Ukraine International Airlines said yesterday that it plans to buy back the 6% stake held by AerCap for approximately $3.3 million, or $100 per share, Reuters reported. State Property Fund of Ukraine is the controlling shareholder at 61.6% while Austrian Airlines holds 22.5% and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has 9.9%.
Lufthansa Group airlines flew 11.83 billion RPKs in November, up 0.7% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 3.6% to 15.56 billion ASKs, dropping load factor 2.2 points to 76%. Air Canada and Jazz flew a combined 3.22 billion RPMs in November, down 5.2% year-over-year. Capacity fell 7.5% to 4.15 billion ASMs and load factor rose 1.9 points to 77.6%. JetBlue Airways flew 1.9 billion RPMs in November, a 7.8% year-over-year decrease. Capacity dropped 6.3% to 2.51 billion ASMs and load factor fell 1.3 points to 75.7%.
Skymark Airlines of Japan expects to post a ¥2.1 billion ($22.6 million) loss in the fiscal year ending March 31 but should return to profit the following year, President Shinichi Nishikubo told Bloomberg News. Skymark expects to return two leased 767s, helping it cut costs and boost net earnings to approximately ¥2.6 billion in the 2009-10 fiscal year. It is reconfiguring its fleet around the 737 and plans to operate 11 by the end of the current FY.
American Airlines suspended its Aviation Safety Action Program, which allowed pilots to report safety issues confidentially without fear of punishment from the carrier or US FAA. AA said its pilots union, the Allied Pilots Assn., declined to extend the program. According to the Associated Press, APA believed AA was using the program to discipline pilots.
The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit yesterday granted the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey's motion requesting a stay of the slot auctions at New York JFK, LaGuardia and Newark airports that FAA scheduled to start next month. "Petitioners have satisfied the stringent standards required for a stay pending court review," said the order issued by Judges Karen Henderson, Janice Rogers Brown and Brett Kavanaugh. "The FAA's planned slot auctions. . .are hereby stayed pending further order of the court".
Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air parent Alaska Air Group promoted Executive VP-Finance and Planning and CFO Brad Tilden to president. Executive VP-Customer Service Glenn Johnson will succeed Tilden in his current position. Also, VP-Seattle Operations Ben Minicucci was named executive VP-operations and COO, MD-Planning Andrew Harrison was named VP-planning and revenue management and Executive VP-Flight and Marketing Gregg Saretsky will leave the company.
Aviapartner Cargo will provide AirBridgeCargo Airlines with cargo and ramp handling services under a deal announced yesterday. Contract takes effect Jan. 1.
Continental Airlines yesterday announced plans for a biofuel demonstration flight on Jan. 7 in conjunction with Boeing, CFM International and Honeywell, the first of its kind by a US airline. A 737-800 carrying no passengers "will be powered by a special fuel blend including components derived from algae and jatropha plants," CO said, calling the fuel sources "sustainable, second-generation. . .that don't impact food crops or water resources, and don't contribute to deforestation." Sapphire Energy will provide the algae-based fuel and Terrasol will supply the jatropha-derived fuel.
Ryanair was forced to cancel 52 flights in and out of London Stansted early yesterday morning after a group protesting the airport's potential expansion ( ATWOnline, Oct. 13) cut through perimeter fences and chained themselves together near the runway. Police reportedly arrested more than 50 demonstrators and the runway reopened "just after" 8 a.m., airports operator BAA said. The LCC was furious, claiming STN "is not fit for purpose." It took authorities nearly 5 hr.
GE Aviation yesterday announced a $40 million deal with Azerbaijan Airlines to provide CF6-80C2s to power two forthcoming 767-300ERs. Deliveries are slated for 2010. Azerbaijan operates CFM56-5s on its A320 fleet and has four CFM56-7B-powered 737-900s and two GEnx-powered 787s on order.
Okay Airways began its one-month passenger service suspension on Saturday rather than the originally scheduled Dec. 15 after airports began demanding cash for fueling services, the Xinhua news agency reported ( ATWOnline, Dec. 8).
Lufthansa will purchase LCC Germanwings from Eurowings, in which LH already holds a 49% stake, according to a statement cited by the Associated Press. "Eurowings can now concentrate more on its core business," CEO Friedrich-Wilhelm Weitholz said. Transfer is expected to occur Jan. 1. Germanwings posted revenue of €630 million ($801 million) last year.
