Macquarie Airports yesterday announced the sale of its 44.7% stake in Aeroporti di Roma to the Gemina investment firm for €1.24 billion ($1.66 billion), nearly triple the €480 million it paid for the share in March 2003. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval. "We have been actively seeking to resolve the situation at AdR for some time.
Dutch government's proposed €25 tax on tickets for passengers departing the Netherlands drew fire from the Assn. of European Airlines. The levy is designed to bring in €350 million per year in addition to "reducing the impact of aviation on climate change," AEA said. However, said Secretary General Ulrich Schulte-Strathaus, "If the entire Dutch aviation sector were to close down, the impact on global CO2 emissions would be so small you could hardly measure it. But that is not what will happen.
US Dept. of Transportation issued a ruling largely in favor of the 28 airlines (seven domestic and 21 foreign) who complained in February about a variety of security, rental and terminal fees imposed by Los Angeles World Airports ( ATWOnline, April 16).
News from Travel Technology Update: "Content is king." Or is it? The driver of the last two rounds of airline-GDS negotiations was the perceived need for subscribers, particularly travel management companies, to have access to full airline content. But the No.
Austrian Airlines flew 1.59 billion RPKs in May, down 16.2% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 19.7% to 2.2 billion ASKs and load factor rose 3.1 points to 72.4%. Aeroflot flew 1.98 billion RPKs in May, up 12.7% from the year-ago month. Load factor was 67.5%. Copa Airlines flew 373.1 million RPMs in May, up 20.6% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 18.3% to 495.1 million ASMs, lifting load factor 1.4 points to 75.4%.
Worldspan signed Saudi Arabian Airlines to a multiyear technology services agreement under which the GDS will help Saudi Arabian upgrade its ticketing process to include global e-ticket processing and interlining. The carrier will adopt Worldspan ETDBase, Worldspan Interchange and other solutions.
European Commission and US FAA unveiled a transatlantic emission-reduction initiative called AIRE (Atlantic Interoperability Initiative to Reduce Emissions), which EC VP-Transport Jacques Barrot said will "speed up the application of technologies and procedures having a direct impact on greenhouse gas emissions." AIRE will be based on "gate-to-gate" testing and experiments on such initiatives as continuous descent approaches, the EC said. Airbus, Boeing, Air France KLM, SAS Group, Delta Air Lines and FedEx are among those companies involved in the initiative.
US Airways Group flew 5.57 billion RPMs in May, up 0.1% from the year-ago month on a 1.6% fall in domestic and a 15.4% increase in transatlantic traffic. Consolidated capacity dropped 1.8% to 6.83 billion ASMs and load factor was up 1.6 points to 81.5%. Ryanair transported 4.1 million passengers in May, up 17% from the year-ago month. Load factor fell 2 points to 80%.
Italian government appointed Credit Suisse to carry out an independent evaluation of the privatization bids for Alitalia. The government put its 49.9% stake up for sale in December and short-listed three bidders: Air One owner AP Holding, the Aeroflot/Unicredito Italiano combination ( ATWOnline, June 7) and a consortium led by TPG. The latter pulled out last month ( ATWOnline, May 31). Deadline for binding offers is July 2.
European Air Express, a German regional based in Monchengladbach, said it will shut down Sept. 30 due to tough competition from LCCs. EAE was founded in 1999. It operates five ATR 42-300s and transported 98,000 passengers last year on 144 weekly flights to seven destinations.
Terra Firma and AWAS completed their acquisition of Pegasus Aviation Finance of San Francisco, which was announced last month ( ATWOnline, May 14). The combination will create the world's third-largest aircraft lessor, AWAS said. The new company owns 223 aircraft valued at more than $5.5 billion and has an additional 101 aircraft under management and on lease to more than 120 customers. It has $2.2 billion worth of orders in place with Airbus and Boeing.
Delta Air Lines and Gol announced an interline agreement effective July 1 under which DL passengers will be able to connect through Rio de Janeiro or Sao Paulo to each of the LCC's 58 Brazilian destinations as well as eight in South America.
