Tag: british (Page 7 of 10)

Viking Plans Demonstration Tour for Guardian 400 Twin Otter

May 30, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

Ottawa, Ontario, May 29th, 2019: Today during the CANSEC Defence & Security show, Viking Air Limited of Victoria, British Columbia has announced its plans to hold a world demonstration tour for its Guardian 400 aircraft, the special missions variant of the Viking Series 400 Twin Otter. The world tour will include detailed briefings and demonstration flights in Europe, Africa, Middle East, India, South East Asia, Oceania, and North America.

For the past six months, a production Series 400 Twin Otter has been undergoing modifications to transform into Viking’s Guardian 400 demonstrator aircraft for the proposed world tour. It will feature a right-hand SCAR pod with Hensoldt Argos EO/IR imaging turret, multi-spectral HDTV camera, mega-pixel HD Thermal imager, laser range finder, multi-mode auto tracker, and Remote Image Bus (RIB) video feed for display on the cockpit MFD or crew workstation. The demonstrator will also feature a left-hand SCAR pod with Leonardo Osprey Radar System and Sentient Vidar Camera system.

In addition to its mission sensor package, the Guardian 400 prototype will be equipped with an Airborne Technologies’ tactical workstation with high-definition touchscreen monitors, data/voice/video recorder, Mission Management Unit (MMU), mission radio communications, intuitive hand controller for MCU & SLR camera targeting, CarteNav AIMS mission system software, Kestrel MTI targeting software, and IKHANA ergonomic mission seat for optimized crew comfort. The prototype will also be equipped with Viking conformal bubble windows, left and right wing-mounted hard points by IKHANA, Thunder Bay Aviation stretcher racks, and an aft lavatory for crew comfort.

With a target launch date of September 2019, the Guardian 400 world tour has briefing and demonstration flights proposed throughout Europe, North Africa, Central Africa, Southeastern Africa, the Middle East, Southern Asia, Asia Pacific, North America and will culminate in Ottawa, Canada to coincide with the 2020 CANSEC Defence & Security show.

“As we’ve anticipated development of a Guardian 400 technical demonstrator for many years, to now be able to show off its unique performance capabilities and incredible versatility to interested military and government organizations in their home countries is exciting to say the least,” said Robert Mauracher, Viking executive vice president, Sales & Marketing. “While the tour details are still under development, we encourage interested parties to contact us if they wish to participate in a flight demonstration.”

About the Guardian 400 Twin Otter:

Viking developed the Guardian 400 in response to foreign military and government agency demand for a medium-range maritime patrol, SAR and critical infrastructure platform based on the new Twin Otter Series 400 aircraft. Designed as an economical force multiplier for 21st century surveillance and security requirements, the Guardian 400’s low acquisition and operating costs combined with its modern, flexible architecture allows it to be customized to suit operators’ financial and mission requirements.

The Guardian 400’s robust design, minimal maintenance requirements, and exceptional short-field performance capabilities make it ideally suited for specialized government operations in extreme environments. Certified under the restricted category, the Guardian 400’s increased take-off weight and extended range internal Patrol Tank allow for operational sorties over 10 hours in duration.

Trusted by the governments of Peru, Panama, the United States, United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam, over thirty Twin Otter Guardian 400 aircraft have now entered service in various roles, including maritime surveillance, search & rescue, parachute operations, pipeline monitoring, drug enforcement, medevac, and critical infrastructure support.

Alaska Mid-Air Seaplane Crash Leaves 6 Dead

May 14, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) – Searchers found the bodies of the last two Alaska seaplane crash victims on Tuesday evening, after a hunt through the debris and frigid waters following a mid-air collision that left a total of six people dead and 10 injured, officials said.

“The last two people were found. They were found deceased,” said U.S. Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Matthew Schofield.

The discovery of the bodies closes the search at the scene where the two seaplanes crashed after colliding over the inlet waters near Ketchikan, in southeastern Alaska, Schofield said.

Work at the crash site will now shift to an investigation into what led the two planes, which were ferrying Princess Cruises passengers on sightseeing expeditions, to strike each other and fall into the waters of George Inlet.

