Finnair board yesterday approved a share offering worth €248.5 million ($365.9 million), with the subscription period beginning Nov. 29 and ending the afternoon of Dec. 17. Current shareholders will have a preemptive right to subscribe in proportion to their holdings. The company will issue 39.4 million shares at €6.30 per share. Danske Markets and UBS Investment Bank are joint global coordinators and book runners and Aventum Partners is financial adviser.
AirAsia reached an agreement with Aviation Australia under which the latter will provide maintenance engineer training for the LCC, including training courses for its existing technicians that aim to ensure that the carrier fully complies with EASA regulations.
El Al reported a third-quarter net profit of $41 million, significantly improved over net income of $1.4 million in the 2006 third quarter when its earnings were hurt by conflict in the region, Israel's Globes reported. Revenue increased 27% to $567 million.
GoJet Airlines placed a firm order for four CRJ700 NextGen aircraft, Bombardier announced yesterday. The St. Louis-based carrier currently operates 15 CRJ700s. Newly ordered aircraft are worth $137.5 million at list prices. Delivery date was not announced. GoJet is the 11th NextGen customer since the program was launched in the spring, the manufacturer said ( ATWOnline, June 4).
Finnair yesterday said its fourth quarter has "developed more favorably than anticipated" and that it is raising its expected full-year operating profit. The carrier now expects a result in excess of €90 million ($132.5 million) compared to the €70 million-plus forecast when it announced its third-quarter results ( ATWOnline, Nov. 2). It expects the fourth quarter "to be clearly profitable."
Mesa Air Group was ordered by a US Bankruptcy Court judge Monday to post a $90 million bond while it appeals its case against Hawaiian Airlines, the Honolulu Star Bulletin reported. In a ruling issued Oct. 30, Judge Robert Faris ordered Mesa to pay Hawaiian $80 million in damages for using confidential information to establish its go! subsidiary ( ATWOnline, Nov. 1). Mesa CEO Jonathan Ornstein told the paper that posting the bond would not be a problem.
Lufthansa Technik agreed to extend its ERJ component support contract with bmi regional for five more years. LHT will continue to handle MRO and logistical component services for bmi's 16 current ERJ 135s/145s plus forthcoming aircraft.
Alitalia announced that Aeroflot "has decided not to take part in the project regarding the privatization of Alitalia." Late last month SU said it would make a decision shortly ( ATWOnline, Oct. 23). Air One/Intesa Sanpaolo, Lufthansa and Air France KLM remain interested in AZ, according to Reuters, which reported that Chairman Maurizio Prato would delay the board's meeting with adviser Citigroup by about a week to the end of this month.
Emirates announced a significant increase in Australian capacity, lifting weekly frequencies from 49 to 70 by early 2009. Brisbane services will rise to double-daily from October 2008 while Melbourne and Sydney go to thrice-daily the following year. Both Melbourne and Sydney will be served by 489-seat A380s, with Sydney service to start in the 2009 first quarter. EK also serves Perth with a twice-daily 777 service.
Transaero said it will extend its network from Moscow Domodedovo with scheduled flights to Sydney via Hong Kong as well to Mauritius and Johannesburg. The Russian carrier said it release more details soon. AirBaltic will launch thrice-weekly Riga-Yerevan and twice-weekly Riga-Almaty service next summer.
Rolls-Royce will establish a facility in Singapore to assemble and test large civil aircraft engines, with the initial focus on the Trent 1000 powering the 787 and the Trent XWB powering the A350 XWB. "Together with its existing UK facility in Derby, this will provide the company with a dual sourcing capability for the assembly and test of large civil engines, including future new versions of the Trent engine," Rolls said.
Air Canada announced a 10-year lease deal with ILFC for one 777-300ER. AC will take delivery of its 18th 777 and sixth -300ER in April 2009. It has placed orders with Boeing for 16 777s plus 18 purchase rights.
