Airline News - Europe.Edited by Aram Gesar, edit@AirGuideOnline.com For more global news, data, analysis and features, please go to: http://www.AirGuideOnline.com/order_formsubs.htm Sep 18, 2006 Aer Lingus Aer Lingus is Ireland's national airline. Based in Dublin, it operates 41 Airbus aircraft serving Europe, Africa, North America and the Middle East. The airline is 28% owned by the Irish government; it was floated on the Dublin and London Stock Exchanges on 2 October 2006, Aer Lingus' initial public offering is expected to raise about E660m giving the airline a market value of about E1.1bn, reports suggest as the carrier prepares to go to market. As part of the IPO (Initial Public Offering) The first time a company offers shares of stock to the public. While not a computer term per se, many founders, employees and insiders of computer companies have found this acronym more exciting than any tech term they ever heard. in London and Dublin later next week, Aer Lingus will issue 200m new shares while the Irish government will sell 75m shares. It was the first flotation of an airline on the London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange London marketplace for securities. It was formed in 1773 by a group of stockbrokers who had been doing business informally in local coffeehouses. since Easyjet six years ago. Aer Lingus expects to raise about E500m, with additional revenue coming from the government sale of its stake. Fleet expansion has been earmarked for the cash. http://www.aerlingus.com Sep 17, 2006 Aer Lingus Aer Lingus will list on the Dublin and London stock markets on Oct. 2 and will announce its final share price on Sept. 27, it said yesterday, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. press reports. The Irish government unveiled plans for the IPO late last month. Aer Lingus set an indicative price range of [euro]2.1-[euro]2.7 per share, valuing the airline at [euro]601-[euro]773 million prior to the issuance of 208.4 million new shares. It reportedly will put [euro]104 million toward its pension fund and use the rest to fund fleet expansion. Sep 13, 2006 Air France Air France in full Compagnie Internationale Air France French passenger and cargo airline with more than 200 destinations in some 80 countries. It introduced supersonic Concorde service in 1976, but financial loss led the company to cease its Concorde Air France is to show a graphic video on child prostitution on all its long haul Long distance. Long haul implies traversing a state or a country. Contrast with short haul. flights from next month. The aim is to raise awareness of the often hidden problem and to target passengers who may be using its aircraft to fly to vulnerable countries. The 90-second video shows young girls in discos, on streets and in hotels, with graphics displaying their ages. To the sound of handcuffs hand·cuff n. A restraining device consisting of a pair of strong, connected hoops that can be tightened and locked about the wrists and used on one or both arms of a prisoner in custody; a manacle. Often used in the plural. tr.v. clicking shut, the video then shows a middle-aged man, a censor bar across his eyes reading '10 years'. The video will be played on the airline's 94 long haul aircraft and be seen by up to 46,000 passengers a day. UNICEF UNICEF (y  `nĭsĕf'), the United Nations Children's Fund, an affiliated agency of the United Nations. says about one million children are exploited every year in the multi-billion-dollar industry. UK scheduled and charter carriers have been targeted for a number of years by charities fighting child exploitation. http://www.airfrance.com Sep 17, 2006 Air France Air France KLM KLM Kaiserliche Marine (Enigma: Rising Tide game) KLM Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij (Royal Dutch Airlines) KLM Klub Langer Menschen (German: Tall Person Club) CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. Jean-Cyril Spinetta said yesterday that "KLM has started to discuss a cargo joint venture with China Southern" but cautioned that "the talks are in the initial stage," according to Reuters. Beijing is encouraging foreign airlines to set up cargo JVs with Chinese companies Chinese owned companies can be defined as enterprises within mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and the Republic of China (Taiwan):
