Travel News and Information from Meridian Flights

Boeing Reports Loss After Government Settlement

Meridian Flights — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 21:06:00 +0000

Boeing on Wednesday reported a quarterly loss as it took USD$1.1 billion of previously announced charges to settle government investigations into its defense unit and to cover the costs of delayed surveillance aircraft.

Boeing, which is outselling its European commercial aircraft rival Airbus more than two-to-one this year, cut its full-year earnings forecast to account for the charges, but raised forecasts for next year on strong plane sales.

Boeing reported a loss of USD$160 million for the second quarter, compared with a profit of USD$566 million in the year-ago quarter.

Revenue rose 2 percent to USD$15 billion.

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Germany Liable For Russian Plane Crash

Meridian Flights — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 21:04:00 +0000

A German court ruled on Thursday that Germany wrongly subcontracted its airspace control to a private firm and was liable for a 2002 crash between a Russian passenger jet and a cargo plane that killed 71 people.

The ruling came in a lawsuit filed by Bashkirian Airlines over the mid-air collision involving a Bashkirian plane and a DHL cargo aircraft over the German village of Ueberlingen close to the Swiss border.

The court said Germany breached its constitution by subcontracting airspace control to private Swiss firm Skyguide and Germany was responsible for compensation for the crash.

"The sovereign task of securing air space has never been effectively transferred to Switzerland," the court said in its ruling.

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Saudi Airline To Privatize Five Units

Meridian Flights — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 21:03:00 +0000

Saudi Arabian Airlines will privatize five units next year, some through public listings, to pave the way for the flotation of its core transport business, company and banking sources said on Sunday.
The sources said the government had given the flag carrier's board the green light to turn its catering, handling, cargo, pilot training and technical and maintenance units into independent firms.
"Some of these firms can be listed, mainly catering and cargo, but others will probably need to be managed by the private sector, or outsourced," a source from French bank BNP Paribas said.
The bank is helping plan the privatization of the airline, one of the largest in the Middle East.

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Delta To Buy NY-London Flight Rights

Meridian Flights — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 20:22:00 +0000

Delta Air Lines is buying rights to fly between New York and London from rival United Airlines for up to USD$21 million, a Delta spokeswoman said on Monday.

Delta plans up to three flights a day between New York's John F. Kennedy Airport and London's Gatwick Airport, with the first expected to start in the autumn, spokeswoman Betsy Talton said.

It plans to add up to two more flights a day next year, Talton said.

Atlanta-based Delta, which is operating under bankruptcy protection, would pay USD$13 million to United Airlines once the deal closed, with additional payments of USD$2 million per year, unless an "Open Skies" agreement were reached.

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Airbus Confirms A380 Fuselage Work

Meridian Flights — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 15:19:00 +0000

Airbus on Monday confirmed a German news report that it had modified part of the rear fuselage on the A380 superjumbo but said this would not lead to further production delays or cost overruns.

Citing internal Airbus documents, weekly Der Spiegel reported that section 19 of the fuselage, made in Spain from high-tech composites, had been modified following flight tests.

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International Air Traffic Up 6.7 Percent - IATA

Meridian Flights — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 15:17:00 +0000

International air passenger traffic rose 6.7 percent in the first six months of 2006 compared with the same period last year, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said on Thursday.

Cross-border air freight, a prime indicator of the health of world trade, rose 5.2 percent in the first half of this year.

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Airbus Charges To Hit EADS Profit

Meridian Flights — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 15:16:00 +0000

Airbus parent EADS posted a 6 percent rise in first-half operating profit on Thursday, but warned design and manufacturing problems could spill over to hit 2006 earnings.

The company said it expected full-year profit to come in at the bottom end of its previous forecast as it grapples with problems with the A380 superjumbo, a costly redesign of another model and losses on the sale of its Sogerma maintenance business.

Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) before goodwill and exceptional items rose to EUR1.6 billion euros (USD$2 billion) from EUR1.5 billion (USD$1.9 billion) a year ago.

