Air France KLM Group expects to decide on Wednesday whether it will launch a new carrier focusing on the medium-haul leisure market. The startup would be modeled on its Amsterdam-based transavia.com subsidiary, which offers a mixture of charter and scheduled low-fare flights, and would be based at Paris Orly South. It would operate a fleet of 186-seat 737-800s to a selection of popular tourist destinations such as Morocco, Tunisia and Spain.
Aeromexico signed an MOU with GE for purchase of GEnx engines to power the two 787-8 orders confirmed last week ( ATWOnline, Nov. 15). The deal, which includes an OnPoint Solutions MRO agreement, is valued at more than $100 million.
Southwest Airlines yesterday unveiled 33 new nonstop flights across 26 city-pairs. From March 11 it will launch thrice-daily Baltimore/Washington-Pittsburgh, twice-daily Dallas Love Field-Birmingham, twice-daily San Diego-Reno/Tahoe and twice-daily Cleveland-Orlando service along with additional daily frequencies across 18 city-pairs. It also will add frequencies from Chicago Midway on March 17 and April 15. Separately, SWA's board authorized a new share repurchase program to acquire up to $400 million of the company's common stock, or approximately 25.1 million shares.
Finnair Technical Services and LOT Polish Airlines signed an agreement for the overhaul of eight ATR 72 landing gear sets on aircraft operated by the carrier's EuroLOT subsidiary.
Regional Express Holdings, which operates as Rex, posted a A$5.7 million profit in the first fiscal quarter, up 46% from the year-ago period, and raised its FY forecast to a 20% year-over-year increase in net profit. First-quarter passenger numbers grew 20%, load factor rose 3 points to 68% and passenger revenue surged 22.3%. Costs climbed 8.5%.
EVA Air will launch thrice-weekly Taipei-Mumbai service on Dec. 10 aboard 747-400s. EasyJet will fly Munich-Edinburgh daily starting April 4. Virgin Atlantic Airways yesterday launched weekly Manchester-St. Lucia service aboard a 747-400. SAS Sweden will start service from Stockholm Arlanda to Munich (five-times-daily from Feb. 12), Palma de Mallorca (weekly from March 31), Malaga (thrice-weekly from April 28), Glasgow (twice-weekly from April 16) and Reykjavik on April 27.
TAP Maintenance & Engineering is working to become a significant third-party player in South America following its acquisition of VEM-Varig Engineering and Maintenance earlier this year ( ATWOnline, Oct. 4). TAP, which led the consortium that purchased the Brazilian company, invested €20 million in the recently renamed VEM Maintenance & Engineering, in which it holds a 51.1% stake.
Lufthansa Systems said Asiana Airlines selected the Lido Operations Center and Lido Briefing solutions in a five-year deal to support its flight planning processes. The agreement extends the existing cooperation between Asiana and LHS covering revenue accounting and MRO management.
Net income for the 17 member airlines of the Assn. of Asia Pacific Airlines plummeted 69% to $1.2 billion for the 2005-06 fiscal year against an increase of 11.3%, 2.3 points above the global average, in operating revenue to $68.1 billion. Meanwhile, operating costs surged 15.9%, 7 points above the global average. The main culprit was fuel costs, which jumped 43% to $18.8 billion.
TAM, already the largest Airbus operator in Latin America, signed a contract for 12 A319s, 16 A320s, three A321s and six A330s that brings the number of A320 family aircraft on firm order to 56. It also took 12 options. The deal finalizes an MOU signed in June ( ATWOnline, June 29). TAM currently operates 14 A319s, 48 A320s and 10 A330-200s.
US Airways' bid to acquire bankrupt Delta Air Lines raises questions about the future of the regional airlines that have service agreements with the mainline carriers and compete on a number of routes.
US Airways and America West Airlines pilot groups, represented by the Air Line Pilots Assn., conducted informational picketing yesterday in Charlotte and Phoenix, upset that the company is looking to acquire Delta Air Lines even though it "has yet to complete the integration of the pilot groups that is required" by terms of last year's US/AWA merger. "So far, the company's empty promises have failed to capture all the synergies that just the US Airways/America West merger can provide," US Airways ALPA MEC Chairman Jack Stephan said.
The US airline industry is taking stock of US Airways Group's $8 billion takeover bid for bankrupt Delta Air Lines ( ATWOnline, Nov. 16), a deal that would reshape the landscape of the world's largest commercial aviation market but must overcome significant hurdles before coming to fruition.
