AVIATION
Delta pilots want 40% rise
The union representing Delta Air Lines Inc’s pilots wants raises of almost 40 percent compounded over three years, attempting to reverse some of the pay and benefit cuts adopted in the early 2000s. The union cites the carrier’s surging profits in saying it had requested a 22 percent raise for this year, followed by 7 percent raises in the following two years, a memo from the Air Line Pilots Association said. The union and Delta declined to comment on the memo. Delta spokesman Morgan Durrant said the company looks forward to negotiating with the union to reach an agreement that is mutually beneficial.
AVIATION
China Express orders jets
China Express Airlines Co (華夏航空) has placed an order for 10 Bombardier CRJ900 jets worth US$462 million, the Canadian aircraft builder said on Thursday. The order would increase the China Express’ all-Bombardier fleet to 38, a statement said. Based in the southwest city of Chongqing, the nine-year-old carrier serves 62 cities in China. The CRJ900 is a regional jet that seats up to 90 passengers and with the China Express deal, Bombardier has racked up 409 firm orders for the aircraft.
ENERGY
GE to build Saudi plant
General Electric Co (GE) on Thursday said that it had won a contract worth nearly US$1 billion from Saudi Electricity Co to build and supply a power plant in northern Saudi Arabia. Under the contract, the US industrial giant is to build the Waad al-Shamal combined-cycle power plant and provide four advanced gas turbines, a steam turbine and turbine maintenance services. The 1,390-megawatt plant, which is to include solar technology, is expected to be able to provide the equivalent power needed to supply more than 500,000 Saudi homes.
RETAIL
V and D declares bankruptcy
The largest Dutch chain of department stores, US-owned Vroom and Dreesman (V and D), on Thursday declared itself bankrupt after years of losses, but said it expected a buyer to come to its rescue. Founded in 1887 in Amsterdam, the chain employs 10,000 people in 64 outlets. V and D failed to reverse a loss-making trend despite reducing the payroll and cutting wages in recent years. It reported losses of 49 million euros (US$53 million) in 2014, 42 million euros in 2013 and 19 million euros in 2012. A warm winter added to the chain’s problems at the end of this year, causing its winter collection to flop.
INVESTMENT
Canadian funds set record
Canadian pension funds, money managers and corporations acquired a record-setting US$205 billion in foreign assets last year, driving the nation’s deal total to an eight-year high. In all, there were US$281 billion worth of mergers and acquisitions involving Canadian firms through Wednesday last week, up 34 percent from a year earlier, data compiled by Bloomberg showed. It was the second-highest total on record behind 2007, when Canadians were involved in US$315 billion worth of transactions. The size of the deals involving Canadian firms were also uncharacteristically large last year with the four biggest deals worth in excess of US$10 billion for the first time since 2006, the data showed.
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his