21 May 2019, EBACE – Bell Helicopter, a Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) company, is showcasing its corporate Bell 429 outfitted with Mecaer Aviation’s MAGnificent interior at EBACE. The aircraft is building momentum in the region with 7 recent sales to corporate customers in Germany, Greece, the Ukraine and Russia.
“The Bell 429 continues to increase its footprint in Europe with about a quarter of the global fleet being operated right here on this continent,” said Duncan Van de Velde, Bell Managing Director for Europe. “The aircraft strikes the right balance of comfort, power and operational efficiency which is why it continues to be desirable in the corporate segment. Our customers appreciate the smoothness of the ride paired with the bespoke finishes which takes the experience of flight to the highest level of comfort.”
The MAGnificent luxury interior available for the Bell 429 was created by Italy-based Mecaer Aviation Group (MAG), and was configured with four passenger seats and two center consoles. In addition, MAG’s signature sound canceling system (SILENS), In-Flight Entertainment (IFEEL) and electro-chromic passenger windows are available as part of this interior package. Passengers control the audio/video and moving map functions along with the electro-chromic windows through their own smart devices, which connect to the internal Wi-Fi in the aircraft.
The Bell 429 continues to be a global success with 330 aircraft currently in operation in 44 countries. As an advanced single pilot IFR aircraft with the ability to adapt to diverse demands without compromising safety and unrivaled service support, the Bell 429 is truly unsurpassed in its class.
Leaders from the Greece Ministry of National Defense; Hellenic Air Force, Navy and Army; Lockheed Martin and Hellenic Aerospace Industries participated in a ceremony for the delivery of the first modernized P-3 Orion. (Photo special to Lockheed Martin)
ATHENS, Greece, May 17, 2019 – Representatives from the Hellenic Navy, Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) and Hellenic Aerospace Industry (HAI) hosted a ceremony on today at HAI’s facility near Athens, Greece, for the delivery of the first P-3B maritime patrol aircraft (interim solution aircraft) as part of the Hellenic Navy P-3B maritime patrol aircraft mid-life upgrade and modernization program implementation.
The event was attended by senior leaders from the Greek government and the Hellenic ministry of National Defense, the Hellenic Navy and Air Force, as well as representatives from the U.S. Embassy in Athens, Lockheed Martin and HAI. Local government officials also attended the ceremony.
The government-to-government agreement between the United States and Greece was announced in 2015, providing for the re-activation of one Hellenic Navy P-3B Orion maritime patrol aircraft, which is the aircraft delivered today. This agreement also includes the modernization of four Hellenic Navy P-3B aircraft through the Mid-Life Upgrade (MLU) Program.
MLU kits provide an extension of service life by 15,000 flight hours. In addition, this contract provides for phased depot maintenance; a Greece indigenous mission integration and management system; new avionics; and other ancillary hardware and services.
Evangelos Apostolakis, Greece’s minister of National Defense (MoD), welcomed the delivery of the first interim solution P-3B Maritime Patrol Aircraft of the Hellenic Navy and underlined the operational benefits of their upgrading program of at a national and international level. The MoD stated that this program meets the optimal cost-effectiveness solution, underlining at the same time its contribution to the reinforcement of the domestic defense industry.
The P-3 Orion is the model in maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft, and is used for homeland security, anti-piracy operations, humanitarian relief, search and rescue, intelligence gathering, antisubmarine warfare and, recently, to assist in air traffic control and natural disaster relief support. The Hellenic Navy operated the P-3 fleet for 15 years.
“The Hellenic Navy needed enhancements and improvements for its maritime patrol aircraft. The delivery of this first aircraft will cover, initially, an operational requirement of vital importance, while the Hellenic Navy prepares for the delivery of the fully modernized P-3s in the coming years,” said Rear Adm. Nikolaos Tsounis, chief of the Hellenic Navy General Staff.
Work on the Hellenic Navy P-3s is performed at HAI facilities in Greece, as well as at Lockheed Martin’s facilities in Marietta, Georgia, and Greenville, South Carolina. Lockheed Martin is the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) of the P-3 Orion.
“Today we are especially proud as the delivery of this first aircraft, represents an important step in enhancing Greece’s maritime patrol capability. The P-3 MLU and Avionics Modernization Program provides state-of-the-art operational advantages to the Hellenic Navy to not only support present mission requirements, but future ones as well,” said Karmyn Norwood, vice president of International Programs for Air Mobility & Maritime Missions at Lockheed Martin. “This program also exemplifies the power of partnership, from the support of the U.S. Navy and the Hellenic Navy to the outstanding work delivered by the HAI team. Together, we provide the best resources and value to Greece.”
