Mesa Air Group reported third fiscal quarter earnings of $2.6 million, a 76.2% drop from the year-ago period. Revenue for the regional provider rose 5% to $355.9 million while operating expenses increased 10.2% to $343.4 million, dropping operating income 54.5% year-over-year to $12.5 million from $27.5 million.
CAE and Air Canada signed contracts valued at C$60 million ($56.4 million) over 15 years giving CAE responsibility for "operation services" at AC's Toronto and Vancouver training centers. CAE also will market excess training capacity to third parties. AC will continue to conduct its own pilot training, including curriculum and instructors. Separately, CAE said it won a contract for an A330/A340 FFS from US FAA for delivery in the summer of 2008. Virgin Blue ordered a 737NG FFS. Air France ordered an A320 FFS and Japan Airlines ordered a suite of 787 maintenance training devices.
WestJet reported second-quarter net income of C$11.5 million ($10.8 million), down 48.7% from C$22.4 million in the year-ago quarter, a falloff largely attributable to the C$31.9 million charge incurred when it scrapped installation of the aiRES reservation system. The Calgary-based LCC also said it signed an agreement with Boeing to purchase 20 additional 737-700s to be delivered in 2012 and 2013, with options to convert the orders to -800s.
AirAsia launched daily Kuala Lumpur-Shenzhen A320 service. Frontier Airlines will launch daily Denver-West Palm Beach service on Nov. 15 aboard an A319. JetBlue Airways will start daily Fort Lauderdale-Ponce flights on Nov. 5 aboard an A320.
US Air Transport Assn. pushed Congress yesterday to develop a new FAA funding system based in part on a per-passenger tax related to number of departures and distance flown, which airlines insist would be far more reliable than the current ticket price-based fee system.
Record first fiscal quarter revenue helped Singapore Airlines Group to a S$424.1 million ($280.3 million) net profit attributable to equity holders during the three months ended June 30, down from year-ago earnings of S$575.1 million that were boosted by a one-time gain of S$223 million from the sale of the SIA Building.
Southwest Airlines promoted Senior Director-Airport Performance Improvement Matt Hafner to VP-ground operations. Alaska Air Group promoted Director-Government Affairs Megan Lawrence to MD-government and community relations.
Iberia launched a new service on its website to allow passengers to supply Advance Passenger Information when traveling to countries that require it such as the US, Cuba, and Mexico. Initially the service is available only when the reservation has been made through Amadeus. Next year it will be available regardless of the distribution system, IB said.
American Airlines signed an MOU with AirCell to become the first US carrier to test that company's high-speed broadband capability for passengers traveling within the continental US. The test will be conducted next year on AA's 767-200s "that primarily fly transcontinental routes," according to the airline. The solution will provide passengers the ability to use Wi-Fi-enabled laptops and PDAs "coast-to-coast, border-to-border," surf the Internet and send and receive e-mail, according to AirCell.
Antitrust authorities on both sides of the Atlantic levied heavy fines against British Airways and Korean Air for their participation in conspiracies to manipulate fares and surcharges on both passenger and freighter flights throughout this decade. The carriers, which pleaded guilty and have agreed to the penalties, are among several that have been under investigation by the US Dept. of Justice and UK Office of Fair Trading since last year.
Jet Airways exercised options for three 777-300ERs valued at more than $790 million, bringing its total firm orders for the type to 13, Boeing announced yesterday. Jet took delivery of its first 777-300ER in April.
Alitalia yesterday named former Finmeccanica executive Maurizio Prato chairman a day after Berardino Libonati resigned on the eve of a critical board meeting. AZ said it would "defer approval of the guidelines of the company industrial plan until a meeting scheduled for Aug. 30, which would give Prato "time to obtain the necessary information." The board is scheduled to approve AZ's first-half results on Sept. 12. The company's net debt as of June 30 was €1.03 billion ($1.42 billion), down from €1.05 million at the end of May.
BOEING COULD NOT HAVE CHOSEN a better day to premiere its first all-new commercial transport in 13 years. The sky over Seattle on 07/08/07 was a deep, deep blue, like the old Perry Como song. It perfectly matched the gleaming two-tone blue and silver livery of the 787 as it rolled into view of 15,000 jubilant guests gathered in the world's largest buildinghome of the company's twin-aisle production.
