Atari doesn’t have the cultural cachet it used to. After an industry-crashing downfall in the ’80s, the video game pioneer has been unable to find its niche, and recently, its oft-delayed retro console has had a troubled development. Atari hopes to find some success by lending what gaming cred it has left to the hospitality industry. The company signed a contract that see Atari license its name and branding to a real estate developer, which will build eight hotels across the US. The first location will break ground this year in Phoenix. Others in Austin, Chicago, Denver, Las Vegas, San Francisco, San Jose and Seattle will follow.
The main draw of the Atari hotels will likely be their esports studios. There are no details about what these will include, but each hotel will also have an “Atari gaming playground.” Assuming the esports studios are venues where pros compete, the “playgrounds” could be lounges for guests that are equipped with gaming PCs. The hotels will have a few accoutrements outside of the standard pool and gym — restaurants, bars, bakeries and movie theaters will also be part of each building.
CHICAGO, Dec 3 (Reuters) – United Airlines Holdings Inc announced on Tuesday an order for 50 Airbus SE A321XLR jets to fly between the U.S East Coast and Europe, becoming the latest U.S. airline to ink a deal for the European planemaker’s new passenger jet.
The long-range A321XLR jets will replace United’s 53 Boeing 757-200 planes beginning in 2024, the Chicago-based planemaker said, flying to cities like Porto, Portugal and other potential new destinations.
United’s 757 planes will reach the end of their lifespan in about a decade and Boeing Co is not building any more of the large single-aisle model.
Instead, the U.S. planemaker has been considering a new twin-aisle plane, provisionally known as the NMA, but has delayed a launch decision until 2020 while it manages the ongoing global grounding of its 737 MAX jets following two fatal crashes.
United’s chief operating officer Andrew Nocella told reporters the airline has worked closely with Boeing on the potential new aircraft and is still open to orders if the planemaker decides to move forward with developing the NMA.
Meanwhile, U.S carriers including American Airlines Group Inc, JetBlue Airways Corp and Spirit Airlines Inc have agreed orders for Airbus A320neo-family jets.
Among the benefits of the A321XLR is a 30% lower fuel burn per seat compared to previous generation aircraft, United said.
United has also ordered the larger A350 widebody jets but said it is deferring delivery of those jets until they are needed in 2027.
Its A321XLR order is the second for a U.S. carrier following tariffs that the United States is imposing on European-made aircraft.
(Reporting by Tracy Rucinski Editing by Chris Reese and Michael Perry)
DUBAI, Nov 22 (Reuters) – The board of Rolls-Royce must urgently address its engine performance problems, the head of Dubai’s Emirates said, as the world’s largest buyer of wide-body jets weighs up who will power its order of Boeing 787 jets.
Emirates agreed to buy its first 787 Dreamliners in a last-minute, $9 billion deal at the Dubai Airshow on Wednesday, without specifying what engine would power it, while reducing its order for the U.S. planemaker’s delayed 777X model.
The 787’s, which can take either Rolls or rival GE Aviation’s GEnx engines, will be delivered to Emirates in 2023, a year later than a tentative purchase plan outlined two years ago.
That gives Rolls-Royce more time to sort out the durability issues in its Trent 1000 engines before Emirates believes a realistic competition can be held.
“Rolls have had a number of wake up calls and they really need to sort themselves out. I think the alarm clock has gone off a number of times,” Emirates President Tim Clark said at the Dubai Airshow.
“If I were on the board, I would be looking to recognise the issues… and deal with them immediately, meaningfully, forcefully and drive change,” he told reporters.
A spokeswoman for Rolls-Royce said it was proud that Emirates had chosen to order 50 Airbus A350s, powered by Rolls’ Trent XWB, in a deal announced this week.
“We are confident in the reliability and performance of our engines, and in our commitment to meeting the high standards expected by our customers,” the spokeswoman said.
“(Emirates) is one of the largest operators of our Trent engines in the world, and we are committed to maintaining our strong relationship with them.”
The Rolls-powered version of the 787 has been hit by repeated technical problems, leading to share price pressure and drawing criticism from airlines.
The engine maker’s chief executive Warren East said on Nov. 7 that the company would spend more on parts and replacement engines to reduce the time aircraft are grounded while turbine blades are replaced.