A team of 14 National Transportation Safety Board investigators has been sent to the site and divers will start working on Wednesday to pull up the wreckage of the two planes.

The two missing people, an Australian and a Canadian, were among 14 passengers from a Princess Cruises ship who boarded two seaplanes operated by separate tour companies in the town of Ketchikan on Monday, the cruise line said.

A 14-member team from the NTSB began investigating the crash on Tuesday and is unlikely to determine the cause during the week the team will be at the scene, NTSB board member Jennifer Homendy told a news conference.

Ten people survived but were injured in the collision, which took place over open water during daylight, the Coast Guard said. The dead include one of the pilots. The victims were not immediately identified.

Three of the injured were in serious condition and seven in fair condition, Dr Peter Rice, medical director of the PeaceHealth Ketchikan Medical Center, told a separate news conference.

The water temperature off Ketchikan on Tuesday was 48 Fahrenheit, according to the National Weather Service. Expected survival time in 40-50F (4-10C) is one to three hours, according to the United States Search & Rescue Task Force website.

The investigators will be collecting information from the survivors, the Federal Aviation Administration, any other witnesses who might have been in the area, flight logs, training records and other sources, including the wrecked planes, Homendy said.

“We still have to recover the planes and then we have to look at those. It takes some significant work to really understand how the two came together,” she said.

All of the planes’ passengers arrived in Ketchikan on the cruise ship Royal Princess during a seven-day trip between Vancouver, British Columbia, and Anchorage, Alaska, Princess Cruises said.

Ten passengers and a pilot were aboard one float plane, a de Havilland Otter DHC-3, operated by Taquan Air. Four passengers and a pilot were aboard the second float plane, a de Havilland DHC-2 Beaver, run by Mountain Air Service of Ketchikan.

The crash site, at Coon Cove about 300 miles (480 km) south of Juneau, Alaska’s capital, lies near a tourist lodge that runs excursions to the nearby Misty Fjords National Monument.

Ketchikan-based Taquan Air said the plane was returning from a sightseeing tour of Misty Fjords when the crash occurred.

Reporting by Yereth Rosen in Anchorage; additional reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta and Barbara Goldberg in New York; Editing by Bill Tarrant, Cynthia Osterman and Leslie Adler

Virgin Atlantic In, IAG Out in Race for Thomas Cook Airlines

May 10, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

LONDON (Reuters) – The chief executive of British Airways owner IAG ruled out bidding for Thomas Cook’s airline unit on Friday, a day after rival Virgin Atlantic was reported to be interested in part of the business.

Lufthansa and private equity fund Indigo Partners are seen among the front-runners for Thomas Cook’s airlines after the firm put it up for sale in February, to raise cash after a string of profit warnings in 2018.

IAG had previously been linked with the business, but on Friday, Chief Executive Willie Walsh said that his firm had not made a bid.

“In relation to Thomas Cook… we’re not putting in any bid,” Walsh told reporters.

He added in an analyst call later in the day that the firm was not actively pursuing M&A at the moment but was in a strong position to do so if something attractive came up.

Virgin Atlantic has put in a preliminary offer for the tour operator’s UK long-haul business, Sky News reported on Thursday. Thomas Cook and Virgin Atlantic both declined to comment on the report.

Lufthansa is a bidder for Thomas Cook’s German airline Condor with an option to acquire the remaining airlines of the British travel group, Lufthansa’s CEO said on Tuesday.

Indigo Partners is also a likely suitor for Thomas Cook’s airline business, sources said last week, adding that the deadline for initial bids was on Tuesday earlier this week.

An unexpectedly warm summer in northern Europe last year deterred holiday makers from booking lucrative last minute getaways, resulting in two major profit warnings for the world’s oldest travel company.

Worries about the firm’s ability to pay its debts pushed the yield on its euro-denominated bonds that mature in 2022 to a record high last Friday, and Thomas Cook said later in the day that it was in talks with its lenders about bolstering its finances.

