Finnair broke a streak of seven consecutive quarters in the red by posting third-quarter net income of €32.4 million ($44.7 million), reversed from a loss of €18.1 million in the year-ago period. Revenue lifted 26.2% year-over-year to €551.4 million.
Southwest Airlines said Thursday that its "international connect" service in partnership with Mexico's Volaris will launch Dec. 1 with bookings opening on Nov. 12.
Just when you thought the air transport industry couldn’t possibly generate another controversy, along one comes to join the disputes over passenger rights and tarmac delays, “green” taxes and the ETS, bag fees, state aid to OEMs and, of course, whether Emirates is subsidized by the Dubai government.
LAN Airlines, which is in the midst of combining with TAM of Brazil under a holding company structure, is spreading its wings further northward with an agreement to acquire 98.94% of Colombia's Aires for $32.5 million.
Alaska Airlines and Aircell launched the first inflight Internet service in the state of Alaska, with Gogo Inflight Internet onboard its Anchorage–Fairbanks flights. Service will go live on the remainder of the AS network later this year, which Aircell will expand to include Southeast Alaska by yearend. Aircell will keep the service complimentary until the remainder of its network goes live, it said. AS has outfitted more than 70% of its 737 aircraft with the Gogo service since May and expects fleet-wide installation to be complete in early 2011.
Emirates will increase daily A340-500/A330-200 Dubai–Tripoli service to 10-times-weekly in November. Aerolineas Argentinas will launch four-times-weekly A340 Buenos Aires–Mexico City service March 3, departing Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Japan Airlines and American Airlines reached a codeshare agreement under which JAL will place its code on daily AA New York JFK–Sao Paulo Guarulhos 777 flights beginning Oct. 31.
Air France KLM Group raised its financial forecast for its fiscal year ending March 31, 2011 and stated that “given the revenue performance of recent months, together with the current level of forward bookings,” it is now expecting a “positive” operating result except in the case of a major adverse event.
British Airways and Iberia called an extraordinary shareholders meeting for Nov. 29 and Nov. 28 or Nov. 29 on first or second call, respectively, to vote on their planned merger to create International Consolidated Airlines Group. The boards of both companies have already approved the merger and all regulatory approvals have been obtained. Both companies expect to complete the merger by Jan. 21, 2011 and IAG shares will start trading on the London Stock Exchange and Spanish Exchange Jan. 24, 2011.
Vueling Airlines continued this year’s solid performance in the third quarter with a €43.3 million ($60.2 million) net profit, although this was down 2% compared to the year-ago period. Total revenue increased by 7% to €276.6 million and revenue per passenger rose 1% to €79.15 and total. EBIT decreased 13% to €59.4 million owing to increased fuel costs and the dollar/euro exchange rate.
Ryanair will cut flights at its Frankfurt Hahn base by 30% from next summer 2011 in response to the German government’s planned air passenger tax of €8 ($11.12) for intra-European flights. It will reduce its HHN fleet from 11 to 8 based aircraft, trim the number of routes from 54 to 45, and reduce the number of weekly flights from 532 to 382. The LCC said these actions will lead to the loss of 1,000 jobs in Hahn, including 150 pilots and cabin crew jobs, and that HHN’s passenger throughput will decline by 1 million passengers annually.
LAN Airlines' third-quarter net income more than doubled to $106.2 million compared to $52.1 million in the prior-year period, "driven by a strong recovery in both cargo and passenger operations," the Santiago, Chile-based company said.
Korean Air reported third-quarter net income of KRW583.8 billion ($521 million), more than double a KRW264 billion profit in the year-ago period, attributing the earnings increase to "substantial growth in international passenger traffic and surging demand for cargo traffic."
China Southern Airlines announced Wednesday that it earned CNY3.04 billion ($457 million) in the third quarter, an almost tenfold increase over CNY284 million in net income in the year-ago quarter.
Lufthansa Group reported a net profit of €524 million ($728.8 million) for the first nine months of the year, significantly widened from €31 million earned in the year-ago period, and implying a third quarter profit of €628 million based on a previously-reported six-month net loss of €104 million (ATW Daily News, July 30).
Korean Air reported third-quarter net income of KRW583.8 billion ($521 million), more than double a KRW264 billion profit in the year-ago period, attributing the earnings increase to "substantial growth in international passenger traffic and surging demand for cargo traffic."
CAE announced the sale of four 7000 Series full flight simulators to Korean Air and Air China. The contract is valued at approximately C$65 million ($63.6 million) at list prices and includes one A380 FFS and one 777-300ER FFS to KE and one A330 FFS and one 737-800 FFS to CA. KE's FFSs will be delivered in 2011 and 2012, respectively, while CA's will be delivered in early 2012.
SR Technics signed an Integrated Component Solutions contract with Swiss charter operator Hello. The contract, which runs until 2016, provides component services for five A320 aircraft. StandardAero reached a three-year exclusive maintenance agreement with Australia's Airnorth for work on the Hamilton Sundstrand APS2300 APU, installed on the carrier's E170s. Agreement includes two consecutive two-year options.
