British Airways put on hold plans to add a fifth 757 to the fleet of its OpenSkies subsidiary next year, according to an internal BA memo cited by The Daily Telegraph. OpenSkies' "revenues are below target through a combination of lower volumes and yields, and as a priority we must take actions to ensure we keep within our cash reserves," the memo said.
Lufthansa will become bmi's main shareholder with an 80% stake following the decision by bmi Chairman Michael Bishop to exercise his put option requiring LH to purchase his 50%-plus-one-share of the carrier he helped to found more than 30 years ago.
Denmark's Sterling Airlines, owned by Iceland's Northern Travel Holding, cancelled all flights and filed for bankruptcy yesterday, blaming decreasing demand, rapidly rising fuel prices and the Iceland financial crisis for its collapse.
Coventry-based Atlantic Airlines and Sweden's West Air Europe are merging to form an all-cargo regional carrier called West Atlantic. The company expects an annual turnover of €125 million ($156.1 million) and will operate 41 BAE ATP freighters, a single ATR 72, six Electras and two CRJ200s configured for cargo. It will be headquartered in Gothenburg.
Pratt & Whitney Canada announced that it is establishing a "world-class" aerospace center at Montreal Mirabel for final assembly and test of the new-generation PW800 family of small jet engines as well as the PurePower PW1524G geared turbofan for the Bombardier CSeries. Total of C$575.3 million ($448.4 million) will be invested, with the Quebec provincial government contributing C$141.9 million for infrastructure and equipment. New facility will be "the global hub" for Pratt''s integrated flight test operations and include two bays for the engine-maker's 747SP flying testbed.
Pakistan International Airlines posted a PKR20.4 billion ($249.2 million) loss in the third quarter, widened from a PKR3.15 billion deficit in the year-ago quarter, according to a stock exchange filing cited by Bloomberg News. Revenue rose 32.6% year-over-year to PKR22.8 billion but fuel costs doubled to PKR14 billion and it took an additional PKR14 billion charge related to currency conversion. Nine-month loss increased to PKR38.4 billion from PKR10.9 billion in year-ago period.
TAP Portugal flew 2.05 billion RPKs in September, up 6.6% year-over-year, against a 12.1% surge in capacity to 2.8 billion ASKs. Load factor dropped 3.8 points to 73.3%. Alitalia flew 2.58 billion RPKs in September, down 25% from the year-ago month. Capacity dropped 17.6% to 3.66 billion ASKs and load factor was down 7 points to 70.5%. Olympic Airlines flew 686 million RPKs in September, a 7.4% decrease from the year-ago month. Capacity was down 13.8% to 845.9 million ASKs and load factor rose 5.6 points to 81.1%.
Boeing and the International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers reached a four-year tentative labor agreement Monday night that, if ratified, will mark the end of a costly strike by some 27,000 workers that has idled aircraft assembly lines since Sept. 6.
Austrian Airlines Group reported a €16.4 million ($20.5 million) net loss in the third quarter, reversed from a €29.2 million profit in the year-ago period, but said it is "confident" that its delayed privatization "can be finished in a positive way." CEO Alfred Oetsch confirmed that "measures which would have to be implemented in case of a [privatization] failure will not be initiated yet because the chance for a successful privatization is still there and cutbacks could have counterproductive effects." State holding company OIAG was due to announce a buyer for its 42.75% s
S7 Airlines confirmed that Nov. 17 will be the last day it operates any Russian-built aircraft. It said its Oct. 26-March 28 winter schedule includes 69 destinations and will feature the Dec. 23 launch of Moscow Domodedovo-Bangkok service aboard a 767-300ER. It said it will cut flights to "some" Russian cities whose airports have not been cleared to handle foreign-built aircraft. S7 flew 11.65 billion RPKs through the first nine months of 2008, up 11.6% from the year-ago period. Passenger numbers climbed 12.6% to 4.8 million and load factor fell 1.8 points to 80.3%.