Iberia flew 4.65 billion RPKs in October, a 4.4% rise from the year-ago month. ASKs climbed 1.4% to 5.63 billion, lifting load factor 2.3 points to an October-record 82.6%.
US Airways Group continued its one-airline assault on the US airline market structure with an $8 billion bid to merge with Delta Air Lines as part of that carrier's bankruptcy restructuring. The bid comes as US and America West Airlines continue their own integration into a single airline after America West acquired US Airways Group out of bankruptcy in 2005.
Delta Air Lines was scheduled to operate its first New York JFK-London Gatwick flight at 7:05 p.m. last night. DL purchased the route right from United Airlines over the summer ( ATWOnline, July 31) and now serves 21 transatlantic destinations from JFK. It will add a second daily flight on April 1. DL also announced it will launch weekly Atlanta-Tobago Crown Point service on Feb. 17 aboard a 737-800. In addition, it will expand its codeshare relationship with KLM from Dec.
SAS Group airlines flew 3.57 billion RPKs in October, a 5.1% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity was up 6.7% to 4.96 billion ASKs, dropping load factor 1.1 points to 71.9%. SAS Scandinavian Airlines flew 2.54 billion RPKs, a 2.2% decline, against a 0.3% increase in ASKs to 3.42 billion. Load factor fell 1.9 points to 74.3%. Spanair flew 683 million RPKs in October, up 23.9% from the year-ago month. ASKs rose 19.3% to 987 million and load factor climbed 2.6 points to 69.2%.
Copa Holdings, parent of Panama's Copa Airlines and Colombia's AeroRepublica, posted third-quarter net income of $37.2 million, widened 34.6% from a $27.7 million profit in the year-ago quarter, on a 29.6% jump in revenues to $230.6 million. The growing company said the quarter was its best ever in terms of earnings. Copa Airlines added five new destinations in the quarter and plans to launch Panama City-Rio de Janeiro service next month. It will take delivery of two Embraer 190s before year end, bringing its fleet to 30 aircraft.
Comair flight attendants, represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, ratified a four-year agreement reached last month that includes a pay cut (7.5%, according to the Associated Press), increases job security and caps health insurance payments at the bankrupt Regional subsidiary of Delta Air Lines ( ATWOnline, Oct. 17). "With this vote our members have shown they are ready to move forward," said Connie Slayback, a Comair flight attendant who is president of Teamsters Local 513.
AirTran Airways and Frontier Airlines have linked their loyalty programs and created a phone/Web-based referral system that will make both networks available to customers of either airline, a move the pair called a "landmark marketing partnership between low-cost carriers."
Fons Eignarhaldsfelag investment firm of Iceland, which owns Iceland Express, has acquired a 51% stake in the UK's Astraeus for £5 million. Astraeus operates four 757s and two 737-700s and is based at London Gatwick and Manchester International. Its board will be restructured, with a supervisory board comprising two representatives from Fons, one from Astraeus management and one from minority shareholder Aberdeen Asset Management. Fons said Astraeus's revenue for the fiscal year ended Oct.
Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte, the Mexican airports operator known as OMA, yesterday filed a registration statement with the US SEC for a proposed IPO it believes will raise $300-$345 million. OMA operates airports in Monterrey, Acapulco, Mazatlan and Zihuatanejo as well as nine other regional facilities. The IPO is intended to complete the Mexican government's privatization of OMA that began in 2000.
British Airways will meet with unions today regarding its latest offer to tackle the £2.1 billion deficit of its New Airways Pension Scheme, which has 33,794 active members. BA said yesterday that NAPS trustees have accepted the terms of the 10-year funding plan, which includes a one-off cash injection of £800 million. This is £300 million more than its original proposal ( ATWOnline, Oct. 2) but less than the GMB union's call for £1 billion.
Apple announced this week that it is partnering with Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Emirates, KLM, United Airlines and Air France to enable passengers traveling with iPods to draw electrical power for the devices from onboard systems and permit iPod video content to be transmitted to seatback screens for playback. Apple said the service will be available by the middle of next year, but AF yesterday refuted the claim that connectivity soon will be installed on its aircraft.
Embraer delivered 13 fewer commercial aircraft in the third quarter than in the year-ago period and saw net income for the three months ended Sept. 30 fall 45.5% to $61.4 million compared to $110.2 million last year on a 16% drop in revenues to $894.1 million. The Brazilian manufacturer admitted to "difficulties with the production ramp-up of the Embraer 190 and Embraer 195 aircraft," citing problems resulting from "wing assembly and supply chain delays." Consequently, it lowered its full-year forecast for aircraft deliveries from 145 to 135.
