Ryanair called on the Scottish government to reintroduce the Route Development Fund, which operated in 2002-07, in order to reverse the 6.3% fall in passenger traffic at Scottish airports in the first eight months of this year. It blamed the UK's £10 ($16.33) air passenger duty for the decline. The LCC said it could increase passenger numbers by 1.5 million per year and create 1,500 new jobs in Scotland if a development support scheme for new routes was restored. It repeated its plea for the UK government to abolish the duty, which is set to rise on Nov. 1.
SkyWest Airlines and Atlantic Southeast Airlines parent SkyWest Inc. announced an agreement with United Airlines to provide a long-term loan of $80 million and extend its current codeshare relationship. The loan is secured by "certain ground equipment and airport slots held by United," the regional said. The agreement also includes a new partnership between UA and ASA, which will begin operating as a United Express carrier in the 2010 first quarter. ASA currently flies exclusively for Delta Air Lines.
News from Travel Technology Update: Amadeus told its German subscribers it will begin partially compensating them for payments they make to Lufthansa under the carrier's Preferred Fares program on Jan. 1. Lufthansa's PFP, which went into effect in July 2008, imposes a €4.90 per-segment surcharge for Germany-originating flights booked through Amadeus. Lufthansa reached agreements for lower distribution costs with Sabre and Travelport that exempt their subscribers from the surcharge, but Amadeus, the largest GDS player in the German market, did not.
Los Angeles International is in line for a $1.26 billion expansion and renovation of its aging Tom Bradley International Terminal. The Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners voted Monday to award two contracts to Walsh Austin Joint Venture for the project, which will include nine new boarding gates, concourses with larger lounges, new concession and retail space and aircraft support equipment to accommodate the A380 and 787. The terminal currently serves 35 airlines.
Hawaiian Airlines parent Hawaiian Holdings reported a $30.7 million third-quarter profit compared to a $6 million surplus in the year-ago period thanks to lower fuel prices and a one-time tax benefit of $20 million. Revenue fell 10.1% year-over-year to $305.6 million while expenses were down 9.8% to $281.9 million. Operating income slipped 13.1% to $23.7 million. HA's RPMs rose 8.6% to 2.13 billion against a 2.7% lift in capacity to 2.51 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 4.6 points to 84.9%. Yield declined 20.7% to 12.65 cents, operating RASM fell 12.4% and CASM was down 12.3%.
US Air Transport Assn. said September passenger revenue plunged 19% year-over-year despite a drop of only 2% in passengers. Ticket prices have fallen for 10 consecutive months, the organization stated. In September, the average price to fly 1 mi. was down 18%, greater than the 17% year-over-year decline in August. "The demand for air travel remains weak, as evidenced by the untenable pricing environment.
Allegiant Air parent Allegiant Travel Co. concluded the third quarter, which it described as "our historically weakest," with a $13.8 million profit that represented a nearly threefold gain over the $4.9 million surplus reported in the year-ago period.
British Airways CEO Willie Walsh and the Unite union failed to reach an agreement over cabin crew job cuts and changes to work practices at a Monday meeting. "The discussion about cabin crew pay and productivity issues was open and frank. After the meeting, Mr. Walsh wrote to [Unite Joint General Secretary] Simpson. A response is awaited," BA said. Unite hopes the airline will shelve its unilateral decision to impose changes to work rules effective Nov. 16.
China Eastern Airlines yesterday established a branch company in Zhejiang province in an effort to explore the market in east China further. It plans to expand its fleet there from 24 aircraft to 40-50 in the next three years, with weekly departures climbing from the current 400 to around 900. CEA also is trying to capitalize on the influx of tourists expected for next year's Expo 2010 in Shanghai, which is expected to attract 70 million visitors to the region.
United Airlines parent UAL Corp. suffered a $57 million net loss in the third quarter, or $63 million excluding noncash hedge gains and other charges, greatly narrowed from the $792 million deficit reported in the year-ago period, and is "poised to see better year-over-year unit revenue performance as economies begin to recover and business travel returns," according to Chairman, President and CEO Glenn Tilton.
Rolls-Royce yesterday began construction of a $500 million facility in Prince George County, Va., that is slated to open in 2011 and will manufacture engine discs for Trent 900s, Trent 1000s and Trent XWBs. The site, dubbed Crosspointe, also will be used to "manufacture, assemble and test a range of aerospace components and products," Rolls said.
