Slovak Airlines said yesterday that it will enter bankruptcy following majority owner Austrian Airlines Group's decision to take possession of two of its three aircraft ( ATWOnline, Jan. 31). The remaining aircraft, a 737-200, reportedly is not available to fly. An AAG spokesperson told this website that Austrian is expecting a double-digit-million euro loss on its Slovak Airlines investment.
Lockheed Martin will supply United Airlines with flight planning technologies through Flugwerkzuege Aviation Software. UA will use Flugwerkzuege's Flight-planning System and the OPUS Notices to Airmen system.
Continental Airlines' consolidated RASM lifted 4.1% in December and an estimated 2%-3% in January, the airline said. It flew 7.02 billion consolidated RPMs last month, a 5.9% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 5.5% to 9.2 billion ASMs, boosting load factor 0.4 point to 76.3%. Domestic traffic grew 4.8% to 3.36 billion RPMs, capacity increased 5.1% to 4.3 billion ASMs and load factor fell 0.2 point to 78.1%.
President Bush's new $2.9 trillion budget "provides a framework for reforming the aviation system by tying what users pay to the costs of providing air traffic control and other services," the US Dept. of Transportation confirmed yesterday, pleasing airlines that have advocated a user-based funding mechanism ( ATWOnline, March 9, 2006). The US Airport and Airways Trust Fund is due for reauthorization in the current fiscal year ending Sept. 30.
United Airlines made a $972 million cash payment toward its $3 billion bankruptcy exit facility and refinanced the remainder, it announced yesterday. The new facility consists of a $1.8 billion term loan and a $255 million revolving credit line. Refinancing was "significantly oversubscribed," the airline said, enabling it to reduce finance costs by 175-200 basis points over LIBOR.
Delta Air Lines creditors' committee will pick all 10 board members of the reorganized carrier as part of the deal under which the committee approved DL's plan to emerge from bankruptcy at the expense of US Airways' bid ( ATWOnline, Feb. 1), CEO Gerald Grinstein told The New York Times. At least three members of the existing board will stay on. In addition, the committee will limit management's ownership stake to 4%, a total that Grinstein said would be "spread across. . .1,000 people."
EC VP-Transport Jacques Barrot told the International Aviation Club in Washington yesterday that negotiators for the EU and US "must leave no stone unturned" in their quest to create a transatlantic open aviation area. But he offered no hints as to how the two sides can resolve the impasse that arose when the Dept. of Transportation last December withdrew its proposal to modify how it interprets foreign control of US airlines in the face of strong Congressional opposition.
Austrian Airlines Group will transfer three of its four A330-200s to Star Alliance partner TAP Portugal as part of its long-haul fleet reduction ( ATWOnline, Dec. 12, 2006). Aircraft will leave Austrian by April 29. Separately, OS will launch a thrice-weekly Vienna-Bourgas service on May 15.
American Airlines flew 10.9 billion system RPMs in January, a 1.2% decline from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 1.3% to 14.49 billion ASMs and load factor dipped 0.1 point to 75.2%. Domestic RPMs were down 2.7% to 7 billion against a 2.3% fall in capacity to 9.27 billion ASMs, dropping load factor 0.3 point to 75.5%.
Fraport appointed Matthias Zieschang CFO. He succeeds Stefan Schulte, who was appointed vice chairman effective April 1. Zieschang comes from DB Netz, a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn.
SkyTeam announced that it signed agreements with Air Europa, Copa Airlines and Kenya Airways "indicating the carriers are on track for official Associate Airline status." Signing ceremonies were held in the capital of each airline's home country. The trio will add 25 destinations to SkyTeam's network.
US and EU once again are set to take up the contentious issue of Passenger Name Record data transfer this month ahead of the July 31 expiration of a temporary agreement permitting the US to continue to require EU member airlines to supply PNR data to the US. The interim agreement is similar to one that expired last September, having been ruled illegal by the European Court of Justice in May 2006 ( ATWOnline, Dec.
