Air Transport World

US Airways (US) earned third-quarter net income of $245 million, more than tripling a net profit of $76 million in the 2011 September quarter.

Delta Air Lines (DL) posted third-quarter net income of $1.05 billion, nearly doubling the $549 million in net income earned in the year-ago quarter.

Scoot (TZ)—Singapore Airlines’ (SIA) new medium- to long-haul low-cost carrier—has agreed to acquire 20 Boeing 787 aircraft.

Boeing reported third-quarter net income of $1.03 billion, down 6% from a $1.1 billion net profit in the year-ago quarter.

Singapore Airlines (SIA) has agreed to order 20 Airbus A350-900s and five A380s valued at $7.5 billion at list prices.

West Africa’s newest carrier, Gambia Bird (3G), launched scheduled services across West Africa and into Europe Oct. 22, one week later than planned.

Slovenia-based Adria Airways (JP)—which posted a first-quarter net loss of €8 million ($9.8 million) and received a €50 million capital boost in September 2011—said it would need an additional €9 million to survive the winter, according to the Austrian Daily Wirtschaftsblatt, which quoted JP CEO Klemen Bostjancic.

SAS Scandinavian Airlines will launch 6X-weekly Birmingham-Stockholm Boeing 737-600 service Oct. 29. Czech Airlines will increase 21X-weekly Prague-Budapest service to 31X-weekly Oct. 28. The flights will be operated by ATR 42-500s and ATR 72-500s. KLM will increase 3X-daily Amsterdam (AMS)-Norwich service to 4X-daily March 31. It will launch 3X-weekly AMS-Fukuoka Boeing 777-200ER service April 3.

Lufthansa (LH) is increasing services in Latin America as the carrier looks to expand its market share in the region.

Spanish low-cost carrier Vueling (VY) CEO Alex Cruz has vowed that Barcelona El Prat (BCN) will overtake Frankfurt Airport (FRA) as Europe’s leading airport for short-haul flights in 2014.

United Parcel Service (UPS) posted third-quarter net income of $469 million, down 56.3% from a $1.07 billion net profit in the 2011 September quarter.

Chinese conglomerate HNA Group—parent of Hainan Airlines (HU), China Xinhua Airlines, Chang'an Airlines and Shanxi Airlines—has acquired a 48% stake in French airline Aigle Azur Transports Aeriens (ZI).

Boeing said Tuesday it has started building the 777 at a rate of 8.3 aircraft per month, up 20% from the 7 per month rate it had been building the widebody aircraft.

Airbus has inaugurated a new 74,000 square meter A350 XWB Final Assembly Line (FAL) in Toulouse, which will employ 1,500 staff. The new FAL will produce up to 10 aircraft a month from 2018.

The National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC) has granted Brazil’s GOL route rights for 2X-daily flights between Brazil and the US with a stopover in Santo Domingo (SDQ).

The Aviation Corp. of China (AVIC) and GE Aviation have formally launched a Shanghai-based integrated avionics joint venture (JV) “to develop and market the new generation of avionics systems with an immediate priority on supporting development of China’s first home-grown big passenger jet” the C919.

Monarch Aircraft Engineering has signed a line maintenance technical handling agreement with Lithuanian carrier Avion Express (X9) to provide support for X9’s fleet of Airbus A320 aircraft operating at London Gatwick airport. TAME has extended its contract with Sabena Technics Barfield to include the support of two additional Airbus A319s. This builds on an existing six-year contract between TAME and Barfield for the full support of six A320 family aircraft.

Kigali-based RwandAir (WB) has taken delivery of the first of two Bombardier CRJ900s it had on order that includes two options.

Air France (AF) claims it is “far too early” to discuss whether Air Berlin (AB) might switch alliances from oneworld to SkyTeam, following comments made by AF CEO Alexandre de Juniac.

Southwest Airlines (SWA) said it will convert AirTran-branded flights to SWA flights at four cities from April 14, 2013.

GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS) and Brazil’s GOL have signed a sale and leaseback agreement for four new Boeing 737-800 aircraft.

Greek carrier Aegean Airlines (A3) has struck a deal to acquire Olympic Air (OA) from Marfin Investment Group for €72 million ($94 million), creating a €1 billion company.

Swiss charter airline Hello has announced insolvency and stopped flights from Zurich and Basel Sunday, the carrier said on its website.

Tenerife, Spain-based Islas Airways (IF) has suspended operations, although the airline claims the move is only temporary.

Boeing has confirmed that Turkish Airlines (TK) announced a commitment to order 15 777-300ERs, plus five options.