Lufthansa to buy stake in jetBlue

jetBlue announced earlier today that Lufthansa would "make a minority equity investment" in jetBlue. The agreement between the two airlines states that Lufthansa will buy about 42 million newly issued shares of jetBlue (19% of the airline) at $7.27 a share, about $300 million. Lufthansa would also get a seat on jetBlue's Board of Directors. (Per US law, Lufthansa would be limited to under 25% voting rights.)Lufthansa CEO Wolfgang Mayrhuber said that Lufthansa was "very pleased to become an investor in JetBlue" and that "this investment presents...

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A319 service to Antarctica

© Australian Antarctic Division 2006The Australian government has started air service from Hobart, Australia to the Wilkins Runway in Antarctica. The route is flown by a single Airbus A319-115LR, which is capable of flying from Hobart to Antarctica and back without refueling (the flight takes about 4.3 hours). The first flight, which was made earlier this week, was a proving flight and only carried operational personnel - regular passenger flights...

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ATA to challenge NY's passenger bill of rights

The Air Transport Association (ATA), the US airline industry trade group, is going to try to block New York state’s airline passenger Bill of Rights. Scheduled to take effect January 1, it would require airlines to provide adequate food, water, and access to waste removal if a New York-based flight has to wait more than three hours for take-off. According to the law, the state can fine airlines up to $1000 per passenger. Airlines leaving passengers stranded on planes for hours is nothing new; winter weather at JFK airport this past February...

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United pays investors while unions upset

United Airlines on Friday announced a $250 million onetime payout to shareholders, with management lauding the move highly. CEO Glenn Tilton announced that the payment, which will be given out at $2.15 a share, shows the airline’s “commitment to creating value for our investors… [United must] “compete for shareholders, just as we compete for customers.” Unions, rather unsurprisingly, gave a dim view of the payout, and said that the airline should be spending the extra cash on employees, rather than give it to investors. Mark Bathurst, head...

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MAXjet suspends shares

“Boutique airline” MAXjet Airways today requested that its shares be suspended in advance of a statement from the airline about its rather precarious financial situation. MAXjet flies five Boeing 767-200s from London-Stanstead to three US cities (JFK, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles) with around 100 leather seats apiece and four-course meals (not to mention champagne cocktails and canapés). The airline went public in June, but has since flown into a rough patch (their stock has fallen 50% and new route from London to Washington was axed, in addition...

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Olympic Airlines under pressure

photo by caribbGreek flag carrier Olympic Airlines appears to be flying into even more turbulence. The Greek transport minister, Costis Hadzidakis, said that although the government was dedicated to keeping Olympic afloat, "the situation for Olympic has become even more difficult," especially after Ryanair complained to the EU that Olympic has not repaid over 700 million euros ($1.2 billion) of illegal state aid that it received between 1998 and...

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Skybus VP: we're "best financed" US airline

According to Skybus vice president Dennis Carvill, Ryanair-imitator Skybus is "the best-financed airline in the history of the aviation industry in the United States... We are capitalized to $160 million of initial startup capital, and that has given us the ability to do what we are doing, that is to grow rather quickly." By comparison, jetBlue, which started out a few years ago with quite a lot of cash, had an initial capitalization of $128 million.Although initial capital is indeed important (and it certainly helped out jetBlue), Skybus' lack...

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Airbus could build plants in US, Russia

photo by mathoovAccording to a story in the German business weekly WirtschaftsWoche, Airbus is considering building assembly plants in the US or Russia. This is due to the strong euro, which Airbus parent company EADS head Louis Gallois said is threatening the long-term existence of the company.The story said that if a plant were built in the US, it would probably be in Mobile, Alabama - this is also important because the company has long been seeking...

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Three interested in Alitalia

photo by WTL photosItalian Prime Minister Romano Prodi recently said that Air France/KLM, Lufthansa, and Italian domestic carrier Air One were interested in making a bid for struggling Alitalia. (Previously interested Aeroflot has already quit the bidding.) All bidders have until December 6 to make a non-binding offer. In an interview with the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, Lufthansa CEO Wolfgang Mayrhruber said that "Alitalia...