Thomas Cook’s half-year earnings release for the six months to March 31 is due next Thursday.

(Reporting by Alistair Smout; Editing by Keith Weir)

Thomas Cook Sets May 7 Deadline for Airline Interest

May 1, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

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

British Airways CFO to Take Over as IAG Finance Chief

April 15, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

The G-EUPH British Airways Airbus A319-131 makes its final approach for landing at Toulouse-Blagnac airport, France, March 20, 2019. REUTERS/Regis Duvignau/Files

(Reuters) – IAG said on Monday British Airways’ finance chief Steve Gunning will replace company veteran and chief financial officer Enrique Dupuy de Lôme, who steps down after more than eight years in the role.

Gunning, who joined British Airways in 1998 and has been its CFO since January 2016, will take over from de Lôme at IAG’s annual general meeting in June, the company said.

“After eight years as CFO of IAG and prior to that, 20 years as CFO of Iberia, I believe now is the right time for me to leave IAG,” de Lôme said.

IAG did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the reason for de Lome’s departure.

Gunning takes the role as the airline industry braces for a potential hit from Britain’s impending exit from the European Union.

Shares of IAG jumped to session highs after the announcement and were last up 1.1 percent at 548.4 pence on London’s main index.

(Reporting by Shashwat Awasthi and Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru; Editing by Bernard Orr)

Virgin Atlantic Posts Annual Loss for Second Year Running

April 10, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

(Reuters) – Virgin Atlantic on Wednesday reported an annual pretax loss for the second consecutive year, hit by a shaky economy, the higher costs of fuel generated by a weaker British pound and problems with Rolls Royce’s Trent engines.

The airline, the 1980s brainchild of British billionaire Richard Branson, fell back into the red in 2017 after three years of profits, as competition intensified and the weakening of the pound added to already rising fuel costs.

Best known in Europe for the trans-Atlantic planes it flies with Air France-KLM and Delta, Virgin said its loss before tax and exceptional items was 26.1 million pounds ($34.12 million) for the year ended Dec. 31, compared to a loss of 49 million pounds in 2017.

Total revenue rose 5.8 percent to 2.78 billion pounds, as passenger numbers grew just under 5 percent to 5.4 million and revenue per customer rose 1.7 percent.

The company said performance had suffered from economic uncertainty and the weaker pound – which increases costs because fuel is priced in dollars – as well as the well-documented problems of the Trent 1000 engines used on its Boeing 787 jets.

“While a loss is disappointing, our performance has improved in 2018 despite challenging economic conditions and put us on a trajectory for growth and return to profitability,” Chief Executive Officer Shai Weiss said in a statement.

Rolls-Royce on Wednesday agreed to an early inspection of some Trent 1000 TEN engines by regulatory authorities, a week after Singapore Airlines grounded two Boeing 787-10 jets fitted with the units.

British Airways owner IAG in February chose Boeing 777-9s, rather than a competing package from Airbus in part powered by Rolls, underlining the risks to airlines from the engine issues.

Since then the industry has been thrown into chaos by the grounding of Boeing’s new 737 MAX planes after a second fatal crash within six months.

The pound fell 5.6 percent against the U.S. dollar, in 2018 as Britain contended with the political and economic uncertainty generated by its negotiations on leaving the European Union.

Finance chief Tom Mackay said that while economic factors would continue to challenge the carrier in the year ahead, Virgin Atlantic was in a strong cash position.

The results are the company’s first since its acquisition of troubled regional airline Flybe for $2.8 million earlier this year, in a joint bid with Stobart Group and Cyrus Capital.

($1 = 0.7649 pounds)

(Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain and Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva)

Richard Cole, Last WWII Doolittle Raider, Dies at 103

April 9, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

SAN ANTONIO — Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Richard E. Cole, the last of World War II’s Doolittle Raiders, passed away early Monday morning in San Antonio with his daughter, Cindy, and son, Rich, at his side, according to reports from family and friends.

