Strategy – Page 992

  • News

    Rescuers ride into PAL

    1999-02-01T00:00:00Z

    Just as it looked as if it was all over for Philippine Airlines (PAL), a troop of white knights have emerged in the form of former Cathay Pacific Airways executives who have taken up senior management positions in Manila. The four high-level executives started working at PAL in mid-January ...

  • News

    SIA halts bid for CAL

    1999-02-01T00:00:00Z

    Shareholders in Singapore Airlines (SIA) breathed a sigh of relief early in January when the carrier announced that it had withdrawn from discussions to buy shares in Taiwan's China Airlines (CAL). As SIA's share price rose on the news, CAL's fell on concerns that long-running plans for a badly-needed ...

  • News

    Privatised Austrian to look east

    1999-02-01T00:00:00Z

    Austria has revived plans to privatise it flag carrier in a move that will boost its expansion eastwards. The government is to relinquish its majority holding Austrian Airlines after it decided not to participate in a Sch3 billion ($240 million), capital raising programme. The state will remain the largest ...

  • News

    BM bullish on Moscow

    1999-02-01T00:00:00Z

    British Midland hopes to start up its London Heathrow-Moscow route before the beginning of its summer schedule, despite Virgin Atlantic Airways' appeal against the UK Civil Aviation Authority's decision to award the route to British Midland. A British Midland spokesman says that until the appeal is heard in February, ...

  • News

    easyJet sees black

    1999-02-01T00:00:00Z

    Privately owned easyJet has finally turned a profit, but the publication of its first set of results has provoked scepticism and speculation that it may soon be up for sale. The carrier's 1998 pre-tax profit of £2.3 million ($3.8 million) on a turnover of £77 million, appears to belie ...

  • News

    French ambition

    1999-02-01T00:00:00Z

    With a pilot deal under its belt, the French national carrier is now moving ahead with a flotation. But a global alliance still escapes the airline, while there are also doubts over its ambitious expansion plans. When in the autumn of 1997 former Air Inter boss, Jean-Cyril Spinetta, was ...

  • News

    Hard day's flying

    1999-02-01T00:00:00Z

    El Al is getting ready for a mid-year privatisation. Even without the right to fly on the Sabbath, the airline reckons that it is one of the most efficient in the world. When running an airline that can fly only five days a week, you could be forgiven for ...

  • News

    End of an era

    1999-02-01T00:00:00Z

    After the demise of the Japanese leveraged lease, the markets for tax based aircraft leasing are being shut down one by one. What other sources of funding will replace tax leasing and will they be as cost effective? All good things must come to an end and that time ...

  • News

    Building shareholder value

    1999-02-01T00:00:00Z

    Shareholders have not always had a good deal from their airline investments. Michael Deimler and James Whitehurst of the Boston Consulting Group in Atlanta, Georgia, outline new approaches to help management put investor values first. For shareholders with a long term perspective, airlines have historically been a high risk, low ...

  • News

    Little hope of early US-UK open skies

    1999-02-01T00:00:00Z

    A sceptical but curious US delegation is preparing once again to sit down with UK aviation representatives in mid-February for informal talks on open skies, although the mood in Washington is pessimistic. While the USA now has more than 30 open skies agreements in place around the world, a ...

  • News

    A final flurry of orders

    1999-02-01T00:00:00Z

    Despite the gathering gloom, 1998 turned out to be another bonanza year for jet airliner sales. As the year-end totals rolled in, it became clear that Airbus and Boeing had managed to net the second largest bag of orders on record. That may raise few cheers from an airline industry ...

  • News

    Euro: business as usual

    1999-02-01T00:00:00Z

    Following the introduction of Europe's new currency, the question being asked in the travel industry circles is what impact the euro will have on prices. There are immediate benefits of the euro, such as the elimination of exchange rate risk, but what about fares? Travel agents, tour operators and ...

  • News

    ROUTES

    1999-02-01T00:00:00Z

    Chicago service - All Nippon Airways is to launch Tokyo-Chicago services on 13 April. The daily non-stop service will be run with Boeing 747-400s, seating 319. It will be the sixth US destination for ANA, after New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington DC and Honolulu. Round the world ...

  • News

    News in brief

    1999-02-01T00:00:00Z

    Mood not so good - It will be "another good year for the US airline industry", according to Moody's credit ratings agency, but growth in Europe and the USA will be slower and profits lower than last year. Asia still faces "a difficult environment", except China.   EVA's early recovery ...

  • News

    PC-12 heads for US commercial history

    1999-01-27T00:00:00Z

    Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC Start-up US regional carrier Community Air hopes to begin scheduled passenger services in April, with the single-engined 10-seat Pilatus PC-12. The small carrier is the first to exploit recent US Federal Aviation Administration legislation that allows the carriage of fare-paying passengers in single engined aircraft under ...

  • News

    COPA completes deal for 12 new Boeing 737-700s

    1999-01-27T00:00:00Z

    COPA has finalised a deal to acquire 12 new Boeing 737-700s through order and operating leases. The carrier will re-equip its fleet completely and expand services to Central and South America. The privately owned Panamanian carrier has ordered eight 737s from Boeing and will lease a further four aircraft, ...

  • News

    Croatia Airlines nears alliance

    1999-01-27T00:00:00Z

    Andrew Doyle/ZAGREB Croatia Airlines is finalising a strategic tie-up with a major European flag carrier as the next stage in its plans to establish Zagreb as a regional hub for destinations in the former Yugoslavia. The move comes hard on the heels of the acquisition by the Croatian ...

  • News

    Eurocontrol firms up separation plans in bid to beat congestion

    1999-01-27T00:00:00Z

    Andrew Doyle/DUBROVNIK Proposals for a major shake-up of Europe's congested airspace, aimed at securing extra capacity, will be considered by Eurocontrol in April. If approved, the programme will commit 38 countries to work together to introduce reduced vertical separation minima (RVSM) between flight levels 290 and 410 simultaneously ...

  • News

    JAL realigns to face aggressive market

    1999-01-27T00:00:00Z

    Andrzej Jeziorski/SINGAPORE Japan Airlines (JAL) is expanding its international services and delegating more regional routes to its low cost subsidiaries as it braces itself against increased competition at home and abroad. The carrier says the major catalysts for intensified competition are the emergence of new domestic Japanese carriers ...

  • News

    Philippine Airlines struggles to avoid repossession of fleet

    1999-01-27T00:00:00Z

    Philippine Airlines' (PAL) newly contracted management consultancy, Regent Star Services, is calling for urgent action to avoid the repossession of the airline's fleet by frustrated creditors. Chief advisor Peter Foster says in a memo to PAL staff: "By the end of January, we must have cash to make a ...