Thai Airways and Lao Airlines signed an MOU Thursday designed to encourage tourism and travel to Laos while promoting Thailand as the gateway to the peninsula. The carriers eventually will codeshare on the Bangkok-Vientiane and Chiang Mai-Luang Prabang routes and interline on flights from the US, Australia, France and Japan into Laos.
Flybe reversed its financial fortunes in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2005, posting a profit before tax and exchange rate gains of £6.6 million ($11.5 million) compared to an FY04 loss of £3.2 million. The result fell short of Chairman and CEO Jim French's December projection of an £8 million pre-tax surplus ( ATWOnline, Dec. 19, 2005). Passenger numbers increased 19.2% to 4.03 million as the carrier introduced 29 new routes.
AMR board of directors announced a change to the compensation program for American Airlines management. It provides for a combination of stock and cash distributions for compensation granted under the 2003-05 Performance Share Plan, previously known as the Performance Unit Plan, AMR said. Cash payments will be consistent with AA's Annual Incentive Plan. The board made similar changes to the 2004-06 plan.
SITA named MD Francesco Violante CEO effective July 1. Air Transport Assn. named Sharon Pinkerton VP-government affairs. She joins ATA on April 17. She currently is FAA assistant administrator for aviation policy, planning and environment.
Swiss International Air Lines and Spanair, Star Alliance partners as of Saturday, entered into a codesharing arrangement effective May 1 covering flights from Zurich and Geneva to Barcelona, Madrid, Palma de Mallorca and Malaga.
A Message from Tim Mahoney President, Air Transport & Regional Aviation Honeywell ATW Industry Awards Ceremony Sponsor Good evening. I'm pleased to be speaking to you tonight on behalf of Honeywell, and would like to thank ATW Publisher Bill Freeman and Air Transport World for this valued industry event.
If this were a typical tale of a North American airline financial restructuring, Air Canada probably would be readying its employees and lenders for another trip through the corporate steam room to sweat out some more savings in addition to the C$2 billion shed during its year-and-a-half reorganization. Instead, 18 months after emerging from Canada's Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act on Sept. 30, 2004, it is writing a new script and going where no legacy carrier has gone before.
Sabre Travel Network is rolling out Upsell, a program that displays amenities and upgrades that are available at a hotel that is about to be booked. The program is part of its drive to move more into a merchandising mode, rather than simply processing transactions. Hotels that agree to participate in the program will share a portion of the incremental revenue they receive with Sabre. "After an agent makes a sell, we display an offer of an amenity or upgrade and show the incremental amount it will cost," Brian Sullivan, director of hotel product marketing, said.
The looming shortage of commercial pilots has pushed the training solutions business into hyperdrive. Based on estimated growth of the world jet fleet to more than 5,000 aircraft by 2024, Boeing's Alteon Training subsidiary calculates that the world's airlines will need 17,000 additional pilots each year simply to handle new aircraft arriving over the next 20 years.
It was not so long ago that India's skies were tightly controlled by a government that viewed air travel as an elitist business. Now they are opening up fast. Apart from the consumer, probably the biggest beneficiary of liberalization is Jet Airways. The Mumbai-based airline has chipped its way through a system in which everything from the choice of routes to the fares charged had to be cleared by the government. Following the acquisition of rival Air Sahara in January, Jet is in a dominant position and now controls about 50% of the domestic market.
Gol said its wholly owned Gol Finance priced its previously announced offering of $200 million aggregate principal amount of 8.75% senior unsecured perpetual notes. The notes have no fixed final maturity date but will be callable at par after five years. Proceeds will be used to finance acquisition of 737NGs "as a complement to its US Eximbank guaranteed bank financing." The transaction is expected to close April 5.
Venezuela, following this week's negotiations with US aviation officials, announced late Wednesday it had agreed to postpone placing restrictions on incoming US flights until April 25, when FAA officials release the results of a safety audit that Venezuela hopes will return it to Category 1 status. The original deadline was yesterday.
