Airline Business articles from January 2001

Airline Business archives from January 2001

Air Canada Lite is delayed again.(Air Canada postpones discount services)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Air Canada has delayed the launch of its discount airline, dubbed "Air Canada Lite" by the industry, and is concerned about the results of its earlier decision to merge several regional airlines into one unit. This is the second delay for...

UPS wins in battle over China routes : United Parcel Service (UPS) has won out.(Department of Transportation encourages American and Delta to negotiate wet-lease deals)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... But in a move that could have far-reaching effects, the DoT is encouraging American Airlines and Delta Air Lines, who lost out in their bids for China routes, to circumvent the whole process by negotiating wet-lease deals with their Chinese...

New government will not stop Cintra split.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Pedro Cerisola, Mexico's new secretary of transport and communications (SCT), has dashed the hopes of anyone who thought Vicente Fox's new government, which took office on 1 December, might de-rail the plan to split up Cintra, the holding...

LanChile's partnership rollercoaster rises and falls.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Just as LanChile started a new partnership in Ecuador that fits with its expansion strategy, its LanPeru joint venture has blown up in its face. The Ecuador opportunity comes in the wake of collapsing relations between Ecuatoriana and its...

Fuel costs force start-ups into bankruptcy court: Legend Airlines and National Airlines, two fledgling US carriers, filed for protection from creditors under US bankruptcy laws in December. Both pledge to return if and when new funds are put in place.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 1, 2001... Legend, the Dallas-based airline that sought to carve out a business-traveller oriented niche, suspended services at the start of December, after operating for just eight months, and filed for bankruptcy court protection the next day. Airline...

San Francisco terminal open.(San Francisco International Airport opens terminal)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 1, 2001... San Francisco International Airport opened its new $1 billion international terminal last month, phasing in services by 24 airlines over five days. The carriers currently operate 260 flights a day. Part of a $2.4 billion airport expansion...

Recovery sets in as operating margins double: Europe's airlines enter the new year on a more optimistic note than they did the last, with results for the September's quarter showing further evidence of a recovery. A healthy economic environment more than outweighed the fuel price hike, with operating margins among the major carriers in the region nearly doubling.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 1, 2001... Particularly encouraging is the return to health of some of the Europe's more troubled carriers this time last year, such as British Airways and KLM. BA showed strong signs of recovery earlier this year and KLM appears to be following suit. ...

Europe's restraint pays off: Latest results from Europe show that capacity restraint has paid off and the good news could be set to continue, writes Chris Tarry of Commerzbank.(Euopean airlines industry, overview)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)(Industry Overview)
January 1, 2001... If there were any lingering doubts about the benefits of capacity restraint then they should have been dispelled by the latest figures from the European airline industry. Admittedly, fuel prices caused further pain but the main message coming...

AAPA tracks eventful recovery path: As the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA)met for its annual assembly, members could reflect on a year of frenetic activity both in terms of traffic and business strategy. For event host Air New Zealand (ANZ), however, not all the activity was in the right direction.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... On the eve of the assembly, ANZ found itself struggling to handle the fall-out from an ill-timed profits warning and must have been glad when the event was over. The drama comes as a fitting end to an eventful year for the region in general and...

Air Niugini tries privatisation again.(Brief Article)(Company Profile)
January 1, 2001... Papua New Guinea is reviving plans to sell its troubled flag-carrier, Air Niugini.EPrime minister and finance minister Sir Mekere Morauta has announced that bids will be invited from overseas airlines during the first quarter of this year. ...

APEC moves towards multilateral open skies.(Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Five Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) member countries have agreed to what is dubbed the world's first multilateral open-skies air services agreement. At an annual high-level APEC meeting in Brunei, the host nation joined with Chile,...

China Southern bids for Xinjiang: Chinese consolidation efforts are continuing to gather pace, with China Southern Airlines closing on a deal to acquire China Xinjiang Airlines.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... If finalised, the take-over will be the biggest since Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) officials announced radical consolidation plans in the middle of last year. Industry sources in Hong Kong say that China Southern, the...

Routes.(briefs, various airlines)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... China Southern down underChina Southern Airlines is restarting operations to Australia with a twice-weekly service on the Guangzhou-Melbourne-Sydney route. Air China and China Eastern Airlines were previously the only Chinese carriers operating...

Routes.(briefs, various airlines)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... PAL restarts Jakarta... Philippine Airlines has resumed services to Jakarta, Indonesia, after an absence of more than two years, expanding its international route network to 16 destinations. The carrier resumed Jakarta services four times...

Fleets.(airline industry, fleet purchases)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Qantas orders A3XX Qantas Airways has confirmed a $4.6 billion order for a mix of 31 Airbus A3XXs, A330s and Boeing 747s for delivery over the next 10 years. It plans to take 12 A3XXs, seven A330-200s and six A330-300s, as well as placing...

