In September, commenting on South Africa’s only truly independent airline going into bankruptcy protection to reorganise, I asked the question “will 1time run out of time and become another lost carrier in 2012?” On November 2nd, CEO Blacky Komani announced that the “1Time board, together with business rescue practitioners, decided to suspend services with effect this afternoon“. Planes in the air at the time flew back to the Johannesburg base. All other scheduled flights remained grounded. South African banks promised their Credit Card customers full refunds for any tickets bought using their cards. The National Consumer Commission began investigating claims that 1time…
Airline News (Friday)
Category Archives for Airline News (Friday).
Virgin America Verges on Good bye?
Virgin America are my favourite US airline but accumulated losses are approaching $US671 million. How long will this be tolerated for? I recently read a great post about Virgin America by Brad Tuttle. He says they are “failing”. My interpretation from his article, is that he is saying, like many airlines before them, Virgin are suffering from the syndrome: Great Airline- lousy business. This phrase was coined by former Ansett CEO Rod Eddington before that airline collapsed. What do you think? Virgin America Safety Briefing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6ixjc5yeMU
Norwegian selling 787 Tickets
Norwegian Air Shuttle began selling tickets for their New York JFK and Bangkok Boeing 787 services on Thursday November 8 for flights from May 30th, 2013. Some very cheap seats were available -and they were selling fast. The carrier will fly between Oslo (Norway) and Stockholm (Sweden) three times a week. Seats on Norwegian’s 787 will be nine across 3-3-3 in economy class with a 31″ pitch. The airline is also introducing a Premium Cabin on the 787, configured six across 2-2-2 with a 46″ pitch. Up to now, the airline has been all one class.…
Spanish Shakeup for IAG
IAG CEO Willie Walsh has thrown down a challenge following nine months of losses at Iberia and a 25% fall in third quarter profit for the group. This week he said: “We want Iberia to be strong and successful. For too long the narrow self-interest of the few has damaged the long-term future for the many. We will not hesitate to take necessary steps to protect the interests of our shareholders.” It looks like Iberia is going through the same medicine that British Airways went through two years ago. The immediate changes are: Iberia capacity will be…
Air Zim back (again)
Robert Mugabe, the leader of Zimbabwe is not in a hurry to go anywhere nor it seems, is his country’s national carrier. After suspensions of services several times. multiple strikes and groundings and suspension from IATA, the carrier’s ceasing of flight’s seemed to spell the end in February. Not so! In March 2012, the government of Zimbabwe disbanded Air Zimbabwe Holdings, absorbed a one hundred and fifty million US dollar debt and established Air Zimbabwe Private Limited. They then flew from Harare to Bulawayo and Victoria Falls (all in Zimbabwe) from May 2nd to July 2nd, 2012. Now the airline is on its…
Virgin Australia’s Next Move
The Australian airline industry has become like a giant game of chess. Virgin Australia 18 months ago, upped the ante with a dramatic series of movies including new planes, refurbished cabins, a business class product and expanded lounges. These changes began in tandem with new partnerships with Delta, Air New Zealand, Singapore and Etihad which plugged the airline into a worldwide network for a much reduced cost. The aim was to poach as many of Qantas customers as possible. Qantas responded by forming a major alliance with Emirates. This threw the gauntlet down again. I have been…
Tiger Australia certified safe again
On 22nd October 2012 Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) announced it will issue a new safety certificate and lifting all restrictions placed on Tigerair Australia. These came after the airline was grounded from 1st July to 10th August 2011, by CASA. The authority took this action to ground Tiger Airways Australia because of serious safety concerns about the operation of the airline. It is now satisfied, after working with Tiger management that these restrictions are no longer needed. I am still not flying them. Related Posts Tiger Wins Battle- Loses War: I miss my flight…
AA wants more time
AMR Corp. is seeking more time to resolve its Chapter 11 bankruptcy case. The Fort Worth-based airline company filed a joint motion Tuesday with the Unsecured Creditors Committee in the case requesting another 30 days to file an exclusive restructuring plan, the Dallas Business Journal reports. AMR – the parent company of American Airlines and American Eagle – and the UCC propose to push the exclusivity period to file a plan from Dec. 28 to Jan. 28. They also want to push the deadline for gaining acceptance of that plan from Jan. 28 to March 28.
Kingfisher finally klipped
I have been sadly waiting for this moment for some time. Kingfisher Airlines has had its scheduled Operator Permit suspended by India’s aviation regulator: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) The authority stated that Kingfisher Airlines had failed to come up with a viable plan for its financial and operational revival and had not resolved the impasse with employees over non payment of salaries. News Report here. (Photo from Reuters Media) The airline has been tasked on October 5 to show cause as to why licence should not be suspended on October 20. Kingfisher asked for more time yesterday and said…
Qatar joins One World
To no one’s surprise, One World announced today that British Airways will sponsor Qatar Airways as a full member of the Alliance, a process that is expected to take between 12 and 18 months. This news is an interesting addition to the One World. The 13 airline strong alliance will count amongst its membership three five star airlines (as measured by Skytrax) : Cathay Pacific, Malaysia Airlines and Qatar compared to Star Alliance’s two: Asiana and Singapore. One World lost two members when Malev collapsed in 2012 and Mexicana was grounded in 2011. Kingfisher, a would be One World members has had significant financial woes – to…
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