FedEx buys TNT Express
 

What WhaleDriver said........
Plus it appears the TNT B777s are owned by Guggenheim. FedEx already has at least one 777 (883) from Guggenheim so half the battle.

The 777's were bought from Guggenheim and are now owned by Titan Leasing Ltd, a subsidiary of Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings. I remains to be seen what will be done with these airframes if the acquisition proceeds. Atlas could operate them, GSS?, FedEx, ????. It will be down to $$$$$ and the terms of the current lease contract with regard to successorship.

FoxHunter,

Yes I understand this and the EU to a limited extent but they are based in Belgium, I would expect this deal would be primarily based upon Belgian law and other EU regs. If the base of ops is Liege, could they not operate FedEx aircraft under Belgian labour law as TNT being the legal EASA operator of those aircraft even though the tails may be purple with an N-REG? I understand there is also a significant trucking fleet.

It won't be GSS. They failed to exist as a company very recently. The few staff who stayed on to look after the AOC etc after the BAWC contract ended and the -8Fs returned to Atlas are no longer in the office.

What about the bases ?
In the press release they insist a lot on the fact that LGG will remain important for the group.
But LGG and CGN are 1h30 appart by truck ...
The planned investments in LGG would make it much bigger than the CGN hub. Enough to kill it ? Does it make sense to have 2 hubs ?
And what about CDG ? That ain't far either...
+ they have discussion to develop a high speed train connection between those 3 airports (called eurocarex, probably with heavy eu subsidies)
EURO CAREX : Cargo Rail Express

Fedex has mentioned that LGG will remain indeed a major part of the network, but absolutely NO mention that this will include any flight operations...

FedEx will not use LGG as a hub for air operations. It is single runway which is a significant negative factor and not in practice with the other hubs (and yes, STN is single runway but not considered a hub)

the single track has never been a limitation of any sort... (in LUX neither)
LGG has no slots, 24/7 operations.

Correct but FedEx do not place hubs in single runway airports.

Update
 

Thanks for updating the TNT airline news. Nice to see the discussion. Thanks:D

Flightmech,

LGG has 2 runways.

23L/05R and 23R/05L which is used as backup and also has ILS.

no ILS on 05L to be correct.
2 rwys but cannot be used simultaneously...

23R/05L 2340m long and also named taxiway B, not to be used by heavy loaded widebodies

23R/05L can be used by widebodies. (Actually happens quite often when WIP on rwy 23L with MD-11, B777 for example), taking into account the runway length.
CGN "secundary" runways are not significantly longer (2459 and 1863 to be confirmed)...

we are getting away from the real debate i think.
The tracks in LGG or elsewhere have never been a real limitation.
LGG is not meant to be a road hub, they have that in the netherlands.
So if Fedex says it will remain important, i wonder how.
After the planned investments, LGG will be able to handle 3x the load of CGN...

Hi guys, any new or rumour about this...?

Still no potential purchasers for TNT Airways and Pan Air, isn't it?

Cheers!

Fedex takeover deal of TNT not due to be completed until June next year so still over a year away, am assuming the airline will be disposed of just before or after then.

ASL was still mentioned as a candidate...

Canada is big and empty, Germany, France and the UK all have more people than Canada

interesting...
Liége looking to have and hold

Looks like things are getting interesting...

Good point that one Kim Jong Il, both places are quite close...no point to have bi-hub structure, I think...

Last two paragraphs of this article

ASL Airlines born out of rebrand

"But the real question for ASL will be whether to get involved in the acquisition of TNT’s European airlines, PanAir and TNT Airways, after the FedEx takeover forces TNT to sell its EU airlines. ASL was to have acquired the airlines in the event of TNT’s takeover by UPS.

Some observers are speculating that this could also be an opportunity for Stansted-based Atlas subsidiary GSS, which has been out of the game since British Airways relinquished its 747-8F freighter fleet. GSS no longer has an AOC, but according to Companies House, continues to exist and has recently appointed two new directors. Currently, Titan Aviation, another Atlas subsidiary, is dry-leasing 777s to TNT."

tri-hub in fact...