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Interflug IL-62 lands on field

DDR-SEG featured on the cover of an October 1985 Interflug publicationPerhaps it's because I'm a fan of Soviet aircraft, but I couldn't resist posting about these videos that I came across recently, which show an Ilyushin IL-62 from the now-defunct East German airline Interflug landing on a field. Apparently the story goes like this: On October 23, 1989, aircraft DDR-SEG was landed (intentionally) on a 900-meter grass runway at the Stölln-Rhinow...

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Hawaiian dumps Boeing for Airbus long-haul

photo by Ack OokHawaiian Airlines announced yesterday that it was replacing its 18-strong fleet of Boeing 767-300s with 24 new long-range airplanes from Airbus. The order, which is for six A330-200s and six A350 XWB-800s (plus six options on each kind), is worth approximately $4.4 billion at list prices and will "enable [the airline] to open new routes to more distant markets on a nonstop basis from Hawaii," said a company press release. The first...

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American to spin off Eagle

photo by caribbAmerican Airlines announced today that it will be spinning off its regional carrier American Eagle. In a press release earlier today, parent company AMR said that the spin off, which is expected to be completed by 2008, "is in the best interests of AMR and its shareholders". American Eagle could be spun off to AMR shareholders or to a third party (or in yet another way).AMR went on to say that the spin off will allow American to focus...

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SAS looks towards fleet renewal

photo by LarszATW has reported that Scandinavian carrier SAS has announced that it will be looking to replace its fleet of Bombardier Q400s (like the one pictured above) as well as its sizable fleet of MD-80s. Last month, SAS made the decision to ground its fleet of 27 Q400s after three much-publicized crash landings in a six week period. Although Bombardier has repeatedly said that the Q400 is safe, SAS CEO Mats Jansson said in a statement that...

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United's "urge to merge"

The world of airline mergers has been buzzing since last week's report that United Airlines and Delta Airlines were being pushed by Pardus Capital Management (which owns a sizable stake in both airlines) to merge. Delta CEO Richard Anderson stated that "there have been no talks with United regarding any type of consolidation transaction and there are no such ongoing discussions." In a press release, Delta said that it "will not speculate on possible...

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Amazing 757 Landing

Another slow news day, so here's a video clip of an amazing landing of an American Airlines 757 at Tegucigalpa, Hondur...

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Forbes: America's Worst Airlines

photo courtesy of tizzieForbes magazine recently released a list of the country's "Worst Airlines", based upon flight delays, lost bags and cancellations. ASA came in worst, although Forbes noted that air traffic control is more likely to delay flights with fewer passengers, and because ASA flies smaller jets, they're more prone to being delayed. And weather was also a factor - several storms at Dallas affected American Eagle's performance, and Comair,...

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British Airways orders 787, A380

British Airways announced last Thursday that it would order 12 Airbus A380s and 24 Boeing 787s, with options for 7 more A380s and 18 more 787s. The planes will be delivered between 2010 and 2014. "This is an exciting day for British Airways with our largest fleet order since 1998," said Willie Walsh, BA's chief executive. "It's great news for our business, our customers and the environment." Walsh also pointed out that the two new types are environmentally...

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Singapore announces first A380 commercial flight

Singapore Airlines has announced the day of the first commercial flight of the A380. The flight, SQ 380, will be on October 25, from Singapore to Sydney. ""Everyone at Singapore Airlines is keenly anticipating the delivery of this new plane, and our people are working hard on final preparation for its entry into service," said Singapore CEO Chew Choon Seng. "The first flight promises to be one of the most exciting occasions in aviation history."All...

