Archives for October 22, 2018

Budget airline Jet Airways is cutting its workforce and squeezing its operations in order to battle its ongoing financial crisis. Around 15 people at manager and general manager level positions in various departments such as engineering, security and sales have been asked to leave this month, reported Economic Times.

The financial daily report quoted a person privy to the matter saying, “A few, but not all of them were aged. There was a lull in September but now the pink slips have begun again.” The person also added that a few more exist can be expected.

The carrier has also grounded about eight planes which include one Airbus330, one Boeing 777, two Boeing 737s and three ATRs at Chennai airport and an Airbus A330 in Mumbai. The source further told ET that said engines have been dismounted from the grounded planes which suggest that these planes may remain grounded for six months or longer.

While the airline did not comment on workforce cuts, the report quoted the carrier saying, “In line with practices followed globally, the airline regularly reviews its network to address its capacity exposure to routes, markets and airports. Important external factors that necessitate changes in the airline’s network and scale of operations are surging crude prices, ongoing rupee devaluation, and pricing environment.”

Worth mentioning here is that the Tata Group recently expressed an interest in buying the loss-ridden airline. The initial proposal of equity collaboration floated by the Naresh Goyal-led company has been rejected as the Tata Group wants complete control over the management of the airline.

The balance of power in the used car market is shifting towards shoppers as improved data and online offerings create more opportunities to push for the best price.

A fast-evolving online marketplace is providing more intelligence on the fair value of cars, said Cliff Banks, a Detroit-based auto retail expert.

“I don’t know that it can be any more transparent…they all provide intelligence on the pricing and the deal of the vehicle, whether it’s a good deal, a fair deal.”

Kijiji Canada recently announced it will add a standalone auto sales site that will roll out later this year to keep up with shifting expectations. The site will add reviews of dealers as well as market pricing information from Carproof.

“The key feature for us, and one of the biggest, the biggest win for us is what’s called price transparency or price analysis,” said Matt McKenzie, general manager at Kijiji Canada.

The online classified company, owned by eBay, already boasts of being the largest player in the Canadian market with about 500,000 vehicle listings. Autotrader, owned by Etobicoke-based Trader Corp., lists about 444,000 vehicles on its site while there are many other offerings on the market as well.

Listing companies are boosting their online presence as the used vehicle market is set for significant growth, said Dennis DesRosiers, president of DesRosiers Automotive Consultants.

“There’s tremendous opportunity, and that brings in all the different retail players and their approach of, how do I get a piece of that?”

While new vehicle sales are expected to be largely flat at about two million this year, the used vehicle market is set to add half a million more in sales in the next three to five years, on top of the three million that changed hands last year, said DesRosiers.

The rise in the used vehicle market comes as improved quality in the past decade means cars and trucks are lasting much longer, allowing for a potential lifespan of four to six owners from the two or three expected not long ago.

“It takes 23 years to remove the vehicles from the road now, a decade ago it only took about 12, so it’s essentially doubled,” said DesRosiers.

Used vehicles also offer margins that are two to three times higher than for new cars, adding to their appeal, he said.

The quality and information improvements have significantly changed the overall used retail market, said DesRosiers.

“It’s not that far long ago, call it 15 years ago or maybe 10 years ago, where the used car market was largely a culture of deceit…even if the online capacity was there, there was just so much riffraff in the used car market that it was very dangerous. A lot of that has changed.”

The improved access to data means used-car retailers have to be more transparent and competitive about their pricing, said Jamie Tekela, director of pre-owned operations at Pfaff Automotive Partners.

“You need to really justify what you’re asking, why you’re asking it, and you can’t go asking $500 more for the same Honda Civic with the same mileage. It just it doesn’t work any more.”

“It’s night and day, to be perfectly honest. It’s gotten a lot more customer friendly,” he said.

The improved information on crash reports, comparable sales, and other metrics hasn’t done away with potential negotiations but does give more justification, said Jamie.

“There’s always going to be negotiations when trying to buy and sell vehicles, but with so much information available to each and every one of us, it’s a lot easier to explain our rhyme and reason why we’re asking what for a car.”

Forty years after he first appeared in theatres, Michael Myers is still drawing huge audiences for a good scare.

Universal Pictures said Sunday that “Halloween” took in an estimated $77.5 million in ticket sales from North American theatres.

It captured first place at the box office with the second-highest horror opening of all time, behind last year’s “It.”

It also marked the second highest October opening ever behind “Venom’s” $80.3 million launch earlier this month.

The studio also says it’s the biggest movie opening ever with a female lead over 55, in star Jamie Lee Curtis.

David Gordon Green directed “Halloween,” which brings back Curtis as Laurie Strode and Nick Castle as Michael Myers and essentially ignores the events of the other sequels and spinoffs aside from John Carpenter’s original.

Reviews have been largely positive for the new installment, with an 80 per cent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a B+ Cinema Score from audiences that were mostly older (59 per cent over 25) and male (53 per cent). Internationally, “Halloween” earned $14.3 million from 23 markets.

Blumhouse, the shop behind “Get Out” and numerous other modestly budgeted horror films, co-produced “Halloween.” It cost only $10 million to make.

