Anchored by Airbus's negative EBIT of €69 million ($93.4 million), parent EADS reported a €10 million net loss in the first quarter, reversed from a profit of €522 million in the year-ago period.
China Eastern Airlines stock continued to soar yesterday as widespread speculation continued that Singapore Airlines is on the verge of taking a significant stake in the carrier despite CEA's insistence that concluding any deal requires more time. In the statement, CEA refused to offer details about any negotiations with SIA, the most probable strategic investor ( ATWOnline, April 30).
Air Transport Assn. is seeking the assistance of the White House in a dispute with the Dept. of Homeland Security over the collection of biometric information on non-US citizens. Currently, DHS requires foreign visitors to submit to fingerprinting when they arrive in the US. Now it intends to mandate fingerprinting when visitors leave the country as well. However, in a decision Air Transport Assn.
Calling the move "a natural evolution of our leadership structure," JetBlue Airways founder David Neeleman yesterday yielded the CEO position to long-time President Dave Barger, who will retain that title while working to guide the New York-based LCC through highly publicized operational and financial turbulence. Neeleman will remain chairman, a role he took in 2002. "I will focus on developing JetBlue's long-term vision and strategy, and how we can continue to be a preferred product in a commodity business," he said in a statement issued yesterday.
Aeroflot this week confirmed that it achieved a RUB7.98 billion ($309.4 million) profit in 2006, a figure nearly identical to a third revision reported last month ( ATWOnline, April 19) and representing a 32.3% increase from 2005 earnings of RUB6.03 billion. "Reliability of annual financial statements is confirmed by the conclusions of the auditing commission and corporate auditor," SU said. Revenue rose 13.5% to RUB71.35 billion on an 8.7% gain in passenger numbers to 7.3 million.
International Federation of Air Line Pilots Assns. said it was "outraged" to learn Brazil's Polícia Federal recommended prosecution of Joseph Lepore and Jan Paladino, the pilots of the Embraer Legacy that collided with a Gol 737-800 last September ( ATWOnline, Feb. 21). Charges would be brought under section 261 of the Brazilian Penal Code "for placing a vessel or aircraft in jeopardy," according to IFALPA.
A second fiscal quarter rife with operational difficulties resulted in a $24 million net loss for Mesa Air Group compared to a $5.3 million profit in the first three months of 2006. The company blamed weather, air traffic control problems and operations on behalf of United Airlines that were cancelled or significantly delayed. It also cited low yields and lower-than-expected revenue at its Hawaiian subsidiary go!. "We are clearly not happy with this report," Chairman and CEO Jonathan Ornstein said. "We know we are below Street expectations."
Norwegian will launch twice-weekly Warsaw-Munich, four-times-weekly Warsaw-Stavanger and twice-weekly Szczecin-Oslo Gardermoen flights at the end of October. WAW-Copenhagen flights will become daily on Aug. 31.
Jet Airways CEO Wolfgang Prock Schauer told ATWOnline that the Indian carrier has ordered three more 777-300ERs. "We hold options for ten 777-300ERs. We just transformed three [options] into firm orders," he said. No delivery details were given. Jet is taking delivery of the 10 -300ERs ordered in 2005 through the end of next year. Ten A330-300s also will join the fleet during the same period.
Lufthansa flew 9.6 billion RPKs in April, up 6.2% on the year-ago month. Capacity rose 5% to 12.72 billion ASKs and load factor improved 0.9 point to 75.5%.
KLM launched a trial on long-haul routes to Singapore, Manila and Curacao to charge passengers for seats with more legroom or on an exit row, Reuters reported. The charge is €50 ($67.71) per "extra," the airline said.
Airbus completed painting on Singapore Airlines' first A380 last week in Hamburg. Painting took 21 days. Delivery of the aircraft is scheduled for October.
ExpressJet Holdings' net income for the first quarter ended March 31 plunged 57.2% to $10.2 million from $23.7 million in the year-ago period as an ongoing contract dispute with regional partner Continental Airlines, higher pilot training costs and expenses related to transitioning 36 aircraft from its capacity purchase agreement with CO dragged on the bottom line.
