SAS reportedly is taking action following last week's three-day wildcat strike by cabin crew ( ATWOnline, April 30), downgrading its Copenhagen operation and using Swedish and Norwegian crews to handle intra-Scandinavian flights, according to press reports. Danish employees may be fired and jobs added in Oslo and Stockholm "because staff there show more commitment to their jobs," CEO Mats Jannson was quoted as saying.
Air France launched a fifth weekly Paris Charles de Gaulle-New York JFK flight aboard an A330. Service will become daily on June 4. Separately, AF KLM flew 17 billion RPKs in April, a 3.1% increase from the year-ago month. Capacity was up 4.1% to 20.67 billion ASKs, dropping load factor 0.8 point to 82.3%.
Finnair's fortunes are rising in the east, where a 40.6% increase in revenue from its Asian services was among several factors contributing to a €9.3 million ($12.6 million) first-quarter profit, which reversed a €4 million loss suffered in the year-ago period. "Demand is now strong both in Asian traffic and on European routes, and our market share in Europe-Asia traffic is growing," President and CEO Jukka Hienonen said. "Development of unit revenues in all types of traffic is positive and unit costs are decreasing, so profitability is improving."
GE Aviation announced Friday that it completed the $4.8 billion all-cash acquisition of Smiths Aerospace, giving the engine-maker its long-sought role in aviation components and systems ( ATWOnline, Jan. 17). GE's proposed merger with Honeywell was blocked by EU regulators in 2001. Smiths supplies flight management systems, electrical power management, mechanical actuation systems and airborne platform computing systems.
Aloha Airlines has found a powerful partner in its effort to survive the inter-island fare war launched last year by Mesa Air Group's go!, agreeing to transfer a minority equity stake to United Airlines as part of an expanded partnership announced Friday. The size of the stake was not announced, but the companies did say that it "could expand over time." UA, which did not pay cash for the stake, also will take a seat on the nine-member Aloha board, the chairman of which is former Continental Airlines Chairman and CEO Gordon Bethune.
Northwest Airlines flew 6.52 billion consolidated RPMs in April, a 0.1% decline from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 0.5% to 7.8 billion ASMs and load factor fell 0.5 point to 83.7%. Domestic traffic lifted 0.8%, capacity climbed 0.7% and load factor remained at 84.3%. International traffic grew 0.9%, capacity was up 2.8% and load factor was down 1.6 points to 84.3%. AirTran Airways flew 1.43 billion RPMs in April, up 18.5% on the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 21.5% to 1.86 billion ASMs, dropping load factor 2 points to 76.8%.
The Qantas board announced Sunday that the five-month, A$11.1 billion ($9.11 billion) takeover bid by Airline Partners Australia had failed despite a weekend of frantic appeals by the consortium to Australian regulators.
The European Commission extended its investigation into Ryanair's proposed acquisition of Aer Lingus Group by another 15 working days to July 4 from June 13, itself an extension from the original deadline of May 11 ( ATWOnline, Feb. 23). The extension followed Ryanair's submission of new commitments to address competition concerns raised by the European regulator. An EC spokesperson confirmed that the LCC offered extra remedies.
Boeing recorded another strong week last week with orders for 51 more 737s. Two were for Boeing Business Jets and 49 were unidentified. During the week, previously unidentified 737s were announced by Copa Airlines ( ATWOnline, May 3). The new orders take this year's tally to 315 net of cancellations, of which 130 are unidentified: 56 737s, six 747s, three 767s, 21 777s and 44 787s.
Malev Hungarian Airlines announced last week that its sale to AirBridge, a consortium led by KrasAir CEO Boris Abramovich, was completed with the transfer of shares from the Hungarian government ( ATWOnline, Feb. 27). The transaction includes AirBridge's assumption of Malev's loans and is part of the consortium's €102 million ($138.6 million) investment in the carrier.
