FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
2002
2002 - 2048.PDF
BUSINESS REGIONAL JETS ALEXANDER CAMPBELL/ LONDON Alenia 728 decision nears Manufacturer considering other parts of business too as Piaggio denies 328JET interest Alenia could reach a decision on whether to bid for the Fairchild Dornier 728/928 regional-jet pro gramme before the end of this month following completion of its evaluation of the project on 5 July, the company says. The Italian manufacturer has been evaluating the programme with a view to possibly combining it with its ATR turboprop venture, despite opposition from partner EADS to any integration (Flight International, 9-15 July). The Italian manufacturer is also still consider ing buying in other parts of the insolvent US/German regional-air craft manufacturer. "We are inter ested in the aerostructures business and everything that has strength in MAINTENANCE ANDREW DOYLE / SINGAPORE ST Aero withdraws from chase to acquire SR Technics Singapore Technologies Engineering Aerospace (ST Aero) has finally dropped out of the running to acquire former Swissair maintenance divi sion SR Technics. "At this moment we don't believe there is the possibility of an acquisition in any form," says ST Aero president Tay Kok Khiang. SR Technics has been for sale since the collapse of its parent last year, and has attracted several potential bidders including Lufthansa Technik and EADS. ST Aero made a conditional offer for SR Technics, but this expired without acceptance. Tay also reveals ST Aero has looked at the assets of insolvent German airframer Fairchild Dornier, but decided not to make an offer because "we did not feel it fits our business". ST Aero stabilised its first-half profit at S$112 million ($64 million) for the first half of the year, on turnover of SS511 million - a slight decline on a year earlier. It expects new ventures Bournemouth Aviation Services and San Antonio Aerospace to generate losses this year, but says it is seeing a general recovery in the maintenance, repair and overhaul market. The Singapore company has, meanwhile, revealed plans to enter the rapidly growing Airbus A330/A340 heavy maintenance sector. the market," the company says. Alenia's deliberations come as Italian business aircraft manufac turer Piaggio rejects reports it is interested in Fairchild Dornier's 328JET line. Fairchild Dornier chief executive Thomas Brandt is reported to have told his staff in an internal memo that Piaggio was eyeing the 328JET. However, Piaggio's vice-president for aircraft sales in Europe and the Middle East Massimo Isidori says: "We absolutely deny this rumour". He adds: "Like any other manu facturer we follow the situation with interest but I am not aware of any direct [Piaggio] interest...it makes more sense for Alenia, but it does not fit into our portfolio." The only other interested party in the 728/928 is would-be regional jet manufacturer Alliance Aircraft of West Virginia, led by former 728/928 programme head Earl Robinson. It is unclear where Alliance would find the funding. The 728/928 will need up to $1 billion to complete development and certification, analysts estimate, but Alliance believes it could be done for as little as $200 million. The company will reach a preliminary decision "by Famborough [air show]", it says. ALLIANCES Lufthansa/Austria get EC go-ahead The European Commission (EC) has approved the partnership between Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines if they reduce some fares and open airport slots to new entrants. The EC acted to stop a German and Austrian "quasi- monopoly", says competition commissioner Mario Monti. The Star Alliance partners have agreed to make available to new market entrants up to 40% of the slots for bilateral routes such as Vienna to Berlin, Frankfurt and Stuttgart. Meanwhile, the EC has raised concerns about proposed coopera tion between Air France and The partners must make up to 40% of airport slots open to new entrants Alitalia, saying it will reduce com petition between France and Italy. The two airlines have been asked "to reflect on how to address these problems" so the alliance can be approved "while protecting con sumers and respecting European law". Alitalia is being integrated into the Air France/Delta Air Lines- led SkyTeam alliance. ACQUISITION Famborough group woos shareholders Shareholders have voted to transfer the assets and design rights of Famborough- Aircraft.com (FAC) to a new company, Farnborough Aircraft Corporation (FACL). FACL, led by contact lens magnate Geoffrey Galley, who owns 25% of FAC, will now restart the process of finding institutional investors to fund development of the com pany's F1 single-engined turboprop. FAC founder and chief executive Richard Noble was dismissed as part of the action passed at an extraordi nary general meeting last week. Fifty-one per cent of voting shares backed plans by FACL to take over the project, although Galley says that the figure would have been higher if Noble's shareholding of around 30% was discounted. Noble is thought to favour an alternative proposal, Farnborough Aircraft 2002 (FA02), led by shareholder Neil Afram, which would have licensed design work from FAC and retained Noble as project principal. Richard Blain, FACL com pany secretary, says that a marketing drive to the finan cial community will start by the end of the month, once the new venture has renegotiated around £600,000 ($930,000) in out standing debts. FAC will be closed down by mid-August. Galley claims his team has been in negotiations with investors including a major US fractional ownership programme's founder and expects to secure an initial £9 million by year end. This would get the F1 to the provisional design phase, after which FACL will move towards certification before deciding on whether it should license the design or manufacture the aircraft itself. 32 16-22 JULY 2002 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL www.flightinternational
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
