Tag Archives: Star Alliance

Air India’s bid to join the Star Alliance is put on hold

Air India (Mumbai) has failed to meet the requirements to join the Star Alliance. The 27 members have now put the the bid on hold to join the alliance.

The Star Alliance issued the following statement:

“The member airlines of the Star Alliance network and Air India have jointly concluded that the integration of Air India into the global airline alliance will be suspended. This is due to the fact that Air India has not met the minimum joining conditions that were contractually agreed in December 2007.

Following a recent review of the status of Air India’s application at a meeting held between the Indian Ministry for Civil Aviation, Star Alliance CEO, Jaan Albrecht and the Air India CMD, Arvind Jadhav, the decision to suspend has received subsequent confirmation by the Star Alliance Chief Executive Board.

Existing bilateral relationships with Star Alliance member airlines are not affected by this decision, which also leaves room to discuss a potential Alliance membership at a future stage, if deemed appropriate by both parties.”

Air India Slide Show: CLICK HERE

Copyright Photo: Yannick Delamarre.

US Airways reports a $240 million third quarter profit

US Airways Group, Inc. (Phoenix) today reported its third quarter financial results. On a GAAP basis, the Company reported a net profit of $240 million for its third quarter 2010, or $1.22 per diluted share, compared to a net loss of ($80) million, or ($0.60) per share, for the same period in 2009. The $240 million net profit is the highest third quarter net profit in the Companyโ€™s history.

Excluding special items of $3 million, net profit for the third quarter 2010 was $243 million, or $1.23 per diluted share. Net loss excluding special items for the third quarter 2009 was ($110) million, or ($0.83) per share.

Copyright Photo: Nick Dean. Please click on photo for additional details.

Jazz Air reports 2Q net income of C$15.6 million

Jazz Air (Air Canada Jazz( (Halifax) reported second quarter net income of C$15.6 million.

Copyright Photo: Gilbert Hechema. Painted in the Star Alliance motif, Jazz Air’s Bombardier CRJ705 (CL-600-2C10) C-FUJZ (msn 15048) climbs rapidly at Montreal (Trudeau).

TAM Airlines firms up order for 20 Airbus A320 Family aircraft and five A350-900s

TAM Airlines (TAM Linhas Aereas) (Sao Paulo) has signed a firm order for 25 Airbus aircraft, bringing the Brazilian airlineโ€™s total Airbus order book to 176. This order for 20 A320 Family aircraft and five A350-900s follows the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) announced at ILA Berlin Air Show in June.

TAMโ€™s new A320 Family aircraft will replace existing A320 Family aircraft as part of the airlineโ€™s commitment to keep an average fleet age of six years.

As of today, TAM’s total Airbus orders have increased to 134 A320 Family aircraft, 15 A330-200s and 27 A350 XWB. 65 Airbus A320 Family aircraft, two A330-200s and 27 A350 XWB are still in the backlog.

Copyright Photo: Marcelo F. De Biasi. TAM’s sleek Airbus A320-232 PR-MBO (msn 3156) painted in the Star Alliance motif climbs away from Sao Paulo (Guarulhos).

Continental Airlines reaches 25 aircraft with new flat-bed Business seats

Continental Airlines’ (Houston) 25th aircraft with new flat-bed BusinessFirst seats and additional upgraded amenities took to the skies this week.

The carrier’s flat-bed seats made their operational debut in November 2009 and are being installed on aircraft used on long-haul international routes. Currently the seats are being installed on Continental’s Boeing 777 and 757-200 fleets, with 11 777s and 14 757-200s completed. In addition, Continental will take delivery of two new Boeing 777 aircraft outfitted with the flat-bed seats by the end of July. The seats will also be installed on many of Continental’s Boeing 767-400 aircraft starting in 2011 and on the Boeing 787 fleet as the new aircraft are delivered to the company.

