United Airlines yesterday said it applied to operate daily nonstop Washington Dulles-Beijing service beginning in March aboard 747s. It currently operates four daily flights between the countries and announced plans to add 40 weekly transpacific flights following its decision to sell New York JFK-London rights to Delta Air Lines ( ATWOnline, July 31) and transfer its JFK-Tokyo Narita route to IAD starting Oct. 28. Washington is the largest US market without nonstop service to China.
AirAsia secured a $230 million loan to be used to finance the acquisition of six A320s, according to press reports citing Deputy CEO Kamarudin Meranum. The carrier increased its commitment to the type last month with an order for 40 firm and 30 options ( ATWOnline, July 20). The loan was arranged largely by Kuwait Finance House and adheres to Islamic financing principles. AirAsia will lease the aircraft from the lender for 12 years, at which time it will purchase them.
Dragonair flew an all-time record 519,449 passengers in July but said its "bottom line continued to suffer" due to high fuel costs and low yields, which are expected to continue. "The low yields are the result of a more competitive market due to airlines putting on more capacity, both passenger and all-cargo, on China Mainland routes," CEO Stanley Hui said. Dragonair flew 666.6 million RPKs in July, up 14.5% over the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 3.7% to 929.5 million ASKs. Iberia flew 4.63 billion RPKs in July, up 0.6% from the year-ago month.
AeroRepublica signed a lease agreement with GECAS for two Embraer 190s for delivery next year. The carrier now has commitments for seven of the type, plus options and purchase rights for an additional 20 through 2011.
Regional Express Airlines of Australia said it has "fast tracked" merger discussions with Sunshine Express Airlines. Under the proposed transaction, all Sunshine shares will be transferred to Rex "for a nominal consideration." Rex MD Geoff Breust said the deal is in line with its "mission of connecting regional Australia" but cautioned that Sunshine is in a tenuous position and likely won't survive absent the proposed merger.
Jet Airways and Air Sahara planned merger, which collapsed in June ( ATWOnline, June 30), appears to be back on the runway, according to India's Economic Times. The newspaper reported that sources at both airlines maintain the deal is making progress. The carriers have sparred in court over the fate of a INR5 billion ($107.2 million) escrow account tied to Jet's aborted acquisition of its rival.
FL Group, the Reykjavik-based parent of Icelandair Group, Sterling Airlines and other aviation and tourism businesses, yesterday reported a second-quarter net profit of just ISK118 million ($1.7 million), narrowed from a profit of ISK1.9 billion in the year-ago period.
Delta Air Lines will add 16 new routes from Los Angeles to 11 Latin American cities, the majority of them in Mexico, and five US destinations during the winter schedule. Flights will be operated with a mix of 737-800s and 50- and 70-seat CRJs flown by Atlantic Southeast Airlines. New service begins in December with flights to La Paz, Liberia in Costa Rica and Las Vegas. By March 8, DL will begin serving Acapulco, Loreto, Mazatlan, Culiacan, Manzanillo, Zacatecas, Hermosillo and Torreon, plus Guatemala City, San Francisco, Sacramento, Oakland and San Jose.
US Joint Planning and Development Office, the multiagency body charged with developing the Next Generation Air Transportation System, will be headed by Charles Leader, formerly of Hughes Aircraft, the Dept. of Transportation announced.
Embraer reported net income of $139.1 million for the second quarter, a 67.7% increase over the $82.9 million earned during the same period a year ago. Net sales for the three months to June 30 were $1.02 billion compared to $812.4 million in the year-ago quarter. The company reported a firm order backlog valued at $10.2 billion, a little more than 12% of which represented executive aviation business. The Brazilian manufacturer delivered 36 jets during the quarter comprising 30 commercial aircraft, five Legacy 600s and one 190 for government use.
UAL Corp., parent of United Airlines, named former VP and Treasurer Kathryn Mikells as VP-financial planning and analysis replacing Amos Kazzaz, who becomes VP-cost management. Mikells will be replaced by Stephen Lieberman, formerly of General Motors.
Guangzhou Aircraft Maintenance Engineering, a joint venture between China Southern Airlines and Hutchinson Whampoa, became the 15th member of the Airbus MRO Network.
ABX Air last week reported second-quarter net income of $6.5 million, down slightly from $6.8 million in the year-ago quarter, on a 13.6% decline in revenues to $303.6 million. The cargo carrier attributed much of the revenue drop to the May 1 transfer of its line-haul truck operations to DHL, the express delivery giant for which ABX provides US air service. DHL still accounts for the vast majority of ABX's business, but non-DHL charter operations did generate $5.4 million in revenues during the quarter, a 69% increase.
Cathay Pacific Airways flew 6.43 billion RPKs in July, a 7.4% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity rose 6.6% to 7.59 billion ASKs, lifting load factor 0.6 point to 84.6%.
India's Jet Airways, which launched service to London last year, confirmed in a weekend statement that it has suspended UK employee Asmin Tariq, who was one of 24 people arrested in London as a suspect in the terrorist conspiracy uncovered last week. Tariq was a security employee absorbed by Jet when the carrier ended its contract with his former employer, G4S, which has relationships with British Airways, Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways, SAS and others, according to Jet.
Expectations that air travel out of the UK was returning to normal over the past weekend proved premature as operations remained disjointed for a fifth consecutive day, particularly at London-area airports where BAA took the draconian step over the weekend of ordering airlines to slash their schedules by 30% to reduce crowding; it later reduced the figure to 20% for Monday and today.
The US Dept. of Homeland Security and Transportation Security Administration late Sunday revised aviation security requirements put into place following last week's disclosure of the plot to bomb transatlantic flights ( ATWOnline, Aug. 11) and lowered the threat level for flights coming from the UK.
SpiceJet announced an operating profit of INR715.2 million ($15.4 million) for the fiscal year ended May 31 on a higher-than-expected INR4.53 billion in revenue and yesterday celebrated its first year under a new name by confirming the conversion of its 10 737NG options into firm orders for five dash 800s and five dash 900s.
Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, parent of Atlas Air and Polar Air Cargo, earned $10.7 million in the second quarter, narrowed 33% from $15.9 million earned in the year-ago period, on a 7.3% decrease in revenues to $366.4 million. President and CEO William Flynn attributed the lower results to reduced scheduled flying and substantially higher fuel prices in scheduled service.
Air Canada announced a 13% year-over-year service increase to vacation destinations during its winter schedule, or nearly 10,000 seats per week. Included in the additions are a new Toronto-Sarasota service starting Nov. 4 and increasing to daily from Dec. 16 on Embraer 190s, thrice-weekly Calgary-Fort Lauderdale flights from Oct. 29 aboard A319s, daily Calgary-Palm Springs service starting Dec. 15 aboard CRJ705s, twice-weekly flights to Las Vegas beginning Sept. 7 from Edmonton with A319s and Winnipeg with CRJ705s and weekly Edmonton-Cancun flights from Dec. 20 aboard a 767.