The domestic defense industry in Greece is providing 30 percent of the overall program value, drawing considerable industrial, financial and technological benefits for the autonomous operation and support of the specific weapon system.
“Through this program, the Hellenic Aerospace Industry was given the opportunity to participate in a program of high technical and operational value,” said Zacharias Gikas, chairman of the HAI Board of Directors. “HAI salutes the delivery of this first aircraft as a significant achievement in the effort for a successful program integration. HAI management and employees will continue to effectively work together in delivering the best possible results to the Hellenic government and the Hellenic Navy.”
LONDON (Reuters) – Thomas Cook has set a deadline of May 7 for expressions of interest in its airline business, with Indigo Partners and Lufthansa among the likely bidders, sources said.
The heavily-indebted British travel group put its profitable airline business up for sale in February after profit warnings in 2018 left it needing to raise cash.
Thomas Cook’s airlines business consists of Germany’s Condor, as well as British, Scandinavian and Spanish operations.
A sale of the business, in whole or in part, would enable the world’s oldest tour operator to invest more in its own hotels and improve its online sales.
A source familiar with the discussions said that Indigo and Germany’s Lufthansa appeared most interested in the business.
British Airways owner IAG should not be ruled out and easyJet has engaged in talks but is seen as less interested, the source added.
It is not clear whether Ireland’s Ryanair would bid.
Another source said that private equity groups KKR and Apollo might also look at taking over the whole of Thomas Cook.
The airlines business would provide access to valuable European slots linking Britain to Spain, Greece and Turkey.
Thomas Cook, Indigo, IAG and easyJet declined to comment, while Lufthansa and Ryanair were not immediately available.
Lufthansa executives have said repeatedly that the German airline wants to “play an active role” in consolidation.
Indigo, the private equity firm managed by Bill Franke, the veteran U.S. low-cost airline investor, has previously made investments in several airlines including Hungary’s Wizz.
Thomas
Cook has been revamping different parts of its business this year,
closing high street stores and reviewing its money division as it
focuses on holidays.
The company was hit badly in 2018 when a hot European summer deterred customers from booking holidays through the year.
One banking source said the airline would fetch less than 1 billion euros (£859 million). Thomas Cook has a current market value of just over £400 million.
Sources said that competition issues could influence which parts of the business different suitors go for.
Sky News has said China’s Fosun International, a Thomas Cook shareholder, was interested in its tour business.
(Reporting by Kate Holton and Clara Denina in London; additional reporting by Alistair Smout and Georgina Prodhan in London and Arno Schuetze in Frankfurt; Editing by Alexander Smith)
FILE PHOTO: A Thomas Cook Airbus A321-200 airplane takes off at the airport in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, July 28, 2018. REUTERS/Paul Hanna/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Lockheed Martin is seen at Euronaval, the world naval defence exhibition in Le Bourget near Paris, France, October 23, 2018. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/File Photo
(Reuters) – Lockheed Martin Corp reported a better-than-expected 47 percent jump in quarterly profit on Tuesday and raised its annual profit forecast, helped by strong demand for its missiles and fighter jets, sending its shares up more than 5 percent in pre-market trading.
U.S. weapons makers have been expected to benefit from stronger global demand for fighter jets and munitions and higher U.S. defence budgets in fiscal 2020 as they announce first quarter earnings this week.
Lockheed’s Missiles and Fire Control business, which makes missile defences like the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD), was one of its best-performing units.
On April 1, the unit was awarded a THAAD interceptor missile contract worth $2.4 billion, some of which are slated to be delivered to Saudi Arabia, which could boost earnings for the current quarter.
Overall, the Bethesda, Maryland-based company said its earnings rose to $1.70 billion, or $5.99 per share, in the first quarter ended March 31, from $1.16 billion, or $4.02 per share, a year earlier. That was partly helped by a $75 million dollar boost from additional tax deductions on foreign military sales.
Excluding that one-time gain, Lockheed reported $5.73 per share profit, well ahead of the $4.34 per share that Wall Street had expected, on average, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
Lockheed’s overall net sales for the quarter rose 23 percent to $14.34 billion. The company’s sales backlog grew to $133.5 billion, up 3 billion over the quarter.
Operating margins at the aeronautics division, Lockheed’s biggest, fell to 10.5 percent in the first quarter from 10.8 percent a year earlier, but sales were up 27 percent to $5.5 billion on demand for the F-35 jet and some classified contracts.
