Undisclosed asset sales prompted ANA Group to issue a revised guidance yesterday anticipating a smaller loss for the fiscal year ended March 31 than previously forecast.
Qantas announced a comprehensive review of its seating configurations, with many premium seats expected to get the ax as business travel plummets. The reassessment comes as QF is suffering the worst decline in business travel in decades with a fall of up to 30% in premium travelers, who are paying up to 50% less than the normal premium fare. CEO Alan Joyce conceded to ATWOnline yesterday that "we have too few seats on some of our aircraft," with premium seats making up 40% of the total on some.
Airlines on either side of the Taiwan Strait are expected to reap further benefits following the Sunday signing of an expanded agreement by the Taipei-based Strait Exchange Foundation and the Beijing-based Assn. for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait that will more than double the number of permitted flights.
Airlines and regulators around the world are monitoring the swine flu outbreak and have been urged to review health emergency plans, but no action was taken yesterday aside from an EU official's warning to avoid "nonessential travel" to parts of North America and a number of airlines waiving change fees for flights to Mexico, where the disease originated and is believed to have caused more than 100 deaths.
Delta Air Lines will begin serving Dallas Love Field on July 6 with thrice-daily service to/from Memphis aboard CRJ200s operated by Pinnacle Airlines. DL currently flies to Dallas/Fort Worth from seven US cities. American Airlines recently announced the suspension of its DAL service from June 11 ( ATWOnline, March 13).
Iberia last week warned that a full-year profit is "unlikely" if "current difficult economic conditions persist." It posted a €32 million ($41.7 million) profit in 2008, down 90.2% from the prior year. It said in an investor update that it faces an "important decrease in revenues" owing to a "weakness" in traffic, a declining number business passengers and falling yields.
Air New Zealand said it will lock out Zeal320 flight attendants represented by the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union, who voted to strike for four days beginning May 7 ( ATWOnline, April 24). "Air New Zealand will not be held to ransom by a union who is not interested in coming back to the mediation table and working out a deal," GM-Short Haul Airlines Bruce Parton said.
American Airlines parent AMR Corp. and AirTran Airways parent AirTran Holdings said last week in government filings that a change in the way they report convertible debt owing to a new accounting rule has altered their net results slightly for the past five years.
Low-cost carriers represented 35% of all intra-European capacity last year, virtually unchanged from 2007, according to the 2009 edition of RDC Aviation's Low Cost Monitor. Growth across all sectors "slowed sharply toward the end of 2008," with aggregate annual capacity growing just 2.2%, the smallest increase this decade. Within this overall figure, however, the low-fare sector increased available seat capacity by 11% year-over-year while capacity in the non-low-cost sector dropped 2%. Significantly, the report noted that Ryanair assumed the No.
British Air Transport Assn. named former Virgin Atlantic Airways Director-External Affairs and Route Development Barry Humphries as chairman effective May 1, succeeding Monarch Airlines Chairman Danny Bernstein. BATA has 10 member airlines. Rockwell Collins named former US FAA Acting Administrator Bobby Sturgell as senior VP-Washington operations.
TAECO redelivered a 747-400BCF to Air China Cargo. Aircraft was converted from a Combi and is the first of three -400BCFs ordered by the carrier. Work on the second plane is underway. CA Cargo currently operates three factory-built 747-400Fs and two third-party 747 conversions on lease.
EVA Air reported a TWD199.6 million ($5.9 million) first-quarter profit, reversed from a TWD2.29 billion loss in the year-ago period. The result represented its first quarterly profit since the 2007 third quarter. Revenue slid 29.8% year-over-year to TWD16.72 billion but falling fuel prices and full flights to mainland China made the difference, the carrier said. EVA suffered a TWD16.9 billion loss in 2008. The company last week also approved a recapitalization plan, according to the Taiwan Times.
