FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
2001
2001 - 3034.PDF
e-Dusiness.com • An online travel exchange formed by 11 Asia-Pacific air lines in partnership with Travelocity is targeting the first quarter of 2002 for a formal launch. The company, initially dubbed Travel Exchange Asia, is now known as Zuji and headed by Pascal Bordat, former chief operating officer with Paris- based Travelprice. The exchange is being established by Air New Zealand, Ansett, Cathay Pacific Airways, China Airlines, EVA Airways, Garuda Indonesia, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas Airways, Royal Brunei Airlines, SilkAir and Singapore Airlines. • Cap Gemini Ernst & Young has implemented the first phase of the Defence Electronic Commerce Service for the UK Ministry of Defence. Phase one of the e-business exchange - Interim Purchasing - provides a single electronic portal to the MoD's trading community. • Boeing is using components from Oracle's E-Business Suite for the acquisition and distribu tion of airline spare parts. The financial, inventory and purchas ing components will be part of Boeing's Global Airline Inventory Network, which will manage the flow of spare parts for its airline customers. • SITA has won a contract from Spanish carrier Iberia to provide a high-speed global internet protocol network to connect applications across its 140 offices in 39 countries. • Aerospace e-business compa nies Copernio and TradeAir are combining their aviation and e-commerce services to provide advanced technology buying and selling tools. Copernio sup plies aerospace-specific online systems, enterprise manage ment, e-commerce and financial systems, while TradeAir oper ates an online parts business. TradeAir will use Copernio's soft ware to provide a request-for- quote system. • Airfreight agent representative body Agency Sector Management has selected Transcenda's internet messaging services for British Airways World Cargo. The messaging services will link BA with freight forwarders, allowing cargo agents to receive auto matic freight status update messages as plain text e-mails. BUSINESS AIRLINE ACQUISITION JUSTIN WASTNAGE / LONDON Preussag boosts its presence in Poland with stake in WEA Ambitious plans for a pan-European brand are furthered by Preussag's latest purchase Preussag has acquired a minority holding in Polish charter airline White Eagle Aviation (WEA) as it reveals plans for a pan-European brand for its airlines. The German tour operator group now encompasses seven different airlines in six European countries with a total fleet of 90 aircraft. The 29.3% share in WEA, Poland's largest independent airline, gives Preussag entry into the Polish avia tion market where it already owns tour operators TUI Poland and Scan Holidays. Preussag says that the deal offers operational benefits, as it allows the group to share costs on maintenance facilities, ground handling and fuel purchase. WEA will also have access to Hapag- Lloyd aircraft on wet lease and has the right to draw on Hapag-Lloyd's options on Boeing 737-800s, which have to be converted by next June. WEA, which started charters on 20 routes to North Africa and the Mediterranean last year, wants to strengthen its position in the Polish market ahead of open skies liberalisation and the privatisation of flag carrier LOT Polish Airlines. Key to WEA's integration into Britannia's new livery is part of Preussag's global brand ambitions Preussag's "World of TUI" brand is a fleet renewal programme. WEA's current mixed fleet of Soviet-era turboprops and jets will be relegated to cargo services, while the airline's two Boeing 737-400s will be joined by an additional nar- rowbody early next year. The air line also retains several helicopters for its air taxi service across Poland. The group's two largest airlines, Hapag-Lloyd and Britannia, unveiled new harmonised liveries earlier this month. Michael Frenzel, Preussag board member, says the plan is to create a "sustainable major global brand", starting in the UK, Scandinavia and Germany. Preussag and its Lufthansa-backed rival C&N Touristik are now racing to acquire operations across Europe. Preussag also owns a minority stake in Italy's Neos and acquired 34.4% of French charter airlines Corsair and Air Lyon after the European Commission cleared its stake in tour operator Nouvelles Frontieres last year. The company is also in talks to acquire Sobelair from Sabena (Flight International, 28 August-3 September). OWNERSHIP NICHOLAS IONIDES / SINGAPORE ANZ must sweat out SIA move for another week Air New Zealand (ANZ) will have to wait another week before learning whether Singapore Airlines (SIA) will be allowed to increase its 25% stake and help with a badly needed cash-raising exercise. New Zealand finance minister Michael Cullen announced on 30 August that a decision on whether SIA could increase its stake would be delayed to 12 September "at the earliest" from the originally planned 4 September. Cullen's office said the delay was necessary because ANZ had not finalised all details of its capital requirements, and the finance min ister would be visiting China between 6 and 12 September. SIA wants to increase its stake to up to 49% but ownership by a sin gle foreign airline is capped at 25%. Airlines in aggregate can hold 35%, while total foreign ownership is limited to 49% (Flight International, 28 August-3 September). ANZ's board has backed Star Alliance partner SIA's bid to increase its stake. SIA will also assist with efforts to raise cash, which is necessary in part to help fund a fleet renewal at ANZ and its Australian subsidiary Ansett. Cullen's announcement of a delay came a day after ANZ said it would postpone the planned 4 September release of full-year financial results by nine days to allow its board to consider the gov ernment decision. The carrier is due to report a sizeable loss for the year ended 30 June. "We are working very construc tively with the New Zealand Government and its advisers to progress options for recapitalisa tion of Air New Zealand," says ANZ acting chairman Jim Farmer. Qantas has made a rival offer under which it would buy SIA's stake in ANZ and in turn SIA would buy Ansett. This has been rejected by ANZ's board, but the Australian Government has indicated it prefers the Qantas proposal, mak ing the decision a politically sensi tive one for New Zealand. 30 410 SEPTEMBER 2001 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL www.flightinternational.com
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
