European Commission cleared KarstadtQuelle's acquisition of Lufthansa's 50% share in Thomas Cook. The German retailer, which already owned 50%, reached agreement with Lufthansa to buy its stake for €800 million ($1.07 billion) in December ( ATWOnline, Dec. 25, 2006). LH will raise its stake in Condor Airlines from 10% to 24.9% as part of the deal.
United Airlines yesterday launched its daily Washington Dulles-Beijing service aboard a 347-seat 747-400 ( ATWOnline, Jan. 10). Air Midwest launched a six-times-weekly Las Vegas-Cedar City-Farmington service operated as US Airways Express. The Las Vegas-Cedar City segment doubles the frequency on that route. Spirit Airlines will operate daily Las Vegas-Atlantic City flights from May 3.
Air Canada President and CEO Montie Brewer said 48% of customers in the 2006 fourth quarter "willingly bought a higher fare" when purchasing tickets through AC's Web-based branded fare domestic pricing structure ( ATW, February 2007). Speaking yesterday at the National Bank Financial Transportation and Logistics Conference in Toronto, available via webcast, Brewer added that 25% of customers buying the lowest fare purchased an additional amenity. "We've found that customers will buy up," he said.
Delta Air Lines, which plans to exit bankruptcy at the end of next month ( ATWOnline, March 28), yesterday announced its application to list its new common stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DAL.
Sensis said Continental Airlines has subscribed to its Aerobahn Service of Web-based tools to monitor and manage taxiway and ramp traffic at Houston Intercontinental.
American Airlines yesterday said it will expedite both the delivery of the 47 737-800s it has on order and the replacement of a portion of its MD-80 fleet. It will take three aircraft in early 2009 that originally were scheduled to arrive in 2016 and "intends to continue pulling forward deliveries" from the current 2013-16 timeframe to 2009-12. It said it hopes to improve the entire fleet's fuel efficiency by more than 20% by 2020.
Bombardier Aerospace enjoyed a 21.1% increase in operating profit to $322 million for the fiscal year ended Jan. 31 thanks to robust sales of business aircraft and a renewed interest in turboprops. The parent company's net profit of $268 million represented a 7.6% rise over the $249 million earned in the previous 12-month period. Full-year revenue at Bombardier Aerospace rose 1.8% to $8.23 billion owing to the strength of the market for business jets, although revenue from regional aircraft fell 21.1% to $2.12 billion.
Shenzhen Airlines posted a record profit of CNY360 million ($46.5 million) in 2006, more than triple the previous year's result, on a 40.1% lift in operating revenue to CNY6.45billion.
Aviation Communication & Surveillance Systems told ATWOnline it will push US FAA to include "other aircraft" on GPS moving map displays of runways and taxiways that the agency said likely will be available for cockpit retrofits following a fast-track certification later this year.
JetWorks Leasing announced the sale of a 767-300ER on lease to LAN Airlines by BTMU Capital and HSH Nordbank to a fund managed by Guggenheim Aviation Partners and a 737-300 on lease to Pluna by PLM Financial Services to Deutsche Bank Equipment Leasing.
Gol reached an agreement yesterday to acquire Varig from VarigLog and Volo, the controlling shareholders of the airline that was Brazil's market leader before hitting hard financial times in recent years and barely surviving bankruptcy last summer.
Pratt & Whitney expects to be able to bring its proposed Geared Turbofan single-aisle engine to market by 2012, with a 12% improvement in fuel burn compared with today's narrowbody engines, a 20%-25% reduction in noise (dBs) and a 70% reduction in NOx emissions versus CAEP 2, President Steven Finger said yesterday at the company's media day in Hartford, Conn.
Boeing yesterday announced an order for one 787-8 plus one purchase right from Czech charter carrier Travel Service, which also owns LCC Smart Wings. The firm aircraft is list priced at $153 million. TS operates a fleet of 10 737s and has two 737-900ERs on order.
Royal Jordanian officially joined oneworld yesterday, becoming the first Middle East carrier to enter an alliance and oneworld's first new member in six years. Yesterday's ceremony in Amman marked the start of a significant expansion for the alliance that also will include Japan Airlines, Malev Hungarian Airlines, Dragonair, LAN Argentina and LAN Ecuador. Aer Lingus will leave the grouping next month.
US Airways named former American Eagle and Polar Air Cargo President Robert Martens as senior VP and president of US Airways Express. Martens, 61, will have direct oversight of US's Piedmont Airlines and PSA Airlines subsidiaries.
Seven months after solidifying its position in Germany with the purchase of dba, Air Berlin established itself as the fourth-largest carrier in Europe with the acquisition of leisure carrier LTU, for which it will pay €140 million. The deal, which is subject to approval from competition authorities, was signed Monday evening and includes a provision requiring Air Berlin to assume €200 million in LTU debts.
Islas Airways of the Canary Islands signed an agreement with ATR for six ATR 72-500s worth approximately $110 million. The carrier, which currently operates five ATRs, will take delivery of two aircraft this year, two in 2008 and two in 2009.
In touting its restructuring at yesterday's Investor Day in Atlanta, Delta Air Lines said it expects to be profitable in its first year following emergence from bankruptcy protection, that it has succeeded in delivering on the "three pillars" of its transformation plan and that it remains interested in selling certain assets, including regional subsidiary Comair.
Harmony Airways of Canada announced suspension of its scheduled services. It will fly to Toronto for the last time on March 30 and cease all other flights by April 9. Launched in 2002 and based in Vancouver, the full-service airline operates 757s to six Canadian cities, five Hawaiian destinations, Las Vegas and Palm Springs. It reportedly is exploring continuing to fly as a charter or ACMI provider. "Harmony has always been committed to providing the best inflight service in Canada and we apologize for the inconvenience this causes," it said on its website.
Talk of a possible bid for Iberia continued to soar in the wake of last week's approval of the EU-US open skies agreement, with Texas Pacific Group--a member of Airline Partners Australia and among those shortlisted to bid for Alitalia--added to the list of potential suitors that already includes British Airways, Lufthansa and an unnamed Spanish investment fund.
Assn. of European Airlines members flew 736.94 billion RPKs in 2006, up 5.2% from the previous year. Capacity climbed 4.4% to 963.48 billion ASKs and load factor rose 0.6 point to 76.5%. Passenger numbers were ahead 4.5% to 343.6 million. Among 30 members, Spanair enjoyed the largest RPK increase at 20.6%, followed by THY Turkish Airlines at 20%. THY's 25% capacity increase was by far the largest. Adria Airways' 4.5-point improvement in load factor to 63.7% was the organization's biggest. Highest load factor overall was 83.7% at KLM.
Garuda Indonesia yesterday confirmed its widely reported order for 25 737-800s ( ATWOnline, March 27), saying on its website that it will take delivery of eight aircraft in the May-December 2009 period, 10 in 2010, five in the final five months of 2011 and a pair in the first two months of 2012. Boeing did not confirm the order. Garuda also confirmed it will begin taking delivery of 10 787-8s in 2011 ( ATWOnline, Sept. 20, 2005).
