Comair received US FAA certification to perform repair station MRO on third-party 50- and 70-seat CRJs. It will do the work at its Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky facility. It plans to achieve certification for its Orlando facility "in the coming months."
Wizz Air completed a sale/leaseback transaction with GECAS for four new A320s, which will be delivered in the first half of 2008. They will be leased on an 11-year term. Wizz has 32 A320s on order plus 12 options and expects to operate 53 by 2012.
Iberia said e-tickets accounted for 95% of all tickets sold in October. For domestic flights the proportion was 97.5% and international was 92%. Only Naples and Pisa, served by franchise partners Iberia Regional/Air Nostrum, still require traditional tickets.
Middle East Airlines is finalizing an agreement to acquire four A330-200s and four A319s. According to the Arab Air Carriers Organization, two aircraft would arrive in 2008 and the other six in 2009. MEA would use the additional aircraft to increase frequencies on popular routes and is considering new destinations in Qatar, Iraq and Russia.
Boeing named Commercial Airplanes VP-Business Strategy and Marketing Nicole Piasecki as the new VP-Boeing International and president of Boeing Japan effective in March.
SR Technics' purchase by a United Arab Emirates consortium led by Mubadala Development, investment vehicle of the Abu Dhabi government, was finalized this week. The acquisition of the Zurich-based MRO provider, valued at $1.3 billion, was announced in September ( ATWOnline, Sept. 8) and cleared by the European Commission last week.
Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte, the Mexican airports operator known as OMA, raised $375.8 million this week in an IPO in which Mexico's government divested its remaining 48% stake in the company, completing the privatization that began in 2000 ( ATWOnline, Nov. 16). The funds raised were higher than expected as the government sold its shares for $18 each. Shares will be listed on Nasdaq under OMAB. OMA operates airports in Monterrey, Acapulco, Mazatlan and Zihuatanejo plus nine other regional facilities.
El Al posted a third-quarter profit of $1.8 million, a plunge of 96.6% from a $52.2 million profit in the year-ago quarter, Reuters reported. Revenues declined 7.9% to $447 million.
Delta Air Lines yesterday announced yet another employee recall, this one for approximately 200 additional pilots who will rejoin the carrier next year. DL already has issued two recalls for a total of 129 pilots this year ( ATWOnline, Sept. 12). Northwest Airlines flight attendants, represented by the Assn. of Flight Attendants, argued in a US appeals court this week for the right to strike over management's imposition of $195 million in annual concessions.
World Airways extended its leases with ILFC on six MD-11s (three passenger and three freighter) through March 2013-May 2014. Leases originally were set to expire in 2008 and 2009. North American Airlines, a subsidiary of World Airways parent World Air Holdings, extended leases for two 757-200ERs (one with ILFC and one with GECAS) until May 2013 and May 2014. Leases were scheduled to expire in 2007 and 2008.
Mesaba Airlines, a regional partner of Northwest Airlines, reached a truce with its pilots, flight attendants and mechanics who ratified contracts intended to reduce the carrier's labor costs by some 15%. The tentative agreements, reached four weeks ago, came after months of acrimonious wrangling between Mesaba management and union leaders from the Air Line Pilots Assn., Assn. of Flight Attendants ( ATWOnline, Oct.
Delta Air Lines said it has received permission from its unsecured creditors to allow an additional estimated $719 million in unsecured, pre-petition claims for nonqualified pension benefits for retired pilots, lifting the total of allowed claims to $800 million. "As a result of this effort, our retired pilots will recover through the claim process a significant portion of their unpaid nonqualified benefits," CFO Edward Bastian said.
Pratt & Whitney and China Eastern Airlines signed an agreement yesterday to create a CFM56 engine overhaul facility in Shanghai, where P&W will maintain the airline's CFM56 engines as well as provide third-party MRO.
Assn. of European Airlines reiterated its opposition to the European Commission's plan to include airlines in its existing emissions trading scheme ( ATWOnline, Nov. 10), calling it "distortive" and "damag[ing to] the competitiveness of European airlines" following Monday's biannual AEA Assembly in Berlin. "As it stands, this proposal discriminates against aviation vis-a-vis other sectors already included in the EU ETS," Secretary General Ulrich Schulte-Strathaus said.
Austrian Airlines Group launched its capital increase earlier this month following a unanimous vote by shareholders at an extraordinary AGM ( ATWOnline, Oct. 4), issuing up to 51.68 million bearer shares with no par value. The subscription and offer period concludes Dec. 1, an OS spokesperson told this website. Maximum offer price is €8.12 ($10.66) per share.
EasyJet is introducing a Speedy Boarding facility that allows up to 20 passengers to book priority boarding and have the greatest choice of seats. Speedy Boarding is sold on a first-come, first-served basis and the fee is based on length of flight and departure airport. Prices vary from £2.50 ($4.84) to £7.50. "This latest innovation...reflects the development in the concept of having a flexible product that can be adapted to the customer needs, but only paying for what you need," CEO Andy Harrison said.
AT&T signed a $7 million networking equipment agreement with US Airways under which AT&T will provide Cisco hardware bundled with its MPLS-based IP network to service more than 230 airport locations.
Air New Zealand announced an 11% reduction in transtasman seat capacity beginning in April. Seats to Australia will fall by 15% from Wellington, 28% from Dunedin, 15% from Palmerston North and 7% from Christchurch compared to April-October 2006. "Not even the low airfares generated by significant excess capacity and competition have driven enough customer demand from these four centers to maintain the status quo," GM-Shorthaul Airline Norm Thompson said, citing a 63% load factor out of Wellington as an example. In addition, ANZ will use smaller aircraft on the Auckland-Sydney route.
Swiss Pilots Assn., which represents Swiss European Air Lines pilots, rejected the company's offer for a new labor agreement ( ATWOnline, Oct. 23). Despite concessions on the part of Swiss European, SPA said it is not prepared to negotiate further on the current offer. Swiss said the union's demands would result in a cost increase of approximately 35%. The pilots currently are flying under an interim agreement reached in April.
Northwest Airlines said it will not renew interline agreements with approximately 50 carriers that do not have plans to offer interline e-ticketing when the accords expire on Jan. 1.
Lufthansa is expanding its presence in Malta. First, Lufthansa Technik will set up new MRO capabilities for C and D checks on the A330 and A340 families. Under terms of an MOU signed by the Maltese government and LHT Malta, a joint venture with Air Malta, a hangar will be constructed by Malta Industrial Parks and leased to LHT.
News from Travel Technology Update: The defections of online travel companies to other GDSs are making sizable dents in Worldspan's revenues and net income. Like other GDSs, Worldspan's revenues also have shrunk due to lower transaction fees from airlines that have signed new distribution agreements. Worldspan reported a 14% decline in net income for the third quarter, to $15.5 million, on revenues of $212.5 billion, down 11%.
MAXJet Airways named Chairman William Stockbridge President and CEO replacing Gary Rogliano, who left "to pursue other opportunities," according to the airline. "I will work closely with our team to accelerate MAXJet's expansion," Stockbridge said. He formerly was CEO of Centurion Air Cargo and founder, president and CEO of Gemini Air Cargo. Board member Rick Sharp will take over as chairman.
