Australian Competition and Consumer Commission announced it has instituted proceedings in federal court against Cathay Pacific Airways "for alleged price-fixing of air freight." CX is the eighth airline targeted by Australian authorities ( ATWOnline, Feb.
US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said former FAA Administrator Jane Garvey has agreed to oversee two mediators working to resolve the contract dispute between FAA and the National Air Traffic Controllers Assn. that has simmered since the agency imposed a contract on the union in 2006 after it declared an impasse in negotiations. LaHood made his comments yesterday at a joint luncheon meeting of the Aero Club of Washington and the Wings Club of New York in Washington. Garvey was appointed to lead FAA by President Bill Clinton and her term overlapped part of George W.
LIAT said Brian Challenger will serve as interim CEO, succeeding the departing Mark Darby, while a permanent replacement is sought. Challenger joined the board in 2006.
Qantas suffered one of its worst-ever collapses in yield on international flights in March, according to a Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation analysis. QF's international yield plunged 11% year-over-year in March following a 2.4% fall in February. CAPA said yesterday that March domestic yield dropped 10.1% after falling 9.7% the prior month. March international passenger numbers were down 15.8% and domestic numbers declined 2.6% to 1.4 million. Low-cost subsidiary Jetstar Airways saw international passengers rise 36.3% to 186,000 and domestic increase 1.8% to 686,000.
The recession and resulting demand decline "left their mark" on Lufthansa Group's first-quarter performance, Chairman and CEO Wolfgang Mayrhuber and other senior officials said in a note to shareholders yesterday, pointing to steep drops in business passengers and cargo in explaining a net loss of €256 million ($333.8 million) on a more than 10% decline in revenue.
Thales was awarded a contract by DFS, the German air navigation service provider, for the delivery, installation, training and commissioning of the PAM-FRA1 wide area multilateration system.
Lufthansa was not immune to the global economic downturn, reporting a first-quarter net loss of €256 million ($333.8 million) that represented a reversal from the €44 million profit reported in the first three months of 2008. It cited "weak demand" as the principal reason for the result, which also included a €44 million operating loss that compared to a €172 million operating profit in the year-ago period. Revenue fell 10.7% to €5 billion.
China Eastern Airlines posted a CNY40.1 million ($5.9 million) net profit in the first quarter, down 81% from the CNY210.8 million earned in the year-ago period, on a 15.6% decrease in operating revenue to CNY8.95 billion. Operating expenses dropped 12.8% to CNY 8.42 billion. The Shanghai-based carrier credited CNY422 million in earnings on its fuel hedges and the return of CNY500 million in aviation construction funds for the result.
Frontier Airlines and Lynx Aviation parent Frontier Airlines Holdings, which is operating under bankruptcy protection, reported a $161 million net loss in the quarter ended March 31 and an $18.9 million profit excluding reorganization expenses. Year-ago figures were not provided. Consolidating operating profit was $20.7 million. At the Frontier mainline, unit revenue fell 3.4% to 9.5 cents and unit cost was down 19.8% to 8.32 cents, or down 7.3% to 6.08 cents excluding fuel. Capacity was cut 20.3% year-over-year.
A $57.9 million loss on its fuel hedges was the key driver in a 34.7% year-over-year drop in LAN Airlines' first-quarter profit, a $65 million surplus that compared to the $99.6 million reported in the first three months of 2008. First-quarter operating revenue dropped 14.5% year-over-year to $882.2 million against a 13.4% decline in costs to $764.1 million. Operating profit fell 21% to $118.1 million from $149.5 million in the year-ago quarter.
Hawaiian Airlines parent Hawaiian Holdings earned a $23.5 million profit in the first quarter, reversed from a $19.9 million loss in the year-ago period when it still faced competition from defunct Aloha Airlines and ATA Airlines. "The benefits of a significant decline in the price of fuel more than offset the consequences of weaker demand for Hawaii vacations, while several years of diligent cost control in areas of expense that we influence added to the overall results," President and CEO Mark Dunkerley said.