“You take the nostalgia for ‘Halloween,’ especially with the return of Jamie Lee Curtis, and you combine that with the Blumhouse brand and its contemporary currency in the genre and it just made for a ridiculously potent combination at the box office this weekend,” said Jim Orr, Universal’s president of domestic distribution.

With 10 days to go until the holiday, including another weekend, the studio expects “Halloween” to enjoy a much longer life than typical horror films that usually drop off significantly after the first weekend.

“Halloween” was enough to bump the comic-book film “Venom” out of the No. 1 spot and into third place. In its third weekend in theatres, it collected $18.1 million, bringing its domestic total to $171.1 million.

Meanwhile “A Star Is Born” held on to second place in its third weekend with $19.3 million. The Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga drama has grossed $126.4 million from North American theatres and is cruising to break $200 million worldwide Sunday.

Damien Chazelle’s Neil Armstrong biopic “First Man” tumbled to fifth place in its second weekend earning $8.6 million, down 46 per cent from its launch.

It was a particularly busy week at the box office as critically acclaimed films such as the young adult adaptation “The Hate U Give” and the Robert Redford swan song “The Old Man & The Gun” expanded nationwide after a few weeks in limited release.

“The Hate U Give,” now in 2,303 locations, placed sixth with $7.5 million, and “The Old Man & The Gun” took 10th with $2.1 million from 802 locations.

A number of well-received indies also made their debuts. At the top was Jonah Hill’s directorial debut “Mid90s,” which opened in four theatres with $249,500 (or a $62,375 per theatre average).

The Melissa McCarthy film “Can You Ever Forgive Me,” about the literary forger Lee Israel, grossed $150,000 in five locations.

October has never been a particularly strong box office month, but 2018 has helped to change that. The weekend was up nearly 72 per cent from the same weekend last October and the year to date is up nearly 11 per cent.

“The industry is on a major roll right now,” said comScore senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian. “Audiences are responding to movies big and small right now — You can have your cinematic fast food and fine dining all at once right now. The movie-going experience is as viable and relevant as ever.”

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theatres, according to comScore. Where available, the latest international numbers for Friday through Sunday are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

1.”Halloween,” $77.5 million ($14.3 million international).

2.”A Star Is Born,” $19.3 million ($22.8 million international).

3.”Venom,” $18.1 million ($32.3 million international).

4.”Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween,” $9.7 million ($6.2 million international).

5.”First Man,” $8.6 million ($13.4 million international).

6.”The Hate U Give,”$7.5 million.

7. “Smallfoot,” $6.6 million ($14 million international).

8.”Night School,” $5 million ($1.5 million international).

9.”Bad Times At The El Royale,” $3.3 million ($2.5 million international).

10.”The Old Man & The Gun,” $2 million.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at international theatres (excluding the U.S. and Canada), according to comScore:

1. “Venom,” $32.3 million.

2. “A Star Is Born,” $22.8 million.

3. “Project Gutenberg,” $14.7 million.

4. “Halloween,” $14.3 million.

5. “Smallfoot,” $14 million.

6. “First Man,” $13.4 million.

7. “Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween,” $6.2 million.

8. “The Spy Who Dumped Me,” $5.7 million.

9. “Lost, Found,” $5.3 million.

10. “Hichki,” $4 million.

Bombardier is suing Mitsubishi Aircraft in the United States over alleged trade secret misappropriation.

The Quebec aerospace company alleges some of its own former employees passed on documents containing trade secrets to Mitsubishi before going to work for the company.

The 92-page legal complaint filed in a Seattle court on Friday also targets Aerospace Testing Engineering & Certification (AeroTEC), which supports the Japanese multinational in the development of its MRJ airline, as well as several ex-Bombardier employees.

None of the allegations contained in the court documents have been proven in court.

A Misubish spokesman says the allegations are unfounded and the company says it will prove so in court.

AeroTEC did not respond to a request for comment on Sunday.

Bombardier alleges Mitsubishi Aircraft and AeroTEC recruited no less than 92 of its former employees from both Canada and the United States.

The former workers named in the lawsuit allegedly forwarded documents regarding the certification process to Transport Canada and its American counterpart, the Federal Aviation Administration.

“The process is incredibly costly, time-consuming, and complex — even for the most experienced of aircraft manufacturers who have gone through that process and developed trade secrets to face it more efficiently,” the document reads.

This process is essential to the process of ensuring newly developed planes are given permission to fly.

Bombardier recently went through the process during the development of the C Series program, which was plagued by delays and cost overruns. The aircraft was later rebranded A220 after Airbus took a majority stake in the program.

“Bombardier has spent about a decade and several billion dollars bringing the C Series from concept to realization and this is not abnormal for an airplane that has been imagined from the drawing board,” the court documents state.

Bombardier alleges that Mitsubishi specifically recruited employees who had experience with the certification process and broke the law when it used confidential documents obtained from these employees in order to accelerate the timelines for its own MRJ airline.

The MRJ, which can transport up to 90 passengers, is scheduled to enter service in 2020, much later than the original 2013 date.