Susan Black's assessment of the opportunities for travel start-ups to obtain outside investment is blunt: "It's dismal." Black, a travel industry veteran who serves as senior adviser for the industry at Chimney Rock Capital Partners, said venture capital and private equity firms that already have invested in travel start-ups are currently vetting their portfolios and "deciding who shall live and who shall die." The money hasn't completely dried up, but it most likely will go toward building on existing investments, Black said. For new businesses, "there's generally nothing."
THE WINTER MIGRATIONS OF CANADA GEESE, displayed in marvelous V formations that remind us the air is a bit colder than before, typically run in a straight north-to-south trajectory. It's not inconceivable that the birds that probably struck US Airways Flight 1549 also were bound for Charlotte. January in south central North Carolina is fairly mild compared to Long Island. Mecklenburg County has some good creeks and parks to nest in, some splendid grasses and grains. If the winds were favorable and they flew as fast they could, their trip might take about 12 hr.
SHENZHEN WAS JUST A SMALL, REMOTE city in Guangdong Province in 1979 when then-Chinese Premier Deng Xiaoping decided to make it the country's first special economic zone as part of China's economic reformation. At the time, Deng couldn't even find Shenzhen on a map. Thirty years later, it is a major international metropolis and "Shenzhen speed" has become a catchphrase for rapid growth and transformation.
Whether an airline is using its own facilities or those of a third-party provider, keeping aircraft parts and components in ready supply can mean a lot of paperwork. Help is on the way, however, thanks to a recent joint effort by the Air Transport Assn. and US FAA. The collaborative initiative has advanced the application of an electronic document likely to make aircraft parts distribution more efficient.
THE US FEDERAL AVIATION Administration exists in a state of limbo. Despite debates featuring proposals and counterproposals that stretch back to early 2007, Washington lawmakers have been unable to reach agreement on how to fund the agency and its prized program: Transitioning US air traffic control to a satellite-based "NextGen" system.
OEM Product Services Institute Principal Ron Giuntini spoke with Airline Procurement about how airlines can enhance their maintenance processes by configuring a parts-based and performance-priced program with their suppliers. (Edited for clarity and length.) AP: Do you think airlines are rethinking their parts programs given the current climate of the global economy?
"It is better to be uncertain of where you are and know it than to be certain of where you are not." The famous navigator's saying rapidly is becoming a thing of the past owing to the pioneering work done by this year's Aviation Technology Achievement Award winner, Kent, Wash.-based Naverus, which truly is unlocking the value trapped in today's airspace system through Required Navigation Performance.
Air France KLM's pending acquisition of a major stake in Alitalia means that the consolidation of Europe's airline sector is entering its endgame (with the caveat that one must be careful about making assumptions concerning anything involving Alitalia). Those airlines remaining on the outside will find it extremely difficult to stay independent, should they desire to do so, as the competitive muscle of the major groupsAF-KLM-AZ, Lufthansa-Swiss-Austrian and to a lesser extent British Airways-Iberiamakes itself felt.
AIRPORTS ACROSS NORTH AMERICA ARE designing, conserving and recycling their way into a greener future. Many of these environmental programs are producing savings that will help contain airport costs for their airline tenants.
At a time of dramatically shrinking budgets, relentless public scrutiny and a succession of economic crises, the task of airline public relations never has been more demanding and thankless. Add to this the massive job of rebuilding the image and morale of an airline that faced bankruptcy in 2001 and quite simply you have a mountain that few could hope to climb with any measure of success.
IATA called on governments, air navigation service providers and aviation groups urgently to address air traffic inefficiencies that are jeopardizing the sustainability of Middle East aviation. "The Middle East is one of the most dynamic aviation markets in the world expanding, from 5% of international traffic to 10% in the past seven years. But we are not immune to the global recession," said Majdi Sabri, IATA Regional VP-Middle East/North Africa. "Airlines in this region will lose $200 million in 2009 as traffic growth slows dramatically.
IT IS OBVIOUS WE ARE FIGHTING FOR THE AIR FRANCE GROUP. BUT IN actual fact, we are also fighting for France." Former Air France Chairman Christian Blanc's 1996 expression of an inextricable link between France's soul and its national airline may belong to a vanishing mindset in Europe, but it is very much the kind of thinking that shapes the view of
IT IS A COLD, WET JANUARY NIGHT AT the world's busiest cargo airport, Memphis International, which serves as the central air hub of FedEx's vast global delivery network. The rain has been steady throughout the day, and the executives who manage the FedEx Express airline operation have been monitoring the air temperature closely.