BAA's appeal against the March Competition Commission ruling ordering it to sell three of its seven UK airports (London Gatwick, Stansted and either Edinburgh or Glasgow International) within two years was launched yesterday at the Competition Appeal Tribunal.
Thai Airways' new president, Kasikornbank Bank executive and former Thai Minister of Energy Piyasvasti Amranand, yesterday said he plans to raise funds through a share issue next year. Thai has THB29 billion ($854.8 million) in debt to pay off in 2010. "We need to raise capital because we have a lot of short-term debt to be repaid," Piyasvasti said, according to Reuters. "We are also trying to convert our short-term debt to longer maturities.
US FAA is investigating American Airlines' maintenance of MD-80s, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing preliminary agency findings that "have identified as many as 16 [AA MD-80s] that were operated for months despite allegedly substandard bulkhead repairs."
CSA Czech Airlines named Miroslav Dvorak, head of Prague Ruzyne operator Prague Airport, as its new chairman and CEO. He succeeds Radomir Lasak and will run both organizations, Reuters reported. Miroslav Zamecnik was named chairman of CSA's supervisory board, succeeding Vaclav Novak, who resigned. The Czech finance ministry said it is continuing to evaluate a CZK1 billion ($57.5 million) offer for the airline from Unimex and Travel Service.
ST Aerospace said the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore approved its commercial pilot training subsidiary, ST Aviation Training Academy, as a Flight Training Organization. "Aspiring pilots who train with STATA will be CAAS-certified. This eliminates the previous practice of having to convert licenses obtained from foreign FTOs to a CAAS license," the company said.
Air New Zealand simplified its fare structure to comprise two options rather than three and cut average fares by 10%, with cheapest domestic tariffs falling by up to 23%, effective yesterday. The largest cuts are in regional markets where ANZ faces no competition rather than in cities where Qantas subsidiary Jetstar Airways operates domestic flights. ANZ's fare structure now consists of Smart Saver and Flexi Plus fares. It flew 2.49 billion RPKs in September, down 6.8% year-over-year, against an 11.9% cut in capacity to 3.03 billion ASKs. Load factor rose 4.5 points to 82.3%.
Air France KLM flew 17.35 billion RPMs in September, a 3.7% fall from the year-ago month. Capacity was down 4.9% to 21.19 billion ASMs and load factor lifted 1 point to 81.9%. Southwest Airlines flew 5.77 billion RPMs in September, up 8.8% year-over-year. Capacity fell 7.8% to 7.72 billion ASMs and load factor surged 11.3 points to 74.7% JetBlue Airways flew 1.92 billion RPMs in September, up 9.8% from the year-ago month, against an 8.6% increase in capacity to 2.47 billion ASMs. Load factor rose 0.9 point to 77.6%.
Japan's finance minister is planning to meet with the country's transport minister today to discuss a potential government bailout of Japan Airlines, which saw its weakened financial status deteriorate further over the weekend when its largest creditors balked at providing ¥300 billion ($3.3 billion) in debt relief and equity swaps.
Aegean Airlines expects 2010 and 2011 to be "very difficult years," but it is targeting growth "even in a tough environment" thanks to the Star Alliance membership expected to take effect next May, MD Dimitris Gerogiannis told ATWOnline last week.
Porter Airlines President and CEO Robert Deluce said the first phase of a new C$45 million ($43.4 million) privately financed terminal will open in December at Toronto City Centre. The second phase, which will add 150,000 sq. ft. to the airport, will open before the summer season, he said at last week's Airports Council International-North America meeting in Austin.
Gol said it raised BRL627.1 million ($356.4 million) through the sale of 38 million common and preferred shares, part of a global share offering comprising 62.2 million shares that netted BRL1.07 billion. Gol controlling shareholder Fundo ASAS also participated in the capital raising ( ATWOnline, Sept. 24). Gol said its improved cash position now represents more than 20% of net revenue in the past 12 months
Assn. of European Airlines expressed disappointment that the EU Council of Transport Ministers did not discuss the prolongation of the slot waiver for the . . .winter season and summer 2010 at its recent meeting.
SITA confirmed that 12 Arab Air Carriers Org. member airlines will be the first to deploy its Aircraft Emissions Manager ( ATWOnline, July 2). Next month's deployment follows the submission, in consultation with SITA, of the airlines' plan to monitor carbon dioxide emissions and capacity to EU authorities in an effort to comply with the new Emission Trading Scheme.
