Airlines and airports in the UK were preparing for another difficult day today in the wake of yesterday's airport security alerts and new security measures. A ban on virtually all carry-on luggage remained in place, and passengers were told to expect extended delays at checkpoints.
Air Transport Assn. President and CEO James May said at a Washington news conference yesterday that US airlines do not plan to seek financial aid from the government for expenses associated with delays and increased security as a result of Thursday's events.
Air Canada Jazz reported a second-quarter net profit of C$36.6 million ($32.6 million), doubled from net income of C$18 million in the year-ago period, on a 47.1% jump in operating revenues to C$340.1 million. The Regional attributed the strong results to decreasing all unit costs except aircraft rent and fuel, which surged 91.5% to C$34 million, and a 27.8% increase in block hr. The growth is "mainly due to the eight CRJ200s, 12 CRJ705s and 24 CRJ100s that were received in the last half of 2005 and the first half of 2006," it said.
Air Canada Jazz won't be returning to Toronto City Centre Airport anytime soon following the Toronto Port Authority's refusal to approve a sublease that would have enabled the Regional to resume operations there. Jazz was evicted from Toronto City in March by its landlord, City Centre Aviation ( ATWOnline, March 2) and failed in its attempt to stop the eviction through an injunction. The move cleared the way for startup Porter Airlines to launch operations there this fall.
Ryanair will base three new aircraft at Dublin Airport and launch 12 new routes, bringing to 63 the number of UK and European destinations it serves from DUB from December. The expansion completes "Ryanair's displacement of Aer Lingus as the national carrier of Ireland," the LCC claimed, noting it carries five times more passengers across its network than Aer Lingus each year.
Northwest Airlines flew 7.31 billion consolidated RPMs in July, a 9.4% decrease from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 11.1% to 8.3 billion ASMs and load factor rose 1.6 points to 88.1%. Domestic traffic declined 9.4% to 4.05 billion RPMs against an 11.8% decrease in capacity to 4.62 billion ASMs, raising load factor 2.3 points to 87.6%. International RPMs dropped 7.7% to 2.78 billion as ASMs fell 8% to 3.04 billion, lifting load factor 0.3 point to 91.3%. Lufthansa Group flew 10.46 billion RPKs in July, up 1.4% over the year-ago month.
Northwest Airlines received approval yesterday from a US Bankruptcy Court for $1.38 billion in debt refinancing that the carrier said will save it money on interest payments and increase its liquidity.
Cathay Pacific Group said "high fuel prices continued to undermine increased productivity and revenue" as it posted a half-year profit attributable to shareholders of HK$1.67 billion ($214.7 million), the same figure it reported in the first half of 2005.
KLM said it no longer will operate flights to "loss-making" Amman and Damascus from Oct. 29. From that date, KLM passengers will have to travel via Paris Charles de Gaulle with Air France. Midwest Airlines will operate daily Kansas City-Fort Myers service aboard a 717 from Nov. 1 to April 30, 2007. The carrier also will increase to daily flights from Kansas City to Orlando and Fort Lauderdale from Oct. 14 to April 30. Jet Airways launched thrice-weekly Amritsar-London Heathrow service aboard A330-200s.
Virgin Atlantic Airways is introducing a new inflight texting service allowing passengers to send a question via their seatback IFE and receive an answer within minutes. The new feature, dubbed AQA (Any Question Answered), will be offered in cooperation with IssueBits of London.
AirTran Airways named former La Quinta Corp. Chief Accounting Officer Mark Osterberg as VP and chief accounting officer. JetBlue Airways named Martin St. George VP-planning, replacing the retiring David Ulmer. St. George was previously MD-marketing planning for United Airlines.
Hit hard by costs associated with its Chapter 11 reorganization, Delta Air Lines yesterday reported a second-quarter net loss of $2.2 billion, widened from a deficit of $382 million in the year-ago period.
Airlines throughout the world are delaying and canceling hundreds of flights to the UK in response to the arrest there early today of 21 alleged terrorists accused of planning to destroy as many as 10 US commercial aircraft operating transatlantic UK-to-US service. "We are confident we have disrupted a plan by terrorists to cause untold death and destruction," London Police Deputy Commissioner Paul Stephenson said.
Lufthansa Systems announced that Augsburg Airways, Contact Air, Eurowings, Lufthansa CityLine, Germanwings and Cirrus Airlines will equip their cockpits with the Lido Route Manual electronic charting system. LHS signed with Atlas Blue for provision of the ProfitLine/Yield Rembrandt revenue management solution.
SAS Group yesterday reported a net profit of SEK553 million ($77.3 million) for the second quarter, a 10.8% improvement over the SEK499 million earned in the corresponding 2005 period. It credited record passenger numbers and high load factors for the result, even though its operating income fell 7.2% to SEK881 million. "During the first half of 2006, there was strong market performance in the Group's markets. The strong growth, combined with the new business models, contributed to considerably improved cabin factors," Acting President and CEO Gunnar Reitan said.
Qantas said yesterday that CEO Geoff Dixon will continue in his position on an "ongoing contract" that will last beyond July 1, 2007, when his previous contract was set to expire. Dixon has been instrumental in keeping Qantas in the forefront of the industry, pushing aggressive cost-cutting while at the same time launching low-fare units intended to address the changing competitive environment. Although it is the 12th largest airline by RPKs and revenue, Qantas posted the industry's sixth best profit in its 2005 fiscal year, earning $582 million on sales of $9.6 billion.
Asiana Airlines was boosted by increased demand, particularly for short-haul travel, and beat soaring fuel costs to post a second-quarter net profit of KRW16 billion ($16.1 million) that reversed last year's loss of KRW8.6 billion. Revenue jumped 12% to KRW843.3 billion and operating profit increased more than sevenfold to KRW22.2 billion. Fuel costs jumped KRW49.2 billion for the quarter. Key to the airline's strong performance has been the introduction by many Korean companies of a five-day work week, which enables many Koreans to take short breaks into Japan and China.
LTU German Airlines is having difficulty returning to the black and is expecting a €15-€20 million loss for the current business year. According to a spokesperson, LTU is generating around €30 million in savings through synergies with parent dba, new contracts with suppliers and other initiatives but will not reach its €45 million target ( ATWOnline, June 19) because of high fuel prices.
Amadeus signed three-year agreements with China Eastern Airlines and China Airlines to power their international websites with its e-Retail Solution. Both airlines also plan to implement the Amadeus e-Merchandise solution within a few months.
Munich International Airport operator FMG announced its application to the regional government of Upper Bavaria to launch a planning process for construction of a third runway. FMG said a third runway would increase its capacity to 120 operations per hr.
Alteon Training opened a new pilot and maintenance training facility at ANA's Flight Training Center near Tokyo Haneda. ANA will make its simulators available to Alteon for third-party use when the carrier is not using them. Alteon will install a 787 training suite at the facility by the first quarter of 2008.
TAM flew 1.87 billion RPKs in July, a 21.6% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity rose 18.8% to 2.3 billion ASKs and load factor climbed 1.8 points to 81.2%.
