Philippine Airlines reported a "better than expected" $34.5 million profit in the first fiscal quarter ended June 30, double the $17.2 million earned in the year-ago period. crediting its "ability to capitalize on strong passenger demand during this peak travel quarter" for the result.
Following three months of waiting during which trading in its stock was suspended, China Eastern Airlines finally received approval from the State Council to sell a stake to Singapore Airlines, a CEA insider told ATWOnline yesterday. "We expect to sign a strategic cooperative contract with SIA and announce the relevant details of the deal on Sept. 2," the source said, adding that the carrier's stock will resume trading the following day.
Kuwait Airways' lease deal with ALAFCO for 12 787s and seven A320s, worth a reported $3 billion, has been canceled because the airline was unable to secure government approval, the lessor said in a filing with the Kuwait Stock Exchange cited by numerous press reports.
Alteon Training said it will open a training center at Shanghai Pudong by year end that eventually will house China's first 787 full flight simulator and a 757/767 FFS for center partner Shanghai Airlines and "other regional operators." The 787 simulator will be ready in the first half of next year.
Tarom is planning to restart long-haul service to North America after more than three years of interruption. A source close to the carrier told ATWOnline that its two A310-300s, stored since 2004 at Bucharest Otopeni, will undergo a total refurbishment by Airbus before year end.
Alitalia will end up in foreign hands, Unicredito Italiano CEO Alessandro Profumo predicted in an interview with Il Sole 24 Ore, in which he blamed Italian protectionism. "We've defended Alitalia so well that it will disappear as an Italian company since thanks to protection, more protection, and yet more protection, the company is no longer able to stand on its own feet," he said.
Australia and South Korea announced an expanded air services agreement under which Korean carriers initially will be allowed to operate up to 8,500 seats each way each week to Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, up from the previous limit of 7,500. Capacity to other Australian airports is unrestricted, and Australian airlines will be able to operate the same number of seats to Korea. The deal provides for a further 1,000-seat increase when the 8,500 limit is reached. All restrictions on cargo services were removed.
Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste said that a total of 176 flights were canceled at its Yucatan Peninsula airports as a result of Hurricane Dean ( ATWOnline, Aug. 22). Cancun lost 123 flights, Merida 49 and Cozumel just four.
IATA yesterday announced a "last call" for paper tickets, placing its "final order" for approximately 16.5 million paper tickets to supply 60,000 accredited travel agents in 162 markets until May 31, 2008. The following day, 100% of tickets issued through the IATA Billing and Settlement Plan will be electronic. IATA DG and CEO Giovanni Bisignani said that e-tickets now account for 84% of the global total, three years and two months since the organization issued its 100% directive. It expects the switch to e-ticketing to save the industry $3 billion per year.
Hf. Eimskipafelag Islands, formerly Avion Group, reached agreement for the disposal of its remaining 49% holding in Avion Aircraft Trading to Artic Partners. Artic, which is controlled by AAT Chairman Hafthor Hafsteinsson, AAT board member Arngrimur Johannsson and other AAT managers, acquired an initial 51% last October. Eimskip said sales proceeds amounted to $28 million and the profit on disposal before tax is estimated to be $24 million.
SpiceJet reported a INR185.4 million ($4.5 million) profit in the quarter ended June 30, reversed from a pro forma INR36.8 million loss in the year-ago period. The Indian LCC reconfigured its fiscal calendar to a year ending March 31 from a year ending May 30. The year-ago figures presented with the most recent results were not audited or reviewed, it said. Revenue soared 77.4% to INR3.11 billion while expenses climbed 66.6% to INR2.9 billion. Pre-tax result swung to a INR188.7 million profit from a INR34.2 million loss.
Sabre and launch customer Midwest Airlines announced a new tool that will allow carriers to differentiate and sell premium seats in coach/economy class through Sabre's Distribution Merchandising Suite. The new feature, which will be available on standard travel agency desktops, on the airline's website and at airport kiosks, will be introduced in conjunction with Midwest's Signature seating on its MD-80s this fall ( ATWOnline, May 30).
