French-Dutch carrier Air France KLM is looking to create a low-cost carrier to benefit from the growing leisure market, the company said yesterday.
The group is examining the development of its subsidiary transavia.com, which already offers a mix of scheduled and charter flights, for new services from France.
source: The Star online
A bomb threat, later proved to be a hoax, forced Danish-based low-cost carrier Sterling to evacuate passengers from a plane due to leave Amsterdam for Oslo, Norway, an airline spokeswoman said Wednesday. After a two-hour delay, the plane left Amsterdam at 11:27 a.m.
The threat was placed to the carrier’s call centre in Norway. The anonymous caller alleged that a person on the plane was going to blow up a device in mid-air.
source: The Raw Story
Mergers among big U.S. airlines would darken the skies for their smaller, regional partners, analysts said on Thursday.US Airways Group Inc. on Wednesday offered about $8 billion for larger, bankrupt rival Delta Air Lines Inc. The bid is expected to spark consolidation in the U.S. airline industry. If this happens, the big airlines would likely cut capacity, which could in turn reduce their need for feeder service.
After the announcement of US Airways’ offer on Wednesday — which Delta is still considering — the shares of major airlines soared but those of several regional carriers fell, with SkyWest dropping 7.5 percent.
source: Reuters
Twenty-five passengers on a Taiwanese carrier’s plane were injured yesterday after the plane dived violently to avoid an aircraft.
Flight EF306 of Far Eastern Air Transport was trying to land at Jeju International Airport around 11:20 a.m., when it suddenly made an emergency dive, shaking the aircraft severely.
source: The Korea Times
Brazil’s largest airline, TAM, has signed a firm contract to buy an additional 37 Airbus aircraft, the European plane manufacturer announced Thursday. The purchase concerns 12 A319s, 16 A320s, three A321s and six A330 aircraft, Airbus said in a statement released in the southern French city of Toulouse, where the company has its headquarters.
source: Playfuls.com
The airline industry on Wednesday hit back at plans to include it in Europe’s greenhouse gas trading scheme as early as 2011, accusing Brussels of acting unilaterally.”This is about politics, not the environment,” said Anthony Concil, communications director at IATA, which represents the world’s big carriers. “Air travel is responsible for two per cent of emissions and for Europe to act before a global agreement is putting the cart before the horse.”
source: MSNBC
US Airways Group said Wednesday it has made an $8 billion cash and stock offer for Delta Air Lines in a deal that would create one of the world’s largest airlines.
The offer to buy Delta once the Atlanta-based airline emerges from bankruptcy protection would give Delta’s unsecured creditors $4 billion in cash and 78.5 million shares of US Airways stock.
The offer is a 25% premium over the current trading price of Delta’s pre-petition unsecured claims as of Tuesday, and a 40% premium over the average trading price for Delta unsecured claims over the last 30 days.
source: USA Today
British Airways said it had purchased American Airlines’ stake in Spanish carrier Iberia for 19 million euros ($24.29 million).
BA, Europe’s third-largest airline, said in a statement it now owned about 10 percent of Iberia, up from 9 percent previously.
source: Reuters
Apple Computer Inc. said Tuesday it its iPod music players will be integrated into the in-flight entertainment systems of six airlines.Passengers on U.S. airlines United Airlines, Continental and Delta, as well as Dubai-based Emirates, Dutch carrier KLM and Air France, will be able to power and charge their iPods during flights and watch the video content on their iPods on their seat back displays.
The service will be available on the airlines beginning in mid-2007.
source: BusinessWeek
Shares of American Airlines parent AMR Corp. surpassed the price they reached the day before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks as the world’s largest carrier benefits from more than five years of retooling.
“AMR has built itself a huge cash position and done a good job cutting its costs,” Jim Corridore, a New York-based airline analyst with Standard & Poor’s, said today in an interview. “The outlook has really brightened for the airlines that have done the hard work.”
American is simplifying operations after posting more than $8.2 billion in losses from 2001 through last year. The Fort Worth, Texas-based company cut its workforce by 27 percent, reduced its aircraft fleet by 16 percent and built its cash position to $5.5 billion as of Sept. 30.
source: Orlando Sentinel
