Tag Archives: Brian McDonough

TACA and Avianca to merge under one company

Copyright Photo: Brian McDonough. Please click on photo for full view, information and other photos.

Grupo TACA (TACA International) (Transportes Aereos del Continente Americano) (San Salvador) and Avianca (Aerovias del Continente Americano) (Bogota) and all of the subsidiary airlines within the two groups will be merged into one single holding company. The Avianca owners (National Federation of Colombia Coffee Growers and the Synergy Group) will control two-thirds of the new holding company. The Grupo TACA owners will control the remaining one-third of the shares of the new holding company. All airlines will retain their independent brands (however Avianca was consolidating its brands) but each will become subsidiaries of the new holding company.

News link:

www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idINN0748094020091007?rpc=44

American Eagle to add two Chicago O’Hare routes

Copyright Photo: Brian McDonough. Please click on photo for full view, information and other photos.

American Eagle (Dallas/Fort Worth) continues to build up its hubs by adding spoke routes. On April 6, 2010 it will add routes from Chicago O’Hare to both Charleston, WV and Harrisburg, PA. Both routes will be assigned to Embraer ERJ 145s.

Charleston press release:

finance.yahoo.com/news/American-Eagle-Airlines-prnews-4214366398.html?x=0&.v=1

Harrisburg press release:

finance.yahoo.com/news/American-Eagle-Airlines-prnews-1339370591.html?x=0&.v=1

Midwest Airlines to return to Fort Lauderdale

Copyright Photo: Brian McDonough. Please click on photo for more photos.

Midwest Airlines (Milwaukee) will seasonally return to Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood on December 17 (through April 19) from Milwaukee. The reinstated route will be flown as a Midwest Connect flight with Embraer ERJ 170s operated by sister airline Republic Airlines (2nd) (Indianapolis). Midwest will also have Republic operate the Kansas City-Fort Myers route also from December 17 through April 19, 2010.

Colgan Air and pilots to begin negotiations

Colgan Air (2nd) (subsidiary of Pinnacle Airlines Corporation) (Manassas) and its pilots, represented by ALPA, will begin contract negotiations on September 23.

News link:

finance.yahoo.com/news/Colgan-Air-Pilots-and-bw-1336490399.html?x=0&.v=1

American Eagle signs LOI for 22 CRJ700s

American Eagle (Dallas/Fort Worth) has signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with Bombardier to exercise options for 22 additional CRJ700s (CL-600-2C10s).

News link:

www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/bombardier-lands-plane-deal-for-770-million/article1291467/

AirTran to add flights to Nassau/Montego Bay

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AirTran Airways (Orlando and Atlanta) has announced it will add new routes to Nassau (December 17) and Montego Bay (February 11, 2010) from Atlanta, Baltimore/Washington and Orlando.

Press release:

finance.yahoo.com/news/AirTran-Airways-Adds-New-prnews-2260102080.html?x=0&.v=2

Continental to start Houston-Edmonton Nov. 1

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Continental Airlines (Houston) will add its 11th Canadian destination on November 1 when it adds the daily Houston (Bush Intercontinental)-Edmonton route served by 114-seat Boeing 737-500s. The company will also join the Star Alliance on October 27, 2009.

Frontier is saved, Republic “outbids” Southwest

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Frontier Airlines (2nd) (Denver) has announced that it has selected the $108.75 million Republic Airways auction bid over the larger $170+ million Southwest Airlines bid. The differences were labor issues and Republic also agreed to waive the $150 million claim it has against Republic in the bankruptcy court. Republic has previously stated it would retain Frontier’s unique brand while Southwest planned to eventually merge the two airlines and replace the Airbus fleet with Boeing 737s.

Press release:

finance.yahoo.com/news/Frontier-Announces-Republic-bw-2193486258.html?x=0&.v=1

Meanwhile Southwest pledged to remain in the Denver market (and will probably now add more routes). Southwest also was unwilling to proceed without a labor agreement between its SWAPA pilots union and Frontier’s FAPA pilots union. The two unions were unable to reach a tentative agreement before the August 13 auction.

Press release:

finance.yahoo.com/news/Southwest-Airlines-Bid-to-prnews-3732211443.html?x=0&.v=1