services. TIMCO Aviation Services said Icelandair selected it to perform C checks on 757s. First check took place last month at TIMCO's Macon facility.