United Airlines last week announced an expansion of its long-haul network with new flights to Hong Kong and Brazil starting in October. New services are Los Angeles-HKG aboard three-class 747s and seasonal Washington Dulles-Rio de Janeiro Galeao aboard three-class 767s. Qatar Airways confirmed that its US service will begin July 19 with flights to Washington Dulles (frequency not announced). It will launch four-times-weekly Doha-Geneva-Newark service on June 28. It also announced the addition of an eighth daily Doha-Dubai flight.
Airbus workers at two French plants temporarily walked off the job last week over the company's proposal for worker bonuses that one union leader called "shocking." Airbus and parent EADS executives, meanwhile, reportedly got a hostile reception during an EADS shareholder meeting Friday, with shareholders shouting at them about Airbus's financial troubles as they made presentations on the manufacturer's restructuring program.
American Airlines pilots, represented by the Allied Pilots Assn., last week presented a proposal to management asking for a 30.5% pay rate increase on the date a new labor agreement is signed retroactive to May 1, 2008, a 15% signing bonus and 5% annual raises in following years. APA President Ralph Hunter said other stakeholders "have already recovered their investment in our airline's turnaround. .
Austria's regional market is getting two new carriers and losing another. Robin Hood Aviation will launch 10-times-weekly Graz-Zurich service May 29 using Saab 340s and said it has two more of the type on order. Another new regional, Salzburg-based Austrojet, said it will take delivery of its first aircraft, a Dash 8-300, this month. Meanwhile, startup Smartline ceased operations after just three weeks. It operated flights between St. Gallen/Altenrhein and Monchengladbach with Beech 1900s.
US Senate Aviation Subcommittee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) proposed FAA reauthorization legislation last week that emphasizes air traffic control modernization and would force general/corporate aviation to fund a greater share of system costs. The bill, co-sponsored by Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.), proposes a $25-per-flight surcharge on all system users with the exception of piston-engine aircraft, turboprops operating under visual flight rules, military and other public aircraft, air ambulance aircraft and noncommercial aircraft owned by foreign governments.
Australian government ruled out granting transpacific access to Singapore Airlines for "some time." An SIA spokesperson used the latest quarterly figures from IATA showing demand outstripping supply to highlight the need for additional capacity, but a spokesperson for Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Transport Mark Vaile told media that Virgin Blue's recent order for seven 777-300ERs would help alleviate demand from next year ( ATWOnline, March 22).
Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines yesterday expanded their codeshare arrangement covering each airline's Munich-Istanbul and Munich-Ankara services and LH's MUC-Izmir flights. THY will operate out of MUC's Terminal 2 in a joint venture with the German carrier. Effective with the winter schedule, THY will place its code on more than a dozen LH services to the US and LH will do likewise on THY flights to the Middle East, CIS countries and within Turkey.
Hawaiian Airlines parent Hawaiian Holdings reported a first-quarter net loss of $11.9 million, narrowed from a net loss of $12.3 million in the year-ago quarter, as it continued to face stiff competition both on flights to the US mainland and on inter-island routes.
Airline Partners Australia's five-month race to acquire Qantas will reach the finish line today at 4 p.m. Australian Eastern Time, by which time the consortium must have 50% acceptance ( ATWOnline, May 1). It has gained some ground, announcing yesterday that it has secured 32.96%, up from just 25.94% 24 hr. earlier, while its voting power has risen to 27.78% from 17.63%.
SAS reported a net loss of SEK47 million ($7 million) for the first quarter ended March 31, a significant narrowing from the SEK1.06 billion loss suffered in the first three months of 2006.
New entrants in Australia and New Zealand, including Tiger Airways' foray into the market, are triggering a wave of deep discounting, according to the Sydney-based Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation. Qantas subsidiary Jetstar Airways, which celebrated its third anniversary yesterday, had 130,000 seats for sale with companion fares as low as A$2.50 ($2.06) on many domestic, transtasman and international routes.
AiRUnion, the alliance of Russian carriers KrasAir, Domodedovo Airlines, Sibaviatrans, Samara Airlines and Omskavia, received final approval from the government and President Vladimir Putin Wednesday to complete the merger, which should take place within six months and would be the biggest of its kind in Russia ( ATWOnline, Feb. 26). Interfax reported that the government intends to hold at least 45% of the new company.