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AirTran isn't done with Midwest yet

Apparently AirTran isn't quite yet ready to give up on acquisition target Midwest Air, even though two days ago Midwest announced that it would go ahead with a deal led by TPG Capital. While the TPG offer was $16 a share, AirTran's latest offer, of $445 million in cash and stock, is valued at $16.25 a share. (Its old offer was $15.75 a share.) Midwest's board said earlier today that they would take the "revised offer under consideration".Even though...

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Midwest CEO to employees about TPG offer

This was posted online, and I thought I'd re-post it here on The Airline Blog:To: All Midwest and Skyway Airlines EmployeesDate: August 12, 2007From: Timothy E. HoeksemaSubject: Board of Directors Update #4The Midwest Air Group Board of Directors today said that it has unanimously determined to pursue an all-cash offer from TPG Capital, L.P. on behalf of an affiliate of TPG and one or more partners to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Midwest for $16.00 per share.The board took this action after receiving a letter from AirTran Holdings that...

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Northwest-backed group offers takeover bid for Midwest

photo: "Midwest N905ME", by Drewski2112A group of investors, led by TPG Capital and which includes Northwest Airlines, said that it would buy Milwaukee-based Midwest Air for $400 million. The TPG-led bid was announced right after AirTran, which coveted a Milwaukee hub, said that it would no longer pursue its hostile takeover of Midwest. AirTran's final offer of $15.75 a share was less than TPG's $16.Beyond the per-share figures, though, there might...

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United international route rumors

photo: "N646UA", by Drewski2112There have been a few rumors floating around that United Airlines might start some new international routes. Among them:Chicago - Moscow. Aeroflot used to fly this route but stopped in 2001, and United holds the dormant route authority for the route, which it obtained in a deal with Pan Am back in 1991. (If United did fly this route, it would probably skip Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport (SVO) and instead fly to Domodedovo...

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Air France and Delta might become closer

photo courtesy of caribbThe AFP and the French newspaper Les Echos are reporting that Air France is in joint-venture talks with Delta Air Lines, which is a fellow SkyTeam partner. A spokeswoman for Air France said that it "is still in negotiations with Delta, but nothing has been finalized". She also said that "the agreement being negotiated should be signed in the autumn."The joint venture would happen in two stages - the first would start in...

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United stock buyback plan raises controversy

photo courtesy albspotterExecutives at United Airlines have been talking about the possibility of the airline buying back stock or paying dividends to shareholders. “We realize the importance of doing something for shareholders," said CFO Jake Brace.But the idea has not gone over well with the unions, who claim that the airline should be doing more for its employees, who had to sacrifice a lot during the airline's extensive stint in Chapter 11 bankruptcy....

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No buyer, no Alitalia?

What happens next for Alitalia?The Italian carrier has seen its suitors drop out one by one: Aeroflot said no, Lufthansa-backed Italian carrier Air One said no, and MatlinPatterson, a US firm, was the last bidder - and it too said no. That leaves, well, nobody to bid for Alitalia, and it leaves the Italian government in a bit of a bind: it is under some pressure to solve the problem - especially when the 'problem' is losing 2 million euros ($2.8...

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US carriers look for more US-China routes

Several US airlines are pushing for more nonstop routes between the US and China, beginning in March 2009. And they're also going straight to the customer for help - most of them have designed separate websites highlighting their bids and are asking fliers to help out by signing petitions that will be presented to the Department of Transportation. Here are the airlines:American Airlines filed an application on Monday to start nonstop Chicago O'Hare - Beijing service, to start on March 25, 2009. (This isn't the first time American has tried to do...

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A big change for Delta, indeed

Well, it's certainly been a long road for Delta, but only three months after exiting Chapter 11 bankruptcy, it has posted a $1.8 billion profit."Delta’s emergence from bankruptcy was a significant milestone in the history of the company and the airline industry,” said Gerald Grinstein, Delta’s chief executive officer, in a press release today. “In delivering the kind of outstanding financial, operational and customer service results we saw this quarter,...

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Lufthansa economy-class sleeping area?

