Wataniya Airways parent Kuwait National Airways Co. reported a KWD5.9 million ($20.4 million) loss in the first half of 2009. Wataniya launched flight operations on Jan. 24. The premium carrier posted 89% traffic growth in the second quarter against a 75% lift in capacity, it said, although "yields remain under pressure and below expectation." It will take delivery of its fourth 122-seat A320 in October and plans to begin serving Jeddah, its eighth destination, within the next month.
Cathay Pacific Airways returned to profit in the first half of 2009 thanks to fuel hedge gains and cost/capacity cuts, posting an HK$812 million ($104.8 million) surplus compared to a HK$760 million loss in the year-ago semester.
Continental Airlines said July estimated consolidated RASM fell 16.5%-17.5% year-over-year, while mainline unit revenue dropped 17.5%-18.5%. CO flew 8.89 billion consolidated RPMs during the month, down 3.4%, against a 6.9% cut in ASMs to 10.17 billion. Load factor climbed 3.1 points to 87.3%. United Airlines flew 11.15 billion consolidated RPMs in July, down 4% year-over-year, against a 7% cut in capacity to 12.84 billion ASMs. Load factor rose 2.7 points to 86.9%.
CSA Czech Airlines confirmed in several press reports that it will reduce its workforce by around 20% as it attempts to negotiate the industry downturn. A spokesperson was quoted in German media saying that some 860 of CSA's 4,600 employees will be let go and that the cuts will affect all areas of the company. President Radomir Lasak told Czech daily Pravo that "it has become clear we have to reduce fleet and network capacity." The job reductions are expected to occur between September 2009 and March 2010.
Blue Wings plans to wet-lease three A320s to Iraqi Airways for flights to Europe, the Dusseldorf-based carrier said yesterday. Blue Wings launched service in June to Baghdad, Erbil and Sulaimaniya.
TAP Portugal parent TAP Group reported a €72.4 million ($104.3 million) net loss in the first half, a 53.2% improvement on the €154.9 million lost in the year-ago semester. Operating revenue decreased 11.8% year-over-year to €927 million and costs fell 19.9% to €855.2 million, including a 49.7% reduction of its fuel bill to €157.6 million.
Sixteen passengers and crew on the Merpati Nusantara Airlines Twin Otter that crashed Sunday in eastern Indonesia were confirmed dead yesterday. Merpati President Director Bambang Bhakti confirmed the loss, according to press reports, some of which claimed there were 15 onboard. Crash site was on the slope of Bintang Mountain at 9,300 ft. ( ATWOnline, Aug. 5).
Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, parent of Atlas Air and Polar Air Cargo, reported second-quarter net income of $11.3 million, a more-than-sevenfold increase over a $1.5 million profit in the year-ago period, as it continued to benefit from Polar becoming a DHL Express carrier and its cost-cutting initiatives.
Etihad Airways transported more than 616,000 passengers in July, a record for the airline and up 9% from the year-ago month. July 31 was the busiest day in its with 21,640 passengers. July load factor was 88% on a 20% increase in the number of weekly flights.
Shanghai Airlines yesterday said it expects to report a first-half net loss, which will follow its CNY1.36 billion ($198.8 million) deficit in 2008. It cited the global decline in air travel, especially "the sharp drop in cargo traffic" at its Shanghai Airlines Cargo International subsidiary, in a filing with the Shanghai Stock Exchange. SAL has begun the merger process with China Eastern Airlines ( ATWOnline, July 14), which revealed last month that it was profitable through the 2009 first half.
Austrian Airlines Group returned to the red in the second quarter, reporting a €78.5 million ($112.3 million) loss compared to an €11.7 million profit in the year-ago period, but expects to benefit from approximately €80 million in annual synergies as a Lufthansa subsidiary, AAG Executive Board members Andreas Bierwirth and Peter Malanik told ATWOnline yesterday in Vienna.
Aer Lingus Group reached agreement with Airbus on deferred delivery of its new long-haul aircraft and terminated lease agreements on two A330s ahead of schedule. One leased A330 will leave the fleet in October, 18 months ahead of schedule, and the second will depart next March, 14 months ahead of schedule. EI already has returned two leased A330s this year and now plans to operate eight long-haul aircraft until 2013. The carrier placed an order in June 2007 for six A330-300Es and six A350s with A330 deliveries scheduled for 2009-11 and the A350s in 2014-15.
