Dubai Aerospace Enterprises plans to purchase at least 125 aircraft for its DAE Capital leasing segment over the next five years, CEO Robert Genise told Bloomberg News, adding that the company will "probably" need $4-$4.25 billion in debt financing for the acquisitions. DAE Capital is considering a future IPO and will focus principally on sale/leaseback arrangements with airlines, he told the news service.
Russia's Atlant-Soyuz is the customer for four 737-700s that previously had been listed as unidentified on Boeing's website, the manufacturer announced from MAKS outside Moscow. The aircraft are worth $249 million at current list prices, although the order was placed last year. One of Russia's largest charter airlines, A-S counts the Moscow city government as one of its principal customers and also offers scheduled domestic services from its Moscow Vnukovo base, Boeing said, adding that the carrier "recently" added two leased 737 Classics.
Pacific Blue, the international arm of Australia's Virgin Blue, will launch domestic services in New Zealand on Nov. 15. Initially the carrier will dedicate two 737-800s to flights between Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. It announced promotional fares from NZ$39 ($27.17), while normal fares will be equal to or above those of Air New Zealand, according to ANZ GM-Short-Haul Airlines Norm Thompson. ANZ is expected to announce a further refinement of its domestic product at its Aug.
Malaysia Airlines appointed George Snyder as its senior technical consultant-safety and security. Snyder was closely associated with the operational and safety turnaround at Korean Air in the early part of the decade when he served there as senior VP-corporate safety, security and compliance. Prior to that he was US Airways' VP-safety and regulatory compliance. SAS Group named Norwegian public relations executive Claus Sonberg executive VP-corporate communications and investor relations.
Air China will invest CNY5 billion ($657.9 million) to establish the country's largest flight simulator training base. It will be located in Shunyi District in suburban Beijing. CA reached a deal with district authorities yesterday. The complex will comprise 30 full-motion flight simulators, eight fixed-base simulators, a cabin crew training center, MRO training center, ground-handling service training center and other relevant support facilities that the airline said will help reduce its long-term dependence on foreign training resources.
Singapore Technologies Aerospace said it became the first company in Southeast Asia to receive a Design Organization Approval from EASA, enabling STA to approve and perform engineering design work on EU-registered aircraft.
Alitalia announced yesterday that it received a "telephone communication" from "an unspecified group of entrepreneurs" interested in purchasing the government's 49.9% stake in the Italian carrier. AZ said the group requested a meeting in late August or early September, without elaborating, but said it issued the statement in response to a press release from attorney Antonio Baldassarre, who represents the consortium ( ATWOnline, Aug. 14).
Singapore Airlines announced that it received court approval for a share buyback through a capital reduction that will see it cancel one share for every 15 held, paying shareholders S$18.46 ($12.07) per cancelled share. SIA said it will carry out the cancellation on Sept. 7.
Embraer yesterday signed a contract with BRA Transportes Aereos for 20 118-seat E-195s plus 20 options, finalizing an order announced at the Paris Air Show ( ATWOnline, June 22). The deal includes 20 "rolling options," which if confirmed constitute purchase rights for an additional 15 aircraft, the manufacturer said. Value of the 20 firm aircraft is $730 million at list prices and the deal could reach $2.7 billion if all options and rights are exercised.
Galileo parent Travelport completed its $1.4 billion acquisition of Worldspan yesterday after the deal was given regulatory clearance by the European Commission, which concluded it is "unlikely to result in unilateral price increases by the merged firm."
Ryanair said it suspended all bookings to/from its base at Brussels South Charleroi from Nov. 12 "pending the resolution of a number of issues which remain outstanding" since a wildcat strike by security staff closed the airport June 15-17 ( ATWOnline, June 18).
Father and son Alberto Saba Raffoul and Moises Saba Masri made an official bid for AeroMexico yesterday after receiving permission from the country's National Banking and Securities Commission, announcing an offer valued at about $100 million.
Colgan Air pilots voted to reject a bid to join the Air Line Pilots Assn. Colgan operates a fleet of Saab 340s and Beech 1900s under partnerships with US Airways, United Airlines and Continental Airlines.
Ilyushin Finance Co. reached several leasing and purchase agreements yesterday at the MAKS air show outside Moscow, according to press reports from Russia. It signed leasing agreements for six Tu-204-100s with Red Wings Airlines (15 years worth $250-$350 million, according to conflicting press reports) and for six An-148s with GTK Rossiya. Deliveries to both carriers are scheduled to start next year. The latter airline signed an MOU with IFC for the purchase of an additional six An-148s and one Il-96-300.
American Airlines will launch daily Chicago O'Hare-Buenos Aires service on Dec. 13 aboard a 221-seat 767-300. Ethiopian Airlines will begin daily Addis Ababa-Zanzibar flights on Oct. 28 using 737-700s. Wideroe launched thrice-weekly Kirkenes-Murmansk service this week. TAP Portugal will start a daily Porto-Brussels flight on Sept.15 with an F100. Route will be operated with an ERJ-145 from the winter schedule.
US National Transportation Safety Board said yesterday it has launched an investigation into last week's high-profile runway incursion at Los Angeles International ( ATWOnline, Aug. 20). The board provided further details on the incident, reporting that a landing WestJet 737NG and a Northwest Airlines A320 taking off "almost collided." The 737 "held between. .
Aviapartner signed a three-year "network contract" with Vueling Airlines for the provision of ground handling services at Milan Malpensa, Rome Fiumicino, Venice, Brussels and Amsterdam. Aviapartner valued the contract at around €20 million ($27 million). It already handles Vueling in Milan, Rome, and Venice. Aviapartner Handling will provide ramp handling in Munich for South African Airways' new MUC-Johannesburg route, which commenced operations last month with an A340.
Air New Zealand struck back at Auckland International Airport's proposed landing charge hike ( ATWOnline, July 3) by announcing that it intends to move some domestic flights to Whenuapai Airbase in West Auckland. Plans call for a move within five years, but the current occupier, the Royal New Zealand Air Force, said it plans to stay at the base for eight. Whenuapai has three runways but only one, at 2,031 m., suitable for commercial flights.
Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States will require 1,060 new commercial aircraft worth about $70 billion over the next 20 years, Boeing said yesterday in an update to its annual forecast released two months ago ( ATWOnline, June 14). The manufacturer decided its Current Market Outlook should include a separate regional forecast for Russia/CIS for the first time.
Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste, the Mexican airport operator, said Cancun, Cozumel and Merida airports closed Monday night due to Hurricane Dean, the intense storm that moved across the Yucatan Peninsula. ASUR said yesterday that "as of now, the airports' infrastructures have not experienced any significant damage." Flights resumed yesterday at Montego Bay and Kingston airports, which had closed earlier this week when the storm passed near Jamaica.
Delta Air Lines ended its long search for a CEO yesterday, naming current DL board member and former Northwest Airlines CEO Richard Anderson to succeed Gerald Grinstein, who had said he would retire after Delta emerged from bankruptcy.
Air Berlin said both the European Commission and the German Federal Cartel Office have followed the Swiss Cartel Office in clearing its acquisition of 49% of Switzerland's Belair ( ATWOnline, March 28). A subsidiary of Hotelplan Group, Belair currently operates two 757-200s and one 767-300.
Lufthansa Technik and Bulgaria's Hemus Air will open a maintenance facility in Sofia. It is expected that LHT will hold 80% of the joint venture, Hemus MD Dimitar Pawlow told the BTA national news agency. MRO work will begin on 737s on an unspecified date, with 777s and A340s to follow. LHT operates similar JVs in Budapest, Malta and the Philippines and recently linked up with Austrian Airlines to open a 777 center in Vienna ( ATWOnline, Aug. 6).
China Southern Airlines enjoyed a significant turnaround in the first half of 2007, reporting net income of CNY226 million ($29.7 million) under IFRS, a reversal from a loss of CNY784 million in the year-ago semester, on a 19.2% lift in operating revenue to CNY24.56 billion. The carrier attributed the improved performance in part to "its double-hub strategy of Beijing and Guangzhou" and cost control. The "fast-growing Chinese economy, rising domestic demands and the appreciation of the yuan" also were credited for the result.
FAA Administrator Marion Blakey, whose term ends Sept. 13, yesterday was named president and CEO of the Aerospace Industries Assn. effective Nov. 12. She will succeed the retiring John Douglass, who has held the positions since September 1998 and will remain at AIA through 2007. AIA is the trade association for the domestic aerospace industry.
