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Monday, May 24, 2004

Briefs

  • Mesa Air Group [MESA] is a possible investor in a bid to restructure the bankrupt Hawaiian Airlines. Mesa is one of 13 investors - and the only airline - to join the current bankrupt trustee and unsecured creditors in formulating a bid for the airline. Four recovery plans have been filed to take control of the airline, which is a unit of Hawaiian Holdings [HA]. The bankruptcy court will review all plans submitted by a June 14 deadline.
  • Quassar has purchased two Jetstream 31s from BAe System Regional Aircraft to be used in its Mexican charter operations. In addition, Proflight, of Caracas, Venezuela, purchased a Jetstream 31 for it corporate shuttle in the Caribbean. Vision Air, of Las Vegas, has leased three Jetstream 32s to be used for contract charters.
  • Hainan Airlines has signed a contract for 20 additional Dornier 328Jets. The Chinese airline already operates 27 328Jets. The order with AvCraft calls for the delivery of five planes this year and the balance to be delivered through 2007. In a separate deal, AvCraft sold a Dornier 328 turboprop to Private Wings, a German executive charter operator. This is the second 328 turboprop in its fleet.
  • Embraer has successfully tested its second Embraer 190 model. Two more planes will be built as part of the certification testing. The Brazilian airframe manufacturer also announced that its first quarter profits more than doubled last year's. The company earned $103.3 million on sales of $626.2 million in the quarter ending March 31. In the same period of 2003, its net earnings were $44 million on sales of $488.8 million. It delivered 23 planes in the most recent quarter.
  • ATR has launched a program to increase the lifespan of its ATR 42 and ATR 72 aircraft. The "aging structures program" is designed to extend the life of an aircraft from 70,000 cycles to 105,000 cycles. The company hopes to implement the program next year, but it first must be approved by the French Civil Aviation Authority.
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