SkyGreece Airlines to file for bankruptcy protection and reorganization

SkyGreece Airlines (Athens) was a short-lived airline with interests in both Greece and Canada. The airline started operations on June 22, 2014 and abruptly ended all operations last month stranding passengers, especially in Canada. The company has issued this statement about its intention to file for bankruptcy protection in Canada:

SkyGreece Airlines, S.A. on September 3 announced that, with the authorization and approval of its board of directors, the company has filed a Notice of Intention to Make a Proposal (Notice of Intention) pursuant to the provisions of Part III of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (BIA) (Canada).

Pursuant to the Notice of Intention, Ernst & Young Inc. (EY) has been appointed as the trustee in the company’s proposal proceedings (the Proposal Trustee) and in that capacity will monitor and assist the company in its restructuring efforts.

It was determined by the company’s board of directors that as a result of the company’s current financial situation, seeking protection under the BIA would be in the best interests of the company and all of its stakeholders. This was a very difficult decision for SkyGreece. The company ultimately determined that this was the best course of action to ensure that all of its creditors, including passengers, were treated equitably. While under BIA protection, the company will continue with its efforts to resume service, while determining the best way to see that all parties are compensated fairly.

A Notice of Intention is the first stage of a restructuring process and allows the company to pursue a restructuring of its financial affairs and operations, through a formal Proposal to creditors. This filing has the effect of imposing an automatic stay of proceedings (Stay) that will protect the company and its assets from the claims of creditors and others while the company pursues its restructuring.

SkyGreece was founded with a commitment to providing economical, customer-focused air travel between Athens, Toronto, Montreal, Budapest, Zagreb and New York. In spite of its recent challenges, the company looks forward to serving passengers again soon and to doing everything it can to take care of those passengers who have been recently affected.

SkyGreece is actively working to quickly improve customer communications by establishing a customer and creditor support centre, which it hopes to have operational in the coming days.

Copyright Photo: TMK Photography/AirlinersGallery.com. SkyGreece Airlines Boeing 767-31A ER SX-BPN (msn 26470) is pictured sitting at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport (YYZ).

SKY Airline to become a low-cost airline in Chile

SKY Airline‘s (Chile) (Santiago) CEO Holger Paulmann, announced a big change in the company’s management, as it is in the process of becoming a low-cost airline.

Starting today (September 4), only beverages are included in the ticket price. Those wanting to eat something on board the aircraft will have the option to buy the on-board service. According to the carrier, this is aimed at reducing costs, and allowing the passenger to decide which services he or she will require, such as paying for first rows or the emergency row seats, and checked baggage.

According to the company, they expect to charge a 20-30% discount on tickets, as well as offering one way tickets cheaper than buying them for the round trip.

According to Paulmann “100% of our flights last less of 4 hours, 80% of our passengers are not willing to pay for meals. 30% do not need to carry luggage, why do we have to invest and ask our passengers to pay for services they will not use? We believe the clients have to pay for those services they appreciate more, giving them flexibility for choosing and a service made to order.”

This announcement follows the announced future elimination of the Chile-Bolivia route by November 2, 2015 because of the low load factors (usually the aircraft carried less than 50% of its capacity), and the increase to two daily flights to Arica in northern Chile from October 5. The process must be finished by July 2016.

Thanks to Alvaro Romero reporting from Chile.

Copyright Photo: Antony J. Best/AirlinersGallery.com. Ex-easyJet Airbus A319-111 G-EZEP became CC-AFZ (msn 2251) with SKY Airline.

SKY Airline aircraft slide show:

World Airline News is evolving

After almost seven years and nearly 15,000 published articles, World Airline News is further evolving as the reading habits of our readers also continue to evolve.

Over the years we have noticed an on-going trend in how readers get their airline news. These undeniable trends have spotlighted the move from traditional printed (paper) magazine content to on-line web content (like this blog) and now to mobile devices and the fast-growing social media sites. Today more and more readers are getting their news on their mobile devices and through the various social media pages. This blog is already mobile-friendly and is already located in the top social media sites.

