Indigo Partners yesterday said it has acquired 49% of Indonesia's Mandala Airlines from PT Cardig International Aviation, which purchased the carrier in April and will retain a 51% holding. "The parties recently received the necessary regulatory approvals and closed the investment," said Phoenix-based private equity firm Indigo in a statement. Indigo, which was founded by former America West Chairman and CEO William Franke, also holds 24% of Tiger Airways. Mandala, established in 1969, operates a fleet of 12 aircraft serving 23 domestic destinations in Indonesia.
Airlines continued flying between the EU and US despite the lack of a new agreement on exchange of PNR data as the European Commission said it hopes to resolve the issue "as soon as possible."
US National Transportation Safety Board is sending a team to assist Brazil's Aeronautical Accident Prevention and Investigation Center looking into possible causes of the suspected midair collision between a Gol 737-800 and an ExcelAire Legacy 600 business jet on Sept. 29 that killed all 149 passengers and six crew onboard the Gol aircraft ( ATWOnline, Oct. 2).
Martinair will initiate Comfort Class service on its intra-European flights and those to Egypt from Oct. 29. The Dutch leisure carrier introduced the service, which offers 10% more legroom, a free drink and entertainment choice last November on long-haul services for €49 ($62.3) per sector. The upgrade on its short- and medium-haul flights will be sold for €25 per sector.
Rockwell Collins announced yesterday that Executive VP and COO-Commercial Systems Bob Chiusano will retire at year end and be replaced by VP and GM-Air Transport Systems Kelly Ortberg. VP-Strategy Commercial Systems Jeff Standerski will replace Ortberg. In his new role, Ortberg will be responsible for the company's aviation electronics, communications and cabin systems for the air transport, business aviation and Regional airline markets. He has worked for Rockwell for nearly 20 years while Standerski has 17 years of service.
News from Travel Technology Update: Now that Worldspan has concluded a new full-content agreement with Delta Air Lines, it plans to focus on how best it can help airlines and other suppliers "de-commoditize" their products, according to Ninan Chacko, chief commercial officer. "We're very excited about this," Chacko told TTU. "We plan to focus on developing the right merchandise tools for airlines that want to unbundle or differentiate their products."
American Airlines Cargo said it lowered its fuel surcharge from $0.60/kg. to $0.50/kg. for most US-originating international shipments and from $0.24/lb. to $0.20/lb. for US domestic shipments effective Oct. 16.
SITA said that Northport, a European ground-handling company, will deploy its BagManager baggage reconciliation system under a seven-year agreement that covers deployment at Helsinki Airport by the end of January followed by installation at 14 Finnish domestic airports, Stockholm Arlanda, Oslo Gardermoen and Copenhagen. It is the first time that a ground handler has chosen to employ the system, which traditionally has been marketed to airports.
Alteon Training yesterday began operations at its Singapore Training Center, which will open officially in early 2007. "With this latest addition, Alteon now offers seven training locations in the Asia/Pacific region," President Patrick Gaines said. Located near Changi Airport, the Singapore center will be capable of training more than 6,000 pilots and flight attendants annually.
Ethiopian Airlines plans to increase its cargo activities to meet the demands of the nation's fast-growing export market. It will construct a new state-of-the-art cargo terminal in Addis Abeba with cold storage facilities and a total annual capacity of 250,000 tonnes and lease an MD-11 freighter for a daily Addis-Brussels flight with a capacity of 85 tonnes.
Worldspan and Delta Air Lines completed a new long-term distribution agreement affirming "Worldspan's Super Access Product as a preferred distribution program for the airline through June 2013."
China Aircraft Services Ltd. signed a franchise agreement with Airport Authority Hong Kong that will permit it to add base maintenance services to its existing line maintenance offering at Hong Kong International Airport when the current agreement expires in 2008. The new agreement will have a 25-year term.
No survivors have been found in the wreckage of the Gol 737-800 that is believed to have collided in midair with an Embraer 600 Legacy business jet Friday afternoon. The Legacy, operated by ExcelAire, landed safely at Cachimbo Air Base with all five passengers and two crew unharmed, according to Flight Safety Foundation's Aviation Safety Network. Embraer said in a statement that the executive jet was involved "in a midair collision."
