Transportation Industry

Aircraft Finance & Leasing News - North America

AirGuide Business, June 23, 2008

Jun 23, 2008

US Environmental Protection Agency is "days away" from issuing a broad document that will detail "ways in which regulation of greenhouse gas emissions" could apply under the Clean Air Act, potentially leading to establishment of carbon dioxide emissions regulations for a broad range of industries including commercial aviation, a top EPA official said yesterday. Speaking at the Eco-Aviation conference presented by Air Transport World and Leeham Co. in Washington, EPA Office of Transportation and Air Quality Director-Compliance and Innovative Strategies Division Karl Simon said that if an "appropriate [public] endangerment determination is made" regarding emissions produced by a given industry, the agency has the authority to set standards. Regarding aircraft, "the authority is not limited to setting standards for new aircraft and new engines" and could include existing, in-service equipment. Jun 20, 2008

Airbus, EADS

The possibility of a new tender, which must be ratified by the US Air Force, was yet another blow to investor sentiment on top of restructuring problems in the face of a weak dollar and an ongoing insider trading probe surrounding delays to the A380 superjumbo, the world's largest airliner. French brokerage CM-CIC Securities said the challenge to the contract would lead to a short-term negative reaction on Airbus parent EADS shares. CM-CIC added that EADS also faced ongoing concerns over problems with its A380 and A400M planes and the weakness of the dollar, which hurts exports from European countries. Oddo Securities said that EADS might now want to speed up its plans for takeovers in the United States, in order to recover from this setback in the important American defense market. Jun 19, 2008

Boeing

The head of Boeing's jet sales remains optimistic despite 787 production problems, surging fuel prices affecting the airlines and the slowing of orders. "Everyone is pulling in their growth plans and will hunker down a bit and figure out how to get through the next couple of years," Ray Conner said. "But no one has canceled orders, just moved out delivery positions." Jun 19, 2008

Boeing

Some overseas carriers are considering parking jetliners and deferring orders for new planes as they face surging oil prices. The trend suggests that Boeing and Airbus could face a slowdown in aircraft orders. "There's no question it's a difficult situation," said Randy Tinseth, vice president for marketing with Boeing's commercial airplane division. Jun 17, 2008

Boeing

Boeing booked 35 737 orders from unidentified customer(s) during the week ended June 10, the company indicated on its Orders and Deliveries website. Jun 16, 2008

Bombardier

Missouri state government authorized up to $240 million in tax credits to entice Bombardier to build its CSeries assembly plant at Kansas City International, the Associated Press reported. Bombardier said it also is considering a site near Montreal. The $400 million plant reportedly would create up to 2,100 jobs. Bombardier hopes to announce a launch customer for the new 110/130-seat jets by year end. Jun 16, 2008

Continental Airlines, Boeing

Continental Airlines said it will retire all its Boeing 737-300s by 2009 and exit 15 cities as part of a plan to offset the surging cost of jet fuel. Executives noted that the high price of fuel makes mergers risky but said the carrier will not rule out consolidation. Jun 19, 2008

Southwest Airlines

Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly said the carrier may expand its fleet next year. Meanwhile, soaring fuel prices are forcing other airlines to scale back capacity. "We're all curious to see what the effects of the cutbacks in the fourth quarter will be," Kelly said. "We're willing to grow the fleet, and that's very different than what's going on with most of our competitors." Jun 18, 2008

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