As you know, there are several ways to read World Airline News. This ranges from direct e-mail subscriptions of all articles, to this actual on-line blog and also on our social media pages like Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Tumblr, Pocket, Pinterest, Google+ and Reddit. Clearly these social media sites are the major growth areas.

Readership of World Airline News has doubled in the past year with all of these outlets. However less people are now visiting the original on-line blog after we peaked in blog readership in March. We are now forced to be more selective in what we report and publish and how we distribute the news.

Effective October 1, 2015, World Airline News will no longer be a daily news service. After this date, we only will be publishing the occasional major “big stories” on this blog. However we will continue to post our stories + those of other traditional and reliable news services on our fast-growing World Airline News page on Facebook.

We will no longer be reporting on financial reports by the airlines. There are many financial news sources for the quarterly and yearly financial results and we no longer want to duplicate this content reported in other places.

We will no longer be reporting on new airline routes unless it is a major story in our focus area. Airline Route does an excellent job of reporting on new routes (please see the right column of this blog for their Airline Route RSS news feed).

What constitutes major news stories?

We expect to continue to publish stories on the following “big subjects” on this blog:

New airlines and the start of service
Airline demises and retirement of airline brands
New airline liveries
A new aircraft type with an airline and the introduction of service
Aircraft type retirements
Major new aircraft orders
Special articles, especially the columns and stories by our Assistant Editors
Major aircraft accidents and incidents
Airline mergers and takeovers

These types of stories are the most popular with our readers. In essence, we are now being more selective in what we report due to the rising amount of content and our limited time to report the news. Unlike others, we do not charge for our news service. It has all been free from day one and it will continue to be free. We hope in return you will support our growing flagship AirlinersGallery.com photo library and our framable color prints.

Although we will continue to report on a worldwide basis, we will also focus more on our main readership areas of North America, Western Europe, Australia/New Zealand and other English-speaking parts of the world. We will continue to work with our overseas partners for their extensive coverage in their home areas. Their stories can also be found in the right column.

Finally, if you are interested in helping to report the news as a volunteer Assistant Editor, we would welcome your correspondence and your offer of help.

Bruce Drum

Managing Editor

World Airline News

easyJet increases its profit forecast

Fiona Cincotta, a senior market analyst at www.finspreads.com commented on the updated profit forecast of easyJet (London-Luton):

easyJet impressed the market by increasing its profit forecast from a range of £620 million to £660 million to £675 million to £700 million on the back of a very strong summer and continued weakness in oil prices.

In August they carried 7.1 million passengers, a monthly record, whilst the proportion of occupied seats on each flight also reached an all time high of 94.4%.

This is great news for easyJet, who have staged an impressive recovery since earlier in the summer. Back in May easyJet issued a profit warning after air traffic control strikes in France led to a series of cancelations, which combined with the impact of two fires at Rome´s Fiumicino airport, resulted in the company wiping £25 million off its full year guidance.

Its definitely been a turbulent year for the budget airline and this has been reflected in the share price which slumped 17% following the profit warning in May. However, today’s news has seen the share price jump over 6% as investors become more confident in the future of easyJet.

Copyright Photo: Paul Bannwarth/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A319-111 G-EZDA (msn 3413) arrives at EuroAirport in the new look.

easyJet aircraft slide show:

Delta criticizes the IAM

Delta Air Lines (Atlanta) has issued the following statement criticizing the International Machinists Union (IAM):

The Machinists Union (IAM) continues to oppose Delta on key issues that affect jobs at U.S. airlines.

This week the IAM issued a call to action for its 600,000 members to support a full reauthorization of the U.S. Export-Import Bank.

The Machinists union claims the Bank’s loan guarantees “…create U.S. jobs by helping foreign companies buy American-made products, like Boeing aircraft and John Deere tractors.”

However, the majority of Ex-Im’s financing goes to airlines that are owned by governments or are otherwise creditworthy and don’t need the Bank’s help to purchase new aircraft. And, when the Bank provides these airlines with a loan guarantee, they receive below-market financing rates – a subsidy of up to $20 million per aircraft – to compete directly against Delta and other U.S. airlines.