EasyJet announced the addition of flights to Austria and Romania, bringing its network to 22 countries. Daily London Luton-Vienna service will begin Oct. 29 and daily Milan Malpensa-Bucharest Baneasa flights will launch sometime in September. The LCC transported 3.3 million passengers in May, up 13.8% from the year-ago month. Load factor slipped 0.3 point to 83.6%.
Airbus entered the fray over aviation's environmental impact, saying yesterday that it is targeting a 50% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions and an 80% lowering of nitrogen oxide production in new aircraft by 2020 compared to those manufactured in 2000. President and CEO Louis Gallois called for an environmental summit of CEOs representing engine and airframe manufacturers. "Technology and leadership is key," he said.
Shin Corp. of Thailand said this week that it divested its remaining stake in Thai AirAsia in order to focus on its telecom business, according to press reports from Bangkok. Shin held 50% of the airline until last year, when it set up a company called Asia Aviation to control the stake following the purchase of Shin by Singapore's Temasek Holdings. Shin held 49% of that company but sold off the remaining shares to airline management for THB472 million ($14.4 million).
Air Berlin announced executive changes at its dba subsidiary. Former Lufthansa, Hapag-Lloyd and TUI executive Wolfgang Kurth will head the technology and finance departments and former Etihad Airways VP-Operations Helmut Weixler will lead flight operations. MDs Martin Gauss (operative personnel and commercial department) and Peter Wojahn (technology, finance and personnel) will leave the company.
Cathay Pacific Airways and Dragonair flew a combined 6.35 billion RPKs in May, up 1.1% from the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 1% to 8.46 billion ASKs and load factor rose 0.1 point to 75.1%. Hawaiian Airlines flew 672.7 million RPMs in May, up 19.6% from the year-ago month, on a 19.8% lift in capacity to 776.6 million ASMs. Load factor dipped 0.2 point to 86.6%.
CAE signed contracts to design and manufacture three CAE 7000 Series full flight simulators and training devices valued at C$48 million ($44.9 million), bringing first-quarter simulator sales to 13. CAE will build a 7000 Series 747-8 Freighter FFS and a suite of Simfinity747 ground school training devices for Cargolux International Airlines, launch customer for the 747-8F. Emirates ordered a 777-300ER FFS. Hainan Airlines will receive an ERJ-145 FFS along with a suite of Simfinity training devices.
SITA added Global Systems of UAE to its international network of Indirect Channel partners that provide the company's IT solutions to airports that handle 5 million passengers or fewer per year. Global Systems will offer SITA solutions to airports in Morocco, Algeria and Libya with plans to extend further into Africa in a later phase.
Indian Airlines yesterday said it had resolved the issues with the Air Corporation Employees Union representing ground operations and clerical staff that led to a three-day strike this week and that operations are scheduled to return to normal today. The carrier said the issues pertained to career progression and payment of a decade's worth of arrears. The Indian government's Press Information Bureau said the arrears total INR2.67 billion ($65.1 million) and will be paid out over 18 months.
Ukraine International Airlines said IATA extended its IOSA registration for another two years until June 17, 2009. In 2005, UIA became the first CIS carrier to complete IOSA certification.
Emirates said it will make a "massive. . .multimillion-dollar" investment in upgrading cabins on its 777 long-haul fleet, including an enhanced version of its first class private suites, lie-flat massage seats in business class, economy class seats with extra legroom and "the industry's largest personal TV screens in all classes."
AviIT and Phantom Media announced the formal launch of their 50/50 joint venture bluebox Avionics to develop inflight entertainment systems for the airline industry. Under the JV, "AviIT is responsible for all software and infrastructure design and development whilst Phantom Media provides its expertise in content provision." The companies claim their bluebox system "could remove up to 1.5 tonnes of weight from a typical widebody aircraft compared to a conventional AVOD system."
Kingfisher Airlines Chairman and CEO Vijay Mallya said that "the days of discounting and cut-price ticketing are over" in India. "Airfares are going to reflect the actual costs of operation. All of them," he told the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation's annual Aviation & Tourism Investor Summit in Mumbai. He signaled that fares soon may be rising at LCC Air Deccan, in which Kingfisher parent United Breweries Group recently acquired 26% ( ATWOnline, June 4).
