Air India lost INR55.48 billion ($1.19 billion) in the fiscal year ended March 31, more than double the INR22.26 billion deficit suffered in the prior year, the carrier announced yesterday.
American Airlines and Delta Air Lines each continue to express a strong interest in financially troubled Japan Airlines, which reportedly is negotiating a ¥100 billion ($1.1 billion) short-term bridge loan with the Development Bank of Japan to fortify its cash position as it develops a longer-term restructuring plan.
US major passenger airlines posted a cumulative third-quarter net loss of $578 million, narrowed from a $2.52 billion loss in the year-ago period, ATWOnline calculated. The nine carriers' combined revenue dropped 18% to $28.25 billion while expenses decreased 23.1% to $27.8 billion, producing an operating profit of $450 million, reversed from an operating loss of $1.97 billion for the three months ended Sept. 30, 2008. The quarter's top performer among the majors was Alaska Airlines parent Alaska Air Group with net income of $88 million.
Finnair named Nokia Siemens Networks COO Mika Vehvilainen as its new president and CEO effective Feb. 1. He will succeed Jukka Hienonen, who is leaving the airline at the end of January ( ATWOnline, April 10). Vehvilainen, 48, will join Finnair on Jan. 5 and "has strong experience of sales and marketing and of strategic management and business development in Asia, North America and Europe," the airline said.
Dunlop Aircraft Tyres was selected by Bombardier as an alternate tire source to support aftermarket needs for the CRJ1000NG. Dunlop will manufacture and retread tires at its Birmingham, UK, facility.
Emirates Chairman Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum told reporters in Dubai yesterday that some of the six A380s it expects to receive next year will be delayed "a bit," but added that EK is "considering" adding to its 58 firm orders. The largest A380 customer's 2010 delivery delays will be for "a short period," he said, according to press reports. "Some aircraft will be delivered within a month or two of the original date.
Qantas plans to introduce an Airport of the Future concept in major domestic markets next year that it said will reduce dramatically time spent at check-in and in security queues and speed baggage collection. Domestic passengers will be issued new RFID cards that will replace both the standard boarding pass and baggage tags and give instant recognition to security agents.
US FAA said it has begun transitioning NOTAMs to a digital system, which it said "should reduce human error, allow more timely and accurate distribution of information, standardize content, policy and procedures and balance diverse customer needs." Digital distribution tests to six ATC facilities will begin in January.
TAP Maintenance and Engineering Brazil delivered one A330 to Air Transat following a C check, its first on the aircraft type since receiving TCCA, FAA and EASA certification for MRO on A330s/A340s.
US Senate approved an Airline Flight Crew Family and Medical Leave Act, which modifies language from the original Family and Medical Leave Act that defined a "fulltime" schedule as a traditional 40-hr. work week, ignoring the nontraditional schedules of flight attendants and flight crews and often rendering them ineligible for coverage. The House already approved the measure, which now requires President Barack Obama's signature to become law. "We are happy to announce to our over 50,000 members that no flight attendant will be left behind when it comes to FMLA coverage anymore," Assn.
JetBlue Airways and Lufthansa launched codeshare operations yesterday at New York JFK and Boston. Passengers originating in 13 JetBlue destinations currently have access to transatlantic flights on LH out of JFK and BOS, with more cities set to come online next year, the airlines said. Alaska Airlines launched service from Oakland to Kahului (four-times-weekly) and Kona (thrice-weekly) aboard a 737-800. US Airways will resume thrice-daily Melbourne, Fla.-Charlotte service on Feb. 11 after a 12-year hiatus. Flights will be aboard PSA Airlines CRJ700s.
American Airlines Chairman and CEO Gerard Arpey reiterated this week that he sees no need to relinquish slots at London Heathrow in order to address possible competition concerns over AA's planned transatlantic joint venture with British Airways and Iberia.
Malaysia Airlines will announce at a press conference today that it has transitioned to the SITA Reservations platform, part of a 10-year, $130 million contract under which SITA will install/manage a variety of MAS IT systems. The changeover to the SITA reservation system took 13 hr. on Nov. 1 and involved the transfer of almost 1.5 million PNRs. MAS CEO Azmil Zahruddin said, "Upgrading to a new reservations platform is the equivalent of a heart transplant for an airline.
