Company Watch - Virgin Group.For more company news, data and analysis, please go to: http://www.airguideonline.com/professional.htm Aug 28, 2006 Virgin America Virgin America is a U.S. based low-cost airline that began service on 8 August 2007. The airline's stated aim is to provide low-fare, high-quality service for "long-haul point-to-point service between major metropolitan cities on the Eastern and West Coast seaboards". responded with a DOT filing last week that reiterated it is 75% owned by US investors and managed by US citizens such as 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. Fred Reid, former president of Delta, who said he was confident the airline would meet with DOT approval. Continental pointed to the "shadow of foreign influence" in its DOT filing. Virgin said the objections are "not based on reality or fact, but are simply an attempt to preserve the status quo [Latin, The existing state of things at any given date.] Status quo ante bellum means the state of things before the war. The status quo to be preserved by a preliminary injunction is the last actual, peaceable, uncontested status which preceded the pending controversy. , delay competition, and inject irrelevant issues into the proceeding." The legal fight could delay Virgin America's launch for months as DOT considers the objections. It filed its initial application in December, 2005 and already has leased 34 A320s. It emphasized that stalled efforts to change US ownership and control rules should not affect its application, which it says complies fully with existing US laws. Aug 21, 2006 Virgin America, the proposed LCC (Leadless Chip Carrier, Leaded Chip Carrier) See leadless chip carrier, CLCC and PLCC. 1. LCC - Language for Conversational Computing. Written at CMU in the 1960's. startup that is 25% owned by Virgin Group, is being held up by objections over its US citizenship from legacy carriers urging the US Dept. of Transportation to reject its application for an operating certificate Operating certificate is a category of license issued by a government agency allowing an individual or company to provide a controlled type of service. These certificates are generally issued for a limited time period. . Virgin America said last week that it has been forced to secure an additional $53 million in temporary financing Temporary Financing The sum of negotiated current liabilities and temporary spontaneous current liabilities. to fight what it calls "dilatory Tending to cause a delay in judicial proceedings. Dilatory tactics are methods by which the rules of procedure are used by a party to a lawsuit in an abusive manner to delay the progress of the proceedings. legal tactics" by Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, American Airlines American Airlines Major U.S. airline. American was created through a merger of several smaller U.S. airlines and incorporated in 1934. It continued to buy the routes of other airlines, becoming an international carrier in the 1970s; its routes include South America, the and US Airways airways Anatomy The 'pipes'–trachea, bronchi, bronchioles–through which air passes to and from the alveoli. See Small airways. , who argue that the upstart is effectively controlled by Virgin Group and therefore violates US rules limiting foreign control of US airlines. Aug 21, 2006 Virgin Blue announces profit increase, revamped fiscal calendar. Australia-based Virgin Blue announced a 12% lift in net profit to A$84.5 million ($64.4 million) for the nine-month fiscal year ended June 30 despite a 35% surge in fuel costs.The carrier changed its year-end accounting period to June 30 from Sept. 30 after Toll Holdings, Australia's largest transport group, acquired the airline's majority owner, Patrick Corp. Virgin Blue's revenue rose 8.5% to A$1.39 billion as RPKs climbed 6.1% to 12.09 billion against a 3.9% increase in ASKs to 15.7 billion. It carried 10.4 million passengers, up 7.5% on the previous year. Aug 24, 2006 Virgin Blue CEO Brett Godfrey attributed the result partly to a focus on the corporate market and suggested the best is yet to come. "It takes time for the full impact of these new initiatives to be felt. So far it has been trickling through," he said. Virgin Blue's yield up 2.6% and load factor ahead 1.9 points to 77.9%. Unit revenues rose 3.4% to A8.02 cents while CASK excluding fuel fell 3.4% to just A5.92 cents. The result was impacted by the 35% hike in fuel costs to A$70 million and A$7 million in one-off costs associated with the setup of the Velocity frequent-flier program. Virgin Blue also introduced Web check-in and lounges and restructured its schedules to focus on frequency during peak business periods. Aug 24, 2006 |
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