Delta Airlines Inc. is turning on the afterburners in its merger with Northwest Airlines as it approaches the one-year anniversary of the historic combination.
A few weeks shy of the 12-month mark, Delta (NYSE: DAL) has cleared most of the turbulence inherent with an airline merger with relative ease, airline analysts say. Though the combined carrier still has several logistical and labor issues left to sort out, the Delta-Northwest merger appears thus far to have gone off largely without a hitch.
Republic Airways Holdings Inc. will acquire 10 Embraer jets from US Airways Group Inc., which operates its largest hub at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport.
Republic says it will apply the full balance of its $35 million loan from US Airways toward the purchase of the aircraft and assume an undisclosed amount of debt.
Four of the 99-seat, E-190 jets are expected to enter service in November and December. The remaining six aircraft will become operational in the first half of 2010.
Indianapolis-based Republic Airways owns Chautauqua Airlines, Frontier Airlines, Lynx Aviation, Midwest Airlines, Republic Airlines and Shuttle America. All of the airlines’ flights are operated under their partner brand, including Continental Express, Delta Connection, United Express and US Airways Express. The carrier (NASDAQ:RJET) offers service on 1,800 flights daily to 126 cities.
Arizona-based US Airways (NYSE:LCC) operates 3,000 flights per day to more than 200 destinations in the Americas and Europe.
Despite earlier this week announcing a delay to first flight of the 747-8 into early 2010, Boeing is pressing ahead with preparations for the start of the flight campaign and expects to conduct key ground vibration tests on RC501, the first 747-8, on Sunday Oct 11.
The vibration test involves shaking the entire airframe and is used to determine if the structure is susceptible to any unsuspected aeroelastic characteristics. The evaluation supports the run-up to flight test by assisting in flutter test planning. It is also used to detect structural flaws and troubleshoot flight control dynamic problems. GVT is therefore a fundamental building block toward clearance for first flight, and is expected to be particularly significant on the 747-8 with its stretched proportions and larger GEnx-2B turbofans.
Dubai-based Emirates airline announced today the successful pricing of its inaugural US bond offering guaranteed by the Export Import Bank of the United States (the "Ex-Im Bank") related to a loan facility secured for three new Boeing 777-300ER aircraft. The transaction is in the amount of US$413.7m with a fixed rate coupon of 3.465% per annum. The secured notes are due 21 August 2021 and are payable in instalments of principal and interest on a quarterly basis.
A surveillance plane assigned to the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Haiti crashed into a mountain Friday, killing all 11 military personnel on board, the United Nations said.
U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas in New York said the Uruguayan CASA212 aircraft went down in rugged terrain west of Fonds-Verrettes near the border with the Dominican Republic, some 45 kilometers (28 miles) from the capital, Port-au-Prince.
"The aircraft was on a regular reconnaissance flight," Montas said in a statement.Rescue teams had to reach the area by foot because there were no roads nearby, and they found no survivors, she said.