IATA reported that industrywide international RPKs fell 11.1% in March on a 4.4% year-over-year decline in capacity, resulting in a 5.4-point drop in load factor to 72.1%. "Airlines cannot adjust capacity to match demand," DG and CEO Giovanni Bisignani said, warning that monthly revenue may fall as much as 20%.
AirAsia carried 3.1 million passengers in the first quarter, up 21% year-over-year, according to figures published by the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation. Traffic measured in RPKs rose 17% against a 19% increase in capacity, lowering load factor 2.4 points to 69.7%. SAS Group airlines flew 2.08 billion RPKs in March, down 16.9% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 3.9% to 3.22 billion ASKs, lowering load factor 10.2 points to 64.5%. At SAS Scandinavian Airlines, yield climbed 2.6% year-over-year as RPKs dropped 17.9% to 1.92 billion.
Garuda Indonesia reported a IDR669 billion ($61.3 million) profit in 2008, a massive increase from the IDR60 billion earned in 2007, the Antara national news agency reported.
CAE signed a technical training and courseware agreement with Jazz Air under which the regional will license maintenance training programs to CAE, expanding the company's commercial type training program portfolio.
US Dept. of Justice announced yesterday that Frank de Jong, formerly Martinair's VP-European cargo sales, has agreed to serve eight months in prison and pay a criminal fine of $20,000 for his role in a conspiracy to fix international cargo rates. He is the fourth airline executive to be sentenced to jail in the wide-ranging investigation that has ensnared 15 carriers around the world.
Thales announced that its microwave landing system received UK approval for ground installations for Cat IIIb operations at London Heathrow. Thales received European certification for its onboard aircraft installations to Cat IIIb in November 2007. British Airways is the first airline to implement the system, using it on its LHR-based Airbus single-aisle fleet throughout 2008. The system became fully operational on March 25.
Boeing is completing final 787 static testing in advance of launching an aggressive flight test program later this quarter to gain FAA type certification within 8.5-9 months of first flight, 787 VP and Chief Project Engineer Mike Delaney said yesterday.
Safi Airways of Afghanistan will launch its first intercontinental route, a thrice-weekly nonstop Kabul-Frankfurt service, on June 15. The privately owned carrier, established in 2006, will use a two-class, 196-seat 767-200ER on the route. Safi plans to join the principal international GDSs next month. It currently flies to Kabul, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Sharjah, Kandahar, Herat and Mazar-e-Sherif. Virgin America yesterday launched five-times-daily San Francisco-Orange County service. SNA is its ninth destination.
Government health organizations yesterday used stronger language to caution against travel to Mexico, with US Centers for Disease Control Acting Director Richard Besser saying that "people should avoid nonessential travel to Mexico as a precaution to guard against contracting the swine flu." The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control urged Europeans not to travel to Mexico unless their trips were "unavoidable and absolutely necessary." The UK government said it advises against "all but essential travel." There still were no reports of passengers canceling trips to Mexico on
JDA Aviation Technology Solutions of Bethesda, Md., entered into a partnership with UK-based EQ2 to launch an environmental management system, EQ2-EMS, designed to allow operators to analyze emissions and their impact on operating costs.
EDS announced an agreement with Continental Airlines to develop, implement and deliver enhanced EDS Flight Planning Services as a software-as-a-service model based on the EDS Airline SOA platform.
Japan Airlines now expects to report a ¥63 billion ($651.3 million) loss in its fiscal year ended March 31, nearly double the ¥34 billion it forecast in February, owing to a "relentless" decline in global demand.
Aeroflot transported 604,600 passengers in March, a 16.5% fall from the year-ago month. Load factor was down 8.1 points to 60.7%. LAN Airlines flew 2.47 billion RPKs in March, up 7.6% from the year-ago month. Capacity increased 12.5% to 3.25 billion ASKs, reducing load factor 3.4 points to 76.1%.