CSA Czech Airlines will launch twice weekly Prague-Novosibirsk service on April 28 with an A319. Korean Air will launch daily Incheon-Shizuoka service on June 4. Jet Airways launched daily Chennai-Dubai service Friday aboard a 737-800.
Lufthansa Chairman and CEO Wolfgang Mayrhuber predicted Friday that LH's 2009 operating profit will be "distinctively positive" despite the economic downturn. Speaking at the company's annual general meeting in Cologne, he conceded that 2009 earnings likely will be "substantially below" 2008, for which LH posted net income of €599 million ($760 million) ( ATWOnline, March 12). But he insisted its business model is strong and predicted it will perform better than many of its competitors.
Chromalloy will invest $16.5 million to expand turbine engine component casting capabilities in Tampa. It said it would work with OEMs and operators to design and manufacture parts while "manag[ing] the entire supply chain process to deliver complete, engine-ready components." Facility enhancements will be ready by year end, with production ramp-up to start early next year.
Vueling Airlines is predicting another full-year profit after reporting a 72.2% year-over-year improvement in its first-quarter net loss to €6.3 million ($8.2 million) from the €22.6 million reported in the year-ago period.
SITA said CSA Czech Airlines signed a four-year deal making SITA the single supplier of CSA's global network communication and messaging services. Agreement involves evolution of the existing infrastructure "to increase performance while reducing cost by 25%." New "hybrid network" includes IP VPN, ISP, DSL and SITA AirportHub connections.
Joy Air, the joint venture launched by AVIC and China Eastern Airlines in March 2008, is expected to be formally operational in June, AVIC Chairman Lin Zuoming told China Business News. Lin said the Xi'an-based carrier plans to conduct trial flights in May, although it has not yet obtained its airworthiness certificate. It has registered capital of CNY1 billion, in which AVIC originally contributed a 60% stake and China Eastern Airlines 40%.
Blue Wings signed a deal with Abu Dhabi's Elite Aviation to operate two A320s, which the carrier hopes will help it reacquire its operating license that was suspended by Germany's LBA on April 1 ( ATWOnline, April 17). Blue Wings owner Alexander Lebedev told reporters that he has offered a 49% stake in the airline to Aeroflot (in which he holds 30%) for €1 ($1.30). SU said it would consider the offer, according to Reuters.
Norwegian narrowed its first-quarter net loss to NOK109.6 million ($16.4 million) from the NOK210.8 million reported in the year-ago period as revenue rose 27.4% year-over-year to NOK1.39 billion. "The demand for travelling with Norwegian and advanced bookings has been satisfactory entering the second quarter of 2009," CEO Bjorn Kjos said, warning, however, that a slowdown in the business environment is expected. "Norwegian will closely monitor the traffic development and will make adjustments to the route portfolio if necessary."
Air New Zealand flight attendants working at its Zeal320 subsidiary and represented by the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union voted to strike for four days beginning May 7 in a "move toward pay parity with other Air New Zealand cabin crew." Zeal320 was created to operate ANZ's A320s on transtasman, Pacific and select domestic flights. The work action will involve 240 cabin staff and may include an additional four-day strike starting May 11.
UPS posted first-quarter net income of $401 million, down 55.7% from a $906 million net profit in the year-ago period, and revealed yesterday that it retired its entire fleet of 44 DC-8 freighters during the three months ended March 31. It said the fleet grounding was "earlier than expected" but reflects the current weak demand environment and its desire to become a "leaner, more efficient enterprise." It took a $181 million charge in the quarter to retire the aircraft. Despite the steep profit decline, the delivery giant sees hopeful signs down the road.
Bombardier and Lufthansa signed an agreement to provide training for CSeries operators in Europe. Lufthansa is the launch customer for the CSeries program of 110/130-seat aircraft, the first of which is scheduled to enter service in 2013 ( ATWOnline, March 12). Lufthansa Flight Training will provide pilot and cabin crew training and Lufthansa Technical Training will provide technical training. The new Authorized Training Provider agreement will supply training through an existing network of facilities.