Last news says that all the paperwork it´s been filled and presented to the European Commision and we will have news within the next 2 weeks...if I am not wrong by August the 3th.

There have been "movements" on the TNT Express/Airways organigrams, as reported by some colleagues , so it will get insteresting in the next few days.

Any thoughts?

Cheers!!

TNT is buying lot of 737's these times...

Just to put the GSS rumour to bed, the ex GSS staff are already employed as Cargologicair Ltd, a venture with Volga-Dnepr and currently working towards an AOC.

FedEx buys TNT Express
 

FedEx just announced an order of an additional 50 Boeing 767s from Boeing with options on another 50....:-)

Don't get it....Belguim doesn't normally need a reason for any kind of industrial action.....but the LGG crew room is calm personified......seen it all before? Fed up with the rumours? Got other gigs going on? Find it most unsettling, there must be a Poirot out there that can shed the light....long live TNT I say, good friendly people that I hope will prevail, good luck to all.....

I think it is mainly to replace the A300-600 and A310 fleet that will soon end up at the airplane graveyard at Mojave airport.

There are only 20 A310's left in service as of today and not many of the A300-600's are being parked. In fact there is a cockpit upgrade program in progress for them right now. The additional 767s will obviously remove the MD10 from the operation entirely and replace some of the MD11 flying.

It has been reported that they will replace the MD10 fleet for fuel savings.

Strange indeed.
But we have 2 groups of people here.
The pilots can be pretty scared I would say, the many 737 certified pilots wouldn’t fit well in the fedex group, would they ?
Then you have the 1000+ workers on the ground, who are usually pretty active on reacting on a threat. So far all fedex communication is pretty reassuring… but who knows.
3 hubs is probably at least 1 too many.
Now, TNT @ LGG is very much linked to politics (Walloon region government). They have a huge impact on any changes. LGG recently freed up A LOT of space at the north of the airport. Hidden agenda ?

Edit : Picture of the free space made available recently.
https://image-store.slidesharecdn.co...-original.jpeg

"LGG is an excellent facility, on an excellent location. Its relationship with the airport authority is good, its team is very good. So we see this as a significant part of our network, which we plan to operate just as we operate CDG."

from : Liege is an Excellent Gateway for FedEx - CargoForwarder Global

... and what will TTIP and ISDS do to Open Skies?

What is the latest with the TNT pilots and the FedEx acquisition? Will the TNT pilots stay? I can see the 737 pilots staying for hub-feed reasons. What about the 777 and 744 pilots?

Just so long as that dreadful call sign ("Quality" - Urgggh, I think I'm going to barf) gets the chop....


PM

Been announced that EU commission will not be objecting to the takeover deal, deadline is on Friday.

Piltdown Man.
The TNT callsign is "Qualitay" as the three letter airline code is TAY.
I have to agree that it is an awful callsign. I much preferred the "NITRO" when the 146s were run by Air Foyle.
Used to use these and many more when doing contract work with Channel Express.

I also agree it is a ****ty call sign.
Probably the call sign will disappear because UPS and Fedex are flying illegally more and more intra Europe cargo routes and even base their pilots in Europe. Try that as a European company in the US…

It's time the EU sais no more against the Yankee freight dogs!

As Tnt airways won't be part of the fedex group, the best we can hope is that the new owner of tnt airways will have secured some contracts to work for Fedex.
But as Belgium work cost is one of the highest, it will be difficult for tnt to compete with already established european cargo contractors (as farnair, bluebird, cargo bulgaria, west atlantic,...) in the long term

BeCA - FedEx-TNT Merge: FedEx's Questionable Operations Threatens Employment in Europe

at least these jobs should stay for european pilots !

Looks like the deal has a green light for the new year.

FedEx (FDX) Clears Huge Hurdle in TNT Express Deal | InvestorPlace