-T / T / +T | Comment(s)

Monday, October 10, 2005

Quick Takes

  • The near-bankrupt FlyI [FLYI], parent of Independence Air, is losing its long-time CFO. Richard Surratt, the CFO for the last six years, resigned to pursue other opportunities. While the resignation was effective last week, Surratt will stay on until Oct. 28 to ensure a smooth transition. Controller David Asai has been promoted to CFO. He has been the controller since 1998. FLYI, which has stated that is it considering a bankruptcy filing, recently announced it is scaling back its routes with fewer cities to be served by its 58 CRJ 200s (RAN, Oct. 3). The company will lay off 600 employees because of the schedule changes that began to take effect this month.
  • In a major step to exit its bankruptcy, United Airlines [UALAQ] has lined up $3 billion in exit financing. A team led by JP Morgan Chase and Citigroup is assembling a consortium of banks to make a six-year loan that will be used in part to pay off $1.3 billion in interim financing. United now hopes to exit bankruptcy in February after more than three years under the court's protection.
  • The new US Airways [LCC] will not have the U.S. government as a stockholder. The Air Transportation Stabilization Board holds 7.7 million stock warrants in the restructured airline due to its earlier loans to both US Airways and America West. The new US Airways board has decided to use some of its $2.5 billion in cash and new equity to pay the government $115.8 million for the stock warrants. The government still holds about $1 billion in loans to the newly combined operation. US Airways' shareholders now consists of private equity investors, including Air Wisconsin and the parent of Air Canada, as well as the former America West shareholders.
  • The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has given final approval for the $7.5 billion expansion at Chicago O'Hare International Airport. The project relocates and extends the airport's runways and builds a new terminal. The FAA and O'Hare claim that the improvements will reduce flight delays in good weather by 66 percent and reduce the many foul-weather delays by 68 percent. While, the FAA has approved the project, it has not decided how much it will fund the project.
blog comments powered by Disqus