Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies will provide Silver Air of Djibouti with MRO service for its 737-200s under a total care agreement announced last week.
SkyEurope Airlines added Vienna-based ASP as an investor. The firm purchased 7.24% of the LCC on the bourse for approximately €7 million ($10.9 million). ASP reportedly was attracted by the fact that SkyEurope has reduced its costs 17.7% over the past six months. However, it still faces a first-half loss of around €28.5 million.
IATA and US Air Transport Assn. strongly objected to a US Dept. of Homeland Security proposed rule that would establish an "exit" program at US airports requiring airlines to fund and manage the collection of fingerprints from non-US citizens departing the country.
TUI Travel signed an agreement with AerCap Holdings and Deucalion Aviation Funds for the sale and leaseback of 19 owned aircraft within the TUI Travel fleet for $526 million. Aircraft will be acquired through a 50/50 joint venture between AerCap and Deucalion and will be managed by AerCap, which will receive servicing fees. TUI Travel will continue to operate the 11 737-800s, six 757-200s and two 767-300ERs on 1-7-year operating leases with TUIfly, Thomsonfly, TUIfly Nordic and Jet4You.
Italy's civil aviation authority called a meeting with Alitalia Chairman Aristide Police for Wednesday morning to discuss the flag carrier's financial situation. In addition to an update, ENAC said it wants to be briefed on how AZ plans to manage the summer traffic increase. Separately, the Italian Senate last week officially approved the €300 million bridge loan to AZ ( ATWOnline, June 13).
Continental Airlines announced a public offering of 11 million shares of class B common stock priced at $14.80 per share. It granted underwriter UBS Investment Bank a 30-day option to purchase an additional 1.65 million shares to cover any overallotments. Issuance and delivery of the shares is scheduled for June 25.
TAM flew 2.11 billion domestic RPMs in May, up 16% year-over-year, against a 10.2% increase in ASMs to 2.89 billion. Load factor rose 3.7 points to 73.1%. International traffic climbed 34% to 1.25 billion RPMs while capacity rose 23.5% to 1.68 billion ASMs. Load factor was up 5.8 points to 74.5%.
US Air Transport Assn. Executive VP and COO John Meenan said that while the Lieberman-Warner carbon dioxide cap-and-trade bill was withdrawn in the US Senate, the proposal likely was a "pattern piece. . .setting the stage for what eventually will be passed in Congress."
Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative Executive Director Richard Altman said yesterday that the coalition is on target to achieve US FAA and American Society for Testing and Materials approval for 50% Syngas blends, including biomass, by year end. By 2010, he said, it will achieve approval for 100%. "We have very definitive goals and very definitive timeframes," he said at yesterday's Eco-Aviation conference presented by Air Transport World and Leeham Co. in Washington. "But, as an industry, we've got to change the current model for certification."
SAS Group yesterday abandoned its effort to sell Spanair, saying that as a result of the "challenging market conditions in the Spanish aviation market coupled with record oil prices and pressure in the financial sector," it has been unable to "reach its targeted terms and conditions on the divestment." CEO Mats Jansson said Spanair is "a company with a competitive cost position" and that SAS is committed to its future.
Airline industry representatives sharply criticized environmental initiatives targeting commercial aviation around the globe, asserting that fuel prices provide significant incentive to reduce carbon dioxide emissions while "taxes" penalize carriers and are counterproductive.
US Environmental Protection Agency is "days away" from issuing a broad document that will detail "ways in which regulation of greenhouse gas emissions" could apply under the Clean Air Act, potentially leading to establishment of carbon dioxide emissions regulations for a broad range of industries including commercial aviation, a top EPA official said yesterday.
Finnair reached a tentative agreement with pilots that will run through November. It lifts an overtime ban, provides for a 3.9% pay raise and offers the airline "structural changes which improve efficiency." Negotiations on a longer-team deal start this fall.
Airlines and a number of US lawmakers heavily criticized the US Dept. of Transportation's proposed rule that would initiate slot auctions at New York JFK and Newark and vowed to fight the effort. DOT, in an effort to reduce flight delays and congestion in the New York market, has proposed giving all airlines operating at JFK and EWR up to 20 slots a day for 10 years, with 10%-20% of slots above the baseline level auctioned off ( ATWOnline, May 19)
Sabre Airline Solutions reached agreement with Emirates to implement its SlotManager solution featuring slot management and tracking technology for flight scheduling.
Japan Airlines said the JAL Flight Crew Union (1,100 members), JAL Japan Pilots Union (600) and Japan Air Commuter union (113) staged a strike yesterday, forcing cancellation of 86 flights (all related to the JAC walkout). JAL added that the pilots' action was "for a variety of reasons, including the summer bonus." It said JPU and JAC may continue the strike today, which would affect more flights.
British Airways flew 9.24 billion RPKs in May, down 0.7% year-over-year, against a 1.3% increase in capacity to 12.87 billion ASKs. Load factor dropped 1.5 points to 71.8%.
European Commission initiated a formal investigation into whether funding of Frankfurt Hahn Airport by two regional authorities and publicly owned company Fraport, its airport charges and its contracts with Ryanair break EU state aid rules. The Commission said its investigation follows complaints "from a competing airline and from an association of airlines" and noted that after an initial assessment of evidence it concluded that Flughafen Frankfurt Hahn may have behaved like a private market investor.
US airline executives yesterday stressed the debilitating nature of rising fuel prices and said further capacity reductions may be warranted, while Delta Air Lines announced that it is raising its second-half year-over-year domestic mainline capacity reduction from a previously announced 10% to 13%.
ARINC and Flybe selected IER to supply more than 100 IER 918 self-service check-in kiosks for installation at 22 airports in the UK and Europe. IER 918s feature passport and barcode readers and general purpose printers to enhance pre-departure services.
US FAA yesterday announced that Bulgaria has been raised to a Category 1 safety rating from the Category 2 imposed in September 2003. It said Bulgaria was in compliance with ICAO standards in a January reassessment.
Sun Country Airlines launched a cashless cabin project yesterday and now will accept only Visa and MasterCard credit and debit cards for onboard purchases.
TUI acquired the remaining stake of Moroccan LCC Jet4you. It owned 40% of the Casablanca-based airline and purchased the remaining shares last week, Agence France Presse reported. Jet4you operates five 737 Classics and plans to double its fleet by 2013. It reported €51 million ($78.7 million) in revenue last year.