SENIOR AIRBUS EXECUTIVES gathered at the manufacturer's headquarters here earlier this year for a high-level meeting on the revamped A350 XWB. As they discussed how the aircraft would be constructed at sites across Europe, a chart was displayed. EADS CEO and then-Airbus CEO Louis Gallois quickly noticed it contained images of flags denoting France, Germany, Spain and the UK.
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. District Court in Fort Worth, Texas, American took issue with Google's practice of allowing other companies to bid on "American Airlines" as a search term, which allows the companies' ads to appear in the paid search field to the right of "organic" search results.
The two companies filed with the European Commission for antitrust approval to create the new entity. European Union law requires such a filing. Regulatory approval in the U.S. is not required. In a statement, the companies said that "the intent of the joint venture is to establish an industry standard solution to improve and better meet the requirements of the travel industry with payment efficiencies, increased automation, and improved interoperability." "There's no industry standard now for payments not covered by the Airlines Reporting Corp. or BSPs," a Sabre spokeswoman said.
WHEN IT OPENED IN NOVEMBER 1962, Washington's Dulles International Airport was on the leading edge of airport design and theory, the first built specifically to handle jet aircraft and the first with separate buildings to handle people and airplanes. Passengers were processed in the main terminal, then walked to vehicles (called mobile lounges) that served as both hold rooms and transporters to airliners parked at a long service building parallel to the terminal.
GREEN WAS THE THEME OF THIS YEAR'S PARIS AIR SHOW, as in both caring for the environment and the color of money, plenty of which changed hands during the weeklong event (June 18-24). CFM International took home top honors for the most environmentally clever stunt by featuring genuine grass on its engine display stand, while Airbus collected the most greenbacksstill the currency of choice for aerospaceby booking firm orders and commitments for a stunning 728 aircraft.
FOR MOST OF ITS HISTORY, the passenger airline industry did not require a distribution strategy. In the beginning, passengers simply walked up to the airline's desk at the airport. Then the carriers added call centers and city ticket offices. Travel agencies began selling tickets in the 1930s and the airlines were, for the most part, content to use them as an ad hoc sales force.
CLICKAIR CHIEF EXECUTIVE ALEX Cruz certainly was boastful about his startup airline during his presentation at French Connect here earlier this year. According to the former Accenture executive, the Barcelona-based carrier that operated 18 A320s at the end of June represents the largest investment in a startup, is Europe's fastest-growing airline, is second only to Ryanair in operating cost and soon will have the most frills of any LCC.
ne of the staples of professional wrestling (we're talking about the stuff on TV, not the Olympic sport) is that the referee is always looking the other way when the bad guy picks up a chair to bash his opponent in the head. But that same referee is always perfectly positioned to spot the most minute rule infraction by the good guy.
THE PAST TWO YEARS HAVE BEEN turbulent for Pinnacle Airlines, which until New Opportunities However, the revised deal also permitted Pinnacle to take advantage of growth opportunities outside the Airlink program, something previously forbidden. It now can sell its services to other carriers (although not into NWA's hubs of Detroit, Memphis and Minneapolis) and can operate aircraft up to 76 seats or other sizes that do not cause NWA to violate its labor agreement with its pilots union.
One-time noncash gains related to its emergence from bankruptcy in May propelled Northwest Airlines to a net profit of $2.15 billion for the second quarter ended June 30, significantly reversed from a net loss of $285 million in the year-ago period when it was operating under Chapter 11 protection. Excluding reorganization items, NWA reported a pre-tax profit for the period of $273 million, up 52.5% compared to earnings of $179 million on a similar basis in the year-ago period.
Republic Airways Holdings saw its second-quarter profit dip 6% to $19 million from $20.3 million in the year-ago quarter on a 12.7% increase in revenue to $320.3 million. Operating expenses climbed 14.7% to $265.7 million and operating income was up 3.8% to $54.5 million. Republic operates as Republic Airlines, Chautauqua Airlines and Shuttle America. During the quarter it took delivery of seven E-175s to be operated under a fixed-fee contract for US Airways and eight CRJ200s to be flown for Continental Airlines on short-term leases.