n. 1. A system of transporting freight by air. 2. The amount charged for transporting freight by air. air demand. Sep 15, 2006 Air France Air France KLM flew 18.1 billion RPKs in August, up 4.8% from the year-ago month. Capacity increased 4.5% to 21.47 billion ASKs, nudging load factor up 0.2 point to 84.3%. Sep 14, 2006 Air France Air France yesterday issued [euro]550 million in unrated bonds that will mature on Jan. 22, 2014. The company said the transaction "met great success in the market" and that the issue, its first since 1993, is intended to diversify its funding sources, refinance existing debt and lengthen the average debt maturity profile. Barclays Capital Barclays Capital is the investment banking division of Barclays plc. It is a primary dealer in U.S. Treasury securities and various European Government bonds. Barclays Capital is led by CEO Robert (Bob) Diamond, an American who had been vice-chairman of Credit Suisse First , BNP Paribas BNP Paribas (Euronext: BNP, TYO: 8665 ) is one of the main banks in Europe and France. It was created on 23 May 2000 through the merger of Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP) and Paribas. , HSBC HSBC Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation HSBC Humane Society of Broward County (Florida) HSBC Humane Society of Bay County (Bay County, Michigan) and Societe Generale Corporate & Investment Banking were joint lead managers. Sep 13, 2006 Air France-KLM Air France-KLM (Euronext Paris: AF, NYSE: AKH) is an airline company incorporated under French law with its headquarters at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle Airport near Paris, France. KLM will migrate its direct sales and reservations activities from the existing Corda system to Amadeus's Altea Reservation system. Partner Air France has been using Altea Reservation since 1992. "KLM expects that the migration will enable both airlines of the Air France KLM Group to better serve their customers through increased standardization and improved data exchange," it said. Implementation is expected in the first quarter of 2007. Sep 14, 2006 Alitalia Alitalia Group said this week that its full-year net result "should approach the level achieved in 2005," when it lost [euro]167.6 million ($212.9 million). It had postponed making a full-year forecast following a difficult first quarter in which labor unrest labor unrest n (US) → conflictividad f laboral and falling passenger revenues hit hard on its bottom line. Sep 14, 2006 Alitalia Alitalia Group a net [euro]221.5 million for the semester, widened from [euro]125 million in the year-ago period. Revenues dropped 1.6% to [euro]2.24 billion owing to the spinoff of the Alitalia Servizi services company. Half-year operating loss operating loss The excess of operating expenses over revenue. As with operating income, operating losses exclude revenues and expenses from operations that are not considered a regular part of the business. Also called deficit. Compare operating income. was [euro]131.8 million compared to [euro]83.8 million in 2005. Passenger revenues increased 1.4% to [euro]1.75 billion while the number of passengers transported climbed 3.1% to 11.7 million. Yield dropped 1.5% and load factor rose 3.6 points to 72%. Sep 14, 2006 Alitalia Alitalia Group late yesterday released half-year financial results showing a net loss of [euro]221.5 million in the six months ended June 30, nearly double the [euro]125 million deficit posted in the first half of 2005. Revenues fell 1.6% to [euro]2.24 billion and operating loss widened to [euro]131.8 million from [euro]83.8 million. AZ said it expects nonrecurring items to boost its net and operating results into the black in the second half. A more stable second quarter ended June 30 in which it showed "indicative and tangible recovery" and suffered a pre-tax loss of [euro]53 million, plus a previously announced revision of its business plan, left the airline confident it could forecast "positive operating and net results" in the second semester. Second-quarter operating loss was [euro]3 million. It not did not offer year-ago comparisons, but it marked an improvement from the first quarter when it posted an operating loss of [euro]128.8 million. Second-quarter traffic revenue increased [euro]54 million, or 5%. Sep 13, 2006 Alitalia Alitalia initiated an appeal with a regional administrative court against the conditions imposed by the Italian competition regulator on its acquisition of Volare Volare is the Latin and Italian word for the verb to fly; adding an acute accent on the final e (volaré) it is also the Spanish word for I will fly. , La Stampa reported. In July, AZ received conditional approval for its [euro]38 million ($48.1 million) bid to acquire Volare. The conditions