Airline Business articles from September 2005

Airline Business archives from September 2005

Rivals jockey for Jetsgo's share.
September 1, 2005... Canadian airlines are still adjusting to the demise of Jetsgo. At first they breathed a collective sigh of relief that the discount carrier, which had wreaked havoc on balance sheets everywhere, was gone. But now they are jockeying to fill the...

Crisis time at Independence.
September 1, 2005... Independence Air is on the verge of losing its independence as a liquidity crisis threatens its attempt to create the first low-fares regional jet operator. A United Express feeder until June 2004, it struggled through its year of independence...

Further bankruptcies beckon for US majors.
September 1, 2005... As the continuing rise in the cost of fuel overcomes new cost efficiencies, earlier savings are rapidly becoming obsolescent. Now Delta, after devoting the past 12 months to a restructuring intended to avoid bankruptcy, is unlikely to stay out...

Mexican sales spark market shake-up.
September 1, 2005... The break-up of Cintra has gained a momentum of its own, just in time for major changes in the Mexican industry and market. Holding company Cintra will disclose shortly the names of investors who had expressed an interest in its airlines,...

Pluna in play.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... Uruguay's Pluna is down-playing claims of its imminent sale to Venezuela's state-owned Conviasa. Venezuelan officials had even predicted a signed deal when President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela visited Montevideo in August. Conviasa wants to share...

Southwest's Seattle showdown.
September 1, 2005... Competitors and local officials claim the move will cripple Seattle/Tacoma's International's $4.2 billion expansion, a price tag that Southwest cites as its reason for moving and one that rivals say will only get higher without Southwest to...

Time to take stock?
September 1, 2005... Over the past few months this magazine has been suggesting that 2004 may well have been the industry's peak year. That peak saw carriers reporting an operating margin of just under 1.0%. This cautious view regarding near- and medium-term...

On the rebound.
September 1, 2005... Even though legacy carriers such as American Airlines earned unblemished profits unassisted by special charges during the quarter, industry losses approached a third of a billion dollars as fuel costs kept rising. Revenue surprises came at...

Japan sets off on Narita extension.
September 1, 2005... Japan's government has given up trying to negotiate a deal with landowners to lengthen a runway at busy Tokyo Narita airport and is going ahead with the extension on its own. The transport ministry says it has approved Narita International...

Start-ups blossom in China.
September 1, 2005... Two new competitors have entered the fast-growing Chinese market with the launch of services by two privately owned airlines that are promising to deliver significantly lower fares. The new airlines, Spring Airlines and United Eagle Airlines,...

India plans public offers...
September 1, 2005... India's state-owned airlines are moving forward with plans for initial public offerings (IPOs). The initiatives are aimed at helping them raise cash for expansion to compete more effectively against rapidly expanding private carriers. Main...

India stands firm on foreign ownership.
September 1, 2005... India's government is upholding a controversial ban on foreign airlines holding stakes in the country's domestic carriers. Civil aviation minister Praful Patel recently announced that the long-standing ban would be retained, despite repeated...

Singapore budget carriers to merge.
September 1, 2005... The merger announcement came late in July, just weeks after the two airlines said they had withdrawn from tie-up talks as they could not agree a deal. While it was true that the initial talks had collapsed, renewed discussions began soon after....

...as slot pool finds favour.(Airlines)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... Indian civil aviation regulators are creating a "slot pool" for the country's airports to give new airlines opportunities to develop their operations and allow existing airlines to retain existing slots. Civil aviation minister Praful Patel...

Taiwan drops airspace ban.
September 1, 2005... Taiwan's government has made a gesture to Beijing aimed at easing tensions by dropping a decades-old ban on Taiwanese airlines using Chinese airspace. Taiwanese premier Frank Hsieh says Taipei-based China Airlines (CAL) and EVA Air will now be...

Virgin Blue seeks homes for cheap 737s.
September 1, 2005... "We can't sell the options," says Brett Godfrey, Virgin Blue's chief executive, which means that it can realise their value only if it buys the aircraft and finds some profitable way to use them. After the 11 September terror attacks, Virgin...

America West/US Airways merged team unveiled.
September 1, 2005... The executive team that will lead the merged America West and US Airways will predominantly come from the Phoenix-based carrier when the two are combined under the US Airways name. Doug Parker, as previously announced, will lead the new carrier...

Leadership crisis at Thai.(Thai Airways International Ltd.)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... Thai Airways International president Kanok Abhiradee has been stripped of his authority by a board of directors unhappy about the carrier's deteriorating financial condition. The stunning move was announced a day after a board meeting in which...

Alliance values.
September 1, 2005... A popular rhetorical question that sceptics used to make a point was "suppose they gave a war and nobody came?" Ask the same question of global airline alliances and the answer is perhaps more revealing. Suppose the strategic alliances...

