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Monday, January 24, 2005

Quick Takes

  • Bankrupt US Airways [UAIR] earlier this month reached an agreement enabling it to purchase three 72-seat Embraer [ERJ] 170s and three 70-seat Bombardier [BBD] CRJ 700s. The delivery of the six planes had been held up since September when the carrier filed for bankruptcy a second time. The planes are expected to be delivered by the end of the month. Both Embraer and Bombardier were involved in the financing as well as DVB Bank. Last month US Airways worked out an interim financing deal with GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS), which is enabling it to lease 31 CRJs, including six CRJ 700s by the end of February (RAN, Dec. 6, 2004).

     

  • AirNet Systems [ANS] has hired Brown Gibbons Lang as a consultant as the cargo carrier considers various alternatives to right its foundering ship. AirNet has specialized in the overnight ferrying of cancelled checks between banks. It lost $30 million in the third quarter as it took a $47 million impairment charge in anticipation lost business in 2006 and 2007. Brown Gibbons Lang will help AirNet weigh the divestiture of business units as well as the purchase of other businesses.

     

  • All traffic measurements were down in December for Great Lakes Aviation [GLUX], the last of the regionals to release its traffic reports. Traffic was down 18 percent compared to December 2003; capacity was down 16 percent; the number of passengers enplaned down 13 percent and the load factor dipped 0.6 points to 43.7 percent. For the year, however, traffic was up 7 percent and passengers enplaned were up 8 percent. While Great Lakes trimmed its capacity for the year by 3 percent, it improved its load factor to 42 percent - a 4 point jump.

     

  • Traffic on the carrier-members of the European Regions Airline Association (ERA) grew by 4 percent in the first nine months of 2004. Capacity, as measured by available seat kilometers, was up by 5.1 percent and the airlines collective load factor improved to 60.8 percent. The ERA also reported the increased use of RJs as flight times decreased and monthly utilization increased by 11 hours per plane.

    Also on the continent, Airclaims reports that smaller airports grew 4 percent faster than the larger airports last year. Due primarily to the rise of low-fare airlines and more point-to-point travel, small airports had a 10 percent increase in the number of seats flown. Small airports were defined as those with less than 5 million seats.

     

  • The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is revamping its hiring procedures for air traffic controllers as it prepares to hire 12,500 in the next 10 years to replace retirees. The FAA has traditionally given graduates of college-level air traffic control programs priority for the first two years after graduation. The agency is now permitting these grads to seek one-year extensions each year until age 31.
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