British Airways announced an environmental target of halving net CO2 emissions by 2050. The target, one of the most ambitious by an airline, was announced last month in Hyderabad by CEO Willie Walsh. He said, "While some people say that in economic times as desperately tough as these we can afford to put climate change issues on one side, I could not disagree more. Halving CO2 by 2050 is an extremely challenging target. But it is one I am sure we can achieve."
HOW MUCH DO YOU WEIGH?" WAS THE first question from the gate agent to a passenger preparing to board a recent flight out of Boston Logan International. When the aircraft is a nine-seat Cessna 402 with an MTOW of 7,210 lb., size really does matter. On a gray winter morning, the small Cape Air plane waited for takeoff in line with the heavy iron before cranking down the runway and lifting seamlessly into a sky enveloped in a heavy mist. For the next 35 min.
US Airways posted a 2008 net loss of $2.21 billion, reversed from a $427 million profit in 2007, as it contended with a roller-coaster oil market that led to significant losses on fuel hedges. In addition to $496 million of unrealized losses on mark-to-market hedging adjustments, US recorded a $622 million noncash charge to write off goodwill created by the America West Airlines merger. The carrier has moved quickly to reduce its hedging position in 2009. Executive VP and CFO Derek Kerr said 14% of its fuel consumption is hedged for the year, with none in the fourth quarter.
JetBlue Airways yesterday reported partial full-year and fourth-quarter results, including a $76 million pre-tax loss that represented a reversal from a $41 million pre-tax profit in 2007. It said it refrained from reporting net results because it is evaluating the tax deductibility of a $53 million noncash charge taken in the fourth quarter related to the valuation of its auction rate securities. It plans to report complete results in mid-February. Full-year operating revenue climbed 19.2% year-over-year to $3.39 billion against a 22.7% increase in expenses to $3.28 billion.
WestJet has chosen SabreSonic Customer Sales and Service as its new reservations system, bringing an end to a search that began with its 2003 decision to replace Navitaire's Open Skies and included a two-year detour with aiRES. WS Executive VP-Commercial Distribution Hugh Dunleavy said SabreSonic's scalability--"We've been growing very quickly"--and its bidirectional marketing and operational capabilities for codeshare agreements were among the features that sealed the deal.
Turkish Airlines announced an international expansion comprising an increase in frequencies from Istanbul Ataturk to New Delhi and Mumbai beginning Feb. 2, to Brussels on March 2 and to Venice, Helsinki, Dublin, Basel, Kuwait City and Addis Ababa in early March. THY Chairman Candan Karlitekin told ATWOnline recently in Istanbul that the airline also plans to expand its operation at Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen in the near future.
European Commission accepted measures taken by France to end the differentiation in passenger charges between domestic flights and those from/to Schengen countries.
Continental Airlines reported a 2008 net loss of $585 million, reversed from a profit of $459 million in the year-ago period, citing a deteriorating demand environment, a severe and "unprecedented" December winter storm at its Houston Intercontinental hub and special charges related to fuel hedging contracts and pension settlements.
Delta Air Lines signed an MOU with the Air Line Pilots Assn. and US FAA "to reinstate the airline's Aviation Safety Action Program covering pre-merger Delta pilots. The revised program mirrors an existing Northwest Airlines pilot ASAP program." ASAPs encourage flight crews to submit reports identifying safety-related concerns and incidents without fear of punishment.
Fuel hedge losses, restructuring charges and special items sank Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air parent Alaska Air Group to a $135.9 million net loss in 2008, reversed from a $124.3 million profit in 2007.
Austrian Airlines Group CEO Alfred Oetsch resigned yesterday. He will leave the company on Jan. 31, which would make him the shortest-tenured CEO in the carrier's history. He took over in May 2006. COO Peter Malanik and CCO Andreas Bierwirth will fill in for Oetsch temporarily and Austrian media are speculating that Swiss International Air Lines Chief Network & Distribution Officer Harry Hohmeister could succeed Oetsch, 55, who said the company's takeover by Lufthansa necessitated a new start on the personnel side. Swiss and AAG both are Lufthansa subsidiaries.
