Rolls-Royce Trent 700s will power six A330 freighters owned by Aircastle. Deliveries are scheduled for 2010-11. Separately, Rolls signed a TotalCare services agreement with Singapore Airlines covering the Trent 900s on SIA's A380s. SIA selected the engine for its initial 10 aircraft. Deal runs to 2021 and work will be conducted at Singapore Aero Engine Services.
Air China yesterday launched twice-weekly Beijing-Dubai-Athens service aboard a 767. Wizz Air will base an additional A320 in Sofia beginning July 12 and launch flights to Varna (four-times-weekly), Milan Orio al Serio (four-times-weekly), Valencia (thrice-weekly), Barcelona (twice-weekly) and Izmir (weekly) while increasing frequencies to London Luton, Rome Fiumicino and Dortmund. AirTran Airways will launch daily Newport News-Tampa service on Feb. 14. Pakistan International Airways will launch twice-weekly Karachi-Sialkot flights on Nov. 30.
During a visit to Washington yesterday, IATA DG and CEO Giovanni Bisignani urged US officials not to employ congestion pricing at crowded US airports such as New York JFK and described President George W. Bush's recent efforts to alleviate flight delays as "a political placebo for a serious long-term illness."
ANA will pay cash for at least 20% of its order for 50 787s, or at least ¥140 billion ($1.3 billion), from the proceeds realized from its hotel sales ( ATWOnline, April 16), Senior VP-Finance and Accounting Eiji Kanazawa told Bloomberg News. It also will sell bonds and use loans backed by Japan Bank for International Cooperation. "We're not going back to the days of more than ¥1 trillion in debt," Kanazawa told Bloomberg.
Flybe released select financial data for the fiscal year ended March 31, including a pre-tax profit figure of £4.7 million ($9.7 million) that represents a reversal from the £12.2 million loss suffered in the previous year.
AmSafe said FedEx Express now is using the AcuTemp RKN container, which employs compressor technology rather than dry ice to maintain temperature, for appropriate shipping services.
European Commission yesterday issued the sixth update of its airline blacklist, removing Suriname's Blue Wings Airlines and lifting the operating restrictions imposed on Pakistan International Airlines ( ATWOnline, July 6). Both carriers, however, will remain subject to prioritized ramp inspections at Community airports in order to ensure their "consistent adherence" to relevant safety standards.
Bombardier Aerospace reported EBIT of $122 million for the fiscal third quarter ended Oct. 31, nearly triple the $43 million earned during the same period a year ago. Revenue was up 21% to $2.3 billion due primarily to higher manufacturing revenues for business and regional aircraft and higher service revenues. The company received 124 net orders during the three months, up 30.5% from 95 in the year-ago period. Of that number, 112 were business aircraft and 12 were regional transports including 10 Q400s. As of Oct. 31, the firm order backlog was worth a record $19.6 billion.
Hawaiian Airlines yesterday announced the choice of Airbus aircraft for its widebody fleet renewal, saying it will replace its 18 767-300s and -300ERs with up to 24 new planes comprising six firm A330-200s and six firm A350 XWB-800s plus six purchase rights for each type.
Skyservice Airlines introduced a blended winglet-equipped 757, which it claimed is the first such aircraft operating in Canada. It has a fleet of 21 aircraft comprising A319s, A320s, A330s and 757s.
El Al yesterday released details of its third-quarter financial performance, confirming that net profit soared to $41.2 million from the $1.4 million earned in a year-ago period marked by conflict in Israel and Lebanon ( ATWOnline, Nov. 22). Revenue climbed 27% to $567 million and operating profit surged to $63.8 million from $8.5 million in the third quarter of 2006. Fuel costs were up $6 million, but the carrier said it saved $5.1 million through its hedging program.
Alteon Training and Lufthansa Technical Training announced an alliance they said "will optimize the organizations' training capacity for airline maintenance personnel around the world." Cooperation will start with joint maintenance training courses for 737NGs, 777s and 747-400s.