The BusinessFirst flat-bed seat reclines 180 degrees and provides 6 feet 6 inches of sleeping space in the fully extended position on the Boeing 777 (6 feet 4 inches on the Boeing 757-200). It is one of the widest business-class seats in the air, measuring up to 27 inches (25 inches on the 757-200). Laptop power, headset and USB plugs are conveniently tucked above the customer’s shoulder. iPod connectivity allows each customer to view their personal videos and enjoy their music while their iPod is charging. The new seats feature 15.4-inch video monitors for customers to enjoy on-demand movies, music and games.

Copyright Photo: Nick Dean. One of the two new Boeing 777-224 ERs is N77022 (msn 39777). This spectacular picture shows N77022 making a planned missed approach at Everett (Paine Field) on July 14. Both of the two new Triple Sevens will be in the Star Alliance color scheme.

United and Continental are considering a stock-for-stock merger

United Airlines (UAL Corporation) (Chicago) and Continental Airlines (Houston) are considering a stock-for-stock merger with no premium, creating a company valued at roughly $6.6 billion, a person familiar with the matter said on Thursday April 22 according to this Reuters report.

UAL Chief Executive Glenn Tilton would become chairman of the combined company, while Continental Chief Executive Jeff Smisek would become chief executive, according to the person, who declined to be named because the talks are private.

Read the full report:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/UAL-Continental-in-nopremium-rb-4108786161.html?x=0&.v=1

Copyright Photo: A beautiful capture of United Airlines’ Boeing 767-322 ER N653UA (msn 25391) climbing away from the Washington (Dulles) hub. Both carriers are members of the Star Alliance.

Continental and United are discussing a possible merger

Continental Airlines (Houston) has restarted merger talks with United Airlines (Chicago), two years after walking away from almost sealing a deal, a source briefed (probably from United) on the matter said yesterday according to this Reuters report.

Reuters reports the talks are in very early stages, though much of the groundwork was laid in 2008, the source said. United and Continental came very close to merging at the time, but the talks fell apart as Continental chose to pursue an alliance instead. Both Continental and United are in the Star Alliance.

The talks come as United is in similar discussions with US Airways (Phoenix), but those talks are much farther along, the source said. US Airways and United are in talks that could create the second-largest U.S. carrier. Those discussions, aimed at cutting costs and competing with the now combined Delta Air Lines (Atlanta) and Northwest Airlines, have been going on for months, the sources said.

How much of these media “leaks” are being stirred up by United which has been itching for a merger for a long time?

Read the full report from Reuters:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/UAL-Continental-in-merger-rb-3324139989.html?x=0&.v=4

Copyright Photo: Ton Jochems. Continental’s first aircraft to wear the Star Alliance livery is this Boeing 757-224 registered N14120 (msn 27562) pictured at Amsterdam.

Continental Airlines’ new CEO Jeff Smisek tries to make the company profitable

Continental Airlines’ (Houston) new CEO (since January) Jeff Smisek is trying to make his company profitable again. He is making some significant changes.

Read this interesting profile:

www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/6932510.html

Copyright Photo: Jeffrey S. DeVore. CO put the first Boeing 737-700 painted in the Star Alliance livery into revenue service yesterday. 737-724 N13720 (msn 28939) prepares to taxi to the runway bound for New Orleans.

Continental paints its first Boeing 737-800 Star Alliance logojet

Copyright Photo: Brian Rowland.

Copyright Photo: Brian Rowland. N26210 poses today with N78017 at an overcast Houston.

Continental Airlines (Houston) has painted its first Boeing 737-800 in the Star Alliance color scheme. ย The first revenue service should be on flight CO 1723 (Houston) IAH-ONT today (January 20). Boeingย 737-824 N26210 (msn 28770) was ferried yesterday (January 19) from Amarillo (AMA) to IAH as COA 9971 after it was repainted into the Star Alliance livery.

Photos are welcome.

Continental introduces its first Boeing 777 Star Alliance logojet

Copyright Photo: GSR. N78017 approaches HKG for landing after being repainted.

Continental Airlines (Houston) has painted its first Boeing 777 in the Star Alliance color scheme. Boeing 777-224 ER N78017 (msn 31679) was painted at Hong Kong and went into revenue service between HKG and Newark as flight CO 98 yesterday (December 1).