American Airlines plans to maintain a low-to-negative growth strategy for the foreseeable future even as it accelerates deliveries of 737-800s to replace its MD-80 fleet ( ATWOnline, March 29). "It's very much about replacement, not growth," VP-Corporate Development and Treasury Beverly Goulet said yesterday at the Bear Stearns 2007 Global Transportation Conference, available via webcast.
BAA announced the sale of Budapest Airport to a consortium led by Hochtief Airport for £1.31 billion ( ATWOnline, Oct. 23, 2006). The UK airports operator said the decision was driven by parent company Ferrovial's desire to focus on its seven home airports. The sale is expected to be complete at the end of this month. Leeds Bradford International Airport has been sold to Bridgepoint, a private equity firm, for £145.5 million ($289.9 million) following a decision by West Yorkshire officials.
Ryanair yesterday said that "from today, all of Ryanair's fares will be quoted inclusive of taxes" in conjunction with a seat sale that includes a promise to pay passengers double the difference between a Ryanair fare and a cheaper fare on the same route operated by a competing carrier. The LCC transported 4.1 million passengers in April, up 19% from the year-ago month. Load factor fell 2 points to 83%.
Libyan government said it will invest $1.2 billion to modernize the fleets of its two national carriers, Libyan Airlines and Afriqiyah Airways. According to the Arab Air Carriers Organization, Libyan officials plan to buy up to 12 Airbus aircraft and remain in negotiations with Boeing.
Northwest Airlines said yesterday that preliminary results indicate 96.9% of its creditors, comprising 98.4% of the dollar value of claims, voted to approve its plan of reorganization, clearing the way for the carrier's emergence from bankruptcy next month. Final voting results will be filed this week with the US Bankruptcy Court, which will hold a confirmation hearing May 16.
British Airways flew 9.46 billion RPKs in April, down 2.2% from the year-ago month. Capacity was up 0.5% to 12.3 billion ASKs, dropping load factor 2.1 points to 76.9%. Continental Airlines flew 7.85 billion consolidated RPMs in April, up 4.8% on the year-ago month. Capacity rose 5% to 9.54 billion ASMs, dropping load factor 0.2 point to 82.3%. Domestic traffic grew 5.2% against a 5.8% climb in capacity that cut load factor 0.4 point to 85.5%. International RPMs lifted 6.3%, capacity was up 6.1% and load factor rose 0.1 point to 79.6%.
TAM and LAN yesterday announced agreement on a formalized business alliance for services in South America, to be implemented "within the next months," that apparently will include codesharing, linking loyalty programs and lounge sharing. "TAM will expand its flight [offerings] in South America to include a more complete and diversified network for its passengers. In addition, clients of LAN Alliance companies will enjoy the ease of traveling routes operated by TAM and TAM Mercosur, with multiple hours and frequency options," the companies said.
EasyJet yesterday reported a narrowing of its pre-tax loss for the six months ended March 31 to £17 million ($33.9 million) from £40 million in the year-ago semester and confirmed it expects full-year pre-tax earnings to increase 40%-50% over the previous year's £94.1 million.
A significantly improved operating result helped Japan Airlines Corp. narrow its net loss for the fiscal year ended March 31 to ¥16.2 billion ($135.1 million) from ¥47.2 billion in the prior year, although the bottom line was hurt by the removal of a ¥54.4 billion deferred tax asset from the balance sheet and an extraordinary loss of ¥6 billion from a special early retirement program launched in March.
Emirates is focused on simplification and fuel efficiency as it enters the final lap of what will be a major fleet expansion program taking it to 2020. On the shopping list are more 777s, A350-900s/-1000s, 787s and 747-8Is. President Tim Clark told ATWOnline prior to his trip to Seattle this weekend that the airline is "focused on fuel efficiency" even if it means a slight drop in capability.
