Programmes – Page 1164
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Brazil cracks the fare nut
Brian Homewood Brazil, a country with some of the highest internal air fares in the world, has taken the first tentative steps towards deregulation by allowing unrestricted charter flights. The Civil Aviation Department (DAC) has given the go-ahead for any nationally-owned company to operate charters on any route ...
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Islands apart
A grand plan for Air Jamaica to be the focus of closer cooperation in the Caribbean region has failed to materialise, and instead would-be partners like BWIA continue to pursue their own separate strategies. Karen Walker reports. According to a joke that circulates in the Caribbean, St Peter allows newly ...
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No more red China blues?
Tom Ballantyne China's airlines are getting their first taste of capitalism as the country's carriers drastically slash their air fares and liberalisation hits the region. The Civil Aviation Administration of China has given its 27 CAAC-approved airlines the go-ahead to cut prices by up to 40 per cent ...
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Carriers free private parts
Doug Cameron Belgium-based City Bird's rocky initial public offering suggests that the recent spate of successful IPOs by European airlines may be over. Last year, low-cost European airline stocks benefited from a surge in interest from US investors who moved heavily into Ryanair and Virgin Express. However, the ...
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Deflation alarm bells ring again
Deflation is not an economic term which has tripped off the tongue in the last three decades. Far from it. A series of political crises in the Middle East, starting with the six-day war in 1967, triggered 30 years of almost continuous inflation, fuelled by surging oil and commodity prices ...
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Asia's new era
Asia's economic turmoil is going to accelerate long-term structural change as the carriers in the region respond to the challenges. Doug Cameron looks at the impact on aircraft renewal, funding, alliances and liberalisation. Asian executives must be wondering what other calamities fate can possibly have in store for them. ...
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Garuda in dire straits
Tom Ballantyne Reeling from a freefall in its local currency which has blown up debt, Jakarta's state-owned flag carrier Garuda Indonesia may face bankruptcy unless it auctions off assets. The country's economic collapse, coupled with a string of accidents including a major crash last September in which 300 ...
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Iberia faces inquisition?
Doug Cameron Iberia is courting trouble with the Spanish competition authorities after reaching agreement for a franchise deal with its main domestic competitor, Palma-based Air Europa. Iberia suffered capacity shortages during 1997 and was forced to wet lease a variety of aircraft, resulting in a fall in service ...
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Born free?
While government regulations were the downfall of most of India's first batch of startups, it appears that a second cycle - involving new players as well as the return of some old contenders - is underway. Like large tracts of Asia, cloaked in the fog from forest fires, India's ...
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Arranged marriage
Indian Airlines is destined to wed Air-India, but first the government must accept some responsibility for its financial troubles. Its proposed 'dowry' would be made up of compensation for the enforced grounding of its entire A320 fleet back in 1990, a subordinated loan, and the injection of new capital. By ...
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Tamed by politics
Report by Tom Ballantyne It seems that every time a new Indian aviation policy ship gently eases itself into port, an election storm rears its head and dashes it onto the rocks. As India's two state-owned airlines, Air-India and Indian Airlines, prepared for the New Year after a ...
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Red ink rains over Korea
Tom Ballantyne South Korea's airlines are scrambling to downsize and slash costs as the region staggers from the blow of Asia's worsening economic crisis. Flag carrier Korean Airlines faces more than US$900 million in foreign exchange losses after the local currency, the won, dived 40 per cent against ...
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US lusts after Latins
Karen Walker US majors are looking southwards as American Airlines receives its long-awaited go-ahead for a codeshare with the Taca group and jockeys with its competitors for other prized Latin American alliances and routes. After 18 months, and a storm of protest from other US and central American ...
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Eleven men to go at MEA
Lois Jones Struggling Lebanese flag carrier Middle East Airlines has named a new seven-man board of directors, after the former board was ousted amid corruption allegations. MEA's outgoing 11-man board has been replaced by one headed by Mohammed Hout, the director of real estate affairs at Banque du ...
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Mesa is no longer united
Karen Walker A parting of the ways between codeshare partners United Airlines and Mesa Air Group is posing questionmarks over Mesa's future and possible new partners for United. Regional independent Mesa, which operates as America West Express, United Express, US Airways Express, WestAir and Mesa Airlines, has been ...
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Cheap thrills with no frills
Lois Jones Low-cost startups are beginning to looking extremely vulnerable as more majors launch low-cost subsidiaries, ignoring the argument that the independent players should instead be left to satisfy the demand for low fares in underserved markets. By Lois Jones. To your corners, please. To the left of the ring ...
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US hubs need to be consolidated
Karen Walker Driven as they are by the shareholder, the major US carriers will no doubt sit up and take notice of a new report from a Wall Street analyst that assesses their growth potential, and therefore investment worth, based on the relative strengths and weaknesses of their hubs. ...
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Fairchild Dornier flies 328JET
Andrzej Jeziorski/MUNICH Fairchild Dornier flew its prototype 328JET for the first time on 20 January, bringing it a step closer to entering the emerging 30-seat regional-jet market. The aircraft took off at 11:16 local time from the company's Oberpfaffenhofen site near Munich, and was flown for nearly 2h over the ...
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Boeing 737-600 takes off
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES The Boeing 737-600 had a successful 2h 28min first flight from Renton on 22 January on a day when firm orders for Next Generation aircraft climbed to 811, with the sale of 59 more to launch-customer Southwest Airlines. The -600's take-off weight was a relatively light 50,395kg, ...
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Blue Sky prepares for launch as PAL 737-300s are secured
Max Kingsley-Jones/LONDON British Airways has secured a fleet of eight Boeing 737-300s to launch its low-fare subsidiary at London Stansted Airport. The airline, known as Operation Blue Sky, has also applied for its operating licence. The airline, which is believed to be aiming for a launch in April, has filed ...