Recently on both Airliners.net and FlyerTalk.com there have been rumors floating around of Lufthansa introducing an economy-class sleeping area on overnight intercontinental flights. In an email survey that the airline recently sent out, one of the questions was:To increase the travel comfort on intercontinental night flights, Lufthansa is thinking about a separate sleeping area within Economy Class. There, you would have the possibility to sleep...

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AiRUnion moves towards Star as S7 joins oneworld

Lufthansa announced on Wednesday that it will begin codesharing with the Russian airline alliance AiRUnion, which is made up of the carriers Domodedovo Airlines, KrasAir, Omskavia, Samara Airlines, and Sibaviatrans. The deal will help Lufthansa, which serves eight cities within Russia, create domestic connections. Likewise, the AiRUnion carriers will have access to Lufthansa's international network.While the deal doesn't make AiRUnion a member of...

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Fly free on Ryanair

Those who are signed up to Ryanair's email list got the following email:250,000 FLIGHTS ABSOLUTELY FREE100% FREE - NO TAXES, NO FEES, NO CHARGES*TRAVEL in SEPTEMBER and OCTOBER 2007!THIS INCREDIBLE OFFER IS AVAILABLE FOR BOOKING FROM MIDNIGHT TONIGHTAND IS VALID FOR 2 DAYS ONLY!HURRY BOOK NOW ON WWW.RYANAIR.COMOffer Ends Midnight Thursday!Of course, I'm a bit late informing readers of this deal, but I think it's a pretty funny example of Ryanair's marketing methods. And don't think that Ryanair will be losing tons of money on this deal - in the...

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Last A300 delivered

"I'm the youngest member of the eldest Airbus family." Picture from Airliners.netThe last ever Airbus A300 was delivered today to FedEx, making a total of 821 Airbus A300s and A310s ordered. The A300 was launched in May 1969, with the first airplane entering commercial service with Air France in May 1974. It was the first wide-body, twin-engine aircraft, and it led to the creation of the A310, which was launched in July 1978 and first flew in April...

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Ryanair to sue EU as EC investigates Ryanair

European discount carrier Ryanair has said that it will sue the European Commission, the antitrust regulatory body of the EU, because it failed to look into complaints about state aid given to Air France and Lufthansa.Ryanair alleges that Air France received discounted airport fees from the French government and that Munich airport in Germany is building a new terminal for Lufthansa, even while the airport loses money. Ryanair also accuses the EC...

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Boeing rolls out the 787

photo courtesy jnsabinoThe Boeing 787 Dreamliner was unveiled yesterday at Boeing's Everett, Washington facility. It was certainly a PR coup for the company - many news outlets were on hand to cover the event, and employees and the public were allowed to go right up to the plane and touch it!Boeing also announced 35 new orders for the 787 just a few hours before roll out, meaning that there are now 677 orders from 47 customers for the plane, which...

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Aeroflot says 'nyet' to Alitalia

photo courtesy albspotterRussian carrier Aeroflot has withdrawn from the bidding process for Italian airline Alitalia, ending months of speculation of a possible takeover. In a press release, Aeroflot said, "Aeroflot believes that acquiring Alitalia under the current conditions would not be the right decision for it to take."According to the airline, two reasons that led to the decision were the fact that Aeroflot did not get access to "critical...

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727 Landing at Meigs Field

I came across this clip on YouTube recently of a United Airlines Boeing 727-100 landing at the now-closed Meigs Field in Chicago. The 727 is now part of the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago - I've been there and you can actually go inside the airplane and try out the seats, etc. Meigs Field itself is now closed - the video clip is probably about 15 years o...

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Even more problems for Northwest

Things just seem to be getting worse for Northwest Airlines.The carrier exited Chapter 11 bankruptcy last month, and that's about where the good news ends. It announced a few weeks ago that it expected 2nd quarter mainline domestic revenue per available seat mile to go down by 2 to 3 percent. Last Tuesday, the J.D. Power and Associates annual customer satisfaction survey was released, and among airlines, Northwest came in last place (JetBlue finished first). "[Northwest's] largest drop in rank position over last year was in satisfaction with the...

