NewsLenders Losing Patience With Kingfisher
Lenders to India's beleaguered Kingfisher Airlines are losing hope it will be able to bring in outside investment anytime soon and may sell assets held against their loans, three bankers said on Monday.
LinkGol Losses To End By 4th Quarter - Report
Gol, Brazil's No. 2 airline, aims to staunch losses by the fourth quarter, its new chief executive told a local newspaper, promising to show results after a wave of recent layoffs.
LinkAirbus Alabama Move Has Major Implications
Plans to build a USD$600 million plant in Mobile, Alabama to produce A320 passenger planes will give Airbus a strategic foothold on US soil while breathing life into American manufacturing.
LinkBombardier reveals CSeries final assembly planBombardier will soon begin constructing a CSeries final assembly centre designed to build 100 of the type annually from a single production line, initially with seven positions on a partially pulsed line. Final assembly of the first complete static-test airframe is scheduled to be finished in September, followed immediately by assembly of the first flight test airframe FTV-1.
LinkSpecial-mission helicopter manufacturers prepare to do battleWhen this decade is analysed by aviation historians, it will surely be singled out as the second most innovative period in the history of rotorcraft (see Feature P88). After half a century of conservatism - following some revolutionary rotorcraft designs introduced in the early 1950s - the technology has finally caught up with the design brief. And this same technology is helping industry once more to think out of the box.
LinkUS Northern Command halts C-130 fire fighting flights after deadly crash 
US Northern Command has placed an operational hold on all military flights of Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System-equipped Lockheed Martin C-130 aircraft after a 1 July crash. The downed aircraft belonged to the North Carolina Air National Guard's 145th Airlift Wing. The crew was helping to fight a wild fire in South Dakota when it crashed at around 18:30 local time. It was the first crash of a C-130 so-equipped in over 40 years. The crash is now under investigation, Northern Command says.
LinkDelta pilots approve labor contract through 2015
Delta Air Lines pilots approved a new labor agreement last week after two months of bargaining. The contract, which took effect Sunday, runs through 2015. Delta said the contract "provides career growth opportunities and pay, scheduling and benefits improvements to the pilots, while providing Delta with the ability to accelerate fleet enhancements."
LinkAMR wants to extend deadline for reorganization
AMR Corp., the parent company of American Airlines, wants a three-month extension of its reorganization plan under bankruptcy protection. An extension would push back the deadline from Sept. 28 to Dec. 27. "We have one chance to get this restructuring right, so it's important we approach this process in a methodical and disciplined manner," said Missy Cousino, spokeswoman for American.
LinkColumn: Not all PreCheck travelers get to the fast laneNot all travelers who are approved to participate in the Transportation Security Administration's PreCheck program are allowed to use the fast lane at security checkpoints all the time, Carol Pucci writes. She says some travelers may end up in the slow lane because the TSA continues to randomly select travelers for full screening. The TSA points out that the program is still in the test phase.
LinkAirbus US facility has potential to double in sizeThe US facility will be built on a former US Air Force base site known as Brookley Aerospace in Mobile, Ala. Briefing media after the facility’s announcement ceremonies in Mobile Monday, Airbus EVP-strategy and future programs Christian Scherer said the center would become operational at the beginning of 2016 and comprise seven main buildings, including the assembly line, paint facility, final testing facility, flight test center and customer delivery center.
LinkEurope’s regional airlines feel the pinchFigures just released by the European Regions Airline Assn. (ERA) show the economic downturn began to bite its member carriers in March. ERA, which represents 60 of Europe’s regional carriers, said its members cut ASKs by 6.8% during the first three months. The reduction in capacity exceeded a 1.1% drop in RPKs, pushing load factor up by 4.1 points to 64.9%.
LinkLong-haul, low-cost FlyA slated for 2013 launchFounder and former CEO of Swiss regional airline Baboo Julian Cook is planning to launch a new airline called FlyA in summer 2013.
Cook aims to launch FlyA in June next year with “at least a couple” of A330-400s. “We haven’t got an exact [launch] date, but we are talking with a few leasing companies to determine whether it will be June [2013] or another month. If we slip by a month, it won’t be the end of the world,” he said.
LinkFormer Air Canada parent liquidatesACE Aviation, former parent company to Air Canada, has appointed Ernst & Young as liquidator and announced the resignation of all its directors and officers. On April 25, ACE's shareholders approved a special resolution providing for the voluntary liquidation of ACE. Its net assets as of April 30 amounted to C$381 million ($374.6 million), including 31 million shares in AC valued at C$31 million.
LinkIberia adds capacity to key holiday destinations for the summerIberia is adding frequency to the Canary Islands for the summer season, increasing capacity to Gran Canaria by 32% and Tenerife by 19%. The additional frequencies will bring IB’s total number of flights operated between Spain and the largest Canary Island cities to nearly 100 a week.
LinkSunExpress curtails fleet expansion plan this yearSunExpress, a joint venture between Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa, will curtail its fleet expansion plan this year due to overcapacity in the Turkey aviation market. Instead of the planned deliveries of six Boeing 737-800s, the carrier will add just two of the type this year.
LinkRussian authorities reinstate VIM Avia EU flightsRussian Federal Air Transport Agency Rosaviatsia has reinstated permission for VIM Avia to operate European flights after a ban late last year. Traditionally in the summer season the carrier operates scheduled flights from Russia to Greece, Italy and Spain and charter flights to several other European countries.
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