included the surrender of four slots at Milan Linate--two of Volare's domestic slots to Bari and Lamezia Terme and two pairs of slots for flights to Paris Orly. Sep 12, 2006 British Airways British Airways is offering advance registration for the Clear registered traveler program on its website. Clear is scheduled to launch at BA's New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of JFK Terminal 7 this fall. Applicants will complete an online form before going in person to an "enrollment station" where they will submit fingerprints and iris scans. The program is open to US citizens and permanent foreign residents and will cost $79.95 per year, plus a $27-$30 fee to the US Transportation Security Administration. It will be the first private RT program at a US airport, BA said. Sep 15, 2006 Iberia Iberia will add two weekly frequencies to its Madrid-Sao Paulo Guarulhos service from Sept. 20, bringing the number of operations on the route to 12. In the past six months, it has doubled seat supply to Brazil. Sep 14, 2006 Jat Airways Jat Airways will open a second base in Pristina, where it will operate flights to its Belgrade hub and other European destinations. Sep 14, 2006 Lufthansa Flying Lufthansa from Philadelphia to Frankfurt? You'll be checking in from a different terminal now. Used to be, flyers checked in at Terminal A-East. Now, it's A-West. The move makes it easier to go from check-in to gate. While check-in was in A-East, the gate was located over on A-West. You get the picture. The switch also puts Lufthansa near its prime Star Alliance partner at the airport, US Airways. This strategy streamlines Philadelphia's international operations. Earlier this year, Air France also moved from Terminal E to A-West. Sep 16, 2006 Lufthansa Lufthansa yesterday said it agreed to pay $85 million to settle a string of class-action lawsuits filed in the US following the February launch of a multinational probe into alleged price-fixing by airlines carrying cargo. The US Dept. of Justice, the European Commission and regulatory agencies in several Asian countries raided airline offices to investigate alleged collusion and price-fixing in the setting of fuel and security surcharges related to cargo transport. The results of that investigation have not been announced, but more than 30 lawsuits reportedly have been filed in the US naming Lufthansa and other European, US and Asian carriers and seeking damages for anticompetitive an·ti·com·pet·i·tive adj. That discourages competition among businesses: anticompetitive foreign trade restrictions. practices relating to air cargo pricing. Lufthansa said in a statement that the $85 million settlement, subject to court approval, would release it and Swiss International Air Lines Swiss International Air Lines (short: Swiss) is the principal airline of Switzerland operating scheduled services in Europe and to North America, South America, Africa and Asia. Its main hub is Zurich Kloten Airport (ZRH). from liability in the pending class action suits. It added that it has "applied for leniency le·ni·en·cy n. pl. le·ni·en·cies 1. The condition or quality of being lenient. See Synonyms at mercy. 2. A lenient act. Noun 1. to the US Department of Justice, the EU Commission and other authorities in other countries and received conditional immunity." It did not say how the offer, if approved, would affect the company financially or when it would incur the charge on its balance sheet. LH reported net profit of [euro]183 million ($231.8 million) in the three-month period ended June 30. Sep 12, 2006 Lufthansa Lufthansa flew 10.08 billion RPKs in August, down 0.9% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 0.5% to 13.18 billion ASKs, dropping load factor 1.1 points to 76.5%. Sep 12, 2006 Smokers International Airways Smokers International Airways, or Smintair, plans to operate its first commercial flight on March 26 from Dusseldorf to Tokyo Narita aboard one of two 138-seat 747-400s. The carrier catering to smokers said it will offer 30 first class and 108 business class seats. It also set a deadline of Sept. 30 for investors to purchase shares in the company at [euro]500,000 ($639,000) each. It said it has "a very conservative business plan" and forecasts a yearly profit margin in excess [euro]50 million per aircraft if fully booked. "With only 138 available seats in each of our Boeing 747-400s and tens of millions of smokers in Europe and Asia, this is certainly not an impossible task," it said. Sep 11, 2006 |
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