US Government Accountability Office issued a report on very light jets indicating that there is little consensus on their impact on the National Airspace System or on US FAA's costs and Trust Fund revenues but that "most experts" said VLJs "will likely have little impact on safety due to FAA's certification procedures for aircraft, pilots and maintenance." GAO said FAA "has policies and procedures in place" to accommodate VLJs "because the aircraft will operate similarly to other aircraft and will enter the NAS incrementally," although there was no consensus among experts interviewed
Singapore Airlines' auction for a "majority" of the seats on the first A380 flight started yesterday on eBay and will close Sept. 10. The first flight is a two-leg event stretching over two days ( ATWOnline, Aug. 17). The aircraft will leave from Singapore Changi Terminal 2 at 0800 on Oct. 25 and arrive in Sydney at 1725 local time. It will leave Australia the following day at approximately 1600 and land at SIN at 2200.
American Airlines will launch new daily service from New York JFK to Barcelona and Milan Malpensa on May 1 and a second daily flight to London Stansted on April 7. All flights are on 221-seat 767-300s. Southwest Airlines yesterday launched service from San Francisco to Chicago Midway (thrice-daily), San Diego (eight-times-daily) and Las Vegas (seven-times-daily) and announced that it will start eight-times-daily SFO-Los Angeles service on Nov. 4.
News from Travel Technology Update: American Airlines took Google to court over the sale of its keywords to other companies for use in Google searches. In its complaint, filed in U.S.
EgyptAir signed a contract for five firm A330-200s plus three options, Airbus announced. The airline said the purchase will allow it "to continue its impressive route network growth." No engine choice or delivery schedule were announced.
Turkish Airlines yesterday reached a pay agreement with the Hava-Is union, which represents thousands of aviation workers and had voted to strike following an earlier collapse in negotiations, the government told reporters in Ankara. Separately, THY will launch thrice-weekly services from Istanbul Ataturk to Johannesburg and Cape Town on Sept. 17 aboard A340-300s.
AirTran Airways announced a tentative labor agreement with the National Pilots Assn., which represents 1,450 active pilots. The NPA board endorsed the agreement and sent it to membership for a vote, the results of which will be announced Sept. 21.
Hawaiian Airlines flew 728.5 million RPMs in July, up 16.8% on the year-ago month. Capacity rose 19.2% to 833.3 million ASMs, dropping load factor 1.9 points to 87.4%.
Malaysia Airlines recorded a second-quarter net profit of MYR113 million ($32.4 million), improving its performance from a MYR177 million loss a year earlier and marking its fourth straight profitable quarter since the February 2006 launch of its Business Turnaround Plan ( ATW, May 2007).
United Airlines said the first flight by an aircraft equipped with its new premium cabin upgrade will be 767 service from Washington Dulles to Frankfurt on Oct. 29. UA said it will be the first US airline to offer 180-deg. lie-flat business class beds on long-haul flights ( ATWOnline, July 25). The aircraft will operate between IAD, FRA and Zurich and will be the first of 97 planes outfitted with the new product. The first 747 will begin flying in mid-December and the first 777 in early February, UA said.
US FAA last weekend issued an Emergency Airworthiness Directive requiring "repetitive detailed inspections" of the main slat track downstop assembly on 737NGs in the wake of last week's fire and explosion on a China Airlines 737-800 in Okinawa ( ATWOnline, Aug. 24).
Austrian Airlines suspended its four-times-weekly Vienna-Erbil service last Friday "until further notice" in light of the Aug. 8 incident in which a Nordic Airways aircraft was fired upon in Sulaimaniya ( ATWOnline, Aug. 14). "Our intention to reintegrate Erbil into Austrian's scheduled program as soon as the security situation improves is unbroken," CEO Alfred Oetsch said.
AeroSpace and Defense Industries Assn. of Europe, US Aerospace Industries Assn. and US Air Transport Assn. announced a collaboration agreement to align international technical publication data in the aerospace/defense and commercial aviation industries. "The main objective. . .is to promote common, interoperable, international technical publication data in the aerospace manufacturing, commercial and defense aviation industries," the associations said in a joint statement.
