Deutsche Lufthansa AG (Lufthansa) and International Airlines Group (IAG), the owner of British Airways, have signed a binding agreement for the sale of British Midland Limited (bmi) to IAG for £172.5m (approx. €207m) in cash.
Lufthansa has the option of selling the 'bmi regional' and 'bmibaby' units separately before the sale is completed, expected by the end of the first quarter 2012. In such an event IAG will pay a significantly lower price.
IAG's boss Willie Walsh has said there will be job losses due to magnitude of losses at bmi and the need for urgent restructuring at the carrier.
The main interest of IAG in bmi is to gain those extremely valuable slots at the over congested London Heathrow airport.
IAG would like to replace the smaller aircraft flown by bmi by the bigger ones flown by British Airways. The deal though is likely to face regulatory hurdles and it will not be an easy time for IAG.
SpiceJet passenger loads on Q400 flights exceeding expectations within a week of commencing service Sources inside the airline have told Bangalore Aviation that the passenger load factors on their Q400 operations have smashed the airline's expectations within the first week of travel itself.
On almost all routes, the passenger load factors are exceeding the break-even load factors by a "significant margin". On some routes the budget carrier is averaging over 97.5% load factors.
Of special significance are the performance of certain "virgin routes" like Hyderabad Madurai, Vishakapatanam Tirupati, Bangalore Vishakapatanam, and the soon to commence Hyderabad Mangalore flights. It is rumoured that the Hyderabad Vijayawada route has already achieved break-even, thus validating the airline's strategy of expanding to tier 2 and tier 3 cities.
The source also confirmed the airline bouyed by the response, is accelerating its Q400 delivery schedule, with the sixth aircraft, VT-SUF Kesar, due to join the fleet by October 20th.
Looking at this positive response and based on other intelligence, Bangalore Aviation opines that SpiceJet will confirm the 15 aircraft currently on option, and probably announce an additional order beyond these 30 aircraft, within the next fiscal year.
Mumbai airport to construct new taxiway. Runway 14/32 to be shut till Jan. 20, 2012 As per a release,
As a part of its ongoing efforts to enhance the overall airside efficiency at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA), Mumbai International Airport Pvt Ltd (MIAL) today announced that it will construct a new taxiway between taxiway E1 and E3 for the secondary runway 14/32. As a result, aircraft will be able to vacate the runway, thereby reducing runway occupancy time. To facilitate this infrastructure work, runway 14/32 will be closed for flight operations from October 10, 2011 – January 20, 2012. If required, the restoration time for the same will be 48 hours. Flight operations will not be impacted as the primary runway 09/27 will continue to remain open for operations. This work including the construction and closure is being undertaken post discussion with DGCA, ATC and airlines.
Bangalore Aviation spoke to a member of the airside operations team. The new taxiway is being constructed partly keeping efficiency and partly keeping safety in mind. The existing taxiway E1 creates some interference problems with the localiser beam under certain conditions, thus delaying landings on runway 14. The shape of the new taxiway will be improved, and better fillets will be added, to eliminate the interference and also allow for wide body aircraft to exit the runway faster.
Mumbai airport’s ATC sets new time limits for aircraft to vacate runways to improve flight capacity. As per the report "Pilots landing in Mumbai now have to vacate the runway within 49 seconds of touchdown, while those taking off cannot occupy the airstrip for more than 40 seconds."Read more.
Jet Airways downgrades lounge priveleges for its JetPrivilege Gold and Platinum tier members. (From the airline website "With effect from October 1, 2011, guests will not be able to accompany Platinum and Gold members to the lounge at domestic and international airports.")Read more or download the document here.
World top news
First Boeing 787 Dreamliner JA801A makes its delivery flight. After a wet delivery ceremony on Monday, the first Boeing 787 Dreamliner JA801A left Paine Field, Everett, Washington, USA yesterday morning at 07:16 local time (19:46 IST 14:16 GMT) and after a 9h47m flight arrived at Tokyo's Haneda airport at 09:03 local time (05:33 IST, 01:03 GMT) earlier this morning. The flight as flight ANA9397 was staffed exclusively by All Nippon Airways crew, who handled their newest baby with kid gloves. You can see the detailed flight track here on FlightAware.
You can see a video of the take-off here at Boeing's site.
Videos of the arrival at Haneda earlier this morning are available here and here. The water cannon salute is visible on this mobile phone video.
Boeing and Russia's UTair Aviation have signed an order for 40 Boeing 737-800 and 737-900ER aircraft. The order is comprised of seven 737-900ERs and 33 737-800s. The agreement was previously announced at the 2011 Paris Air Show. The order is valued at $3.8 billion at list prices.
Avianca, part of the airline group AviancaTaca Holdings, has signed a firm order with Airbus SAS for four Airbus A330-200 Freighter aircraft. The new aircraft will be operated by Avianca’s cargo subsidiary Tampa. Avianca will announce its engine choice at a later date. Read more.
bmi, British Midland International, Heathrow’s second largest airline, and a member of the Star Alliance will commence a thrice a week service between Amritsar and London Heathrow starting on 14 October 2011.
bmi Airbus A330-242 G-WWBB. Photo copyright Devesh Agarwal.
Flights will operate to London Heathrow via Almaty in Kazakhstan. bmi will be the only airline to offer a direct route from Amritsar to the United Kingdom which has a very large Punjabi diaspora. Services will be operated on an Airbus A330 aircraft and will offer a full service Business Class and Economy cabin. The aircraft offers 36 Business and 196 Economy seats.
BD992 will depart Amritsar 04:10, arrive Almaty 07:45; depart Almaty 08:45, arrive London Heathrow 10:50 on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays
BD991 will depart Heathrow 09:55, arrive Almaty 23.20; depart Almaty 00.10+1, arrive Amritsar 02.45+1 on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays
Business Class customers get a 60” seat pitch and seat recline of 50 degrees, electronic seat controls, in-seat power, a 15” personal video screen and comfortable noise cancelling headphones. Economy passengers get a 32” seat pitch with a recline of six degrees and a personal 15” seat back video screen.
bmi is offering promotional fares starting at Rs. 39,428 including taxes. The bmi India call centre is at 1 800 209 8070.
Reuters, quoting The Mail, reports, British airline Flybe is in talks to buy British Midland's (BMI) subsidiary operations bmi regional and bmi baby.
The two airlines are not core to the strategy of British Midland's new owner, Lufthansa (LHAG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), it said.
Lufthansa took over British Midland last month, but the German airline has indicated it is more interested in bmi's long-haul routes and valuable Heathrow slots than in the two subsidiaries.
Bmi regional is UK-focused, while bmi baby is a low-cost airline that flies to a number of European destinations.
Privately-owned Flybe is in due diligence for the two businesses, which together make up about 40 percent of British Midland's turnover, the newspaper reported.
Analysts have previously touted Flybe as a potential buyer of bmi regional, saying it would fit in well with Flybe's strategy of trying to consolidate the UK regional market
