National Jet Express (NJE), a member of the Rex Group, will shortly take delivery of another De Havilland Dash 8-400NG ‘Next Generation’, fitted with 82 seats.
This will be the ninth Dash 8-400NG to join the NJE fleet and the second to be deployed to support and grow NJE’s long term contract with BHP Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) after starting operations for the mining giant on 1 July, 2023.
It will enter service in October and operate additional flights to the mining community of Moranbah in the Bowen Basin, 1000 kilometres north of Brisbane.
NJE is also in the advanced stages of negotiation for two further contracts in the mining and construction industries, which are expected to see Dash 8-400NG services expand across other areas of Queensland.
Toulouse, 9 February, 2021 – ATR has appointed Tiziana Masullo Managing Director and President of ATR Americas, a subsidiary of ATR, effective from December 2020. Based in Miami, Tiziana previously served as Vice President of Services Sales and Contracts, and succeeds Jurgen Lebacs. Tiziana will oversee a staff of 32 people, covering the following areas: Technical support and Safety, Training and Flight Ops, Services Sales and Contracts, Customer Material Support, GMA & Repairs, CSDs and FSR, Finance and Human Resources.
After graduating from ITC Serra with a diploma in Foreign Languages and Literature, Tiziana began her career with Leonardo, before moving to ATR where she has spent 27 years. With a lengthy background and many leadership positions in Training, Flight Operations and Services Sales, as well as Contract Negotiation, Tiziana brings a wealth of experience to her new role. She is also the first woman to lead one of ATR’s subsidiaries.
Tiziana has two children, David who is 22 years old and is studying sociology at London School of Economics in London, and Nikita who is 18, who lives in Miami studying to be a veterinary assistant.
MILAN (Reuters) – Italian tax authorities believe that Fiat Chrysler Automobiles <FCAU> underestimated the value of its U.S. business by 5.1 billion euros following Fiat’s phased acquisition of Chrysler, according to a company filing and a source close to the matter.
The audit, which concerns transactions dating back to 2014, could result in FCA having to pay back taxes for $1.5 billion, the source added, confirming a report by Bloomberg.
FCA said in its third-quarter report that the tax authorities had issued to the company a final audit report in October this year “which, if confirmed in the final audit assessment, could result in a material proposed tax adjustment related to the October 12, 2014 merger of Fiat SpA into FCA NV.”
It said the issuance of a final audit report starts a 60-day negotiation period, which ends with the issuance of a final audit assessment expected to be received by the end of December 2019.
“The company believes that its tax position with respect to the merger is fully supported by both the facts and applicable tax law and will vigorously defend its position,” it said in the third-quarter report.
A spokesman for Italy’s tax agency declined to comment.
“At this time, we cannot predict whether any settlement may be reached or if no settlement is reached, the outcome of any litigation. As such, we are unable to reliably evaluate the likelihood that a loss will be incurred or estimate a range of possible loss,” Fiat said.
News of the tax probe comes at a delicate time for Fiat Chrysler, which is finalizing talks with PSA, the maker of Peugeot and Citroen, over a planned $50 billion merger to create the world’s fourth-largest automaker.
(Reporting by Silvia Aloisi in Milan; Editing by Anil D’Silva)
MILAN, Sept 5 (Reuters) – Companies hoping to rescue Italian carrier Alitalia will ask for a deadline for presenting their plan to be extended as they are still negotiating key aspects, two sources familiar with the matter said.
Italian railway group Ferrovie dello Stato, which is leading an effort to take control of Alitalia, is expected to ask administrators running the carrier for a “substantial” delay to the Sept. 15 deadline, one of the sources said.
It would be the sixth delay since Ferrovie expressed its interest in investing in the carrier at the end of last year.
Ferrovie, infrastructure group Atlantia and U.S. carrier Delta Air Lines have been discussing a joint plan for Alitalia for nearly two months, but they are at odds over highly-profitable North American routes, three sources familiar with the matter said.
The Italian partners in the consortium want Alitalia to have more freedom to expand its North American routes compared to what Delta is currently offering under a new cooperation agreement dubbed Blue Skies that it has set up with Air France KLM and Britain’s Virgin Atlantic.
How Alitalia would share the revenue coming from North American routes with Delta and other partners in the Blue Skies alliance is also under negotiation.
“The role of Alitalia in the Blue Skies alliance is a point of contention,” one of the sources said.
Long-haul flights to the United States and Canada account for more than one third of Alitalia’s revenue and are considered key to reviving the Italian carrier, which was put under special administration in 2017 after workers rejected the latest in a long line of rescue plans.
Administrators appointed by Italy’s government have cut costs and renegotiated plane leasing contracts to make Alitalia more efficient, but the carrier still burns cash and had been kept afloat thanks to a 900 million-euro bridging loan granted by Italy’s treasury.
Alitalia had only 410 million euro left in its coffers in July and would need fresh funds by the end of the year when it is expected to post a loss, according to another source.
Delta and Ferrovie declined to comment. (Additional reporting by Tracy Rucinski in Chicago Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
CHICAGO, May 21 (Reuters) – Southwest Airlines Co’s mechanics union said on Tuesday its members had overwhelmingly voted to ratify a tentative contract agreement with the airline, ending seven years of labor negotiations fraught with legal disputes and flight disruptions.
The agreement came a day after rival U.S. carrier American Airlines Group Inc said it was filing a lawsuit against its own mechanics alleging an illegal slowdown aimed at disrupting operations to improve their position in labor talks, which began in 2015.
Analysts have highlighted labor issues as a main concern for airlines this year.
Mechanics at both American and Southwest have complained that the airlines are moving to outsource maintenance work that has traditionally been done in-house.
In a statement on its website, the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, which represents around 2,500 Southwest mechanics, said about 95 percent of its members had voted to accept the labor agreement.
Separately on Tuesday, American Airlines’ mechanics association said it was “ready and willing” to negotiate a fair contract.
“We would much prefer to be at the negotiating table than in a legal battle brought on by American,” the TWU-IAM Association said in a statement.
(Reporting by Tracy Rucinski Editing by Susan Thomas and Bill Berkrot)