The United States is considering expanding sales of Lockheed-made F-35 fighter jets to five new nations including Romania, Greece and Poland as European allies bulk up their defences in the face of a strengthening Russia, a Pentagon official told Congress in early April.
(Reporting by Mike Stone in Washington D.C. and Sanjana Shivdas in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and Bill Rigby)
* Aegean aims to raise up to 200 mln eur from sale
* Bond issue set for March 5-7
* Up to 147 mln euro to fund down payments for new planes
ATHENS, March 4 (Reuters) – Greece’s largest carrier Aegean Airlines will proceed with a sale of bonds on March 5-7 to raise up to 200 million euros ($226.86 million) for down payments on new Airbus aircraft and the construction of a new pilot training centre.
According to the public offering prospectus, about 30 percent of the issue will be allocated to retail investors, while 70 percent will go to “qualified investors”.
The seven-year bonds, each with a nominal value of 1,000 euros, will pay a semi-annual coupon. In Greece interest payments are taxed at 15 percent. Trading of the bonds on the Athens stock exchange will start on March 13.
Pricing will be determined via book building.
Aegean, a member of the Star Alliance airline group, will use 75 percent of the proceeds to partly finance down payments on new aircraft based on a deal with Airbus to renew its fleet of single-aisle planes and add capacity for future expansion.
Aegean picked Airbus in March last year for an order of up to 42 aircraft worth $5 billion in one of the biggest investments by a private Greek company since the country’s debt crisis erupted in 2010.
The down payments are due from the first quarter through to the last quarter of 2023 for new generation A320neo and A321 Airbus jets.
Deliveries of the new planes are expected to start in the first half of 2020 and conclude by the end of 2024.
Aegean has picked U.S. engine maker Pratt & Whitney to power the new A320neo aircraft and provide engine maintenance.
The carrier plans to use 14 percent of the proceeds or up to 27.5 million euros to build a new 12,000 square metre training centre with flight simulators for its flight crews at the Athens International Airport (AIA).
About 11 percent of the proceeds or up to 21.6 million will be used as working capital.
Piraeus Bank and Eurobank are the joint coordinators and bookrunners with Alpha Bank and Euroxx Securities the lead underwiters. Euroxx Securities was the issue adviser.
($1 = 0.8816 euros)
(Reporting by George Georgiopoulos; editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
Aegean Airlines, Greece’s largest air carrier, has announced that it plans to add 18 new routes and 11 new destinations to its network in 2018. The 11 new destinations to be added from Athens are Turin, Palermo, Bologna and Lamezia Terme in Italy, Malaga in Spain, Basel in Switzerland, Zagreb and Zadar in Croatia, Vilnius in Lithuania, Cluj-Napoca in Romania and Skopje in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). The additional new routes are between Corfu and Moscow, Santorini and Tel Aviv, Mykonos and Tel Aviv, Mykonos and Beirut, Rhodes and Lyon, Rhodes and Beirut, and Heraklion and Beirut. Aegean has also moved forward on upgrading its Passenger Lounges in Thessaloniki and Larnaca, and will complete the upgraded of its Passenger Lounge at the Athens International Airport. A second new Athens Lounge will also be completed by early 2018 for flights heading outside of the Schengen area. The Schengen Area is comprised of 26 Europe states that have officially abolished passport and all other types of border control. The area mostly functions as a single country for international travel purposes using a common visa policy.
Aegean Airlines currently operates a fleet of 46 Airbus A320 narrow body aircraft. The airline is also evaluating the purchase of newer, second generation aircraft. The airline is looking at both the Airbus A320-NEO and Boeing 737-MAX to renew its fleet of 60 aircraft. Most of its current aircraft leases will expire between 2019 and 2023. Vice Chairman Eftyhis Vassilakis recently stated that “We will need to make a long-term $2.5-$3.0 billion investment decision in the coming months.” The airline is a member of the Star Alliance airline group. The airlines passenger traffic is expected to grow to 13 million this year. That is up from 8.8 million in 2013, when Aegean acquired state-run Olympic Airlines. The airline expects to carry as many as 15 million passengers a year by 2023.
Aegean Airlines began operations as Aegean Aviation in 1987. In the beginning, it operated as a VIP business class operation specialising in executive and air ambulance services. The airline was acquired in 1994 by the Vasilakis Group, and soon began operating VIP flights from Athens using a fleet of Learjet aircraft. The Aegean Airlines name was adopted when the company started scheduled passenger services in May of 1999.
