Kuwait National Airways Listing on Kuwait Stock Exchange

Kuwait National Airways (KNA) announced its listing on the Kuwait Stock Exchange yesterday, which was managed by KIPCO Asset Management Company (KAMCO) as the Listing Advisor. The company will be traded under the ticker “KNA” with the completion of the listing in 2008 on target for KNA as per management’s expectations, ahead of the planned commencement of flight operations for its flagship subsidiary, Wataniya Airways, in January 2009.

KNA, which was established in 2005, is the parent company of Wataniya Airways, the region’s newest commercial full service luxury airline. KNA is also the majority shareholder in United Projects Group (UPAC) – a real estate, construction and aviation support company, and Royal Aviation Company Kuwait – which manages the new high standard private air terminal at Kuwait International Airport.

KNA has an authorized and fully paid-up capital of KD 50 million, distributed over 500 million shares with a par value of 100fils each following its initial public offering in 2006 that was jointly managed by KAMCO and Burgan Bank. The shareholding structure of the company comprises a 30 per cent group of strategic investors and 70 per cent smaller investors.

We are delighted to have been able to complete the listing in 2008 and thereby achieve another planned milestone for KNA, demonstrating the continued successful growth and development of our thriving aviation company,” said Abdulsalam Al-Bahar, Chairman & Managing Director of KNA. “Moreover, having KAMCO as the Listing Advisor for our listing gave us the confidence that the project would be executed efficiently and effectively following their successful management of the Company’s initial public offering in 2006, in spite of recent turbulences experienced on the Kuwait Stock Exchange.

KNA officially launched the new name and brand identity of its flagship premium airline – Wataniya Airways – in May 2008. Supported by the Kuwait Government’s license for a unique premium Kuwaiti airline, Wataniya Airways has been designed as a distinctive short haul airline targeting the Kuwaiti market. The service will offer luxury, comfort and convenient point to point scheduling from Kuwait’s prestigious Royal Terminal to regional locations, commencing with flights to Dubai from early 2009.

Wataniya Airways will be using a fleet of luxury Airbus A320 aircraft with the lowest seat density of any similar scheduled aircraft in the world and the first in the region to provide cutting edge technology. Wataniya Airways’ guests will receive unparalleled choice for in-flight entertainment and special facilities, appealing to both leisure and business guests.

We were pleased to have been appointed to bring this project to fruition and use our extensive market experience to achieve a very successful listing on the Kuwait Stock Exchange for KNA,” added Saudoun Ali, CEO for KAMCO. “Moreover, we believe that KNA will be on added value to the KSE due to the positive prospects of its industry in addition to its professional and experienced management,” Ali added.

Continental Airlines Flight Use Alternatif Fuel

Continental Airlines Inc. ratcheted up the race to develop alternate fuel for passenger planes Wednesday as it successfully flew a Boeing 737 twin-engine jet powered partly by algae and weed.

The two-hour test flight over Houston, where the carrier’s headquarters is located, involved powering one of the two engines with a mix of 50% kerosene and a blend of fuel derived from algae and jatropha, a weed that bears oil-producing seeds. No passengers were on board.

The demonstration flight was the first by a U.S. carrier. It was the latest among a handful of airlines that are testing a new generation of so-called sustainable biofuels that could help airlines cut fuel costs and reduce carbon emissions.

Last week, Air New Zealand Ltd. became the world’s first airline to fly a plane powered partly by jatropha-based fuel. This month, Japan Airlines Corp. is planning a test flight using fuel refined from camelina, a flowering plant that wheat farmers grow in the high plains of the U.S.

“It’s another major step forward,” said Billy Glover, managing director of environmental strategy for Boeing Co., the aircraft maker that has been working with the airlines and jet engine makers to develop biofuel for passenger planes.

With the latest milestone, a regularly scheduled passenger flight could be powered by biofuel in three years, pending further tests and Federal Aviation Administration certification, he said. “We’ve been pleasantly surprised by how smoothly these tests are going.”

Airlines began seriously looking at potential new fuel sources as oil prices skyrocketed last year and led several carriers to file for bankruptcy. But despite oil prices slumping sharply since then, industry officials said airlines didn’t want to be burned again by being too dependent on a single source of fuel.

