SAS Group posted its first quarterly profit since the 2007 third quarter, a SEK152 million ($21.5 million) surplus in the three months ended Sept. 30 that represented a reversal from the SEK1.99 billion deficit suffered in the year-ago period.
AirTran Airways stepped up the competition at Milwaukee yesterday, announcing a new marketing partnership with SkyWest Airlines under which the regional will operate five 50-seat CRJ200s under its own brand and livery to six destinations out of General Mitchell International starting Dec. 4.
ExpressJet Airlines parent ExpressJet Holdings reported a third-quarter loss of $9 million, reversed from net income of $4.4 million in the year-ago period, although it narrowed its operating loss considerably. Revenue dropped 31.7% to $179.2 million. The company attributed the fall to "softness in passenger demand," according to President and CEO Jim Ream. Expenses were down 35.7% to $187.3 million and operating loss narrowed to $8.1 million, a 71.9% improvement over the $29 million suffered last year.
AirBaltic will start charging a €5 ($7.36) fee per passenger for airport check-in on Nov. 16. Internet check-in will remain free of charge. The airport fee will not be levied against loyalty program members, passengers with reduced mobility, children younger than 12 and those departing from airports at which Web check-in is unavailable.
Bmibaby will reduce its 737 fleet by five aircraft to 12 next year as part of a restructuring plan "that will see it focus its activities and efforts on routes where there are clear indications and prospects for future growth and development."
Gol announced a management restructuring: CFO Leonardo Pereira now will be responsible for the technology, business development and strategic planning departments in addition to finance, controls and investor relations. The unnamed VP-market will head cargo, commercial, corporate communications, marketing, yield management and alliance departments, while new VP-Customers, Employees and Management Ricardo Khauaja will run the human resources and management, customer service, airport and commercial crew departments.
WestJet yesterday acknowledged that installation of the SabreSonic Customer Sales and Service reservation system last month has led to numerous complications, including a temporary website shutdown and ongoing difficulty in making changes to passengers' reservations, and asked customers for "patience" while it works out the kinks.
Continental Airlines said October consolidated unit revenue fell an estimated 14%-15% year-over-year, while mainline RASM was down 15%-16%. It flew 7.26 billion consolidated RPMs, up 1.7%, against a 2.6% cut in capacity to 8.8 billion ASMs. Load factor rose 3.5 points to 82.5%. United Airlines flew 9.68 billion consolidated RPMs in October, down 1.6% from the year-ago month. Capacity dropped 4.3% to 11.64 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 2.3 points to 83.1%.
KLM will conduct a biofuel test flight on Nov. 23 using a 747 with one engine powered by a 50/50 blend of camelina-based fuel and traditional kerosene. A "select group of passengers" will be onboard, which the carrier said is a world first.
US FAA denied an application from the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority to institute a nighttime curfew on air traffic at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank. The authority had sought permanently to ban operations from 10 p.m. to 6:59 a.m. local time except for law enforcement, medical flights, emergencies, etc. Passenger airlines currently observe a voluntary curfew during those times, according to the Los Angeles Times. In an Oct.
US FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt yesterday said there is an "extreme need to refocus on professionalism" among airline pilots, citing the "recent very sad example" of two Northwest Airlines A320 pilots who "lost total situational awareness" and overflew their intended destination of Minneapolis-St. Paul.
Air India pilots represented by the Indian Commercial Pilots Assn. warned they are ready to strike on Nov. 24, issuing a statement saying, "We intend to tell the public and the political leadership what is wrong with Air India. . .if issues including that of pending arrears are not addressed by Air India management by Nov. 10," the Press Trust of India reported.
Shanghai Airlines suffered a CNY42.7 million ($6.2 million) loss in the third quarter, narrowed 90.2% from a CNY437.5 million deficit in the year-ago period. Operating revenue jumped 14.9% to CNY3.62 billion while expenses rose 6% to CNY3.81 billion. SAL cited a decline in passenger boardings caused by the global financial crisis, stricter security measures taken prior to China's Oct. 1 national holiday and falling fares as the culprits.
