Varig was conspicuously absent from last weekend's Star Alliance meeting and ceremony in Istanbul, prompting speculation about whether or not the struggling Brazilian carrier remains a viable component of Star.
Allegiant Travel Co., parent of Allegiant Air, raised $90 million in gross proceeds late last week through an IPO of 5 million shares of common stock priced at $18 per share. Allegiant granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 750,000 shares of common stock to cover any overallotments. The stock will trade on the Nasdaq under the symbol ALGT. Allegiant Air has operated primarily in leisure markets, linking smaller cities with major tourist destinations such as Las Vegas, Orlando and Tampa/St.
CAAC and Japan Airlines reached agreement to launch cooperative aviation safety study projects in conjunction with the Civil Aviation Safety Institute of China, saying their goal is to contribute "to the development of global flight safety."
Star Alliance Corporate Plus will bring in €2.2 billion ($2.9 billion) in sales in 2006, alliance officials said Saturday in Istanbul. The program, which targets corporate travel buyers by offering the entire Star network through an individual carrier's sales team, now boasts more than 80 clients and is enjoying 20% year-over-year revenue growth.
Travelport reached a definitive agreement last week to acquire Worldspan for $1.4 billion, a merger the two companies said will make their GDS offerings more "cost effective and efficient." Travelport CEO Jeff Clarke said the takeover "will ensure that we are better positioned to meet the evolving needs of our customers, the travel suppliers, travel agencies and end consumers." In a statement, Travelport said easy-to-use airline websites are growing in usage and putting pressure on GDS providers. "Competition in the travel distribution industry has increased," the company said.
Brazilian police on Friday officially charged two ExelAire Legacy 600 pilots with endangering aircraft safety in the Sept. 29 midair collision with a Gol 737-800, a serious criminal charge that could land the US citizens in a Brazilian prison for up to 12 years if they are convicted.
US National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Mark Rosenker said airlines should voluntarily begin incorporating a 15% safety factor when calculating stopping distances on icy or wet runways. He added that thrust reversers should not be counted on by pilots to bring planes to a safe stop in poor conditions. US FAA is likely to implement an official rule change regarding calculation of stopping distances but has not done so yet.
US Congress yesterday passed legislation to create a federal Interagency Aerospace Revitalization Task Force charged with reversing the US's decline in aviation manufacturing workers. According to the Aerospace Industries Assn., which lobbied for the bill's passage, there is an "ominous shortage [of] younger, technically skilled professionals in the aerospace industry." Average age of aerospace manufacturing workers in the US now exceeds 50 and 27% of the workforce will become eligible for retirement in 2008, AIA said.
Swiss International Air Lines reached an agreement with unions representing its ground staff that provides a 1.1% salary increase, an additional two vacation days each year and a one-time payment of CHF1,200 ($1,005) to be added to workers' December salaries.
Kenya Airways said it will lease three E-170s from GE Commercial Aviation Services to help expand its domestic and regional routes. The first two will be delivered in May and June 2007 and the third in June 2008, replacing Saab 340B turboprops. By the end of this month, Kenya Airways also will have taken delivery of three 737-800s it is leasing from Singapore Aircraft Leasing Enterprise.
ANA Aviation Services was named UK cargo sales agent for Florida West International Airways. ANA partner NAS Network Airline Services will represent FWIA as its cargo sales agent in France.
The UK yesterday announced that taxes on airline passenger tickets will double to £10 ($19.80) for most flights from Feb. 1, with duties on long-haul business class tickets doubling to £80 per ticket, as part of an effort to reduce carbon emissions.
CAE signed contracts for three full flight simulators: A 777-300ER and an A330/A340 for Jet Airways and a 777-300ER for Air Canada. Both contracts include a suite of Simfinity training devices. The AC contract includes an option to provide a second 777 simulator. CAE valued the orders at list prices, including some buyer-furnished equipment, at C$51 million ($45 million).
Italy's government, as expected, moved yesterday to sell 30.1% of its 49.9% stake in troubled Alitalia, insisting that new investment is the only way to save the carrier. But the government said it would only consider potential buyers that agree to make a full takeover bid and "maintain the national identity of the company and its logo and brand."
Nordam Group is expanding its Singapore Changi MRO facility, which it plans to triple in size to 185,000 sq. ft., "in response to a strong Asian repair market, increased workloads and development of new generation nacelle repairs."
BMED said it is getting a better-than-expected response from passengers for new A320/A321 services from London Heathrow to the West African cities of Dakar, Senegal and Freetown launched in late October. "We do research on route development and Senegal and Freetown came up as a good opportunity for our airline," BMED CEO David Richardson told ATWOnline this week at the British Embassy in Washington. He said Heathrow-West Africa bookings for December and January are "more than we thought.
Bowing to domestic political pressure exacerbated by the Democrats' rise to power in last month's midterm elections, the US Dept. of Transportation yesterday abandoned its 13-month effort to ease restrictions on foreign control of domestic airlines, delivering a setback to a potential open skies agreement with the EU.
Mexico's airline industry is facing a significant overcapacity situation following the emergence of several new entrants, Aeromexico CEO Andres Conesa said last week at the ALTA Latin American Airline Leaders Forum. According to Conesa, Mexico currently has an average of eight airlines competing on city-pairs of more than 1 million annual passengers compared to four in the US. Furthermore, the top 10 busiest domestic routes have 1.8 times the number of seats required to meet demand versus 1.2 in the US.
Sabre Airline Solutions signed a $15 million deal with Air China to implement a new flight operations control center, including Sabre's AirOps and Crew Management suites. It also extended its relationship with Aeroflot to include revenue and data management products, hosting services and support.
Air Canada Technical Services entered into an agreement to acquire 80% of Aeromantenimiento SA, the MRO division of Grupo TACA, during the first quarter of 2007 for $44.7 million in cash and the right to acquire an equity stake in ACTS (expected to be less than 7%). Grupo TACA Chairman and President Roberto Kriete will join the ACTS board. "This is a key step in establishing ACTS as a leading MRO organization in the Americas," ACTS President and CEO Chahram Bolouri said. Aeroman employs about 1,000 and is a founding member of the Airbus MRO network.
Pratt & Whitney and Turkish Airlines Technic signed an MOU yesterday to build a "major" aircraft engine overhaul facility at Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen, site of Technic's HABOM MRO initiative ( ATWOnline, Nov. 6). Financial terms were not disclosed. The joint venture will work on CFM56s and V2500s and expects to handle up to 200 engines annually.
Delta Air Lines announced a "comprehensive settlement agreement" with the US Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. that will "resolve all issues" related to the termination of its pilots' defined benefit pension plan ( ATWOnline, Sept. 6). Under the terms, PBGC will be allowed a pre-petition unsecured claim against the airline of $2.2 billion and the debtors' reorganization plan will provide for the distribution of $225 million in senior unsecured notes to the agency.