Air Canada and Jazz flew 3.85 billion RPMs in October, a 1.3% decrease from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 0.5% to 4.84 billion ASMs and load factor dipped 0.6 point to 79.6%. JetBlue Airways flew 2.02 billion RPMs in October, up 7.2% year-over-year, while capacity rose 7.1% to 2.5 billion ASMs. Load factor was up 0.1 point to 80.8%. Hawaiian Airlines flew 680.7 million RPMs in October, a 5.7% increase year-over-year, and capacity rose 2.6% to 797.7 million ASMs. Load factor climbed 2.4 points to 85.3%.
Shenzhen Airlines plans to sell a partial stake in its Kunpeng Airlines subsidiary to the Henan government in order to raise funding for the troubled regional carrier. "We are still negotiating with the Henan provincial government on how much of a stake to sell and at what price to sell," a Shenzhen spokesperson told ATWOnline. Kungpeng may change its name to Henan Airlines as part of the deal.
Malev Hungarian Airlines expects a final decision about its future ownership by the end of this month. The troubled carrier is in talks with the government, which is considering reinvesting in Malev and helping it restructure, Deputy CEO and CCO Karim Makhlouf told ATWOnline at this week's oneworld event in Mexico City. He said the government likely will acquire at least 51%. The airline currently is 99.5% owned by the AirBridge consortium, which is backed by Russia's Vneshekonombank.
Korean Air posted third-quarter net income of KRW264 billion ($227.9 million), a dramatic turnaround from the KRW684.1 billion loss it suffered in the year-ago period, marking its second straight profitable reporting period after six consecutive quarterly losses.
Grupo Mexicana CEO Manuel Borja expects that the carrier's membership in oneworld will strengthen its "position considerably in an increasingly competitive marketplace" and boost international passenger traffic by 5%-7%.
Gol reported third-quarter net income of BRL77.9 million ($45.6 million), reversed from a BRL510.7 million loss in the year ago period when foreign exchange losses and interest expenses weighed down the bottom line.
Hawaiian Airlines said dispatchers represented by the Transport Workers Union ratified a new four-year labor agreement providing "increased pay and benefits as well as profit sharing" to the employees and "operational improvements" to HA.
Singapore Airlines reported a S$158.8 million ($114.4 million) loss in its fiscal second quarter ended Sept. 30, reversed from a S$323.8 million profit in the year-ago period, but said that "advanced bookings indicate that demand for air travel has stopped declining and is gradually recovering." Group revenue fell 29.6% year-over-year to S$3.08 billion against a 21.3% cut in expenses to S$3.26 billion. Operating result swung to a S$181.4 million loss from a S$231.7 million profit in the three months ended Sept. 30, 2008.
ANA yesterday unveiled a series of long-haul service enhancements dubbed Inspiration of Japan that will be available beginning next February on 777-300ERs flying from Tokyo Narita to North America and Europe. First class will feature 1-2-1 seating with privacy partitions, 23-in. LCD screens, new decor and bedding, "refined" a la carte menus and touchscreen ordering starting in April. ANA's first class lounge at NRT will be upgraded in February and passengers will have access to a single check-in point (personal, luggage and security) by fall. Cabin upgrades will be available from Feb.
Ryanair will shutter its Basel operation on Dec. 2 and cancel its 18 weekly flights to Alicante, Cagliari, London Stansted, Marseille, Porto and Stockholm Skavsta. It said the airport "refused to lower its high airport charges to reflect the lower fares being paid by passengers in the current recession." Ryanair offered to add 13 more weekly flights to the airport in exchange for lower charges but Basel refused, according to the LCC.
Japan Airlines is expected to report a heavy loss Friday for its fiscal first half ended Sept. 30, increasing pressure on the carrier and the Japanese government to develop a restructuring plan to help assure investors and customers that the troubled company won't collapse.
Air France KLM flew 17.68 billion RPKs in October, down 4.1% from the year-ago month. Capacity dropped 5.6% to 21.41 billion ASKs and load factor increased 1.3 points to 82.5%. British Airways flew 9.41 billion RPKs in October, down 1.9% year-over-year, against a 6.4% cut in capacity to 11.79 billion ASKs. Load factor rose 3.7 points to 80.7%. EasyJet transported 4.2 million passengers in October, a 6.6% increase year-over-year, while load factor rose 3 points to 86.8%.