Single European Sky prospects took another step forward last week following the signing of an eight-year, €50 million agreement by Eurocontrol and SITA to launch the Pan European Network Service, which will allow air navigation service providers from 38 countries to exchange operational data and voice communications across a common network for the first time.
Juneyao Airlines expects to report a net profit in excess of CNY70 million ($10.2 million) this year, a significant increase over the CNY50 million forecast in July ( ATWOnline, July 21), and now expects earnings greater than CNY100 million in 2010 owing to strong domestic demand and fleet expansion, according to Chairman Wang Junjin. It posted a CNY11.5 million surplus in 2008. The privately held Shanghai-based carrier operates 12 A320s and plans to introduce two more by year end.
Astraeus announced the introduction of its first A320, a former Iberia aircraft on lease from DVB Bank. "Our fleet has traditionally been 100% Boeing, but in leasing and contracting out of our aircraft over the past 18 months under our new business model, we've come across a great deal of operators who want, or need, different options," CCO and Director-Aircraft Leasing Shaun Monnery said.
Air Transport Assn. President and CEO James May last week wrote US State Dept. Envoy for Climate Change Todd Stern urging him to "strongly and expressly oppose" the International Air Passenger Adaptation Levy, a tax on airline tickets that has been proposed by a group of countries led by Maldives. The measure would see "anywhere from $6 to $62 added to the cost of an international airline ticket" to pay for "climate change projects to be built in developing countries," according to ATA.
Pinnacle Airlines and Colgan Air parent Pinnacle Airlines Corp. reported an $11.4 million profit in the third quarter, an 84% increase from the $6.2 million earned the same period a year ago. Revenue dipped 2% year-over-year to $217.2 million while expenses fell 4% to $193.4 million. Operating income was $23.8 million, up 19% from $20 million in the 2008 third quarter. During the quarter, Pinnacle saw a 5% drop in aircraft utilization, primarily owing to network changes that resulted in shorter flights. Colgan saw a 16% reduction in block hr. and a 15% decrease in departures.
IATA yesterday said airlines that already have reported their third-quarter results earned a net profit of $400 million, reversed from a net loss of $1.5 billion in the year-ago period, but maintained its forecast for an $11 billion full-year loss owing a $6 billion first-half deficit and the fact that "Q4 is usually loss-making."
Wizz Air announced the launch of a Web check-in service starting with flights from Budapest and extending to the rest of the network by next spring. EasyJet will launch 25 new routes this winter: Manchester to Marrakech (Oct. 29), Copenhagen and Munich (both Nov.6); Basel-Dusseldorf (Nov. 2); Liverpool to Fuerteventura (Nov. 2) and Lanzarote (Nov. 3); Lyon to Nantes (Nov. 2) and Brussels (Dec. 17); Rome Fiumicino to Lamezia, Amsterdam, Lisbon (all Nov. 2) and Dusseldorf (Feb. 1); Madrid-AMS (Nov. 2); London Gatwick to Porto (Nov. 2), Agadir (Nov.
Sensis announced that Houston Intercontinental became the 21st airport to operate its Airport Surface Detection Equipment, Model X runway incursion detection and alerting system. Miami International became the 20rh on Monday.
Lufthansa subsidiary Swiss International Air Lines reported a €47 million ($69.4 million) third-quarter operating result, a 60.5% decrease from the €119 million earned in the year-ago period, and expects to post a full-year profit, while newly acquired neighbor Austrian Airlines faces deepening deficits and a cloudier future.
US House of Representatives ranking Republicans on committees with jurisdiction over labor and transportation pushed back against the National Mediation Board's proposal to change airline union-certification voting rules, saying the suggested rule alteration is "troubling" and shows "union favoritism." NMB has proposed revising its rules to allow an airline work group to unionize if a majority of those casting ballots in a union-certification vote approve, rather than a majority of the total work group ( ATWOnline, N