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Paris Air Show: Day 5

The Paris Air Show drew to a close today (at least in terms of plane orders) with a few more for Airbus: 20 A350s for Singapore Airlines and 20 A320 family planes for Riyadh-based National Air Services. In a press release, Airbus mentioned its gains with much fanfare. “This Airshow has confirmed that Airbus is very much back on the market, continuing to satisfy customers with the right products. Especially the A380 and A350 XWB have been the highlight of the show, receiving tremendous customer endorsement. They will lead the way in the future in...

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Paris Air Show: Day 4

Surprise, surprise - Airbus has announced several orders so far today while Boeing has announced none. But keep in mind - Boeing has been steadily receiving orders throughout the year, while Airbus tends to save them up for the air show. And even though Airbus handily outsold Boeing at last year's show, Boeing ended up getting more orders for the year.That said, here are today's orders:Columbian flag carrier Avianca has ordered 19 more Airbus planes,...

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Paris Air Show, Day 3

Airbus has completed another order-filled day at the Paris Air Show, eclipsing rival Boeing yet again in terms of orders. Here's a wrap-up:United Arab Emirates-based Etihad Airways purchased twelve Airbus wide-bodies, dividing the order between five A330-200s, three A330-200Fs, and four A340-600s. The order provides a bit of a boost for the A340 program, which has seen few orders recently.As mentioned yesterday, Aeroflot bought five more A321s, as...

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Aeroflot buys A321, IL-96

Russian carrier Aeroflot has announced that it has signed a contract with Airbus to purchase five Airbus A321s. It has not yet said when the planes would be delivered or how much the airline paid for them.Separately, Aeroflot has also stated that it will buy six IL-96-400s. Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov expressed yesterday his hope that "a contract for the purchase of six such planes for Aeroflot will be prepared before long"....

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Intrepid Aviation and Thai order A330; Leahy: "Airbus is back"

Aircraft lessor Intrepid Aviation announced a firm order of 20 Airbus A330-200 freighter airplanes, the largest order received for the aircraft so far. Deliveries will start in 2010 and run through 2012.Thai Airways International also announced that they would be purchasing A330s (though none of the freighter variety). It has ordered eight more A330-300s, adding to its fleet of twelve A330s that it currently uses on routes across Asia. The airline...

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Fly Asian Xpress orders A330

Malaysian carrier Fly Asian Xpress (FAX) has ordered fifteen A330-300s at the Paris Air Show today, up from its previous commitment of ten. The airline signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for ten A330s back in April. FAX is a privately owned airline that is subcontracted by AirAsia to fly domestic routes in Malaysia. The A330s won't go into service for FAX directly, but instead fly for Air Asia X, which FAX owns and which will operate long-haul budget flights under the brand name of AirAs...

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ILFC orders 63 Boeings

During the second day of the Paris Air Show, the International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC) announced an order for 63 Boeing aircraft, worth about $8.8 billion at list prices. ILFC is ordering 50 more 787s, with deliveries starting in 2010 and ending in 2017. In addition, ILFC ordered ten 737s and announced that it was exercising options to order 787-8s and one 777-300ER.This announcement makes ILFC the largest orderer of the 787 to date, with...

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Paris Air Show Analysis: Day 1

Day 1 of the Paris Air Show is over, and here are the results:Boeing: 46 total orders (6 today)6 x 777 Freighter (GECAS)40 x 737-900ER (Lion Air - these had already been ordered but the customer was unidentified until today)Airbus: 342 total orders (310 today)3 x A320, 80 x A350, 3 x A380 (Qatar)60 x A320, 10 x A330, 22 x A350 (US Airways - 20 of the A350s had already been noted on Airbus' order sheet)8 x A380 (Emirates)30 x A320 (Jazeera)60 x A320 (GECAS)12 x A350, 7 x A320 (ALAFCO - the A350 had already been noted on Airbus' order sheet)2 x A320...

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