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Monday, October 3, 2005

Quick Takes

  • The judge in the ATA Holdings [ATAHQ] bankruptcy case has asked the U.S. Trustee in the case to appoint a trade creditor of the defunct Chicago Express to the ATAH unsecured creditors committee. The Chicago Express creditor is to represent the interests of all similar creditors as the ATAH bankruptcy nears its first anniversary. An attorney representing several Chicago Express trade vendors early last month asked the court to create a separate creditors' committee to handle the remnants of the Chicago Express estate, contending the interests of the regional carrier's vendors were being ignored by the ATA creditors' committee. After the hearing, the judge concluded that the size of the Chicago Express estate, about $1 million, is not large enough to handle the administrative expenses of a separate committee and make payments to the vendors.

     

  • SkyWest [SKYW] obtained a short-term $60 million loan from CIT Leasing due on March 21, 2006. The loan, with an interest rate of 6.3 percent on top of prime, is secured by four Bombardier [BBD] CRJ aircraft.

     

  • ACE Aviation Holdings Inc. [ACE] has delayed spinning off Air Canada Jazz until better market conditions return. In August, the holding company for both Jazz and Air Canada had announced its interest to sell shares in Jazz Air Limited Partnership by creating an income trust (RAN, Aug. 15). The plan was to sell the trust shares by Sept. 30. The public and ACE would hold the shares in the trust, which is a Canadian investment tool designed to pay regular dividends. ACE had earlier spun off its frequent flyer program, Aeroplan, into a trust that generated $101 million for ACE. Work on a preliminary prospectus had been completed and the document is ready for submission.

    Given current conditions in the income trust market, ACE said it feels it is appropriate to refrain from making the filing at this time.

     

  • European airlines will not be singled out for separate treatment under the European Union's Greenhouse Gas Emission Trading Scheme. The European Commission has decided not to impose a separate set of emission charges, taxes and fees on the industry to offset damage caused by the carbon dioxide in aircraft emissions. The emissions trading scheme currently includes 11,500 industrial installations. Since the United Kingdom established a trading exchange in 2002, British Airways has been participating in the trades, which it says are more effective than paying more taxes.

     

  • The United Kingdom has taken steps to open up its regional airports to foreign carriers. The British government will begin accepting applications from foreign carriers to serve the regional airports. The new policy liberalizes the airlines' "fifth freedoms" rights.
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