Virgin Blue Holdings blamed a one-off charge associated with establishment of its V Australia subsidiary and its fuel hedges for a net loss of A$101.4 million ($65.3 million) in the six months ended Dec. 31 compared to a A$113.3 million profit in the year-ago semester.
B/E Aerospace won STC approval from US FAA to provide Japan Airlines with cabin interior retrofit installation on 777-200s. JCAB also validated the STC. Prototype installation was completed in December at JAL's Tokyo facility.
Air Dolomiti President and CEO Michael Kraus expects a stable ride through the current aviation downturn and intends to play a key role in supporting Lufthansa's new Milan Malpensa subsidiary by connecting the airport with regional destinations in the south or on certain islands. "Of course we also benefit from the weakness of Alitalia, but Italy offers a lot of opportunities for aviation thanks to its geography," Kraus said, adding that 92% of all intercontinental passengers from west of Milan and north of Pisa did not change aircraft to fly to their overseas destinations.
Mokulele Airlines scraped together a $300,000 payment to Republic Airways Holdings and prevented default on an $8 million loan, according to The Honolulu Advertiser. Last week, Republic CEO Bryan Bedford said he was prepared to assume control of the Hawaiian regional if the payment was not made ( ATWOnline, Feb. 19). Mokulele CEO Bill Boyer told the Advertiser that employees decided to defer paychecks for a week so the company could make the payment.
Aerolift An-12 freighter en route from Entebbe to Nikolaev, Ukraine, crashed Friday on takeoff from a refueling stop in Luxor, catching fire and killing all five crew onboard. Aerolift is a South African cargo carrier that operates a variety of services mostly to Middle Eastern and African destinations. It describes itself as a "dedicated specialist aviation contractor." It is unclear what services the crashed aircraft was providing. The Egyptian aviation ministry said the An-12 crashed about 700 m.
Time is running out for Austrian Airlines Group, which announced last week that it lost at least €131.5 million ($166.1 million) through 2008 and January 2009, or half of the total value of its shares. "The announcement of the loss was no surprise for us," AAG board member Peter Malanik said. But the company's ultimate survival depends on the closing of its takeover deal with Lufthansa, which must be completed by July in order for AAG to ensure its viability.
Air China is blaming its fuel hedges for its 2008 loss and plans to shift more attention to boosting ancillary revenue to help engineer a turnaround this year. The carrier reported a CNY6.8 billion ($993.2 million) noncash loss resulting from a Dec. 31 writedown in the value of its fuel hedges. It recorded cash losses of $5.9 million and $52.8 million on its fuel hedge contract in November and December respectively.
Turkish Airlines launched thrice-weekly Istanbul Ataturk-Nairobi service. Lufthansa will launch four-times-weekly Munich-Tel Aviv service on April 26 aboard a 221-seat A340-300.
IATA reported that December premium traffic fell 13.3% year-over-year and full-year numbers were down 2.8%. "This precipitous fall has been driven by the abrupt decline in business activity and international trade," IATA said. Premium revenue in December dropped an estimated 20%. Economy traffic was down 5.3%. European Low Fares Airline Assn. members carried 149.5 million passengers in 2008, a 15.7% increase from 2007. Load factor averaged 81.5%, 0.5 point lower than the prior year.
Australia's Rex Regional Express Holdings reported a net profit of A$10.5 million ($6.8 million) for its fiscal year first half ended Dec. 31, up 1.9% from net income of A$10.3 million in the year-ago period, on a 5.4% increase in revenue to A$135.8 million. Expenses rose 5.3% to A$121.4 million. Operating income was A$14.4 million, up 6.7% from A$13.5 million in the prior-year period. "This was accomplished by controlling nonfuel-related expenses and by an increased focus on efficient capacity and yield management," Rex said.
US National Transportation Safety Board Member Steven Chealander, who is leading the investigation into the recent Colgan Air Q400 crash, announced his resignation effective Feb. 28 and was named Airbus Americas VP-technical training.
Ryanair said it "welcomed" reports that the European Commission will not appeal the European Court of First Instance's annulment of the EC's ruling in the longstanding Ryanair/Charleroi state-aid case ( ATWOnline, Dec. 18, 2008) "The Commission simply got it wrong, as has been subsequently proven by the huge success of Charleroi Airport," Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary said.
Thales and ACSS, a Thales and L-3 Communications joint venture, said Saudi Arabian Airlines selected its T3CAS integrated surveillance platform for installation on 42 firm and eight optional A320s. Expected to lower ownership costs, enhance power efficiency and reduce wiring and weight, the technology combines a traffic alert and collision avoidance system, terrain awareness warning system and Mode S transponder. ADS-B capabilities include ATSAW with ITP.
Air France Industries sold its stake in Hangxin Aviation Engineering Group to senior management and "cadre employees" at the Chinese component MRO organization. The share transfer agreement was initialed in December and signed on Feb. 19.
A nearly 50% year-over-year increase in revenue was not enough to save Norwegian from the damaging fluctuation in fuel prices last year as the LCC slid to a NOK7.6 million ($1.1 million) full-year loss from an NOK84.6 million profit in 2007.
Air Liaison and HWF Sweden Group merged to form a single-source GSA for markets in the UK, Ireland, Scandinavia and Finland. The companies, based in Manchester and Stockholm, will retain their business identities.
South African Airways insisted that operations were "unaffected" by a strike started Friday by members of the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union, which represents more than 3,500 airline workers. It was unclear how many were on strike. South African media estimated that "hundreds" were not working and the union warned that the number of striking workers could escalate.
787 cancellation reported by Boeing last week was a VIP version ordered by Sky Peace Ltd., which is owned by Hong Kong developer Joseph Lau ( ATWOnline, Feb. 20). Aircraft was ordered in May 2007, according to Bloomberg News.
JAL Group will integrate four subsidiary aircraft maintenance companies on Oct. 1, forming JAL Engineering Co. in a move intended to enhance productivity "and further strengthen the quality of aircraft maintenance services through the consolidation of expertise and technological know-how," according to the airline. The four companies are JAL Narita Aircraft Maintenance Co., JAL Tokyo Aircraft Maintenance Co., JAL Engine Technologies Co., and JAL Aviation Technologies Co.
Clickair board approved the merger with Vueling Airlines Wednesday and said CEO Alex Cruz will hold the same position at the merged carrier that will keep the Vueling name. Current Vueling Chairman Josep Pique will be chairman of the new entity, according to a statement cited by Reuters. The Spanish stock market regulator still must sign off on the tie-up ( ATWOnline, Feb. 16).
CFM International and Saudi Arabian Airlines finalized a $300 million order for CFM56-5Bs to power 22 new A320s with deliveries beginning this year. Order was announced at last year's Farnborough Air Show ( ATWOnline, July 15, 2008). SV also plans to lease an additional 28 CFM56-5B-powered A320s. CFM said that all of Saudi Arabian's CFM56-5B engines are the Tech Insertion configuration.
Airlines suffered 109 accidents in 2008, up from 100 in 2007, while the number of fatal accidents increased from 20 to 23 between the two years, IATA reported. However, fatalities dropped from 692 in 2007 to 502 in 2008. This translated into a 56% improvement in the fatality rate from 0.23 fatalities per million passengers in 2007 to 0.13 per million last year.
Responding to media speculation that pilot error may have played a role in last week's fatal Colgan Air Q400 crash outside Buffalo, the airline said its training programs "meet or exceed the regulatory requirements for all major airlines" and that Capt. Marvin Renslow had 3,379 hr. of flight time, 172 hr. of training on the Q400 and was "fully" qualified to operate the turboprop.
