LAN Airlines reported third-quarter net income of $52.1 million, down 47.3% from an $83 million profit in the year-ago period, as both passenger and cargo yield declined owing to the recession and the swine flu scare.
Oneworld airlines operating to/from London Heathrow will be concentrated in Terminal 3 and Terminal 5 on Thursday, finalizing the alliance's biggest co-location project to date. T3 is the closest existing terminal to T5. T3 is nearing completion of an upgrade designed to bring customer facilities up to a similar standard to those offered at T5. The eight oneworld carriers operated from five different terminals in the past.
KLM cityhopper reduced the number of seats on the five F100s that will remain in its fleet to 100 from 103 or 108, allowing it to operate the aircraft with two flight attendants instead of three, a spokesperson confirmed to ATWOnline. The carrier's new E-190LRs are equipped with 100 seats as well. It will take delivery of its eighth E-190 this week and an additional nine by July 2010. It holds 11 options. The Embraer aircraft gradually are replacing the Fokker fleet. Cityhopper's F50s are set to be phased out during the winter schedule.
US FAA yesterday revoked the licenses of the two Northwest Airlines pilots who flew 150 mi. past their destination on an Oct. 21 flight from San Diego to Minneapolis-St. Paul ( ATWOnline, Oct. 27). ATC and airline officials were unable to make contact with the pilots for more than 1 hr. and the crew later told the National Transportation Safety Board that they had been using their laptop computers and were distracted.
Copa Airlines expects to make a decision whether to follow Continental Airlines into Star Alliance fairly soon, CEO Pedro Heilbron told ATWOnline on the sidelines of yesterday's Star Alliance-Continental Airlines joining event at Newark. Copa has a very close partnership with CO, a former investor in the Panamanian airline, so much so that it also left SkyTeam on Oct. 24. Heilbron said Copa has two choices: "To remain independent or join Star." Oneworld is not an option owing to the need to remain in partnership with Continental.
Continental Airlines yesterday became the 25th member of Star Alliance in Newark ceremonies attended by leaders of current and future member airlines, at which CO also unveiled a winglet-equipped 757-200ER in alliance livery. Ahead of the formal induction, the carrier entered into bilateral commercial agreements with the other 24 members and signed codesharing deals with four--United Airlines, Lufthansa, Air Canada and bmi--the first three of which are part of the Atlantic Plus Plus antitrust immunized partnership.
IATA reported that airlines experienced "further weakness in financial and market conditions during the third quarter," but noted that "the rate of deterioration did appear to stabilize." In its latest Airline Business Confidence Index released this week, the organization said an October survey of airline CFOs worldwide revealed that "confidence. . .that conditions will improve during the next 12 months rose markedly" compared to the last survey in July. "The gain. .
Vueling Airlines, which merged with Clickair in July ( ATWOnline, July 13), posted a third-quarter operating profit of €68.1 million ($102.1 million) compared to EBIT of €24.7 in the year-ago period when it was an independent carrier. Revenue rose 68.6% year-over-year to €259.2 million and operating expenses increased 48.2% to €191.1 million.
Air France launched its new premium economy product, Premium Voyageur, on Sunday's 777-200ER flight from New York JFK to Paris Charles de Gaulle. Aircraft featured 24 Voyageur seats ( ATWOnline, March 23).
Czech government rejected the CZK1 billion ($57.8 million) bid for CSA Czech Airlines from Unimex and Travel Service ( ATWOnline, Aug. 20). "There will be a hard restructuring, namely to the expense side," Prime Minister Jan Fischer told reporters, according to Dow Jones.
Ryanair said it notified Shannon Airport that it will reduce the number of based aircraft to one from three if the Irish government does not repeal its €10 ($15) passenger tax by Feb. 1 or if the airport does not extend the LCC's cost base "on a competitive basis for a further five-year period." Ryanair said it has lost money in each of the five years it has operated at SNN and it announced a cutback over the summer ( ATWOnline, June 18).
AirTran Airways said mechanics and inspectors represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters ratified a new 48-month collective bargaining agreement. Contract covers around 400 employees at seven US airports.
Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings reported third-quarter net income of $14.7 million, a nearly threefold increase over $5.2 million earned in the year-ago period and its third quarter of strong earnings growth this year.
The European Commission will require oneworld partners British Airways, American Airlines and Iberia to surrender slots in order to gain clearance for their transatlantic alliance, the Financial Times reported, citing documents saying the joint venture is "likely to result in appreciable competitive harm" on seven Europe-US routes.
SITA won a five-year contract from SriLankan Airlines to implement and maintain a global IP network covering connections in 44 sites across 19 countries.
Jat Airways CEO Srdjan Radovanovic told the Associated Press that the airline will be forced to cut one-third of its staff, or around 550 people, in order to complete its reorganization. It expects to lose around €20 million ($30 million) this year and will have to transport some 1.5 million people in 2010 in order to avoid a loss, he said. Jat's winter schedule, which began Sunday and runs through March 27, will feature 163 weekly flights to 36 destinations in 25 countries. A Belgrade-Gothenburg service is set to launch on Dec. 19.
Delta Air Lines announced the following new routes: Five-times-weekly Seattle-Beijing beginning June 4 aboard a 767-300, daily SEA-Osaka Kansai on June 7 aboard a 767-300, five-times-weekly Detroit-Hong Kong on June 2 aboard a 777-200, five-times-weekly DTW-Incheon on June 1 aboard a 777-200, daily flights from New York JFK to both Copenhagen and Stockholm Arlanda on May 27 aboard 757-200s, thrice-weekly Atlanta-Accra on June 1 aboard a 767-300, thrice-weekly JFK-Abuja on June 1 aboard a 767-300.
The US National Transportation Safety Board said both pilots from the Northwest Airlines A320 that "overflew" Minneapolis-St. Paul by 150 mi. on Oct. 21 claimed in interviews with board investigators over the weekend that they "lost track of time" while having an extended discussion regarding "the new monthly crew flight scheduling system" implemented as part of the carrier's merger with Delta Air Lines.
British Airways said it is "extremely disappointed" by the Unite union's decision to ballot 14,000 cabin crew regarding strike action. "We have put together a package of changes, which despite the unprecedented financial circumstances facing the company, not only protects current cabin crew but also offers many new benefits," the airline said, noting that those changes are effective from Nov. 16 ( ATWOnline, Oct. 21).
Assn. of Asia Pacific Airlines' 17 members transported 10.8 million international passengers in September, a figure "effectively matching" the year-ago month for the first time in more than a year, the group said. International RPKs fell 0.9% but capacity was cut 6.1%, boosting load factor 4.1 points to 76.4%. The 6.5% year-over-year decline in FTKs was the smallest this year, AAPA said. Freight capacity was down 11.2% and load factor climbed 3.4 points to 68.7%.
Airbus said EASA certified brake-to-vacate and runway overrun warning and protection systems for the A380. BTV and ROW/ROP were trialed on the aircraft for the first time in May 2008 and will be added to the first A380s delivered to Air France and Lufthansa.
The Japanese government and Japan Airlines reportedly will unveil a new turnaround plan for the troubled carrier later this week that will include slashing 13,000 jobs and giving a new government-backed agency control over JAL's restructuring process.
Southwest Airlines revealed in a regulatory filing that it has settled a shareholder lawsuit related to safety issues for $3.5 million. The lawsuit stemmed from SWA's $7.5 million fine paid to US FAA for operating 46 737 Classics for nine days in March 2007 after it had disclosed to the agency that the aircraft were in noncompliance with an airworthiness directive ( ATWOnline, March 3).
