News from FlightGlobal – Page 2227
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News
Virgin moves on Australia
DAVID KNIBB SEATTLE Richard Branson's decision to launch a low-cost domestic Australian airline is the biggest threat yet to the Qantas-Ansett duopoly During a whirlwind tour of Australia, Richard Branson announced that Virgin Australia would start mid-year with five Boeing 737s that could quickly grow. Focusing initially on the busy ...
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China tax threatens leasing company growth
A new Chinese tax on aircraft operating leases is emerging as a potential threat to leasing companies hoping to profit from expectations that China's airline industry will grow at a faster-than-average rate over the next 20 years. The new withholding tax was quietly introduced by the Chinese Government, effective ...
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China, Japan go regional
NICHOLAS IONIDES ATI/SINGAPORE After their success in the USA and Europe, regional jet aircraft makers have at long last cracked two important, but untapped, markets in Asia - China and Japan. Hainan Airlines has become China's first carrier to operate scheduled regional jet services after receiving the first of at ...
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Investors emerge for Ansett New Zealand
News Corporation's efforts to sell Ansett New Zealand may have better luck with a new group of New Zealand investors than it has had over the past 12 years with Qantas Airways. News Corp and Qantas were unable to agree on a price, and there is no assurance the ...
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In Brief
Asiana offer Asiana Airlines expects to raise 375 billion won ($325 million) through an initial public offering of 50 million shares. Shares were made available early in December ahead of a listing on South Korea's secondary Kosdaq share market at the end of the month. Public and institutional investors ...
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Chicago revisited
KAREN WALKER CHICAGO Transport ministers from around the world joined airline and industry chiefs in Chicago in December to discuss how to shed the bilateralism legacy of the historic 1944 Chicago Convention and also move beyond the current open skies regime to multilateralism. US Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater lost few ...
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Star wins battle over Canadian future
DAVID KNIBB SEATTLE Star Alliance has won the battle with oneworld for control of Canadian Airlines. Under a deal hammered out between American Airlines parent AMR and Air Canada, American will retain certain codeshare rights, but Canadian will effectively withdraw from oneworld. This ends a five-month see-saw battle in ...
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Catering - serving in the fast lane
Fast food may not be on the in-flight menu, but as consolidation takes hold of the airline catering business, speed appears to be of the essence. Last year saw a flurry of activity in the in-flight catering industry, including a host of joint ventures and two major acquisition deals. ...
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Mexico's smaller players struggle to compete
DAVID KNIBB SEATTLE Mexico's third and fourth largest airlines have both experienced problems that harm their ability to compete against the duopoly of Aeromexico and Mexicana. Taesa, Mexico's number three carrier, remains grounded for safety reasons following a fatal crash on 9 November. Mexico's communications and transport ministry says inspectors ...
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The new leaders in handling
Ground handling is developing a higher profile in the industry, attracting a new style of leadership. Analysis is by Michael Bell, who leads the global aviation practice at executive search consultants Spencer Stuart.Recent years have seen the emergence of ground handling as an industry in its own right, and there ...
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In Brief
US-Italy open skies The US Department of Transportation (D0T) has approved Alitalia's tripartite alliance with KLM and Northwest, paving the way to the signing of a fully fledged open skies bilateral between Italy and the USA. The two countries partially liberalised air traffic last year. Alitalia-Northwest will codeshare on ...
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Business as usual as Macau is returned to China
DAVID KNIBB SEATTLE Two and a half years after the UK handed back Hong Kong to China, it was Portugual's turn on 20 December to return a South-East Asian colony, when China resumed rule of Macau. Like Hong Kong, Macau will remain a special administrative region of China for ...
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Japan to redistribute slots
NICHOLAS IONIDES ATI/TOKYO Japan's "big three" carriers could be in for a further wave of competition, as the Japanese Ministry of Transport (MoT) studies a controversial plan that would see slots stripped from them at congested airports and handed over to new operators. A senior member of the MoT's strategic ...
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New Beginning
GÜNTER ENDRES ATHENS With the belated opening up of the Greek market, a clutch of independent operators is starting to mount a serious challenge to flag carrier Olympic Airways Until 1998, Greece had been virtually untouched by the European liberalisation process. Apart from a partial deregulation in 1991, which permitted ...
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Airports and airlines join forces over ATC delays
GÜNTER ENDRES LONDON The Airports Council International Europe (ACI Europe) and the Association of European Airlines (AEA) have agreed to fight the growing problem of flight delays in Europe, targeting air traffic control (ATC) in particular. The joint resolution comes after the International Air Transport Association (IATA) put forward its ...
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War with no winners
HORMUZ MAMA BOMBAY With the high season in full swing, India's domestic airlines may be wondering whether last year's cut-throat fare war was really worth it. Indian Airlines, Jet Airways and Sahara Airlines co-existed peacefully until India's economic woes caused traffic to plummet last year. Following a rapid rise ...
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A sense of balance
CHRIS TARRY COMMERZBANK IN LONDON The traffic forecasting model developed by Commerzbank and Airline Business highlights the extent to which capacity ran ahead of demand in 1999. But the coming year could bring markets back to balance. If further evidence was needed over the pain that excess seat capacity can ...
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Iberia sells Binter to local consortium
BARRY CROSS LONDON Parent state holding company SEPI has given Iberia approval to sell regional subsidiary Binter Canarias to a consortium of local businessmen. The price of Ptas5.5 billion ($35 million), plus Ptas800 million in dividends - the equivalent of 65% of the 1998 profit - is just ...
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Routes
Yangon to Macao Myanmar Airways International has started operating charter services to Macau from Yangon using a leased Boeing 737-400. Macau airport operator CAM says the service began on 27 November and approvals have been secured for 10 flights through to next February. ANA expands to Honolulu ...
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News
In Brief
Asiana offer Asiana Airlines expects to raise 375 billion won ($325 million) through an initial public offering of 50 million shares. Shares were made available early in December ahead of a listing on South Korea's secondary Kosdaq share market at the end of the month. Public and institutional investors ...