Baltia Air Lines, a New York JFK-based startup intending to serve Eastern European countries from the former Soviet Union, said it has signed a letter of intent to purchase one 747. It did not identify the source of the aircraft.
Thai Airways said it cut nonfuel costs through the first five months of this year by 18.9% from the year-ago period to approximately THB34.76 billion ($1.01 billion).
IATA said second-quarter financial results reported by airlines to date show "disappointingly small" improvement and cautioned that "stabilizing" passenger demand is "largely due to fare discounting" rather than a broad economic recovery.
US airlines canceled 1.5% of their scheduled domestic flights in June, down from 1.8% in the year-ago month, according to the US Dept. of Transportation. The 19 reporting carriers also improved their on-time performance (to 76.1% from 70.8%) and baggage handling (to 4.17 reports of mishandled bags per 1,000 passengers from 5.15). Hawaiian Airlines' 93.3% ontime arrival rate was the best, followed by Alaska Airlines (84.5%) and ExpressJet Airlines (82%). Worst was Comair (59.8%), followed by Frontier Airlines (68%) and American Airlines (69.2%).
Merpati Nusantara Airlines Twin Otter 300 that disappeared Sunday with 16 people onboard was located yesterday morning in mountains a little more than 20 mi. from its intended destination of Oskibil ( ATWOnline, Aug. 4). A search and recovery operation reportedly was underway yesterday.
A Boeing supplier has warned that the 787 may not fly for another six months. Mark Rollins, CEO of Senior, a multinational component manufacturer based in the UK that is furnishing air ducts and other parts for the Dreamliner, told Bloomberg News this week that "we estimate another six-month delay" to first flight and that Boeing's "credibility is somewhat in question."
A Bangkok Airways ATR 72 that departed from Krabi Island crashed on landing in Koh Samui yesterday, skidding off the runway and colliding with an unused airport control tower, killing the flight's captain and requiring hospitalization of seven others including the copilot.
Aero-Instruments said yesterday that it secured FAA Parts Manufacturer Approval for its 0851HL-AI Pitot Probe, which it claimed can replace Thales pitot probes on Airbus aircraft. Airbus last week told airlines that Thales pitot probes should be replaced with Goodrich models on all A330s/A340s as a "precautionary measure" and EASA said it will issue a similar order shortly ( ATWOnline, Aug. 3).
Malaysia Airlines will suspend its thrice-weekly Kuala Lumpur-Stockholm Arlanda-New York JFK service in October. ANA and US Airways announced a codeshare agreement effective Sept. 16 under which US will place its code on ANA flights from Tokyo Narita to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago O'Hare, Washington Dulles and New York JFK while ANA will place its code on US flights from the aforementioned American airports to Charlotte, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Las Vegas.
Rolls-Royce reported a £1.55 billion ($2.6 billion) profit in the first half of 2009 compared to a £339 million surplus in the year-ago semester, a surge largely due to financing income. Profit before financing was £593 million compared to £322 million the prior year. Its civil aerospace division reported an underlying profit before financing of £257 million, down 5.5% year-over-year. It delivered 424 engines, down from 462 in the first half of 2008, although underlying revenue rose 8.5% to £2.28 billion.
Austrian Airlines Group said it is "highly probable" that its deal with Lufthansa will be successfully concluded this month, or next month at the "latest,, following the European Commission's July 31 confirmation that it will approve the takeover ( ATWOnline, Aug. 3). It also said there are "clear signals that a positive decision is forthcoming in the financial aid proceeding," which Lufthansa has said is a condition of its acquisition.
American Airlines parent AMR Corp. yesterday announced the closure of a $276 million private placement offering of senior secured notes due 2016 initiated in order to refinance, in part, debt scheduled to repaid in October.
Embraer reported that earnings for the second quarter fell 49.5% to $67.8 million compared to $134.4 million in the year-ago period largely owing to fewer higher-value commercial aircraft deliveries. Total deliveries for the quarter numbered 56, up from 52 last year; however, the number of E-Jet deliveries declined from 41 to 33. It delivered 15 Phenom 100 microjets. Net revenue was $1.46 billion, down 10.9%, also owing to the different product mix between the quarters.