Delta is not opposed to the mission of the Bank, but believes that the Bank should not subsidize foreign companies that compete against U.S. workers, and that it should honor its mandate as a “lender of last resort.”

The IAM is making a direct request of its members to advocate against the interests of U.S. airline employees and in favor of foreign competition. Meanwhile, the Machinists Union remains silent and at odds with seven airline labor groups who are working alongside American, Delta and United in the Partnership for Open & Fair Skies to advocate for U.S. airline jobs and fair competition with foreign airlines. The coalition has garnered strong support from members of Congress, community leaders and mayors across the nation in urging the U.S. government to address the massive subsidies state-owned Gulf airlines receive that tilt the competitive playing field and violate Open Skies agreements.

Over the past two years, Delta employees have participated in multiple legislative fly-ins to Washington, D.C., to educate Congress about Delta’s Ex-Im and Gulf carrier subsidy concerns.

Emirates and Boeing celebrate the delivery of the 150th 777

Emirates Airline (Dubai) and Boeing (Chicago, Seattle and Charleston) have celebrated the simultaneous delivery of three 777s – two 777-300ERs and one 777 Freighter – marking the entry of the 150th 777 into Emirates’ fleet.

The triple delivery marks the first time in 15 years that Boeing has delivered three 777s at one time to a single customer.

Emirates is the world’s largest operator of the 777 and also the only airline ever to operate all six of the 777 variants introduced into service by Boeing.

Emirates ordered its first Boeing 777s in 1992 with delivery beginning in June 1996. The airline’s order book for the 777 continued to grow over the following years including a then record-breaking order for 50 777-300 ERs at the 2011 Dubai Airshow and 150 777Xs at the 2013 edition.

Today’s 777-300 ER, which forms the largest part of the Emirates fleet, is the most fuel and cost-efficient airplane in its class and the most reliable twin-aisle aircraft in the world with an on-time departure rate of 99.5 percent. It also has the highest cargo capability of any passenger airplane. Emirates currently has 46 additional 777-300 ERs on order with Boeing.

With this delivery, Emirates now has 13 777 Freighters, the world’s largest and longest range twin-engine freighter, capable of flying 4,900 nautical miles (9,070 kilometers) with a full payload at general cargo market densities. The airplane’s range capability translates into significant savings for cargo operators – fewer stops and associated landing fees, less congestion at transfer hubs, lower cargo handling costs and shorter cargo delivery times.

Boeing also provides Emirates with essential support and services including parts and components and Airplane Health Management to speed the detection and resolution of maintenance issues, Jeppesen Crew Rostering services to optimize flight crew scheduling, and AerData STREAM (Secure Technical Records for Electronic Asset Management) to manage aircraft and engine records.

Photo: Boeing 777-31H ER A6-EPB (msn 42321) sits at the special ceremony at Boeing as the 150th Boeing 777 for the airline.

Emirates aircraft slide show:

Jet2 and Boeing finalize an order for 27 Boeing 737-800s

Jet2 (Jet2.com) (Leeds/Bradford) and Boeing (Chicago, Seattle and Charleston) have finalized an order for 27 Next-Generation 737-800s, valued at approximately $2.6 billion at current list prices.

Jet2.com currently operates an all-Boeing fleet of nearly 60 aircraft; however, this is the organization’s first direct Boeing order.

The new aircraft are expected to replace the older Boeing 737-300s.

The aircraft will be used to take the company’s package holiday and flight only customers to leisure destinations in the Mediterranean, the Canary Islands and also to a combination of exciting European leisure cities.

Jet2.com is a subsidiary of Dart Group PLC, a UK Aim listed Leisure Travel and Distribution and Logistics Group.

The Company commenced commercial aircraft operations in 1983 and passenger flights to sun destinations from Leeds-Bradford Airport in 2003.

Jet2.com now flies over 3 million customers each year through a combination of package holidays and flight only services to 55 destinations across 364 holiday resorts from 7 Northern departure bases.

Copyright Photo: Paul Bannwarth/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 737-8Z9 WL G-GDFR (msn 30421) with “Great flight times” sub-titles departs from Tenerife Sur.

