United Airlines made a $972 million cash payment toward its $3 billion bankruptcy exit facility and refinanced the remainder, it announced yesterday. The new facility consists of a $1.8 billion term loan and a $255 million revolving credit line. Refinancing was "significantly oversubscribed," the airline said, enabling it to reduce finance costs by 175-200 basis points over LIBOR.
Delta Air Lines creditors' committee will pick all 10 board members of the reorganized carrier as part of the deal under which the committee approved DL's plan to emerge from bankruptcy at the expense of US Airways' bid ( ATWOnline, Feb. 1), CEO Gerald Grinstein told The New York Times. At least three members of the existing board will stay on. In addition, the committee will limit management's ownership stake to 4%, a total that Grinstein said would be "spread across. . .1,000 people."
Rockwell Collins was selected yesterday by Boeing to provide the avionics system for the 747-8 Intercontinental and -8 freighter. Value was not disclosed for the deal, which includes the entire suite of flightdeck displays as well as autopilot, communication, navigation, surveillance, maintenance, emergency and data management systems. The 747-8F is scheduled to enter service in late 2009 with initial deliveries to Cargolux and Nippon Cargo Airlines ( ATWOnline, Nov.
Ryanair outperformed market expectations as it reported a €47.7 million ($61.8 million) net profit for the third fiscal quarter ended Dec. 31, a 30% increase from the €36.8 million earned in the year-ago quarter "This exceptional 30% increase in Q3 profits during a period of higher oil prices, intense competition and 21% seat capacity growth demonstrates, yet again, the robustness of Ryanair's lowest-fare model," CEO Michael O'Leary said.
A furor is developing among a growing number of politicians from both sides of Australia's government over a A$300 million ($232.4 million) performance- and time-based sweetener that Qantas senior management would reap if Airline Partners Australia's A$11.1 billion bid for the airline succeeds.
British Midland, parent of bmi, announced Friday that it acquired control of London Heathrow-based British Mediterranean, a BA franchise partner since 1997, subscribing to approximately £30 million ($59 million) of new shares in BMED. "Bringing BMED into the bmi group creates a business with a turnover in excess of £1 billion with substantial growth opportunities. The acquisition enables the bmi group to accelerate its strategy of expansion into medium-haul markets," group CEO Nigel Turner said.
American Airlines flew 10.9 billion system RPMs in January, a 1.2% decline from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 1.3% to 14.49 billion ASMs and load factor dipped 0.1 point to 75.2%. Domestic RPMs were down 2.7% to 7 billion against a 2.3% fall in capacity to 9.27 billion ASMs, dropping load factor 0.3 point to 75.5%.
Air Canada plans to launch thrice-weekly Toronto-Shanghai service on April 6, increasing to daily on June 30 and returning to thrice-weekly for the 2007-08 winter schedule. It also will double its Vancouver-Beijing service to twice-daily July 1-Sept. 30.
British Airways reported a £107 million ($210.3 million) net profit for the third fiscal quarter ended Dec. 31, a 13.7% drop from the £124 million earned in the year-ago quarter thanks to a "raft of external factors" that cost the carrier an estimated £40 million in revenue, CEO Willie Walsh said Friday.
ELTA said it was awarded a Boeing SFE for its ADT406 S emergency locator transmitter specified for the 787. ELTA said the contract could be worth more than $5 million over the life of the program.
More than 20,000 Airbus workers staged protests at multiple manufacturing sites across Germany Friday to demonstrate their opposition to facility closures and job cuts rumored to be a part of the manufacturer's Power8 restructuring program, with a prominent union leader threatening a "European-wide wave of protest" aimed at disrupting production.
Innovative Solutions & Support said its Cockpit/IP flat panel display system for the 757 received an FAA STC last week. The retrofit offers AMLCD displays for primary flight and navigation as well as multi-function display capability with numerous options including an electronic flight bag.
Fraport appointed Matthias Zieschang CFO. He succeeds Stefan Schulte, who was appointed vice chairman effective April 1. Zieschang comes from DB Netz, a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn.
SkyTeam announced that it signed agreements with Air Europa, Copa Airlines and Kenya Airways "indicating the carriers are on track for official Associate Airline status." Signing ceremonies were held in the capital of each airline's home country. The trio will add 25 destinations to SkyTeam's network.
Pinnacle Airlines, which operates 127 CRJs as a Northwest Airlink partner, is in the market for large turboprops that may be placed with Colgan Air, which Pinnacle acquired last month for $20 million in cash and stock ( ATWOnline, Jan. 19). Pinnacle CFO Peter Hunt said the company is looking at both ATR 42s/72s and Q400s and a decision on an order for 20-25 70-seat aircraft could be placed within weeks.
Airports of Thailand Chairman Chotisak Asapavirya resigned last week owing to "ill health." He had been criticized heavily for the pavement cracking problems at Bangkok's $3 billion showcase Suvarnabhumi International. While he said he was not forced out, he told Thai media yesterday that he warned authorities not to rush the airport's opening. Meanwhile, Suvarnabhumi's director and head of commercial operations have been fired.
US and EU once again are set to take up the contentious issue of Passenger Name Record data transfer this month ahead of the July 31 expiration of a temporary agreement permitting the US to continue to require EU member airlines to supply PNR data to the US. The interim agreement is similar to one that expired last September, having been ruled illegal by the European Court of Justice in May 2006 ( ATWOnline, Dec.
CAE said Friday that it will establish its first Indian training center by year end in Bangalore, where it plans to train as many as 1,000 pilots annually. The facility will cost $20 million and likely will include an as-yet-unidentified partner. It will serve Indian carriers and the surrounding region, initially offering pilot, cabin crew and maintenance training as well as flight operations support for A320s and 737s. "We realized the strategic importance of opening a training center in India.
Allegiant Air parent Allegiant Travel Co. reported a 19.9% rise in full-year net income to $8.7 million as the rapidly expanding company continued to build its leisure travel business. Allegiant increased its MD-80 fleet to 24 from 17 during 2006 and added 19 destinations including a new base at St. Petersburg-Clearwater and 29 new routes. Revenue soared 83.7% to $243.3 million against a 78.1% climb in expenses to $220.8 million, nearly tripling operating profit to $22.6 million from the $8.5 million earned in 2005.
American Airlines Maintenance Services and the Transport Workers Union, which represents AA's 27,000 maintenance workers, said yesterday that $175 million in customer revenue in 2007 is an attainable goal following the generation of $95 million worth of third-party maintenance in 2006.
Gulf Air named former Crossair and Swiss International Air Lines CEO Andre Dose, 49, as its new CEO. He will take office on April 1. Omani Minister of Transport and Communication Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdullah Al Harthy took over as chairman on Jan. 1.
The new UK air passenger duty took effect yesterday ( ATWOnline, Dec. 7, 2006) and some airlines and tour operators are considering challenging the measure in court. In addition, some politicians are questioning the legality of the tax increase because it had not been approved by the parliament. "The legal opinion we've received says there is no legal basis to collect the increase in tax," Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said.
Airline merger talk in the US market is expected to cool following US Airways' withdrawal of its offer for Delta Air Lines, particularly with many carriers posting their best earnings since the late 1990s.