UK CAA yesterday issued proposed maximum charges for London Heathrow and Gatwick for 2008-13 that are higher than those recommended by the Competition Commission last month, and also called for airports operator BAA to pay penalties when it fails to meet passenger service performance targets. The agency will allow for comments from interested parties and likely will issue its final decision in February or March. The new charge regime is slated to take effect April 1. Neither airlines nor BAA were happy with the proposals.
Double-digit passenger growth rates helped Air Berlin "claw back" from a disappointing second quarter, CEO Joachim Hunold said as the German LCC reported third-quarter earnings of €60.8 million ($89.5 million), up 57.2% from the €38.7 million reported in the year-ago period.
US Airways yesterday announced an expansion to its massive Airbus order, reaching an agreement with the manufacturer for five additional A330-200s and signing an LOI with ILFC for two more.
Qantas firmed up its order for 12 Q400s plus 24 options and purchase rights, Bombardier said. The deal was announced last month ( ATWOnline, Oct. 23). Aircraft will be operated by QantasLink. Four of the 12 firm aircraft are conversions of existing options, the manufacturer said. QantasLink currently operates seven Q400s and expects delivery of two previously ordered aircraft in January.
EasyJet reported net profit of £152.3 million ($312.5 million) in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, up 61.8% from the £94.1 million earned in the previous financial year. Revenue rose 11% to £1.79 billion with passenger revenue up 9.2% to £1.63 billion and ancillary revenues soaring 30.4% to £171.2 million, or from £0.47 to £3.85 per seat. The biggest contributor to this improvement was the introduction of a speedy boarding product, the LCC said. Operating costs grew 11.8% to £1.5 billion.
Vueling Airlines appointed Lars Nygaard as its new CEO, taking over from Carlos Munoz. Nygaard joined SAS Group in 1991 and joined its Spanish subsidiary, Spanair, 10 years later. He became Spanair CEO in October 2005 but resigned the position last week ( ATWOnline, Nov.
United Airlines flew 9.61 billion system RPMs in October, a 0.6% slip from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 1.1% to 11.85 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 0.5 point to 81.1%. Delta Air Lines flew 10.16 billion consolidated RPMs in October, a 6.2% increase from the year-ago month. Capacity was up 2.9% to 12.76 billion ASMs and load factor rose 2.5 points to 79.6%. US Airways flew 5.06 billion consolidated RPMs in October, down 1.8% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 5.8% to 6.33 billion ASMs and load factor rose 3.3 points to 80%.
Boeing delivered a 747-400F to AirBridge Cargo, the first of two under lease from GECAS and the carrier's fifth 747 freighter. Aircraft is powered by CF6-80C2s. AirBridge also operates 747-200/-300s and will take the second -400 in the second quarter of 2008. It has five 747-8Fs on order.
Wizz Air will launch thrice-weekly Bucharest Baneasa-Brussels Charleroi service on Feb. 28 aboard an A320. American Airlines and Jet Airways reached agreement to start codeshare cooperation on Jan. 16 pending regulatory approval. Under the proposal, AA would place its code on Jet flights to certain cities in India beyond its Delhi hub. In turn, Jet would place its code on certain AA domestic flights out of New York JFK. In addition, AA and Jet will codeshare and cooperate on traffic between the US and India, connecting in Brussels.
US Dept. of Transportation fined Delta Air Lines $115,000 "for failing to provide information on the ontime arrival performance of its flights when asked by consumers," it announced yesterday. It is the third such sanction this year, following fines levied last month against Hawaiian Airlines ($50,000) and JetBlue Airways ($30,000).
Alpha Aviation Group and Air Arabia signed a JV agreement to launch the International Aviation Training Academy in Sharjah modeled on the existing academy, Clark Aviation, in the Philippines. The parties said the academy will begin operating early next year and will satisfy Air Arabia's own pilot training needs in addition to training ab initio pilots under the ICAO Multi Crew Pilot License for other carriers in the region.