Product Development Co. announced that AMECO Beijing successfully deployed Arbortext, PTC's product information delivery software "for the timely and accurate update" of its MRO-related manuals.
Qantas and British Airways both admitted to violating Australian competition laws relating to air cargo fuel surcharges in 2002-06 and reached agreement with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to pay fines of A$20 million ($12.2 million) and A$5 million respectively. "Qantas apologizes unreservedly for the conduct of the employees involved," CEO Geoff Dixon said. BA said it "has a longstanding competition compliance policy and it is highly regrettable that this policy was not adhered to in relation to fuel surcharges on the carriage of cargo."
BAA was forced to pay £7.34 million ($11.5 million) in rebates to airlines after failing to meet UK CAA's required performance standards at London Heathrow (£4.08 million) and Gatwick (£3.26 million) in the April-September period, the aviation authority confirmed. CAA called on both airports to explain why targets were missed and to present plans and timetables for meeting those targets in the future.
Qatar Airways is interested in a possible bid for Olympic Airways, Greek Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis revealed. "What I can say is that Qatar Airways is on the list of investors who have expressed interest in Olympic," he said in a statement cited by Bloomberg News. Deadline for nonbinding bids is the end of the month and no other potential bidders were named.
Lufthansa Technik yesterday opened a new MRO center at Sofia. The joint venture between LHT (80%) and Bulgarian Aviation Group (20%) will offer maintenance and heavy checks on both Airbus and Boeing narrowbodies. The company invested €20 million in renovation of a 6,000-sq.-m., two-bay hangar and will employ 350. It will look to secure third-party work from European, Middle Eastern and North African carriers.
CAE said JetBlue Airways signed a five-year contract for CAE True Airport, a subscription-based service that keeps visual databases current with rapidly changing airport environments.
Air China suffered a net loss of CNY1.9 billion ($276.5 million) in the September quarter owing to weak domestic market demand and fuel hedge writedowns, a big reversal from the CNY2.2 billion profit in the year-ago quarter.
Lufthansa Group had a €149 million ($186.5 million) net profit in the third quarter ended Sept. 30, a steep 74.6% decline from the €586 million achieved in the year-ago period, and said it has lowered its full-year operating profit target to "around" €1.1 billion.
TAV Airports Holding was awarded 20-year contracts to operate two new airports in the Republic of Macedonia: Alexander the Great International in Skopje and St. Paul the Apostle International in Ohrid. It also received the construction contract for Shtip's New Cargo Airport.
Delta Air Lines named John "Ned" Walker senior VP and chief communications officer. Walker joins DL from Continental Airlines, where he spent 21 years, most recently serving as senior VP-corporate communications.
Aer Lingus will add nine new routes from Ireland to the UK and Europe in its 2009 summer schedule: Dublin to Catania, Sofia and Newcastle; Cork to Lanzarote, Lisbon and Rennes; Belfast International to Milan, Munich and Lanzarote. EI also will increase frequencies on 17 existing routes. JetBlue Airways will begin daily Orlando International-Bogota service on Jan. 29. Its first route to South America will be operated with an A320. It also will launch weekly Boston-St. Maarten on Feb. 14 aboard an A320 and increase frequencies from BOS to Aruba and Cancun beginning Feb. 12.
Austrian state holding company OIAG, which owns 42.75% of the troubled flag carrier, delayed Austrian Airlines Group's privatization until year end in order to attract better offers.
Bmi and Brussels Airlines, which each have Lufthansa as a shareholder, signed a codeshare agreement effective last Sunday that will see bmi add its code to SN flights from Brussels to Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester and Newcastle. SN will add its code to bmi flights from Edinburgh, Leeds Bradford and Nottingham East Midlands. According to bmi Deputy CEO Tim Bye, the agreement is not a result of LH's recent investment in SN ( ATWOnline, Sept. 25). "We were not brought together by a common shareholder," he told ATWOnline.
Arab Air Carriers Org. elected Saudi Arabian Airlines CEO Khalid Abdullah Almolhem as its new president, succeeding current Tunisair President and CEO Nabil Chettaoui.
