Pratt & Whitney said it completed ground and flight testing of the PurePower PW1000G demonstrator engine, including 27 flights and more than 75 hr. of flight testing on an A340-600 testbed in Toulouse in cooperation with Airbus. "We were able to complete all flight test objectives with flawless engine operation. The Airbus A340 flight test program included engine test evaluations normally conducted for a production engine certification," Pratt VP-Next Generation Product Family Bob Saia said.
Travelport GDS reached content distribution agreements with Xiamen Airlines, China Southern Airlines and China Eastern Airlines to provide Galileo, Apollo and Worldspan subscribers with access to international fares and inventory via its GDS technology.
UPS reported full-year 2008 net income of $3 billion, widened significantly from a $447 million profit in 2007 when its results were skewed by a one-time $6.1 billion pension payment, but nevertheless said it must make "tough decisions" to cope with a "severe decline in economic activity around the world." In what is perhaps a more telling comparison, 2008 income was down 28.6% compared to $4.2 billion in 2006. To counter the difficult financial environment, the delivery giant announced yesterday that it has "consolidated operating districts, reduced air segments and eliminated some
Oneworld Governing Board Chairman and American Airlines Chairman and CEO Gerard Arpey dismissed suggestions that the alliance might fall apart if the application for antitrust immunity for AA, British Airways, Finnair, Iberia and Royal Jordanian or the proposed merger between BA and IB fails. "We are not contemplating anything else than getting immunity, which will enable us to compete on more equal terms with the other alliances," Arpey told ATWOnline at the group's 10th anniversary event in Madrid.
Finnair CEO Jukka Hienonen told ATWOnline at this week's oneworld meeting in Madrid that the airline does not have the flexibility to remain stable during the current market downturn. Finnair was €2.1 million ($2.7 million) in the black through the first nine months of 2008, but it does not expect a positive full-year result.
A stunning SEK6.32 billion ($754.7 million) full-year loss, reversed from a SEK636 million profit in 2007, prompted yesterday's unveiling of a new restructuring initiative dubbed Core SAS that will include a SEK6 billion rights issue and approximately 3,000 layoffs.
Korean Air reported a full-year 2008 net loss of KRW1.96 trillion ($1.4 billion), reversed from a net profit of KRW11.1 billion in 2007, citing the weak won as the biggest contributor to the heavy deficit.
Continental Airlines said January consolidated RASM fell 5%-6% year-over-year. Traffic dropped 11% to 6.43 billion RPMs against a 6.5% decline in capacity to 8.79 billion ASMs. Load factor was down 3.6 points to 73.2%.
SRA International subsidiary ERA Systems will deploy surface multilateration systems at Istanbul Ataturk, Antalya and Ankara airports under a contract awarded by Turkey's General Directorate of State Airports Authority. ERA's MSS multilateration system and Squid vehicle tracking units are designed to provide controllers with complete surface situational awareness in all weather conditions. HITT will integrate the systems into an advanced surface movement guidance and control system.
The market conditions that forced European heavyweights Air France KLM and British Airways to warn of steep operating losses appear to have bypassed Germany, where Lufthansa yesterday raised its full-year operating profit projection to €1.3 billion ($1.66 billion) from the previous €1.1 billion.
Iberia shareholder Caja Madrid Chairman Miguel Blesa told reporters that a merger agreement with British Airways is "close," Reuters reported from Madrid. The bank is IB's largest shareholder at 23%. "The perception now I think is that the share exchange will not be 60-40," he said. "Iberia is now worth more. It will be closer to 55-45." IB's increased valuation has been a source of concern at BA ( ATWOnline, Feb. 2).
Emirates launched its thrice-weekly Dubai-Sydney-Auckland A380 service yesterday. Sydney and Auckland are EK's third and fourth A380 destinations. Route becomes daily on May 1. Allegiant Air yesterday launched twice-weekly Oakland-Bellingham service (increasing to thrice-weekly by May and five-times-weekly by June) aboard an MD-80.
Etihad Airways will launch thrice-weekly Abu Dhabi-Chicago O'Hare service on Sept. 2 aboard a 240-seat A340-500. Route becomes daily on Oct. 1. It has been flying to New York JFK since October 2006.
Ryanair reported a €118.8 million ($152.1 million) net loss for the fiscal third quarter ended Dec. 31, a sharp reversal from the €47.2 million earned in the year-ago period, owing primarily to a 71% increase in fuel costs and a 9% decline in average fare.
Aeroflot said "preliminary analysis" of its 2008 financial performance indicated a 26.2% year-over-year growth in revenue based on Russian accounting standards. "This gives ground for us to expect a positive financial result for 2008, close to the 2007 level," SU said. It reported a $313.4 million profit under IFRS in 2007. It transported 9.3 million passengers in 2008, up approximately 13.4%, but load factor fell 0.3 point to 70.9%. Separately, the airline launched twice-weekly Moscow Sheremetyevo-Eilat Ovda flights aboard an A320.
Naverus said it will develop Required Navigation Performance procedures for China Eastern Airlines for operating into Lhasa. Naverus also will assist the carrier in obtaining the necessary regulatory approval to fly the procedures with both 737NG and A319 aircraft.
Kenya Airways expects to report a profit for its fiscal year ending March 31 but warned yesterday that the figure will be as much as 25% lower than the KES5.5 billion ($67.8 million) earned in 2007-8. "The benefits that accrue from the decline in jet fuel prices are being offset by the hedge costs, thus impacting on the profitability," Chairman Evanson Mwaniki said in a statement. The Kenyan shilling also has declined against the US dollar. KQ reported a KES736 million profit in the six months ended Sept.
Pratt & Whitney reached a four-year deal with Evergreen International Airlines to provide line maintenance services for PW4000, JT9D and CF6 engines. Agreement includes engine changes and is renewable up to 20 additional years.
Airbus signed a cooperation agreement with Xian Aircraft Industry Co. stipulating that wings for A320 family aircraft assembled at the Tianjin FAL will be fully completed and tested in Tianjin. XAC will build an equipping and testing facility near the FAL, with operations expected to start by year end. First delivery of fully equipped wings is scheduled for the 2010 first quarter. Production rates by the end of 2010 are projected at two units per month and by the close of the following year at four units per month.
Having lost a bid to receive confidential treatment for financial and traffic information that it is required to file with the US Dept. of Transportation as a certificated carrier, Virgin America yesterday said it suffered a $175.4 million loss in the first three quarters of 2008.
The Air Line Pilots Assn. asked for US FAA to develop more stringent flight- and duty-time rules to prevent pilot fatigue and called on Congress to pass legislation protecting pilots who report safety concerns. The world's largest pilots' union, comprising 53,000 members in North America, outlined its 2009 agenda at a Washington briefing yesterday, claiming that the US regulatory and legal framework regarding pilots is weak and open to disparate interpretations. It also warned that freighter aircraft are vulnerable to hijackings.
Malaysian government's position on AirAsia's ambitious standalone airport project, which was floated last month ( ATWOnline, Jan. 12), now is the subject of some confusion. AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes made a presentation to Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak and senior officials from the Finance Ministry and airports authority late last week.
Shanghai-based Spring Airlines and Juneyao Airlines stood out among China's struggling privately held airlines and reported a profitable 2008. Spring posted a CNY21 million ($3.1 million) net profit last year, down 70% from the more than CNY70 million earned in 2007. It credited the result partly to a CNY20 million civil aviation infrastructure payment imposed in the second half of last year. Its operating revenue climbed 32% year-over-year to CNY1.62 billion as it transported 2.9 million passengers, up 26%, with an average load factor of 93.3%.