Clark said that the situation at Rolls was “salvageable” if board acted quickly and accepted the issues they were having.
“With the reputation that (Rolls) has for quality engineering and its excellence in the past, they must restore that as the gold standard,” he said.
He said his comments should not be read as a criticism of any individuals including East.
Clark has been a vocal critic of engine makers, saying in September he wouldn’t take new planes unless their engines were ready and said he was “a little bit irritated” by delays at Rolls and GE.
GE powers the 777X, which Emirates cut its order of on Wednesday after Boeing pushed back its entry into service, partly due to issues with its engines.
Clark said engine makers should only offer technology that was mature enough to work reliably in the demanding conditions of the Gulf, adding: “Don’t use (airlines) as guinea pigs”.
(Reporting by Tim Hepher, writing by Alistair Smout, Editing by Louise Heavens)
BRASILIA, Oct 28 (Reuters) – A proposed joint venture between United Airlines, Colombia’s Avianca Holdings and Panama’s Copa Holdings has been delayed due to the potential inclusion of a fourth partner, as well as problems at Avianca, the CEOs of two of the companies said.
United Airlines said last week it wants to include Brazil’s Azul SA, in which it already has a stake, in the planned tie-up with Copa and Avianca, the latest play by a U.S. carrier for a region expected to have significant air-travel growth in coming decades.
The three airlines had said in November 2018 they would file for U.S. antitrust approval “in the near term” in order to coordinate routes between South America and the United States, a bold move to expand their market share in the region. At the time, the carriers said they aimed to implement the agreements in 2020.
But almost a year after United, Copa and Avianca announced the preliminary joint venture plan, they have yet to file any paperwork with the U.S. Department of Transportation, seeking antitrust immunity. Now, the regulatory process may begin as late as next year, they said.
Copa Chief Executive Officer Pedro Heilbron said the group expects to file in early 2020, while Avianca CEO Anko van der Werff, said it would file between late 2019 and early 2020. Both spoke to Reuters in separate interviews on Monday on the sidelines of the ALTA Airline Leaders’ Forum in Brasilia.
Both said there was a delay on the original timeline.
United did not comment on a delay but said it planned to complete the application later this year or early next year. Azul had no comment other than saying it was “always looking for opportunities with its partners.”
The potential inclusion of Azul, which may be in the early stages of negotiations, has been one reason for the timetable slipping.
“Quite frankly, really completely open and honest, we haven’t had many discussions,” van der Werff said. “I personally haven’t had even one real, serious discussion at the CEO level about when to include and what to include.”
Both executives said they want Azul to be part of the joint venture – Brazil is by far the largest aviation market in the region – but its inclusion makes negotiations more difficult.
“It almost doubles the level of complexity,” Heilbron said.
Avianca has also gone through corporate turmoil. In May, United Airlines ousted the chairman and controlling shareholder at Avianca, revamping leadership.
“We should have filed with regulators this year but everything got delayed because of what has happened at Avianca,” Heilbron added.
(Reporting by Marcelo Rochabrun in Brasilia Additional reporting by Tracy Rucinski in Chicago Editing by Matthew Lewis and Sandra Maler)
FILE PHOTO: An Airbus A400M aircraft flies during a display on the first day of the 52nd Paris Air Show at Le Bourget airport near Paris
PARIS
(Reuters) – Airbus said on Friday it had signed an agreement with
European buyer countries for a revised contract for its delayed A400M
military transporter plane.
Reuters reported on Thursday that the parties had reached an agreement on a new contract.
Airbus said the agreement with OCCAR, which represents Germany, France, United Kingdom, Spain, Turkey, Belgium and Luxembourg, included key points such as new capabilities development plan, a new production delivery schedule and new financial terms.
Under the new financial terms, it said the partners agreed on the implementation of a revised financial retention mechanism which is the amount of cash that buyer countries can hold back while waiting for delayed deliveries.
“On the basis of this contract amendment signature, Airbus is fully committed to continue on this positive path and to providing its A400M current and future customers with the most powerful and technologically advanced military transport aircraft available on the market,” said Dirk Hoke, Chief Executive Officer of Airbus Defense and Space.
(Reporting by Tim Hepher; Writing by Bate Felix. Editing by Jane Merriman)
