Airline Business articles from July 2001

Airline Business archives from July 2001

SEPI provides bankruptcy shelter for ailing Aerolineas: Aerolineas Argentinas is a step closer to shutting down after SEPI, its Spanish owner and manager, decided to place the airline under court protection from its creditors.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 1, 2001... SEPI has opted to seek legal safeguards for Aerolineas against its creditors after the Argentine Government gave the troubled carrier an ultimatum either to resume flying suspended overseas routes or see them go to rivals. SEPI took the...

Democrats take control : The Democratic party is once again in control of the US Senate, and airline lobbyists are concerned that the proponents of legislation to improve industry service levels may hold more sway.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Aviation is a lot like motherhood, apple pie and other all-American issues: it is cross-party. That is what Capitol Hill types like to say, but what it means is this: Democrats and Republicans both hate the airlines. The big difference now that...

FAA comes under Latin safety spotlight.(US Federal Aviation Administration downgrades Panama and Bolivia)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... The US Federal Aviation Administration faces scrutiny in Panama and Bolivia over its contentious safety assessment programme, always a bone of contention in Latin America.E The FAA's decision to downgrade Panama to Category 2 came as a...

Kennedy jigsaw starts to take shape.(New York Kennedy Airport Terminal T4 opens, seeks tenants)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 1, 2001... Another piece of the $10.3 billion revitalisation of New York Kennedy Airport fell into place with the opening of the new Terminal 4 (T4). The terminal is home to 35 US and foreign carriers, handling close to six million passengers a year....

In brief.(two airline industry briefs)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Cendant buys Galileo Galileo, the number two global distribution system after Sabre, has been sold to Cendant Corporation, a New York-based provider of business and consumer services in travel and property, for $2.9 billion. Cendant, which...

Bloch calls for regional capacity cuts.(chief executive of Grupo TACA, Federico Bloch)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... The biggest problem facing Latin America's airlines is excess capacity in small markets, according to one of their prominent leaders. Federico Bloch, chief executive of Grupo TACA, told his colleagues at the recent AvNews CEO Conference in...

Asia rides the financial rollercoaster: Asia's carriers, having recovered from the economic downturn of three years ago, are facing a series of fresh financial challenges, writes Nicholas Ionides.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 1, 2001... This time last year, most major Asian airlines were reporting a return to healthy profits after having recovered from the troubled times which followed the region's decent into economic downturn in 1997. This year looks like a different story....

Airline labour pains - can the industry afford to pay up?: The level of wage settlements are already causing concern in the US market and labour negotiations are now raising alarms in Europe. Chris Tarry of Commerzbank asks whether the airline industry can afford to pay?(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 1, 2001... The impact of pilot pay settlements has already become clear in the USA. Now attention has become focused on Europe and there appear to be the first warning signs of unrest in Asia too. There is room for plenty of debate about the merits or...

Listing plan for Air China.(Air China plans to list securities abroad to raise money for expansion)
July 1, 2001... Air China is working to become the third Chinese carrier listed abroad as sweeping airline consolidation continues in the country. The Beijing-based flag carrier says it is seeking stock exchange listings in Hong Kong and New York as early...

Biman seeks to revive privatisation.(Biman Bangladesh Airlines)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 1, 2001... The Bangladeshi Government is seeking to revive stalled efforts to partially privatise Biman Bangladesh Airlines by pledging to give up majority ownership. Cash-strapped Biman has been working on its privatisation for more than a year but...

Hong Kong eases its stance on fifth freedom rights.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Hong Kong appears to be relaxing its opposition to fifth freedom rights.ETalks last year between the USA and Hong Kong were broken off amid acrimony over the fifth freedom issue, but there are now hints of a more open attitude. According...

New MAS team sets target for recovery and joins KLM: The new management team at Malaysia Airlines (MAS) has set a 2004 target for a financial turnaround as the airline finally opts for KLM, rather than oneworld, as its international partner.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 1, 2001... Sweeping changes are planned for the recently re-nationalised airline over the next two years. At the end of May, MAS reported its financial year-end results, showing a fourth consecutive set of heavy losses (see page 83), but managing director...

Routes.(multiple international airline industry briefs)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... MAS adds Heathrow flights Malaysia Airlines has added two more weekly flights to London's Heathrow airport following British Airways' suspension of London-Kuala Lumpur services. The increases bring to 16 the number of flights it operates...

SAA attacked in Andrews pay-out row : A cabinet-level row has erupted between the South African Government and the former managing director of Transnet, the state-owned parent of South African Airways, over the "outrageous" remuneration package received by the airline's former chief executive, Coleman Andrews.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 1, 2001... The Minister of Public Enterprises, Jeff Radebe, has vowed to investigate corporate governance issues and take action if breaches of rules can be proved. Andrews is reported to have received R232 million ($29 million) for the three years he...

China-Taiwan links move closer.(Taiwan airline joint venture bids on China mainland cargo projects)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 1, 2001... Relations appear to be improving bet-ween Taiwan and China, which could lead to the resumption of direct flights between them. Taiwan has bid to invest in two cargo projects on the mainland. Taiwan's China Airlines (CAL), its 47%-owned...

Is Boeing back?: Boeing has been busy reinventing itself since the shambles of the late 1990s, when it began to cede its decades long dominance of the airliner industry. The new-look corporation which re-emerged at the Paris air show was strong on big ideas, but will they fly?(Brief Article)(Company Profile)
July 1, 2001... It has been all too easy to heap criticism on Boeing. The Paris air show again gave the critics a field day as Airbus trounced its rival with a stream of new business. Boeing managed only three 777 orders from Japan Airlines, its most faithful...

