Royal Jordanian said yesterday that it posted a 2006 net profit before deducting "taxes and staff incentives" of JOD7.4 million ($10.4 million), its third consecutive profitable year but down 64.8% from the record JOD21 million earned in 2005 before distributing a profit share to staff.
Skybus Airlines received FAA certification last week and plans to begin service on May 22. "FAA certification is the final hurdle and having cleared it we are ready to begin serving passengers," President and COO Ken Gile said. The LCC startup will be based in Columbus and have an initial network of seven cities, with Oakland to be added as an eighth destination on June 12 ( ATWOnline, April 25).
AirAsia said it will introduce a new service dubbed Xpress Boarding that offers passengers the first choice of seats on its aircraft. Cost is RM20 ($6.50) one way. The carrier, which practices a free-seating policy, will extend the Xpress Boarding service to all airports within its network including those serviced by its sister companies Thai AirAsia and Indonesia AirAsia.
China's airlines reported a collective first-quarter net loss of CNY820 million ($106.7 million), narrowed from a CNY2.14 billion deficit in the year-ago quarter, according to figures released by CAAC. Operating revenue rose 19.9% to CNY40.5 billion while costs increased 16.5% to CNY41.2 billion. Chinese analysts credited "drop of fuel price" and "strong market demand" for the improved performance. The government slashed the price of jet fuel by CNY180 per ton at the beginning of the year, according to the official state Xinhua News Agency.
American Airlines' business class upgrade for its 767-300s is progressing as planned, the carrier said last week in Brussels during a tour to present the new cabin. By summer, all 767-300s operating on Europe-New York JFK routes will be refurbished with the "next-generation" business class and at year end the process should be completed on its entire fleet of 58 -300s, which in addition to transatlantic services are operated on select routes within the US and to Latin America.
Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste, the private Mexican airport operator known as ASUR, said yesterday that its board approved Chairman Fernando Chico Pardo's MXN56 ($5.2) per share offer to acquire 42.6% of ASUR's capital stock. Chico Pardo's stake in the operator of eight southeast Mexican airports including Cancun would rise to more than 50% with the purchase, giving him a controlling interest in the firm.
GKN Aerospace was selected by Aviation Partners Boeing to produce blended winglets for 767-300ERs and 737-300s/500s. The agreement covers the supply of up to 300 767-300ER and 200 737-300/-500 shipsets.
AerCap, the Dutch aircraft lessor, signed a firm order with Airbus yesterday for an additional 10 A330-200s valued at $1.6 billion, bringing to 30 the number of the type it has on order. "Since AerCap ordered 20 new [A330-200s] in December last year, we have already lined up customers for 13 out of the 20 aircraft," CEO Klaus Heinemann said. "The order for an additional 10 aircraft will help us to further expand our portfolio in the attractive market for modern, smaller widebody aircraft."
Northwest Airlines and China Airlines signed a cooperation agreement, to be implemented Aug. 1, that will include reciprocal frequent-flier benefits and lounge access as well as "one-stop check-in" for connecting passengers.
Pinnacle Airlines, a Northwest Airlines regional partner, will launch daily Minneapolis/St. Paul-Ottawa service from Aug. 1 aboard 50-seat CRJs. Northwest currently operates three daily Detroit-Ottawa flights.
CFM President Eric Bachelet reiterated his confidence that Pratt & Whitney's initiative to develop replacement parts for CFM56-3 engines will not affect its business. "We don't fear competition, we're used to it," he told ATWOnline. "We've [been] competing for 30 years and we're continuously adding value. We have invested $1.5 billion in upgrading the technology and customers know this." He also maintained that CFM is not interested in launching a similar initiative to produce replacement parts for its competitor's engines. "We are very clear: We will not do that," he said.
Embraer delivered the first of eight E-190s to Mandarin Airlines, its first to a Taiwanese carrier. The aircraft are being leased from GE Commercial Aviation Services and will replace F50s and F100s.
Icelandair Group signed a letter of intent Friday to acquire Travel Service, the largest private airline in the Czech Republic and owner of LCC Smart Wings. Travel Service operates charter flights to and from Prague and Budapest in addition to Smart Wings. Its revenue in 2006, when it carried more than 1.8 million passengers, totaled €190 million ($256.9 million). Its fleet comprises 12 737s. No acquisition price was released.