Cole was 103 years old. Arrangements are being made for a memorial service at Randolph Air Force Base, and Cole will be interred at Arlington National Cemetery. He had been scheduled to be honored in Sarasota on April 7 but was unable to attend the ceremony after being hospitalized.

The Doolittle Raiders were group of 80 Army Air Force aviators who participated in a daring aerial raid on Japan during World War II, bombing seven cities just months after the Japanese had laid waste to American naval power at Hawaii’s Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

Cole, though, was humble about his role in the historic raid, which was planned and led by Army Air Force Lt. Col. James “Jimmy” Doolittle of the United States Army Air Forces.

“I don’t think that the Raiders should be remembered any more than the millions of other people who took part in World War II,” he said during a recent interview at the Air Force Armament Museum at Eglin Air Force Base.

The Doolittle Raiders are woven tightly into the historical fabric of this area. For a little more than two weeks in March 1942, they trained at what was then Eglin Field for their improbable mission: launching stripped-down B-25 bombers off the deck of an aircraft carrier and flying hundreds of miles across the Pacific Ocean to bomb Japan.

Less than a month after leaving Eglin Field, on April 18, 1942, the Doolittle Raiders — all volunteers and none of whom had flown a combat mission — boarded 16 B-25 bombers on the deck of the U.S.S. Hornet in the Pacific to start their mission. Cole was in the copilot’s seat of the lead B-25, which was piloted by Doolittle.

Cole also was among the airmen who had to bail out of the the B-25s after the raid. Asked recently about his sharpest memory of the raid, after more than 76 years, Cole had a quick response.

“The thing I remember most is my parachute opening,” he smiled.

Cole was in the area last month, attending a ceremony at Hurlburt Field, headquarters of Air Force Special Operations Command, for a 75th anniversary commemoration of Operation Thursday, another piece of World War II history in which he was involved. Cole was among the aviators involved in the 1944 operation in the China-Burma-India war theater in which early American air pioneers worked alongside British special operations soldiers known as Chindits to extract British soldiers from the forests of Burma. The operation marked the birth of Air Commandos as part of U.S. military aviation forces.

B-25 bombers aboard the aircraft carrier
USS Hornet, departing San Francisco bound for Tokyo, Japan

Alitalia Future Uncertain as easyJet Quits Talks

March 18, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

LONDON (Reuters) – The future of Alitalia was plunged further into uncertainty on Monday after British budget airline easyJet pulled out of talks to rescue the Italian carrier two weeks before a deadline to save it.

EasyJet said it had decided to withdraw from the process after discussions with Italy’s state-controlled railway Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane and U.S. airline Delta Air Lines.

Alitalia was put under special administration in 2017 after workers rejected the latest in a long line of rescue plans, leaving the government once again seeking a buyer to save the airline.

Ferrovie is racing against the clock to meet deadline of the end of the month set by the Italian government to present a rescue plan for Alitalia, and had been in talks with easyJet and Delta over a possible deal.

But the parties had not seen see eye to eye on the structure of a deal. Without an industrial partner fully on board, a source said last week that Alitalia could soon find itself in trouble since neither Ferrovie nor the state have the skills to run the carrier.

Delta said it was still in talks with Ferrovie.

“Discussions remain ongoing as Alitalia is a long-standing partner of Delta,” the U.S. airline said in a statement.

Alitalia and Ferrovie could not immediately be reached for a comment.

EasyJet, whose shares were unaffected by Monday’s announcement, had said several times it was interested in Alitalia’s short-haul operations and positions at primary airports.

A source familiar with the talks said easyJet still believed it could be a good partner for Alitalia, but that a deal was not feasible with the current approach.

“EasyJet pulled out because it wanted to control (Alitalia’s) Milan hub and use it for point-to-point flights. This could not be done,” another source with knowledge of the matter said.

EasyJet said it remained committed to Italy, as a key market for the company.

“We continue to invest in the three bases in Milan, Naples, (and) Venice,” it said in a statement.

(Reporting by Alistair Smout in London and Sangameswaran S in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Agnieszka Flak in Milan and Giselda Vagnoni in Rome; Editing by Keith Weir and Mark Potter)

British pilot Kate McWilliams became the world’s youngest ever commercial airline captain at age 26 with easyJet.

