Fly Asian Xpress, owner of new Malaysian long-haul budget airline AirAsia X, last month placed an order for 10 new Airbus A330-300s with options for up to 15 more as it prepares for takeoff this year. The firm, a sister to fast-growing budget carrier AirAsia, said the order, worth a total of about US$2.6 billion at list prices, would be funded via private equity and bank debt. It would not rely on AirAsia to help fi nance them, said AirAsia chief Tony Fernandes, major investor in both … [Read more...] about MALAYSIA: Malaysia¡¯s FAX orders 10 Airbus A330

Flag carrier Garuda Indonesia has appointed PT Bahana Securities and Ernst & Young - out of fi ve fi rms joining the bidding process - as fi nancial advisors. Both will help the carrier in divesting 49 percent of its stakes. CEO Emirsyah Satar said that the move is a preparatory step for the carrier’s initial public offering. He also expected that the government will soon appoint the strategic partner of Garuda. Several investors have expressed interest to cooperate with Garuda, … [Read more...] about INDONESIA:Garuda appoints fi nancial advisors

Great Wall Airlines – the Shanghai- based B747 freighter operator – is launching services to the UK this month and has appointed EuroGSA as its general sales and service agent for the UK and Ireland. Great Wall started UK operations with 3 ad hoc fl ights in late April and early May, followed by a full scheduled service four times per week on May 10th. All fl ights operate Manchester – Dubai – Shanghai (Pudong), using the airline’s B747-400 nose-loading … [Read more...] about SINGAPORE: Great Wall Airlines to start UK service

Nippon Cargo Airlines (NCA) has announced the formation of NCA Americas, Inc. as it seeks to strengthen its position in the North America market. The new entity will have responsibility for the management of all NCA’s activities within North Americas, the Japanese cargo airline said in a statement. Shunichi Fujimura, a board member of NCA, has been appointed president of the new company which will be headquartered at New York JFK Airport. In addition, NCA has hired Shawn McWhorter … [Read more...] about JAPAN: Nippon Cargo sets up Americas arm

Japan Airlines (JAL) and Galaxy Airlines (GXY), a new Japanese domestic cargo airline, have expanded their code share agreement, which allows Galaxy Airlines to operate late night fl ights serving Osaka, Tokyo and Sapporo. With the introduction of its second Airbus A300-600R freighter, Galaxy Airlines started a six fl ights per week late night cargo service, serving Osaka (Kansai), Tokyo (Haneda) and Sapporo (Chitose). The current code share agreement between the JAL and Galaxy has been … [Read more...] about JAPAN: JAL, Galaxy expand cargo code-share pact