Miascor Catering, a joint venture in the Philippines between Gate Gourmet, Citadel Holding and Malaysia Airlines, recently broke ground for a new catering facility at Diosdado Macapagal International, also known as Clark International. First phase is to feature a 1,000-sq.-m. building designed for 1,200 meals daily, allowing for expansion to 5,000 meals per day. Scheduled to open in June 2008, the new kitchen will occupy 3,000 sq. m. of land.
Copa Airlines secured financing from Private Export Funding Corp. for the purchase of two 737-800s, for which preliminary commitments for comprehensive long-term US Export-Import Bank guarantees have been obtained, the carrier said. Lead arranger was J.P. Morgan Securities. Aircraft are worth $146 million at list prices and are scheduled for delivery in May and November 2008.
Five US states, the District of Columbia and the City of New York filed a formal petition with the US Environmental Protection Agency yesterday calling for new rules to regulate emissions produced by commercial aircraft, a sign that US airlines could be thrust into the center of environmental politics much like their European counterparts.
Goodrich agreed to make its Aerostructures facility in Foley, Ala., part of Boeing's Network Service Center program. Contract calls for shop repair and overhaul of thrust reversers on 737s and 777s.
Lufthansa Flight Training will extend its Vienna simulator center with the addition of a Q400 simulator from CAE. Austrian Airlines subsidiary Tyrolean Airways will be one of the principal users of the new simulator, which should go into operation by next summer. Tyrolean operates 10 Q400s.
Emirates said it raised $297 million to finance the acquisition of two 777s through a lease arranged by Doric Asset Finance & Verwaltungs. Transactions covering a 777-200LR delivered last month and a -300ER scheduled to arrive this month involve 10-year operating leases with extension options. Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale and Dr. Peters Group also were involved in the arrangement.
Alitalia board is scheduled to meet today to review offers for the 49.9% stake that the government wants to sell. The embattled carrier last week delayed the deadline for nonbinding offers by one week to today and committed to "immediately" announcing the number of proposals received and the identities of the bidders ( ATWOnline, Nov. 3). Air One, Air France KLM and Lufthansa often are named as candidates, though the latter two had not confirmed publicly their intent to submit an offer as of yesterday.
Thales will provide avionics and IFE systems for AirAsia X's forthcoming fleet of 15 new A330-300s. Systems include the FMS, T2CAS Terrain and Traffic Collision Avoidance System and Mode S. Contract covers 15 years of after-sales repair and maintenance support through Thales Repair by-the-hour and Turn Key Maintenance packages.
Indian government will sell off up to 15% of Air India in the second half of next year, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said this week, according to widespread press reports from New Delhi. Patel said the merged AI "certainly needs an infusion of equity to fund current acquisition needs and future growth. . .Its equity structure is very, very small." The company currently has an equity base of INR1.45 billion ($36.8 million), according to reports.
US National Transportation Safety Board recommended that FAA require installation of fire suppression systems in all cargo aircraft operating under Part 121 following its investigation into a fire that destroyed a UPS DC-8 in February 2006 in Philadelphia. Fire started "from an unknown source within one of the containers in the main cargo compartment," NTSB said, concluding "that the threat from cargo fires could be mitigated by the installation of fire suppression systems."
Delta Air Lines flew 9.36 billion system RPMs in November, up 5% from the year-ago month, against a 5.6% increase in capacity to 12.15 billion ASMs. Load factor fell 0.4 point to 77.1%. DL said unit revenue "increased modestly" year-over-year, with "strong improvements" in international operations. Northwest Airlines flew 6.13 billion consolidated RPMs in November, down 0.1% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 1.1% to 7.43 billion ASMs and load factor rose 0.7 point to 82.4%.
American Airlines flew 11.15 billion system RPMs in November, a 4.1% increase from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 2.2% to 13.72 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 1.5 points to 81.2%. American Eagle flew 723.6 million RPMs, down 0.9%, against a 1% increase in ASMs to 1 billion. Load factor fell 1.4 points to 72.1%. United Airlines flew 9.01 billion system RPMs in November, down 1.4% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 1.3% to 11.31 billion ASMs and load factor dipped 0.1 point to 79.6%.
US airlines yesterday warned of rising fuel costs and a slowing US economy, with Continental Airlines and Southwest Airlines reducing planned 2008 capacity growth and Delta Air Lines projecting that it could post an operating loss in the fourth quarter.
Turkish Ministry of Transport will impose stricter controls on civil aviation in response to the Atlasjet MD-83 crash that killed all 57 onboard last Friday ( ATWOnline, Dec. 4). The ministry will perform checks of all aircraft operated by private airlines in the country, as well as checks of training standards, Turkish media reported. In addition, authorities intend to reduce flights to destinations on which carriers suffer from low load factors, especially on routes to smaller cities in the provinces.
Lufthansa Technik Shenzhen reached a 10-year Total Component Support agreement with Shenzhen Airlines covering the carrier's growing A320 fleet with a projected 500 line replaceable units provided locally. Contract eventually will cover up to 70 A320s.
Lufthansa Systems said it successfully migrated BMED to its Passenger Management System following the carrier's acquisition by bmi, which also uses the system that handles processes such as reservations, ticketing and inventory.
The Ministers of Transport of the EU's 27 member states reached agreement Friday on the content and text of the revision of the so-called "third aviation package." The European Commission published a proposal in July 2006 for the reform of the third package, aimed at consolidating and updating the three existing regulations (dating from 1992) that are the foundation of the liberalization of air services in the EU.
South African Civil Aviation Authority announced the resignation of CEO Zakes Myeza. It said he resigned following a ruling by Minister of Transport Jeff Radebe that the CEO and Commissioner for Civil Aviation positions be merged. SACAA board "reluctantly accepted" the resignation, it said, adding that the move was unrelated to the current crisis involving Nationwide Airlines ( ATWOnline, Dec.
Southwest Airlines yesterday officially opened an 80,000-sq.-ft. maintenance hangar at Dallas Love Field. Construction on the $18.5 million facility, which can accommodate three winglet-equipped 737-700s, began in November 2006. SWA's Dallas maintenance base now comprises five hangars.
Pinnacle Airlines pilots, represented by the Air Line Pilots Assn., voted to authorize a strike if negotiations with management do not result in an agreement and the US National Mediation Board releases the parties to economic self-help. More than 99% of the 1,200-plus pilots supported the strike, ALPA said. Negotiations began in February 2005 and the sides entered mediation in September 2006.
Jordanian government launched an IPO of 71% of Royal Jordanian's issued share capital, the Arab Air Carriers Organization said. In October, RJ President and CEO Samer Majali confirmed to this website that privatization of the carrier would proceed as scheduled this month ( ATWOnline, Oct. 25). Offer price is set at JOD2.75-JOD3.40 ($3.86-$4.77) per share.
International Brotherhood of Teamsters petitioned the US National Mediation Board seeking a vote to represent mechanics at United Airlines, who currently are represented by the American Mechanics Fraternal Assn. IBT said it expected a vote in six weeks.
News from Travel Technology Update: Amadeus this week will unveil the first components of a new next-generation distribution technology platform for the hotel industry. As a first step, Amadeus has completed the migration of the 75,000 hotel properties that participate in its GDS from a system based on TPF (transaction processing facility) to a Linux platform, Jeroôme Destors, deputy managing director of Amadeus' Hospitality Business Group, said. All hotel GDS operations are now running on the open-systems platform.