African Airlines Assn. on Wednesday criticized the European Union's publication of a list of airlines banned from operating to the EU "as damaging the African airlines business." According to AFRAA, the blacklist "paints a negative picture of all scheduled flights from the continent." In a statement, AFRAA Secretary General Christian Kossi said that "no scheduled African airline member of IATA or AFRAA is included in the blacklist," yet it "sends the wrong message to the average European passenger that all African airlines are potentially dangerous and it is safer to travel with Europea
Delta Air Lines will cut approximately 1,000 management and administrative jobs, according to an internal memo released last week cited by press reports. Last fall the bankrupt carrier targeted 7,000-9,000 positions throughout the company for elimination by next year ( ATWOnline, Sept. 23, 2005). Among the departures will be marketing head Paul Matsen. It is not clear if Matsen's departure is related to the cuts.
Austrian Airlines Group named Manfred Helldoppler as the new MD for its Tyrolean Airways subsidiary, which operates under the brand Austrian Arrows. He replaces the retiring Johann Messner.
American Airlines announced the signing of a five-year comprehensive content distribution agreement with Worldspan yesterday that will go into effect Aug. 1.
JAT is expected to decide by the end of this month that it will restart transatlantic service to New York and Toronto. It plans to use two 767-200ERs on the routes. It is also in the final phase of negotiations for the purchase of two Embraer 170s, sources close to the airline told ATWOnline. It will operate two 737-400s, five 737-300s and four ATR-72s on 177 weekly flights to 36 international and three domestic destinations during its summer schedule.
Virgin Atlantic opened a new £11 million ($19.2 million), 8,000-sq.-ft. club lounge at London Heathrow on Monday that features a spa pool, cinema, salon, rooftop garden, game room and other facilities and amenities. Architect was Softroom of London.
KLM named Senior VP-Operations Control & Fleet Services Michel Coumans MD of KLM cityhopper and CEO of KLM cityhopper UK effective April 1. He succeeds Elfrieke van Galen, who will take a new position within KLM Group. Amadeus named Mary Keagul North America VP-product strategy and operations responsible for the company's portfolio of e-commerce solutions.
Hooters Air is going bust after chipping steadily away at its flight schedule over the past three months. It will end scheduled service by April 17, according to the Myrtle Beach Sun News. The airline is owned by Robert Brooks, chairman of Atlanta-based restaurant chain Hooters of America. He launched Hooters Air in 2002 after acquiring Pace Airlines, a North Carolina-based charter carrier. Based at Myrtle Beach International Airport, Hooters was designed for leisure travelers. It eventually extended service to 15 destinations and operated up to seven aircraft.
Chile is the first nation to make the IATA Operational Safety Audit a condition of its airline certification process, IATA said yesterday. At present, 150 airlines representing 70% of scheduled international traffic have completed or are scheduled to complete the IOSA process. All IATA carriers must be IOSA-certified by the end of 2007. "The decision of the government of Chile is a model for how industry can work with governments at the national level by using IOSA as a requirement for airline operators," IATA DG and CEO Giovanni Bisignani said.
Qantas said yesterday it plans to raise $400 million of unsecured debt through a Rule 144A/Regulation S offering of 6.05% 10-year notes due in 2016. The offering is priced at 133 basis points over the 10-year US benchmark treasury bond. "The notes were rated Baa1 by Moody's Investor Services and BBB+ by Standard & Poor's and were well received by investors," Qantas CFO Peter Gregg said.
Royal Jordanian signed a three-year, $3.2 million agreement with SITA for a "complete solution for its IT business," enabling interoperability with its future oneworld partners. Approximately 600 RJ employees will require on-the-job training to operate the new applications. RJ also signed an agreement with Hitit Computer Services to use its Crane frequent-flier solution starting in June. Continental Airlines signed a seven-year contract renewal for air/ground data link services with ARINC. The deal includes GLOBALink VHF, HFDL and satellite.
Lufthansa Technik Group, which saw its operating profit climb 26% to €258 million in 2005 ( ATWOnline, March 24), said growth should slow in 2006 as the competitive environment heats up. LHT Executive Board Member August Wilhelm Henningsen said at a press briefing that he expects 4%-5% growth in business this year, all of which should come from outside Lufthansa Group. Last year, 58% of LHT's work came from third-party clients as it increased its total global customer base by 4%. To compensate for the decline, it will continue to target cost savings.