Algae and jatropha are among some of the more promising biofuel sources because they don’t compete with food production or contribute to deforestation, industry officials said.

But airline officials and jet makers cautioned that although tests have been promising, it may take a decade or more before biofuels become a significant source of fuel for airlines. In addition to expanding production sharply, many new refineries would have to be built to produce fuel needed by the carriers.

Air New Zealand, which has been one of the more ambitious in developing alternative fuels, hopes to use biofuel for 10% of its needs by 2013.

Continental’s test flight Wednesday was considered a bit more risky because it involved a plane with two engines compared with four engines for other test flights. Wednesday’s test included powering the right engine with the biofuel mix, turning it off and on as well as abruptly accelerating and slowing down the plane.

The airline is the nation’s fifth-largest and the seventh-busiest at Los Angeles International Airport.

Continental and its partners in the project — Boeing, engine maker CFM International and a refining subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc — will be analyzing post-flight data to see whether biofuel can be a suitable substitute for traditional fossil fuel “without any degradation of performance or safety,” the airline said.

The pilot of Wednesday’s flight reported that the test engine seemed to have burned less fuel than the engine that was being powered by traditional jet fuel.

“That’s icing on the cake,” Glover said. “We weren’t sure we would be able to measure that.”

Deutsche Airlines Company, Lufthansa Resumes Talks to Buy SAS Stake-paper

Deutsche Lufthansa has resumed talks on buying a stake in Scandinavian airline SAS , German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung said, citing industry sources. Talks could be concluded in 2009, the newspaper said on Saturday.

A spokesman for Lufthansa declined to comment on the report.

Last month a source familiar with the matter said Lufthansa had temporarily broken off talks to buy loss-making SAS to focus its efforts on Austrian Airlines and Alitalia .

The German airline last week signed a deal to buy Austrian Airlines, a move that will make it Europe’s biggest airline as the industry struggles with the economic downturn. It is also competing with rival Air France-KLM for an alliance with Alitalia.

Sueddeutsche Zeitung said the talks to buy a stake in SAS were more difficult than those concerning Austrian Airlines had been as it needed to negotiate with the governments of Sweden, Norway and Denmark, which together own 50 percent of SAS.

Chief Financial Officer Stephan Gemkow said last month that Lufthansa was in principle still interested in SAS, but said the company would wait for SAS to restructure its business first.

German media had reported that Lufthansa did not want to take over SAS’s loss-making unit Spanair.

Federal Aviation Administration plan to privatize Midway Airport

The Federal Aviation Administration could decide whether to allow the $2.5 billion plan to privatize Midway Airport by the end of this year or early next year, an FAA official has said.

Charles Clark Erhard III, manager of the Federal Aviation Administration’s airport compliance division, made his remarks after a sparsely attended public hearing on the privatization, which was scheduled to last five hours but ended after 25 minutes.

The Chicago City Council approved the privatization plan Oct. 8. About $1.5 billion from the deal would be used to pay off Midway Airport debt, fees and other expenses.

State law requires that 90 percent of the $1 billion profit be used to pay for city infrastructure projects and shore up underfunded city pension funds, leaving $100 million to be spent at Mayor Daley’s discretion.

The Chicago Sun-Times

How to Buy Online Cheap Airplane Tickets

In case, you are looking for online low-priced airline tickets, ensure to check out different websites. Major travel sites will show you routes and prices for the major airlines. We’ve found that joy-travels are by far the most comprehensive, but occasionally the other players such as Travelotravel.com will have cheapest prices. Watch out for booking fees! Many travel sites tack on “booking fees”. You might get a better deal by booking with travelotravel. Even the best major sites don’t list all airlines. That’s why niche sites like travelotravel show the routes flown by discount airlines with cheaper airfares, which aren´t shown, on major sites. All the airline companies have their own approaches and rules; it would help you to have a variety of prices. Loyalty brings great constitutional rights. Staying with the same airline during the entire trip helps you to receive good fare discounts. This way you build up frequent flier points, which you can redeem for free airline tickets.

complete this news at : American Chronicle