US Airways named Scott Kirby, 39, to the position of president effective Oct. 1. Kirby, an 11-year veteran of America West, which acquired and merged with US Airways last year, was executive VP-sales and marketing. He will continue to report to Chairman and CEO Doug Parker. The carrier also promoted Ed Bular to senior VP-flight operations/inflight. Bular joined the US Airways side of the family in 1980, three years before America West came into existence. In tandem with the appointments, the company announced a management reorganization.
Hapagfly and Hapag Lloyd Express integration is reflected in the release Friday of a joint flight schedule for 2007, according to parent TUI Group ( ATWOnline, Sept. 1). "With the joint flight schedule for summer 2007 we have reached the first major milestone on the path to integrating Hapagfly and HLX," said Hapagfly Executive Board Chairman Christoph Mueller, who also sits on the executive board of TUI.
IATA reported that international passenger traffic growth continued to soften in August as member airlines reported a 4.8% increase in international RPKs compared to August 2005. According to IATA, this is the smallest monthly passenger traffic increase since the end of 2003 "and marks the fourth consecutive month of declining growth in passenger demand." With ASKs up 4.3%, load factor was 79.4%.
GATX Corp. last week announced it will sell the majority of its aircraft leasing business to a consortium of investors including Macquarie Bank and investment fund Och-Ziff Capital Management Group in a transaction expected to close by year end. GATX has been in the aircraft leasing business since 1968. The value of its aircraft assets, including its joint-venture investments, is approximately $1.5 billion in net book value and includes 87 aircraft.
The mid-August terrorism scare in London exposed for all to see the continued vulnerability of air transport to a major operational disruption. Despite nearly five years to prepare, airports and airlines were left scrambling to cope with unprecedented (and, we would argue, ludicrous) carry-on restrictions imposed in the US and UK in hopes of denying Islamist terrorists another shot at a 9/11-style atrocity.
A profit in the airline industry these days is not so rare, but when you increase profits and every other significant parameter against soaring fuel prices and a new robust competitor, that certainly is something to celebrate. However, Australia's Virgin Blue is not celebrating. Like its latest advertising campaign, "Getting into Business," the airline's management is getting on with the job of attracting more traffic from the business end of town.
Distribution has become "a very significant strategic issue for us," Shafiq Khan, senior vice president of e-commerce for Marriott International, said. Now that airlines have addressed their distribution costs through new deals with the GDSs and by eliminating travel agency commissions, hotels "have become the biggest payer of commissions and a big revenue source for the GDSs," Khan said. "We need to get to "more rational economics" with the GDS companies.
Integrating the information technology systems of America West Airlines and US Airways, carriers with vastly differing operating methodologies and cultures, may be a watershed event for IT vendors and airline users alike. US Airways Senior VP and CIO Joe Beery says the merged airline is an industry "pioneer" owing to the noticeable differences between the large, inflexible legacy IT systems of US Airways and the more nimble in-house applications developed by America West, which Beery joined in 1999 from Motorola Semiconductor.
"We're very excited about this," Chacko told TTU. "We plan to focus on developing the right merchandise tools for airlines that want to unbundle or differentiate their products." Worldspan announced its new agreement with Delta on Sept. 29. Delta, one of Worldspan's former owners, was the last of the major U.S. network carriers to sign a deal with the company. The agreement calls for Delta to participate in Worldspan's Super Access product, which provides agencies with full content from participating airlines in exchange for reduced incentive payments.
Like a teenager fixated on the latest fad, US aviation security keeps chasing the wrong thing, perpetually playing catch-up to an enemy both ingenious and infinitely adaptable. First it was fingernail files. Then flammables. Now it's fluids, gels and lotions.
Six years ago this month, then Continental Airlines Chairman and CEO Gordon Bethune responded to a reporter's query about rising business fares by pointing out that higher prices weren't discouraging corporate travelers from buying tickets on his airline. Noting that Continental's load factor was up by more than a point on a 4% lift in capacity and a 9% gain in yield during the 2000 third quarter, he could not resist cracking: "Maybe fares aren't high enough."