Star looking at joint ventures.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... European members of the Star alliance are looking at the possibility of setting up joint venture companies to run some of their key IT functions. These could include revenue accounting and frequent flyer programmes. Ulrich Wachter,...

In brief.(AOM-Air Liberte, Aer Lingus)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... AOM-Air Liberte gets deadline Bankrupt carrier AOM-Air Liberte was given just three months' trading protection by a French court instead of the usual six months after detailing its losses to officials. The financially troubled regional...

Routes.(Alitalia close to joining SkyTeam alliance; Swissair Group rules out financing Sabena)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Alitalia close to joining alliance Alitalia is close to joining the SkyTeam alliance. The Italian flag carrier says that it hopes to "initiate the start-up process by the end of summer". Negotiations with SkyTeam's European leader Air...

Unions hold key to Olympic future.(short-listed potential suitors for majority stake in Olympic Airways to re-submit bids)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... The short-listed potential suitors for a majority stake in troubled Greek flag-carrier Olympic Airways were forced to re-submit their bids in mid-June, after Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB) decided that the original bids did not comply with...

ECslot proposals stir up a storm of carrier protest: European mainline carriers have reacted angrily to new slot control proposals from the European Commission (EC), arguing that Brussels has gone back on its promise to stick to technical issues in this first wave of reform.(Brief Article)(Industry Overview)
July 1, 2001... The regulation, which was adopted by the ECon 20 June, but still has to make its way through the European Council and Parliament, drew an immediate and angry response from the Association of European Airlines (AEA). It claims that the...

Joint venture must lose slots, says EC: While the joint venture between Lufthansa, bmi british midland and SAS has been cleared by the European Commission (EC), Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines have resorted to offering to subsidise new competitors as Brussels threatens to curtail cross-border co-operation.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Although the EC agreed the Lufthansa/bmi/SAS joint venture, it stipulated that the partners give up four London Heathrow-Frankfurt slots. With new entrants unlikely to take on the might of Star and oneworld on these routes, British Airways is...

Global background.(Xabier de Irala, chairman of board of governors of International Air Transport Association)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Xabier de Irala has a cosmopolitan background. Born in New York in 1946, he is a Basque who studied mechanical engineering at La Salle University in The Philippines, where he also attained his MBA. He is fluent in English, French, Spanish and...

Commercial: After five years at the helm of Iberia, Xabier de Irala has privatised the airline, joined a major alliance and established a commercial ethos, and the changes are set to continue.(Company Profile)
July 1, 2001... When Iberia chairman Xabier de Irala sat down to preside over Iberia's board meeting on the 5th of April this year, it was a turning point for both the Spanish flag carrier, and for him. Following the previous day's share flotation, Irala was...

Fast.(Boeing Co.'s sonic cruiser)
July 1, 2001... If the Airbus A380 had been the talking point of the previous air show, then the attention in Paris belonged to Boeing and its sonic cruiser. The fact that it grabbed headlines was hardly a surprise. A futuristic concept aircraft was bound to...

Paris highlights.(industry briefs)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Order slowdown With only 309 aircraft orders worth $17.3 billion - and one order alone representing $8.7 billion (ILFC's Airbus purchase) - the Paris air show was, not surprisingly, a relatively poor affair on the order front. By...

Airlines enter the corporate jet debate.(United Airlines' new subsidiary BizJet caters to first class passengers)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... While Boeing and Airbus tussled over the merits of the sonic cruiser, another debate about market segmentation was taking place on the sidelines, this time over the use of the corporate jet. The discussion was sparked off by United...

SIA trumps Qantas: Moves by Singapore Airlines to seek a bigger stake in Air New Zealand appear to have scuttled a Qantas plan to buy into the flag carrier.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... A Qantas Airways bid for Air New Zealand (ANZ) that would have turned Australasian aviation on its head has been thwarted for now by Singapore Airlines (SIA), but the financial issues that prompted it remain unresolved. If the New Zealand...

BA and American renew antitrust push: American Airlines and British Airways are turning up the heat in their bid for antitrust immunity backed by UK-USopen skies. Analysts are looking for a deal before a November deadline.(Brief Article)(Industry Overview)
July 1, 2001... The new urgency comes from a pending hearing in the European courts over whether the European Commission (EC) has power to negotiate air-service agreements over the heads of member states. The legal action dates back to 1998 when Brussels...

Mineta dismisses ATC privatisation.(U.S. transportation secretary Norm Mineta)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... US transportation secretary Norm Mineta has made clear that he sees privatisation of the air traffic control (ATC) system as a complete non-starter. During a flying visit to the Paris air show in June, he bluntly admitted there is no chance of...

In brief.(online travel portal receives name, Opodo)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... European airline portal named The online travel portal owned by nine European airlines has been given the name Opodo. The name was chosen to fit across different languages and cultures. The service, which has web sites customised for...

Playing for.(trends in airline industry alliances worldwide)(Statistical Data Included)
July 1, 2001... After another year of frenetic alliance activity, it is tempting to ask what, if any, net progress the industry has to show for its effort? On the face of it, the answer may be not much. Mergers have more often remained stuck on the tarmac than...

Living.(airline industry, world market forecast, management strategy)(Statistical Data Included)
July 1, 2001... Over the past couple of years, the global airline industry has recorded some impressive growth figures, supporting the popular view that we are a fast-moving, dynamic sector of the global economy. Latest data suggests that international...

The global groupings: The five contenders in the global alliance race are shown below with their tally of members and associated carriers, as of mid-June this year. Also shown are estimated shares of world scheduled passenger traffic for 2000.(Statistical Data Included)
July 1, 2001... KLM/Northwest "Wings" KLM had originally won the contest to net Alitalia as an alliance partner back in 1998. The deal was hailed by both sides as a "virtual" merger and work had started on merging operations of the two carriers. However,...