Tan group tightens its grip on PAL.(Lucio Tan's companies already control over 50% of Philippine Airlines)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 1, 2001... Philippine Airlines (PAL) is close to securing a "back-door" listing on the local stock exchange as it continues its recovery from near bankruptcy. A take-over proposal is on the table that would see 85% of PAL coming under the control of...

Open skies in Asia-Pacific: The multilateral open skies agreement signed in Asia-Pacific may have been little more than symbolic. But in the highly politicised debate over liberalisation, symbols can be just as important as actions.(five nations on Pacific Rim sign open skies accord)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Asia-Pacific may not quite be readying itself to lead the world towards liberalisation, but the multilateral open skies deal, signed towards the close of the year by five nations within APEC (the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation...

Spinetta outlines route to Air France/Alitalia link-up.(Air France chairman Jean-Cyril Spinetta)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Air France chairman, Jean-Cyril Spinetta, has emphasised that the French flag-carrier is still interested in Alitalia, but not at any price. "The interest is mutual. It has to be shared or nothing can happen," Spinetta says, picking out...

Long haul restructuring for Gatwick.(British Airways to move flights from Gatwick to Heathrow)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 1, 2001... British Airways will continue to be the largest operator at its second London hub, despite a 10%fall in short-haul capacity at Gatwick and the reduction of long-haul routes from 43 to around 25. These measures are among several BA has...

Low-cost battle moves to Europe.(Transavia Airlines N.V., Easyjet Airline PLC)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... KLMsubsidiary Transavia has launched a low-fare airline out of Amsterdam, going head-to-head with easyJet. Basiq Air started operating to Nice and Barcelona in December. The move is widely seen as a response to easyJet's decision to use...

Star extends alliance scope through regional leaders.(Star Alliance in Europe and Southeast Asia)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... The Star Alliance is to take a regionalised approach to further integration with separate centres of gravity developing within the Americas, Europe and Asia. In Europe, Lufthansa plans to take the lead in forging closer ties with its Star...

In brief.(Australian Airlines Group Ltd., British Regional Air Lines)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Austrian reorganises The synergies offered by the new structure for the Austrian Airlines Group will amount to c72.6 million ($63.7 million) per year, with two-thirds coming from cost savings and one-third from increases in earnings. The...

Germans seek Russian gold.(Lufthansa likely to invest in Russia, rather than elsewhere in Eastern Europe)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Lufthansa is more likely to look to Russia rather than elsewhere in Eastern Europe for future investment opportunities, says a manager at the German flag-carrier. The carrier's vice-president for sales Europe/north east, Ulrich Wachter,...

German tie-up for Spanair?(Deutsche Lufthansa A.G. may still consider buying a stake in Spanair)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Senior managers at Lufthansa say that the possibility of the airline taking an equity stake in Spanair has not been ruled out, though it has not been discussed at board level. The Spanish press has speculated that the German carrier plans...

Pinto rises to the challenge at TAP.(Fernando Pinto, new chief executive of TAPAir Portugal)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 1, 2001... Fernando Pinto, the former head of Brazilian flag-carrier Varig, has been greeted with a baptism of fire at TAPAir Portugal where he has been appointed new chief executive. Strikes have once again crippled the airline, including action in...

THY makes private move.(Turk Hava Yollari A.S., Turkish airline, to be privatized)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 1, 2001... Turkey put 51% of its national carrier THY Turkish Airlines up for sale in mid- December to meet obligations to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), according to Ugur Bayar, head of Turkey's privatisation board. The sale was part of the...

SAirGroup dispels sell-off speculation: Speculation over the fate of the SAirGroup.(Brief Article)(Company Profile)
January 1, 2001... Although earnings from the extensive handling, catering and engineering businesses are likely to keep SAir in profit for 2000, losses have been growing within the SAirLines division, which groups together the core airline holdings of Swissair,...

Cargo's: GF-X is now up and running, as an online trading platform for the air cargo business. But some players still seem unsure whether it is the right solution.(Global Freight Exchange)(Company Profile)
January 1, 2001... After five months of testing, Global Freight Exchange (GF-X), the online trading platform for air cargo capacity, went live on 30 September, although its founders say it was taking live bookings from its 17 trial participants as far back as...

Chinese: China's airline industry continues to grow at an impressive rate. Recent signs that it may promote a hub-and-spoke strategy indicate it may be maturing too.(Industry Overview)(Statistical Data Included)
January 1, 2001... As China's aviation brass met in the southern city of Zhuhai early in November for the third China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition, the intended message was that the country's industry is maturing. But Chinese authorities...

SIA leads race for Air India.(Singapore Airlines)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... With bidding officially closed for stakes in Air-India and domestic carrier Indian Airlines, the contest has narrowed to three airlines and airline partnerships, two industrial groups and one union - the pilots. And while the Indian...

