Dramatic capacity increases and a "softening yield environment" resulted in another difficult quarter for India's Jet Airways, which reported a loss after tax of INR551 million ($12.1 million) in the second fiscal period ended Sept. 30 compared to a INR686 million profit in the year-ago quarter. Revenues rose 38% to INR18.2 billion, a figure boosted by the sale and leaseback of three 737s during the quarter that generated INR1.62 billion. EBITDAR plunged 90% to INR334 million.
Finnair and Finnish flight attendants' union SLSY failed to reach an agreement yesterday in their dispute over the recruitment of new cabin staff, resulting in a strike that began at 4 a.m. local time ( ATWOnline, Oct. 19).
Swiss International Air Lines will increase long-haul frequencies during the winter schedule with the addition of two A330-200s to its fleet. Zurich-Miami service will rise to daily from five-times-weekly. Santiago via Sao Paulo service will increase to six weekly flights from five and flights to Riyadh and Jeddah will be four-times-weekly instead of three.
Etihad Airways will commence thrice-weekly Abu Dhabi-Tehran flights on Dec. 2 aboard a 777-300ER. LTU German Airlines added two flights each weekday between Dusseldorf and Munich. JAT Airways will launch operations next month from its secondary hub Nis, the third-largest city in Serbia, to Zurich, Vienna, Frankfurt, Basel and Dusseldorf.
FedEx Express pilots represented by the Air Line Pilots Assn. approved the four-year labor agreement reached in September by a 94.6% to 5.4% vote, with 93.7% of eligible pilots casting a ballot, the carrier and union announced this week ( ATWOnline, Sept. 12).
China Southern Airlines signed a purchase agreement for six 777Fs, Boeing said yesterday, in a deal Chinese media said was worth $1.84 billion. Deliveries will begin in the fourth quarter of 2008. China Southern subsidiary Xiamen Airlines signed for six 737-800s to be delivered in 2010, according to press reports. The latter deal reportedly includes the cancellation of an order for three 787s.
Dragonair flew 583.2 million RPKs in September, an increase of 8.4% over the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 3.9% to 884.1 million ASKs and the number of passengers rose 9.4% to 455,585.
Mesaba Airlines got a reprieve of sorts late Tuesday when US Bankruptcy Court Judge Gregory Kishel delayed his decision on whether to allow employees to strike and deferred the permission he had granted the carrier the day before to impose new terms on its union workforce, ( ATWOnline, Oct. 18). The judge also barred creditors from attempting to liquidate the airline before his ruling, the Associated Press reported.
Ryanair's bid for Aer Lingus continues to create controversy in Ireland, with the latter's SIPTU workers demonstrating yesterday morning outside the lower house of the Irish parliament to emphasize their opposition to Ryanair's plans and call on the government to buy back EI shares in order to block the takeover.
Sabre Airline Solutions signed a $3.1 million, five-year deal with Air Italy to implement the SabreSonicPassenger Solutions suite of passenger management products covering reservations, check-in, ticketing and online booking. Air Italy, which is changing its business model from that of a charter airline to a scheduled operation, recently secured €30 million ($37.6 million) of capital expenditure funding.
The European Commission is upping its efforts to force Greece to reclaim some €161 million ($201.8 million) in illegal subsidies from Olympic Airways, adopting a decision requesting the European Court of Justice to fine the country. The EC ruled in 2002 that aid granted to Olympic between 1998 and 2002 was illegal. The ECJ confirmed last year that Greece failed to retrieve the money ( ATWOnline, April 27).
JetBlue Airways received approval to operate four daily flights at Chicago O'Hare, according to press reports ( ATWOnline, Oct. 13). The airline has yet to make an announcement or to negotiate a lease for terminal space at ORD, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Air One yesterday confirmed it offered to pay BGN5.3 million ($3.4 million) to purchase 99.99% of Bulgaria Air. Italy's second-largest airline also committed to invest €11.6 million ($14.5 million) in the Bulgarian carrier over a five-year period in addition to a €500 million fleet renewal if it wins the tender launched in June and approved in February ( ATWOnline, Feb. 6).
American Airlines parent AMR Corp. kicked off the fall financial reporting season yesterday with its announcement that it earned a net profit of $15 million in the third quarter, a reversal from a $153 million loss in the year-ago quarter but a figure reduced substantially by a $99 million noncash charge that reduced the book value of specific outstanding fuel hedge contracts.
Air Slovakia has been sold to Indian businessman Harjinder Singh Sidhu for an undisclosed price estimated to be around $30 million. Sidhu is the principal financier behind Golden City Aviation, a new company based in Vienna. Austrian media reported Golden City already has operated its first flight, a Vienna-Cologne service aboard an MD-83 belonging to Austrian charter company MAP.
Boeing said that Guggenheim Aviation Partners ordered four 747-8Fs, with an option for two more, on behalf of one of its investment funds. Deliveries will start in 2009.
Finnair said yesterday that it will be able to operate some domestic and European scheduled flights should a strike planned by the Finnish flight attendants union begin this morning ( ATWOnline, Oct. 18). The flights would run on irregular schedules. An MD-11 would be operated to London Heathrow and Paris Charles de Gaulle and smaller aircraft to Brussels, Stockholm Arlanda and Tallinn. No long-haul flights will be operated except for a cargo service to Beijing.
Adria Airways said it achieved a "small profit" in the nine-month period ended Sept. 30 as passenger numbers climbed 15% over the year-ago period to 811,132. LOT Polish Airlines should be set for an IPO by the end of 2007 or early 2008. The Polish government said last week that more details will be released when year-end 2006 financial figures become available, Polish news agency PAP reported.
Southwest Airlines is ready to "bring the Dallas/Fort Worth area into the 21st century of low-fare air travel" following President George Bush's signing of a law last week that will weaken and ultimately repeal the Wright Amendment ( ATWOnline, Oct. 17).
Pilots and other union employees at Mesaba Airlines were prepared to walk off the job just after midnight last night if the airline rejected its current negotiated agreements and imposed another round of pay cuts. A strike could put the bankrupt carrier out of business. Mesaba was in court late yesterday seeking an injunction against the work action. "We don't believe the unions have the right to strike," spokesperson Elizabeth Costello told ATWOnline. She said the company has continued trying to reach a consensual agreement.
Icelandair will launch new services from Keflavik to Bergen (thrice-weekly), Gothenburg (twice-weekly) and Halifax (thrice-weekly) next spring and will increase frequencies to Paris Charles de Gaulle, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Helsinki, Boston and New York JFK. It will discontinue its San Francisco service today. By spring it will offer 150 weekly flights from KEF, a 17% increase over the 2006 schedule.
Tiger Airways ordered eight more A320s, which will build its fleet to 20 by 2010. The $500 million deal was signed yesterday and the first four aircraft will be delivered in 2008 with the balance in the following two years. Tiger has seven A320s in service with two more arriving this year and three in 2007. CEO Tony Davis told reporters that passenger numbers increased by more than 70% in the first six months of the current fiscal year. The LCC serves 15 cities in seven countries.
Frontier Airlines, which recently announced it will launch a new Regional subsidiary, issued an RFP to smaller communities seeking air service within a 1,200-mi. radius of its Denver hub. Frontier, which ended its codeshare agreement with Horizon Air in September, has ordered 10 Q400 turboprops to start its own Regional operation expected to launch in mid-2007 ( ATWOnline, Sept. 21).