CAE said Friday that it will establish its first Indian training center by year end in Bangalore, where it plans to train as many as 1,000 pilots annually. The facility will cost $20 million and likely will include an as-yet-unidentified partner. It will serve Indian carriers and the surrounding region, initially offering pilot, cabin crew and maintenance training as well as flight operations support for A320s and 737s. "We realized the strategic importance of opening a training center in India.
Oneworld confirmed yesterday that Royal Jordanian, Japan Airlines and Malev Hungarian Airlines will join the alliance as full members on April 1. Five additional subsidiaries of JAL Group will join the same day as affiliates: JALways, Japan Asia Airways, JAL Express, J-AIR and Japan Transocean Air. At the same time, Aer Lingus will withdraw from the alliance ( ATWOnline, May 31, 2006). Three other airlines are lining up to join as affiliates in 2007: Dragonair, LAN Argentina and LAN Ecuador.
LAN Airlines is providing $17.1 million in financing to VRG Linhas Aereas, the "new" Varig. The loans may be converted into shares of the new airline, LAN said, which would make it a minority owner.
Airline efforts to get business and general aviation to bear a larger share of the cost of the air traffic control system may stall when Congress takes up FAA reauthorization legislation this year, a senior congressional staff member said yesterday.
European Commission's proposal to include non-EU airlines in its Emissions Trading Scheme is "unlawful and unworkable," US State Dept. Deputy Assistant Secretary for Transportation Affairs John Byerly said at Thursday's American Bar Assn. forum in Washington.
Esterline Corp. reached agreement yesterday to acquire Canada's CMC Electronics for approximately $335 million. The Bellevue, Wash.-based company said the all-cash transaction "significantly expands the scale" of its existing avionics and controls business. Privately held CMC recently was selected by Embraer to provide an electronic flight bag for the Brazilian manufacturer's line of regional jets. In addition to EFBs it supplies a range of electronics products for aviation including antenna systems, head-up displays, enhanced vision systems and flight management systems.
American Airlines Maintenance Services and the Transport Workers Union, which represents AA's 27,000 maintenance workers, said yesterday that $175 million in customer revenue in 2007 is an attainable goal following the generation of $95 million worth of third-party maintenance in 2006.
Gulf Air named former Crossair and Swiss International Air Lines CEO Andre Dose, 49, as its new CEO. He will take office on April 1. Omani Minister of Transport and Communication Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdullah Al Harthy took over as chairman on Jan. 1.
The new UK air passenger duty took effect yesterday ( ATWOnline, Dec. 7, 2006) and some airlines and tour operators are considering challenging the measure in court. In addition, some politicians are questioning the legality of the tax increase because it had not been approved by the parliament. "The legal opinion we've received says there is no legal basis to collect the increase in tax," Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said.
THE FINAL DAYS OF 2006 SHOULD HAVE BEEN A time of quiet celebration and reflection for the employees and management of Midwest Airlines and its Skyway regional affiliate. After five years of red ink culminating in a loss of $64.9 million in 2005, the company at last appeared to be on the road to recovery, posting breakeven earnings of $1.7 million for the third quarter ended Sept. 30, much improved over a deficit of $26.9 million in third quarter of 2005.
Airline of the Year ANA As the new millennium dawned, the outlook for ANA was not promising. First came the impact of 9/11, followed shortly thereafter by the announcement that major domestic rival Japan Air System would be acquired by the country's leading international airline, Japan Airlines. The latter event meant that ANA would lose its position as the country's dominant domestic carrier, while JAL would gain the domestic network strength it had always lacked to complement one of the world's largest international networks.
Royal Jordanian As the new millennium was approaching, the government of the Kingdom of Jordan undertook a deep analysis of its national carrier, which had failed to produce profits for many years and had amassed a debt of nearly $700 million. The result was unequivocal, and a first in a region where governments are investing vast amounts of money in their carriers to fly the flag: Privatization.