British Airways will reduce the number of aircraft based at London Gatwick to 37 from 41 next summer and cut more than 100 ground operations positions. "We have briefed our staff and their trade unions that the number of departures at Gatwick will reduce by 15% next summer compared to this summer. We aim to have a voluntary severance program in place by the end of the year," BA said in a statement cited by Bloomberg News.
Boliviana de Aviacion, a state-owned startup designed to replace Lloyd Aereo Boliviano, will take delivery of its first two aircraft by year end, GM Ronald Casso told Reuters. Three more will be leased soon, he added, and BdA will begin flying domestic services next year.
Virgin America will add Boston Logan to its network and has canceled plans to serve Chicago O'Hare. It will launch A320 flights to BOS, its eighth destination, from San Francisco (twice-daily) and Los Angeles (thrice-daily) on Feb. 12. ORD service ( ATW, Nov. 10) was tabled after VX failed to secure gate leases. "Chicago remains at the top of our list and we look forward to launching our service when a gate solution has been found at O'Hare," it said in a statement.
Delta Air Lines flew 8.91 billion system RPMs in November, a 4.9% decrease from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 5.3% to 11.5 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 0.3 point to 77.4%. Northwest Airlines flew 5.67 billion system RPMs in November, down 7.4% year-over-year. Capacity dropped 4.7% to 7.08 billion ASMs and load factor fell 2.3 points to 80.1%. Republic Airways flew 727 million RPMs in November, down 6.5% year-over-year. Capacity declined 0.2% to 1.08 billion ASMs and load factor was down 4.6 points to 68.8%.
Qantas CEO Alan Joyce warned that there is "no guarantee" of any deal with British Airways and there will be no three-way combination including oneworld partner and BA merger target Iberia. In his first public speech since taking over as CEO, Joyce told attendees at the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce luncheon in Sydney yesterday that there are "a number of significant matters that still need to be resolved, including agreeing on an appropriate merger ratio and resolving issues around BA's pension fund and the broader economic outlook."
The Brazilian Air Force is set to release a final report on the Sept. 29, 2006, midair collision between a Gol 737-800 and an ExcelAire Legacy 600 that led to the deaths of all 154 aboard the 737, and reportedly it will cite as primary causes the ExcelAire pilots' negligence in inadvertently turning off the aircraft's transponder and a series of mistakes by air traffic controllers. The report is expected to be released officially tomorrow after victims' families have been given an opportunity to review it. Brazilian media reported the findings over the weekend.
A J Walter Aviation opened a Dubai office to support hubs in London, Singapore, Miami and Prague. Site will advance management services across the region.
News from Travel Technology Update: Brand loyalty among U.S. online leisure travelers is disappearing into the mists, according to the latest study from Forrester Research. The percentage of U.S. online leisure travelers who consider themselves brand-loyal has plunged by 19%, from 31% in 2006 to 25% this year, according to Forrester's North American Technographics Retail, Travel, Customer Experience and Financial Services Benchmark Survey, Q3 2008.
EADS said Friday that it will "simplify" Airbus's corporate structure by merging the Airbus France unit into the Airbus SAS entity next year, but denied European news reports that it would be forced to inject as much as €2 billion ($2.54 billion) collectively into Airbus's French, German, British and Spanish units to cover cost overruns. "We are simply going to move the Airbus France capital into the Airbus SAS holding company," an EADS spokesperson told Agence France Presse. "There is no EADS money involved in this process.
China Eastern Airlines appealed to China's Ministry of Finance for a reduction in its tax liabilities as it reported a CNY1.83 billion ($265.5 million) fuel hedging loss as of Oct. 31. CEA CFO Luo Weide said the carrier's tax burden includes a business tax, import tax, value-added tax and civil aviation fees. It paid approximately CNY20.6 billion to the Beijing government from 2002 through the first half of this year.
Southwest Airlines reached a tentative four-year labor agreement with mechanics represented by the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Assn. that it said is "cost neutral" and offers raises in exchange for work rule improvements and contract flexibility.
Aer Lingus said Friday that a "sufficient" number of SIPTU employees accepted voluntary leave at Dublin, Cork and Shannon to deliver the carrier's targeted savings of €25 million ($31.7 million), which also will include work rule and pay changes accepted by the union last week ( ATWOnline, Dec. 5). EI CEO Dermot Mannion said the restructuring "will provide an excellent platform for growth at each base in the future."