AirAsia's MYR180 million ($53.6 million) profit in its first fiscal quarter ended Sept. 30 represented a huge improvement over the MYR70 million reported in the year-ago period and, according to CEO Tony Fernandes, "shows the maturity of our marketing strategy whereby we are able to turn the traditionally weakest quarter and deliver strong results."
United Airlines expects a decision next week on a proposal presented to lenders yesterday under which it would pay down $350 million of the term loan on its existing credit agreement and "get the flexibility to implement up to $500 million of shareholder initiatives." The proposed amendment also would allow for future term loan pre-payments. UA said it has reduced its total net debt by $2.7 billion in the past 20 months, including $1.6 billion this year.
Zurich Airport named Thomas Kern CEO effective Jan 15, replacing Josef Felderer. CFO Beat Spalinger will leave the company in April and will be succeeded by controlling, treasury and investor relations head Daniel Schmucki.
Air India board this week signed off on a loss of INR4.48 billion ($112.5 million) for the fiscal year ended March 31, a result reversed from a INR149.4 million profit in the prior year, according to widespread press reports from India. Revenue climbed 2.8% year-over-year to INR95.9 billion and the carrier struggled to fend off low-fare competition as its fuel bill rose a reported INR3.86 billion, or nearly 13%, and it was forced to pay INR4.25 billion in wage arrears. Dow Jones reported that Indian Airlines, which has merged with Air India under the National Aviation Co. of India Ltd.
TAM took delivery of a second A340-500 last week. Aircraft is configured with 42 business class seats and 225 in economy. TAM now operates 15 A319s, 66 A320s, three A321s, 10 A330s, two A340s, 11 F100s and three MD-11s. It expects to return five F100s and take delivery of three A320s and two A330s before year end. Separately, TAM will add six weekly frequencies to its daily services from Buenos Aires to Salvador (with A320s) and Florianopolis (with A319s) Dec. 15-March 2.
British Airways announced several changes to its short-haul schedule from London effective March 30. It will launch a daily Heathrow-Malaga service and commence flights from Gatwick to Alicante (daily), Faro (13-times-weekly), Gibraltar (daily), Malaga (twice-daily), Palma (daily), Tunis (five-times-weekly) and Ibiza (daily from June), replacing franchise partner GB Airways when its agreement concludes in March ( ATWOnline, Oct. 26).
China Eastern Airlines is targeting a shareholders meeting on Jan. 8 to secure approval for the sale of a 24% stake to Singapore Airlines and parent Temasek and soon will launch a road show to gather support for the deal in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Singapore. CEA this month signed a definitive agreement to sell 15.73% and 8.27% stakes to SIA and Temasek respectively and agreed to nominate SIA Chairman Stephen Lee and CEO Chew Choon Seng to the CEA board ( ATWOnline, Nov. 15).
Qantas will pay a $61 million fine to settle with US authorities investigating the carrier's role in a widespread price-fixing scheme related to fuel surcharges on international cargo flights, CEO Geoff Dixon announced late yesterday.
The British Airways and TPG-led consortium yesterday confirmed that it formally withdrew its interest in bidding for Iberia because a bid under friendly terms no longer was possible. The decision follows last week's announcement by Caja Madrid, which holds a stake in IB similar in size to BA's, that it wanted to increase its shareholding from just under 10% to 23% and that BBVA and Logista, holding 7.3% and 6.7% respectively, intended to sell their shares to CM ( ATWOnline, Nov. 27).
Thai Airways suffered a 29.5% decline in profit in its fiscal year ended Sept. 30 to THB6.34 billion ($201.7 million), according to press reports from Bangkok that cited weak aircraft sales and unfavorable foreign currency fluctuations for the result. Sales climbed 7.5% to THB192.03 billion, but foreign currency gains plunged 80.6% to THB1.2 billion and the THB500 million earned from the sale of three aircraft compared to THB2 billion it made from disposal of four freighters in the 2005-06 fiscal year, Thomson Financial reported.
Bombardier opened a new spare parts depot near Tokyo Narita to support operators of its CRJ and Q-series aircraft ( ATWOnline, Nov. 14). The 4,000-sq.-ft. facility will be operated by Schenker-Seino and will be stocked with approximately 2,300 regional aircraft line items.