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US Wants Passenger Info Before Departure

Meridian Flights — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 11:35:00 +0000

US Homeland Security officials proposed on Wednesday making airlines transmit passenger names and other information to the government before an international departure, a change designed to keep suspected terrorists off US-bound flights.

If approved, the security initiative would reverse the current policy of requiring that manifests for flights originating in foreign countries be transmitted shortly after takeoff.

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Boeing Sees 27,200 Airliner Market Over 20 Years

Meridian Flights — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 11:34:00 +0000

Boeing said on Wednesday it expected the global airliner market to require about 27,200 new planes by 2025 with the most valuable slice of the USD$2.6 trillion total coming from twin-aisle models.

The Boeing 777 twin-aisle plane sharply outsold the rival Airbus A340 last year. That, combined with brisk sales of the 787 due in 2008, has Airbus looking to offer a new twin-aisle plane.

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Air France CEO Summoned In Security Firm Probe

Meridian Flights — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 11:33:00 +0000

Air France Chief Executive Jean-Cyril Spinetta will be summoned next week before a judge who is investigating suspected misappropriation of funds at a security firm that worked with the airline, his lawyer said on Wednesday.

The lawyer, Jean-Pierre Versini-Campinchi, said Spinetta denied any role in the affair.

Air France declined to comment on the matter.

The founder of Pretory, the security firm in the case, has been placed under official investigation for possible illegal employment, aggravated money-laundering and fraud.

Pretory clinched a contract with Air France to provide private security agents for the airline's flights after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

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Pakistan Won't Use Fokker Planes For Passengers

Meridian Flights — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 11:32:00 +0000

Pakistan said on Wednesday it would not use Fokker planes for passenger flights after an F-27 crashed, killing all 45 people on board.

The Fokker F-27 turboprop, operated by state-run Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), crashed on Monday on the outskirts of the central city of Multan two minutes after takeoff.

"Fokkers will not be used for commercial flights. They will be used for cargo and other purposes," Information Minister Mohammad Ali Durrani told reporters after a cabinet meeting.

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Airbus Mystery Plane Set For UK Air Show Spotlight

Meridian Flights — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 11:31:00 +0000

The year's biggest air show opens near London next week, with all eyes on planemaker Airbus and its secretive plans for a new, mid-sized plane to challenge resurgent rival Boeing.

The two planemakers waged a feisty battle at the biennial event last time as the biggest winners in USD$21 billion worth of business deals announced.

This year, Airbus faces mounting pressure to reveal its mystery plane, which analysts say could cost USD$10 billion to build.

Industry sources and analysts say Airbus's top salesman, John Leahy, will be working hard to sell the concept and could have deals to announce at the Farnborough air show, which opens on Monday.

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EADS Says Underestimated Boeing

Meridian Flights — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 11:30:00 +0000

The co-head of European aerospace firm EADS admitted its Airbus unit had underestimated Boeing and said its priority was to fix problems at Airbus, which is trailing its US competitor in aircraft sales.

Airbus's mid-sized A350 model, which is being redesigned to compete with Boeing's bigger-selling 787, had to be a superior aircraft, Tom Enders told a briefing restricted to Stuttgart-based journalists late on Tuesday. His comments were embargoed for publication on Wednesday.

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Grand China May Take Hainan Air Private

Meridian Flights — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 11:28:00 +0000

Grand China Airlines may take its Hainan Airlines unit private before floating its own shares in Hong Kong next year, Caijing Magazine said on Monday.

Grand China Air, which replaced billionaire George Soros as the biggest shareholder in Hainan via a private share placement in June, is considering buying out the publicly traded shares of the unit, the semi-official magazine said, citing unidentified sources.

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'No survivors' in Pakistan crash

Meridian Flights — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 11:41:00 +0000

A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) passenger plane has crashed on a domestic flight, killing all 45 people on board, officials say.
The twin-engine Fokker aircraft crashed soon after take-off from the central city of Multan and burst into flames.

Rescuers could not save those inside. Officials said senior members of the military and judiciary were on board.

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