Transatlantic trade wars loom in 2001.(over hushkitting of jets and US tax laws)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... The aviation industry is likely to enter 2001 dogged by two transatlantic trade disputes - one over engine noise and another over airliner sales. The hushkit row, together with the longer-term issue of new engine noise standards, continues to...

In-flight and ground services.
January 1, 2001... Airline Business examines the growing trend towards providing personalised service in the increasingly sophisticated cabin environment. Innovations are gathering pace in handling and in-flight catering, headed by new opportunities in e-commerce...

Leap: In-flight catering is waking up to the opportunities of e-commerce. But will the benefits be open to all or just a few?
January 1, 2001... The in-flight catering industry is looking on with a mixture of fascination and horror at the recent Delta Air Lines deal to hand over its entire catering and related services portfolio to e-gatematrix. Delta's 12-year contract with the...

Flights: The airline marketing community is thinking hard about how to differentiate their in-flight product from those of their competitors, and what passengers will want from the cabin of the future.
January 1, 2001... Customer satisfaction has always had as much to do with art as science, but one unshakeable fact in the airline industry would appear to be that passenger expectations for the in-flight experience are becoming ever more demanding. Travellers...

Food: A series of new industry dynamics are affecting the world of in-flight catering as the industry sees food take a higher profile in the marketing mix.(Statistical Data Included)
January 1, 2001... The names that airlines are recruiting from top restaurants to revamp their in-flight menus reads like a connoisseur's guide to celebrity chefs from around the world. Neil Perry at Qantas, Michel Roux at British Airways, and Swissair's Roland...

Empire: The turbulence in global ground handling is unlikely to die down this year as further consolidation, alliance manoeuvring, and outsourcing continue to dominate an industry in flux.
January 1, 2001... The first alliances to influence the ground handling industry were those of the airlines. Now handlers and airports are joining in the game. Six handlers, with bases from Israel and Turkey to the UK, have joined to create Aviance, an...

Survival: Europe's low-cost carriers appear to have established themselves as more than a passing fashion, but question marks remain. Prof Rigas Doganis, in a new study included in his latest book on airline management, sets out the survival issues facing both the low-cost contenders and their conventional airline competitors.(Statistical Data Included)
January 1, 2001... Whatever else can be said about Europe's low-cost airline sector, it has rarely been dull. Over the past few months alone there has been a whirl of activity, including the easyJet flotation and the pending sale of Go. Amidst this activity,...

Baltic: The Baltic airlines have struggled for a decade to recover from their Soviet legacy. Indications are that they may have turned the corner.
January 1, 2001... The three Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania will celebrate the 10th anniversary of their independence this year. In the aviation arena, independence has brought with it a crumbling and unwieldy Soviet aviation infrastructure, along...

Naluri prepares to sell stake in MAS: Investors in Malaysia Airlines (MAS) are celebrating the confirmation that chairman and majority owner Tajudin Ramli is nearing a deal to sell his company's entire stake in the carrier.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Tajudin, who is also chairman and main shareholder of aviation holding company Naluri, has ended long-running speculation that he aims to sell his29% holding. He says he has been forced into the decision because he is "saddled with...

Bilateral accord sparks ownership debate-: Foreign ownership in Air New Zealand (ANZ) and Qantas Airways has become a hot topic following the signing of two new liberal bilaterals.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 1, 2001... New Zealand is a party to both the multilateral open skies agreements signed at the recent APEC meeting [see story below] and a new open skies bilateral with Australia.EBoth effectively remove foreign ownership limits, although control of an...

Atlas: Atlas founder Michael Chowdry has turned his company into one of the three biggest players in the global cargo market, as well as one of the fastest growing. Along the way, he has helped to pioneer a new concept for cargo airline operations.
January 1, 2001... Sitting in a well-appointed office in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains west of Denver, Michael A Chowdry has reason to be pleased. His brainchild, Atlas Air, has carved out an enviable niche for itself. Less than eight years after starting...

The European Commission's "single sky" report on air traffic management integration recommends the setting up of a new regulator for Europe's skies. But where does this leave Eurocontrol, the body that has traditionally co-ordinated European ATM?
January 1, 2001... It was a long time coming, but worth the wait. The high-level group (HLG) set up by the European Commis-sion (EC) to mould together Europe's fragmented air traffic system into a so-called "single sky" has delivered its final report and while it...

In brief.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... TMAhelps IraqiAir Lebanon's Trans Mediterranean Airways (TMA) has signed a memorandum of understanding with Iraqi Airways for co-operation on cargo and maintenance activities. TMAwill provide freight services to Iraq and create a transit...

[1] In brief.(includes; Biman Bngladesh Airlines sale)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Online date chosen July 1st 2001 has been chosen as the provisional date for the launch of the European airline online travel portal. Participating airlines have yet to agree a name for the joint venture, according to senior Lufthansa...