Alitalia thrown final lifeline.
September 1, 2005... The Italian flag carrier has not made an operating profit since 1998 and moved only marginally into the black in 2002, due to asset sales and compensation paid by KLM for the abrupt ending of a partnership. In 2004, its net loss surpassed...

EUjet falters to become latest low-cost casualty.
September 1, 2005... Administrators overseeing Irish budget carrier EUjet and its main operating base, Kent International airport, are optimistic over prospects for securing investors in both, following the collapse of their UK parent company. EUjet, which served...

Labour turbulence shakes Aer Lingus management.
September 1, 2005... Mannion, who was recruited from Emirates, was faced with dealing with the public fallout of a leaked memo from the former management team. The memo details what labour union SIPTU describes as a list of possible "environmental push factors" to...

Hamburg set for Lufthansa/germanwings.
September 1, 2005... Lufthansa and its low-cost affiliate germanwings are planning to compete head-on at Hamburg airport, in a move that also sees Lufthansa move away from its policy of concentrating on feeding its Frankfurt and Munich hubs. The move comes as...

European carriers report mixed results.
September 1, 2005... The big three -- Air France/KLM, British Airways and Lufthansa -- all reported healthy revenue figures and outlooks, as did easyJet. However, Ryanair, while reporting a 35% in revenues for the June quarter, says it is "cautious" for the...

Events diary.(Calendar)
September 1, 2005... September 15-16 World Low Cost Airlines Congress 2005 Amsterdam, Netherlands Contact Terrapin Tel +44 207 827 4168 website www.terrapin.com 18-21 ACI North America Annual Conference Toronto, Canada Contact Amy Peters Tel +1 202 293 8500 website...

US leisure travel on the up.
September 1, 2005... US carriers are finding their aircraft packed this summer as travellers and their families return to the skies in large numbers, taking advantage of domestic leisure fares that are comparable to the ticket prices of two decades ago. The Air...

New horizons.
September 1, 2005... Leisure travel has not always been an easy industry to be involved in this decade, with the growth of low-cost carriers, geopolitical worries and economic downswings just some of the challenges the sector has had to face up to. Still, 2004 and,...

Africa's era of liberalisation.
September 1, 2005... African countries need a strong and vibrant air transport industry to achieve the goal of social, economic and political integration. The good news is that Africa's operating environment is becoming more conducive to the growth of the industry...

Routes 2005.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... 25-27 September Copenhagen, Denmark Get your airline or airport's news out to the crowd at this year's Routes event in Copenhagen through the pages of Routes Daily News. Launched last year at the Madrid event, this publication, produced by...

In next month's issue of Airline Business.
September 1, 2005... Cover interview -- Hawaiian Airlines president Mark Dunkerley tells Airline Business how he led his carrier out of bankruptcy with $120 million in the bank and paid off all creditors. Europe/US open skies -- what are the prospects for...

Highlights.
September 1, 2005... 2nd FFP Conference 21-22 February 2006 Bangkok, Thailand The second FFP Conference, jointly organised by Airline Information and Global Flight Management in partnership with this magazine, will be modelled on the successful formula of the...

Fare rises limit fuel pain.
September 1, 2005... As oil prices continue their seemingly inexorable rise, the question for the industry is to what extent it can pass the extra costs onto the consumer. In North America, airlines have rarely imposed a fuel surcharge as such but instead have...

Asia's skill shortage.
September 1, 2005... Among the Asia-Pacific airline community, labour strife is a relatively rare affair. While South Korea's Asiana Airlines, which has seen mass strikes recently, might disagree that labour woes are few and far between, a potential problem is...

Expansivemood.
September 1, 2005... Shanghai Airlines chairman and chief executive Zhou Chi has seen his airline expand its fleet more than fivefold in just a decade. Impressive growth to most, but not to him. "That's not that much for China," Zhou says matter-of-factly at the...

Collectivegains.
September 1, 2005... The global airline alliances were allied long before they were global, but now they each have true global reach, few unaligned carriers remain truly independent and the alliances can be said to be close to full up. Some even have waiting lists....

Cargocounts.
September 1, 2005... Just like the late US comedian Rodney Dangerfield's favourite catch phrase, cargo often "don't get no respect" in many quarters of the aviation industry, including from airports. More and more airport executives are talking about cargo, but...

Posada leaves Synergy.(Juan E. Posada)(Synergy Aerospace)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... One of Latin America's aviation leaders may be leaving the industry following his resignation from Synergy Aerospace. With no fanfare, Posada has resigned as president of Synergy Aerospace, a division of Brazil's Synergy group that owns...