Transportation Industry

Airline Finance News - Latin America / Caribbean

AirGuide Business, Sept 1, 2008

Sep 1, 2008

Copa Airlines

Copa Airlines flew 534.8 million RPMs in July, up 14.6% year-over-year, against a 15.2% rise in ASKs to 632.3 million. Load factor dipped 0.5 point to 84.6%. Aug 25, 2008

Future Vacations, Delta Air Lines

Future Vacations teamed up with Delta Air Lines to launch a new Caribbean Sale, offering savings of up to 45 percent off the air portion of vacation packages to a choice of 16 destinations. Eligible bookings must be made by Sept. 30 for travel through March 31, 2009. Holiday and blackout periods may apply, though no minimum night stay is required. Participating destinations are as follows: Aruba; Bermuda; Barbados; Grand Bahama Island; Grand Cayman; Jamaica; Nassau Paradise Island; Puerto Rico; Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic; Punta Cana, Dominican Republic; Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; St. Martin/St. Maarten; St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands; St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands; Tobago; Turks & Caicos. Hotel options include top chains such as Sandals, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, Couples Resorts, SuperClubs, Wyndham, Marriott, Holiday Inn Resorts Caribbean, Riu Hotels & Resorts, Ritz-Carlton and Westin. Future Vacations pays up to 15 percent commission on Caribbean bookings. As an added incentive, an automatic $75 booking bonus is available on minimum four-night stay air-inclusive bookings made by Sept. 6. Travel agents can book at www.vaxvacationaccess.com. Aug 29, 2008

Grupo Marsans, Aerolineas Argentinas

Grupo Marsans' planned sale of Aerolineas Argentinas and its Austral subsidiary to the Argentine government moved forward after the lower house of the national congress, the Chamber of Deputies, approved the renationalization last week. AR was privatized in 1991 and reportedly is carrying debt of around $900 million. The Chamber of Deputies approved the measure by a 167-79 vote, according to press reports. The Senate is scheduled to discuss the bill, which sets out the conditions and price for acquisition of the troubled carriers, this week. It must approve the bill for it to become law. Aug 26, 2008

Mexicana

Mexico's federal competition commission (CFC) is leaving the door open to a possible merger of the country's two largest airlines, even though it blocked Mexicana last October from bidding to buy Aeromexico. The debate over whether to keep Aeromexico and Mexicana separate, which has been raging for almost 20 years, rages on. At the moment the two airlines are separate, but Mexicana keeps pushing for the right to acquire its perennial rival. Aug 29, 2008

TAM Airlines

TAM flew 2.16 billion domestic RPKs in July, up 8% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 13.8% to 3.07 billion ASKs and load factor fell 3.8 points to 70.4%. International traffic jumped 37.5% to 1.48 billion RPKs against a 27.2% hike in capacity to 1.82 billion ASKs. The load factor rose 6.1 points to 81.5%. Aug 25, 2008

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