Jet2 aircraft slide show:

Behind the scenes: Alaska Airlines’ flight attendant training

From the Alaska Airlines blog – the training of Flight Attendants:

Hawaiian Airlines is the official airline of the Oakland Raiders for the 2015 season

Hawaiian Airlines (Honolulu) has announced the renewed partnership with the NFL Oakland Raiders. The airline has added the Raiders shield logo to an Airbus A330-200. The airline issued this statement:

Hawaiian Airlines is proud to announce it will serve as the Official Airline of The Oakland Raiders for the 2015 National Football League (NFL) season. Hawai‘i’s largest and longest serving carrier has provided its signature ‘Mea Ho‘okipa’ (translation: I am host) in-flight hospitality and charter service for the team’s away games since 2000.

Starting with the Raiders’ September 3 preseason game against the Seattle Seahawks, Hawaiian’s designated Airbus A330 aircraft featuring the Raiders’ shield will carry players, coaches, trainers, as well as uniforms and equipment, to eight games, including: Seattle, Cleveland, Chicago, San Diego, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Tennessee and Denver through December.

Hawaiian provides a dedicated catering coordinator to meet the team’s expectations and to handle special requests. Hearty, nutritious meals are provided along with sandwiches and an assortment of healthy snacks that include fresh fruit, protein bars and, at the Raiders’ request, products from Hawai‘i, such as Passion Orange Guava Juice and Hawaiian Iced Tea. For entertainment, Hawaiian offers a wide selection of movies, TV shows and music.

Hawaiian Airlines has served the Oakland market since 2008, and provides daily nonstop flights to both Honolulu and Kahului, Maui. During the peak summer months, travelers can fly nonstop to all four major Hawaiian islands, when the airline adds seasonal service from Oakland to Līhu’e, Kaua’i and Kona, Hawai’i Island, between May and September. Hawaiian also serves the Bay Area with nonstop flights between San Francisco and San Jose to Honolulu.

Photo: Hawaiian Airlines. Airbus A330-243 N375HA (msn 1606) was delivered on February 24, 2015 and is named “Humu”.

Hawaiian Airlines aircraft slide show:

Eastern Australia Airlines to start Jetstar services in New Zealand on December 1, routes announced

Jetstar Airways (Melbourne) has unveiled its new regional network in New Zealand, launching low fares on five routes between Nelson, Napier, New Plymouth, Palmerston North, Auckland and Wellington.

Nelson-Auckland and Napier-Auckland flights will take off on December 1, in time for the busy tourism season in both popular holiday destinations.

New Plymouth-Auckland, Palmerston North-Auckland and Nelson-Wellington flights will follow early next year, with services scheduled to begin on February 1, 2016.

Jetstar first announced plans for a regional network in June and has been considering proposals from locations across the country for its initial expansion.

Jetstar’s regional network will add more than 670,000 new seats a year to the domestic market, a significant increase on the airline’s current domestic jet seat capacity of over 2.6 million seats annually.

First flights each day will take off from regional ports, with crew and aircraft positioned overnight in each of the new destinations. Recruiting has commenced for the 100 new jobs the regional expansion will create, with positions available for pilots, cabin crew, and ground crew.

The Jetstar-branded regional services, which will be marketed and managed by Jetstar, will be operated by QantasLink. Under this arrangement, Qantas-owned Eastern Australia Airlines (Sydney), which has operated Bombardier Q300 aircraft in Australia for QantasLink for over 15 years, will manage the aircraft operations.

Jetstar launched trans-Tasman flights in 2005 and established domestic operations in New Zealand in June 2009. The low cost carrier’s fleet of nine Airbus A320 aircraft operate up to up to 250 domestic and 100 international flights a week. Jetstar has over 400 team members in New Zealand.

Copyright Photo: Rob Finlayson/AirlinersGallery.com. Jetstar-branded, operated by Eastern Australia Airlines, Bombardier DHC-8-315 (Q300) VH-TQM (msn 604) at Brisbane was the first of five Q300s to be repainted.

Jetstar Airways aircraft slide show: