Bombardier announced delivery of the first of 10 Q400s to Frontier Airlines Holding subsidiary Lynx Aviation ( ATWOnline, July 4) and the first of four Q400s to Tassili Airlines of Algeria ( ATWOnline, Aug. 1, 2006).
Lufthansa will introduce individual video screens in its long-haul economy cabins starting in November. It started testing the screens, and both touchscreen and armrest control panels, this week on flights from Frankfurt to Detroit, Houston Intercontinental and Toronto. The menu will be available in nine languages.
Aer Lingus said it "hopes to operate a limited schedule of European flights" next week during a two-day pilot strike called in protest of its decision to open a Belfast base ( ATWOnline, Aug. 15). The airline said it has agreed to wet-lease "a number" of aircraft for Aug. 21-22.
A robust Australian economy fueled by resource demand from China helped propel Qantas Group to a record net profit of A$719.4 million ($595.4 million) for the fiscal year ended June 30 despite a 19.1 % increase in its fuel bill to A$3.3 billion.
El Al posted a net profit of $12.6 million in the second quarter, reversed from a loss of $10.4 million in the year-ago period, according to a financial release cited by press reports from Israel. A tax benefit of $5.8 million resulting from its accumulated losses boosted its final figure to $18.4 million, Globes reported. Revenue climbed 5.5% to $452.8 million while expenses fell 2.5%.
Ryanair will base two new 737-800s at Dublin from November, bringing its fleet at the airport to 22 aircraft. It will invest $140 million, launch six new routes and increase frequencies on a further 12. New routes starting in October will be Budapest (daily), Szczecin (twice-weekly) and Basel (thrice-weekly). New November destinations will be Nice (daily), Prague (daily) and Katowice (thrice-weekly). Frequencies will increase to Birmingham, Bournemouth, Bratislava, Edinburgh, Gdansk, Kaunas, Krakow, Manchester, Riga, Rzeszow, Tenerife and Wroclaw.
SR Technics promoted Marco Imboden to VP-marketing, effective Aug. 20. He currently is deputy head of corporate communications and head of Communications Switzerland.
Galileo and Air Canada yesterday announced a multiyear agreement under which Galileo-connected Canadian travel agents will have access to AC's "a la carte" fare products and Flight Passes through a "revolutionary" desktop solution. AC will be the first airline to use the application. The solution, which Galileo developed, uses AC's direct-connect application programming interface platform called "AC2U" and integrates the carrier's Web-only content with content from Galileo's GDS. Galileo said it intends to make the application available to Canadian travel agents in the fourth quarter.
Thai Airways reported a profit for its third fiscal quarter ended June 30 of THB405 million ($12.8 million), down 14.4% from the THB473 million earned in the year-ago period. Revenue growth of 5.7% to THB44.53 billion was outpaced by a 7.9% rise in expenses to THB44.42 billion. Operating profit plunged 88% to THB114 million from THB959 million. The carrier did not elaborate on the results. Nine-month net earnings of THB8.33 billion were down 20.6% from THB10.49 billion.
Embraer, which continues to struggle with production and staffing issues, saw its second-quarter profit fall 51.6% to $67.3 million from $139.1 million in the same period a year ago. Net sales rose 11.3% to $1.1 billion. The company stated that industrial costs remain high because of longer production cycles, labor costs, overtime and the training of new employees.
Lufthansa Technik signed a 12-year Total Component Support contract with LAN Airlines covering up to 129 A320s and up to eight A340s. The agreement expands a TCS agreement already in place and has an added value of more than $200 million, according to LHT.
TAM told a Brazilian congressional panel holding hearings on last month's A320 crash that it no longer allows aircraft to land at Sao Paulo Congonhas or Rio de Janeiro Santos Dumont without both thrust reversers activated, a change in policy put in place after the accident.
China Southern Airlines reached a deal with majority investor China Southern Air Holding Co., a state enterprise owning 50.3% of the carrier, to purchase the entire equity interest in China Southern Airlines Group Air Catering Co., the assets of Guangzhou BiHuaYuan Training Centre and the assets of Hong Kong-based Nan Lung Travel & Express (including its 51% stake in Nan Lung International Freight) for a combined CNY269.5 million ($35.5 million). In turn, CSAHC will purchase CZ's 90% stake in the Guangzhou Aviation Hotel for CNY74.7 million.
China Southern Airlines flew 7.7 billion RPKs in July, up 14.7% from the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 13% to 10.05 billion ASKs, lifting load factor 1.1 points to 76.6%.
Midwest Air Group board said it will meet today to "consider alternatives" following the announcement of competing bids for the carrier from AirTran Holdings and TPG Capital/Northwest Airlines ( ATWOnline, Aug. 15).
Virgin Atlantic reported this week that its profit for its fiscal year ended Feb. 28 dropped 89% to £6.6 million ($13.2 million) from £60.3 million in the prior year. It blamed much of the fall on losses at Virgin Nigeria, in which it has a 49% stake. The African carrier posted a loss of £40 million for the year, widened from £33 million in the prior year. VA's revenue increased 15% to £2.2 billion.
With an eye on next summer's Olympic Games and the potential safety issues associated with saturated skies, CAAC yesterday announced that it will not approve any new entrants before 2010 and will impose stricter conditions and procedures for new carriers after that in order to slow the rapid growth of commercial aviation.
Etihad Airways said its first A320 will commence operations Sept. 1, with two more set to arrive in September and October. A further three of the dual-class, 140-seat aircraft are expected in the 2008 first quarter ( ATWOnline, June 7). First A320 route will be Abu Dhabi-Tehran. Future cities include Beirut, Dammam, Karachi, Muscat, Bahrain, Cairo, Doha, Kuwait, Amman and Damascus.
Copa Holdings, parent of Panama's Copa Airlines and Colombia's Aero Republica, reported second-quarter net income of $30.9 million, up 34.9% over $22.9 million earned in the year-ago quarter, but said its rapid expansion will be slowed slightly.
WestJet, which this summer won authority to operate to four Mexican destinations ( ATWOnline, June 28), yesterday announced scheduled seasonal service to two, San Jose del Cabo and Mazatlan, from three Canadian cities starting in December. From its Calgary base, the LCC will operate twice-weekly to San Jose del Cabo from Dec. 20 and weekly to Mazatlan from Dec. 22. It will launch weekly flights from Edmonton to both destinations on Dec. 21-22 and from Vancouver to San Jose del Cabo on Dec. 21.
AirTran Holdings raised its bid for Midwest Air Group late yesterday, offering $16.25 per share in cash and stock, exceeding the $16 per share cash offer from TPG Capital and Northwest Airlines that was endorsed unanimously by the Midwest board Sunday ( ATWOnline, Aug. 14).
Shenzhen Airlines plans to raise as much as $1 billion in an initial share sale to fund fleet expansion next year, according to a report in the South China Morning Post. As a privately run airline, Shenzhen has found it increasingly difficult to reach loan deals with banks owing to its high asset liability rate, even though it has posted net profits for 10 consecutive years. The carrier remains committed to its "369" strategy of expanding its fleet to 70 aircraft in three years, 100 in six and 160 in nine.
Condor Airlines will launch thrice-weekly Frankfurt-Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen flights in November. Jet Airways will launch five-times-weekly Delhi-Brussels-Toronto service on Sept. 5 aboard a two-class, 220-seat A330-200.