Alitalia Rescue at Risk as Suitors Set Conditions

March 13, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

ROME (Reuters) – Delta Air Lines and easyJet have set strict conditions for investing in Alitalia that could jeopardise a government-led plan to rescue the troubled Italian airline, a source close to the matter said.

Alitalia was put under special administration in 2017 after workers rejected the latest in a long line of rescue plans.

Italy’s populist government, which has made the re-launch of the flagship carrier one of its priorities, is sponsoring a plan that would see state-owned railway Ferrovie inject fresh funds and revamp the carrier together with industrial partners.

Delta and easyJet, which have expressed interest in Alitalia, are in talks with Ferrovie, but the three investors do not see eye to eye on the structure of the deal.

Without an industrial partner fully on board, Alitalia could soon find itself in trouble since neither Ferrovie nor the state have the skills to run the carrier, the source said.

EasyJet has said several times it is interested in Alitalia’s short-haul operations and positions at primary airports, adding the alliance should be commercially viable.

The British low-cost carrier would be open to taking a stake of 15 percent in the Italian airline but only if it wins control of certain Alitalia assets, the source said.

That condition has irritated the three special commissioners in charge of the airline, who fear it could lead to a break-up of the company. The administrators have the power to decide on the offers.

At the same time Delta is also planning to take a 15 percent stake, spending around 100 million euros in the proposed 900 million euro (773.6 million pounds) rescue plan, but does not want to inject more than that, the source said.

A participation of 30 percent or less by the industrial partners, compared with a stake of around 40 percent Ferrovie was counting on, would force the government to find additional investors, probably among state-controlled companies, a second source said.

Ferrovie is expected to take a stake of between 30 and 49 percent in the new carrier, the second source said, making a full involvement of Delta and easyJet crucial.

According to Italian newspaper Il Messaggero, Ferrovie CEO Gianfranco Battisti will fly to Atlanta in the coming days to try to convince Delta’s CEO Ed Bastian to pump more money into the rescue plan.

Ferrovie, easyJet declined to comment on the issue, while Delta was not immediately available for comment.

Ferrovie is racing against the clock to meet a March 31 deadline set by the Italian government to present a rescue plan for Alitalia.

Should that deadline be missed, it would jeopardise the repayment of 900 million euro state loan to the airline, which must take place by the end of June.

(By Giselda Vagnoni. Additional reporting by Francesca Landini in Milan, Alistair Smout in London, Tracy Rucinski in Chicago, Writing by Francesca Landini; Editing by Keith Weir)

IAG Says New Norwegian Bid Unlikely, but ‘Never Say Never’

March 6, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – British Airways owner IAG is unlikely to renew its interest in Norwegian Air after ruling out a new bid for the Scandinavian carrier earlier in the year, but “never say never”, IAG Chief Executive Willie Walsh said on Wednesday.

“I’d never say never, but I think it’s unlikely,” Walsh told reporters on the sidelines of the Airlines for Europe summit in Brussels.

IAG sold its stake in Norwegian when it ended its interest in the airline, which competes with IAG’s low-cost long-haul Level brand, earlier this year.

“If there was a case that we might have done that (renewed our interest), we probably would have retained the shares in Norwegian,” he added.

Norwegian Air Shuttle; 737MAX-8; Air to Air; K66675

Asked if Level could expand into Scandinavia, Walsh said: “It could, ultimately.”

“There are several significant markets that are underserved from a long-haul point of view and can be best served by a low-cost model,” he said.

He also said that, although he was still not interested in buying A380s, those who wanted to approach him with offers after Airbus said it was scrapping production of the superjumbo should do so.

“I’m not looking to buy A380s. If there are people looking to sell them, they should probably approach us, because we would be one of the few people who might be interested. But I’m not looking to buy,” he said. “Let’s see what happens.”

(Reporting by Alistair Smout; Editing by Jason Neely and Mark Potter)

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