To the US airline industry's list of negative achievements in 2007the worst ontime performance in a decade, a 65% rise in passenger complaints compared to 2006we can add a new one: President Bush has found it necessary to take time away from more pressing matters such as conducting a war in order to chastise airlines. That is what he did in September, declaring that passengers are "just not being treated right," calling carrier behavior "egregious" and vowing to address the problem of flight delays and cancellations.
QANTAS HAS A GLOBAL REPUTATION for its extraordinary safety record for jet aircraft operations and as a leader in the development of ETOPS, FANS and more recently Flex Tracks (ATW, 4/06, p. 3). So it comes as no surprise to find that the down under airline is the first to introduce the GNSS Global Landing System to commercial service, resulting in impressive improvements in landing precision as well as significant fuel savings and noise reduction.
THE NEW YORK CITY METROPOLITAN REGION IS ONE OF THE busiest and most congested aviation markets in the world. Last year, the three primary commercial airports that serve New YorkJFK, LaGuardia and Newarkhandled 107 million passengers, according to Airports Council International, which ranked them 15th, 41st and 19th respectively. "In our opinion, it's the capital of the world," says Marc Lavorgna, a spokesperson for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which manages the three airports. "Everybody comes to New York at some point."
ONCE LITTLE MORE THAN A ground handling company at the country's gateway airport, Oman Air's fortunes are changing dramatically as, for the first time in its history, the feisty domestic and regional airline assumes national carrier status. With that new status comes access to international routes that were beyond its reach as long as Gulf Air was officially the national airline for Oman. Earlier this year, however, the Omani government decided to withdraw from the troubled multistate entity to concentrate its energies and finances on building up the local airline.
IT IS DAZZLING, ALMOST INTIMIDATING, and for Western airport operators who often have to lobby for a decade or more to obtain planning permission for a new terminal, let alone a new runway, probably very frustrating. Yet it is a fact that airports across the Middle East are in the process of adding enough capacity to handle 300 million more passengers by 201550% more travelers than all the region's airports processed last year.
FOR SNECMA/NPO SATURN JOINT venture PowerJet, developing and producing the SaM146 engine for S-ukhoi Civil Aircraft's Superjet 100 is the easy part. With the regional jet's first flight imminent and first delivery to Aeroflot slated for next November, PowerJet officials are beginning to move on to the hard part: Convincing Western aircraft manufacturers and regional airline operators that a propulsion system built in remote Poluevo, Russia, can be superior to more traditional powerplants produced by manufacturers with final assembly lines in more recognizable places.
Tiger Airways is upping the ante down under ahead of the late-November launch of flights from its new Australian base in Melbourne, placing 40,000 tickets on sale from A$9.95 ($9.13) inclusive of taxes and charges and announcing Newcastle, Canberra and Hobart as new destinations. Separately, Tiger launched Singapore-Chennai service over the weekend and today will begin flying to Xiamen, its fifth Chinese destination.
Benefiting from yuan appreciation and fast-growing demand in the domestic market, Chinese carriers reported a collective profit in the third quarter. Hainan Airlines posted net income of CNY228.9 million ($30.6 million) in the period, up 19.1% over CNY191.5 million earned in the year-ago quarter. Operating revenue increased 5.5% to CNY2.26 billion against a 0.6% drop in operating expenses to CNY1.72 billion. Net profit for the first nine months of 2007 was CNY418.62 million.
New Congolese airline established by SN Brussels Airlines and Hewa Bora Airways will carry the name airDC, SN Brussels announced yesterday ( ATWOnline, Sept. 12). AirDC's commercial passenger flights are expected to start in early 2008. It will operate 737s and BAe 146s from its home base at Kinshasa N'Djili on a domestic and continental network. SN African Projects Manager Johan Maertens was appointed CEO. The name airDC is a reference to RDC, the French acronym for Democratic Republic of Congo.
Cathay Pacific Airways CEO Tony Tyler said the airline is not close to making any decision on acquiring A380s, 787s or A350 XWBs, noting that orders placed today likely would mean deliveries not occurring for five years or longer. "I don't think we are comfortable ordering that far ahead on a new aircraft type," he told Reuters. "I don't think we'll be making any decision on any of these aircraft for at least two years. .
Russian authorities suspended Lufthansa Cargo's right to fly over Russia. An LHC spokesperson told ATWOnline that "since Oct. 28 midnight, we have no traffic rights any more to fly via Russian territory." The change affects 49 weekly flights between Frankfurt and Astana, where LHC has established a hub for its network to the Far East. "We have installed an emergency schedule. Each flight to or from Astana has to be diverted around Russia. That takes an additional 90 minutes flying time, up to three hours for a roundtrip,'" the spokesperson said.