Iberia Group posted a first-quarter net profit of €12.2 million ($16.5 million), reversed from a €57.2 million loss in the year-ago period, owing to continued network restructuring and cost-cutting initiatives. Revenue rose 8.5% to €1.31 billion while costs increased 2.4% to €1.30 billion. Fuel expense, which represented 20% of total operating cost, lifted just 1.2% to €261 million. Fuel costs actually fell 1.4% in unit terms as the airline benefited from fuel consumption efficiency improvement associated with its fleet renewal.
Southwest Airlines said Friday it initially will serve three cities with 18 daily nonstop flights from San Francisco when it launches service there on Aug. 26. Destinations are Chicago Midway (thrice-daily), San Diego (eight-times-daily) and Las Vegas (seven-times-daily). It will offer direct or connecting service to 46 other destinations.
CFM International said its CFM56-7B and -5B Tech Insertion program is on track, noting that the first aircraft powered by the -7B engines with the feature, a 737-900ER, was delivered to Jakarta-based Lion Air at the end of last month. Entry into service of the CFM56-5B variant for A320 family aircraft is planned for the 2007 fourth quarter. "We expect the [Airbus] aircraft certification during the third quarter," confirmed Executive VP Francois Planaud at a briefing in Helsinki last week that focused on the OEM's commitment to produce environmentally friendly engines.
Boeing said three large 787 composite fuselage sections, one forward and two aft, arrived Friday at its Everett plant, where final assembly of the Dreamliner will take place. The all-composite forward section, 21 ft. in diameter and 42 ft. long, was manufactured by Spirit AeroSystems in Wichita. Its landing gear is installed. The two aft composite sections were manufactured and joined by Vought Aircraft Industries in Charleston, S.C. One section is 23 ft. long and 19 ft. in diameter while the other is 15 ft. long and 14 ft. in diameter. The sections were delivered via the Dreamlifter.
Terra Firma, a European private equity firm, added to its portfolio of operating lease companies with the purchase of San Francisco-based Pegasus Aviation Finance. Price was not disclosed. Sellers were investment funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management and Pegasus senior management. Last year, Terra Firma acquired AWAS from Morgan Stanley for $2.5 billion in cash plus the assumption of liabilities.
Jet Airways appointed Emmanuel Menu GM-Continental Europe. He replaces Abraham Joseph, who is relocating to Toronto to lead the airline's expansion into Canada.
Air Canada reported a first-quarter net loss of C$34 million ($30.7 million), narrowed from a net loss of C$126 million in the year-ago quarter, on a 5.9% increase in revenue to C$2.53 billion. President and CEO Montie Brewer, noting that the first quarter is "traditionally the industry's weakest period" and that fuel costs were high, called the results "solid" and pointed to year-over-year improvement. "Performance in the domestic market, in particular, excelled," he said.
Record revenue and the proceeds from the sale of its stakes in Singapore Aircraft Leasing Enterprise and the SIA Building helped carry Singapore Airlines Group to a stunning S$2.13 billion ($1.4 billion) profit for the fiscal year ended March 31, a 71.6% surge over the S$1.24 billion earned in the prior 12-month period.
Singapore Technologies Aerospace's SAS Component subsidiary was selected by Martinair to continue its support of the airline's six 767s under its material supply program for another three years in a deal valued at €18 million ($24.3 million). AJ Walter said Bulgarian charter carrier Air Via signed a power-by-the-hour contract covering an A320.
Swiss International Air Lines added the fifth new A320 to its fleet since autumn 2006 and completed its Airbus narrowbody fleet expansion. It now operates a total fleet of 74.
TAM reported first-quarter net income of BRL59.2 million ($29.2 million), down 53.3% from BRL126.7 million in the year-ago quarter, a drop mainly attributable to a 37.4% year-over-year increase in aircraft costs and a 40.9% rise in personnel expenses as the fast-growing Brazilian carrier continued to expand into the vacuum created by the near demise of Varig.