Arab Air Carriers Organization criticized unilaterally imposed security measures that "sometimes negate the concept of facilitation" and emphasized the need to coordinate aviation security on a global level and apply internationally accepted standards and procedures. "Security has turned into a heavy burden on air passengers," AACO Secretary General Abdul Wahab Teffaha noted during the association's AGM in Damascus last week.
South African Airways named former Telkom CFO Kaushik Patel to the same position at the airline. He replaces Acting CFO Clive Else, who will become CEO of SAA Technical effective Dec. 1. Jan Blake will leave the latter position to become GM-mergers, acquisitions and disposals. Fortune Ntlhoro was named chief procurement officer. Boeing Commercial Airplanes named VP-Sales & Marketing Operations Martin Bentrott as VP-Middle East and Africa sales.
Airbus CEO Tom Enders and CCO John Leahy told reporters yesterday at a press conference in New Delhi that the manufacturer is in talks with Air India regarding a potential A380 order. "We are in discussions with Air India now and we think they would need about 10-12 A380 aircraft as soon as we can deliver them," Leahy said, according to multiple media reports. He said delivery could take place by 2011 if an order is placed soon. Enders added that it was "not an accident" that he traveled to India with Leahy. "India is one of the most important growing markets for us," he said.
Air France KLM Group estimated the net impact on operating income associated with the recently concluded five-day strike by AF cabin crew at some €60 million ($86.5 million). The figure reflects an €80 million loss in revenue offset by a €20 million reduction in costs linked mainly to fuel. The estimate will be refined at a later stage, the carrier said in a statement. AF cabin staff were on strike Oct. 25-29 over pay and working conditions. The airline's flight schedule returned to normal yesterday.
Lufthansa Technik and Bulgarian Aviation Group will open a hangar facility at Sofia for 737 and A320 heavy maintenance including D checks. The 6,000-sq.-m. facility, Lufthansa Technik Sofia, is expected to be operational in October 2008. It will be capable of handling two narrowbodies at once. Forthcoming renovation and training investments are put at €20 million ($28 million), to be shared by BAG and LHT. The facility will employ up to 380.
Ryanair took delivery of five new 737-800s, including its 150th of the type. The LCC, which phased out its last 737 Classic in January 2006, operates the second-largest 737 fleet in the world behind Southwest Airlines. It has an additional 121 737s on order.
EasyJet is basing a sixth aircraft at Belfast International and yesterday launched service to Gdansk. It will begin flying from BFS to Prague and Venice Nov. 1 and to Barcelona Nov. 3, bringing to 23 the number of routes it operates from the airport. Also this week, the LCC launched service from Bristol to Funchal, Gdansk and Lisbon as well as Bournemouth-Krakow, Edinburgh-Gdansk, Edinburgh-Krakow, Glasgow International-Paris Charles de Gaulle, London Gatwick-Bucharest, London Stansted-Funchal and London Luton-Vienna flights. Liverpool-Lisbon will start Nov. 2, LTN-Hamburg begins Nov.
Air China reported third-quarter net income of CNY2.19 billion ($292 million), down 26.5% from a CNY2.98 billion net profit in the year-ago quarter that was boosted significantly by a one-time gain from the sale of its equity interest in Dragonair. Excluding the gain, CA said its net profit for the reporting period ended Sept. 30 grew 92.8%. Third-quarter revenue was CNY14.47 billion and operating profit was CNY2.83 billion, according to a company statement.
The Arab Air Carriers Organization expressed its disapproval of the EU's intent to include aviation in its Emissions Trading Scheme and called upon the Arab states to support "the stance against any individual measures in order to avoid economical imbalance that the global air transport industry ensures without leading to any additional environmental benefit."
Midwest Air Group shareholders approved the company's acquisition by Midwest Air Partners, an affiliate of TPG Capital, at a special meeting yesterday. Each outstanding share of Midwest common stock will be converted into the right to receive $17 per share in cash, MAG said ( ATWOnline, Aug. 20). The transaction is expected to be completed during the current quarter. Northwest Airlines also is participating in the acquisition and reportedly will hold 49% of Midwest.
Korean Air credited increasing long-haul revenue and rising yields for a 3.9% year-over-year gain in profit to KRW131.7 billion ($144.7 million) in the quarter ended Sept. 30. Revenue jumped 8.1% year-over-year to KRW2.37 trillion and operating profit soared 45.2% to KRW281.4 billion as operating expenses climbed just 4.6%, KE said.
Fast-growing AirTran Airways reported third-quarter net income of $10.6 million, reversing a net loss of $4.6 million in the year-ago quarter, as it continued to buck the growth-cautious US industry by increasing capacity 20.9%.
China Eastern Airlines nearly doubled its third-quarter profit, posting net income of CNY976 million ($130.4 million), up 98.7% from the CNY492.9 million earned in the year-ago period. It also reported a net profit of CNY1.04 billion during the nine-month period ended Sept. 30 based on domestic accounting standards, a reversal from a CNY910 million loss in the first nine months of 2006.
