United Airlines will end its service between New York JFK and Tokyo Narita and instead will launch 777 service from Washington Dulles to Tokyo beginning Oct. 28 as it pulls down its international presence at JFK in favor of codeshares with Star Alliance partners.
Northwest Airlines is seeking to lower its annual fleet ownership costs by $400 million as part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy restructuring. Senior VP-Finance Dave Davis told reporters in a conference call that the airline faces greater challenges than other bankrupt carriers regarding its aircraft costs because "pre-filing [for bankruptcy] we predominately owned our fleet" whereas others have a larger percentage of leased aircraft. "There's a wide disparity among airlines in how fleets are owned and operated," he explained.
Rolls-Royce said last week that it posted £1.78 billion ($3.3 billion) in underlying sales in civil aerospace engines and aftermarket services in the first half of 2006, up 6% from £1.68 billion for the first half of 2005. Civil aerospace profits rose 23% to £246 million in the year's first six months but engine unit deliveries dropped 6.6% to 412 "as a result of the anticipated slowdown in demand for 50-seat regional aircraft," according to Rolls ( ATWOnline, May 31).
TAP Portugal flew 1.4 billion RPKs in June, a 17% increase over the year-ago month. Passenger numbers rose 9% to 586,015. The airline did not provide capacity or load factor.
United Airlines on Friday agreed to sell its route authority between New York and London to Delta Air Lines, stating in a memo to staff that the route, which was acquired from Pan Am many years ago, "has become unprofitable" and that the cost of operating it no longer can be justified. Simultaneously, United announced a series of route additions and adjustments aimed at building its Asia network, including the transfer of its JFK-Tokyo Narita service to its Washington Dulles hub (see item below).
Iberia canceled all flights to and from Barcelona International on Friday and Saturday morning after some 2,000 ground workers blocked one of the airport's three runways. The action reportedly was in protest of the airline's loss of a ground-handling license at BCN. It still holds 21 of 27 licenses at the airport, according to AFX News, but earlier last week AENA awarded a concession to a Spanish construction and services company and to subsidiaries of Spanair and Air Europa.
Frontier Airlines posted net income of $4 million for its fiscal first quarter ended June 30, a solid improvement over a net loss of $2.7 million in the year-ago quarter. President and CEO Jeff Potter said the carrier was profitable despite "intensified competition" at its Denver hub--where Southwest Airlines launched flights this year--and high fuel costs, but warned that long-term profitability is still a challenge. "It doesn't end with one good quarter," he said.
Jade Cargo International selected Swiss World Cargo to represent it in France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland. Inter Aviation Services of Amsterdam will represent the startup in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. All European activities will be coordinated by its European head office at Amsterdam Schiphol.
US Airways will offer seasonal Phoenix-Telluride service twice-daily from Dec. 15 through March 31 aboard Mesa Airlines Dash 8s. It also will operate Saturday flights to Eagle/Vail from Charlotte (beginning in December) and Philadelphia (from February) aboard 757s. Dragonair will operate 76 additional services, including 20 charters, to meet rising summer demand. The extra flights will include 18 to Taipei, 17 to Kota Kinabalu, 12 to Sanya and nine to Tokyo Narita. Charters are to Sendai, Urumqi, Phuket and Pusan.
Lufthansa offered an expanded version of its second-quarter and half-year results Friday, confirming last week's announcement that it posted a profit of €183 million ($232.8 million) in the three-month period ended June 30, up 57.8% from the year-ago quarter, and a six-month profit of €85 million compared to last year's breakeven result ( ATWOnline, July 27).
US Bureau of Transportation Statistics said last week that its Air Travel Price Index rose 10.3% in the first quarter, the biggest year-over-year increase since it began tracking changes in airline ticket prices in 1995. Because US passengers increasingly are shifting to LCCs from traditional Majors, "even the lower fares are rising and the index values are a measure of how much they are rising," BTS said. Cincinnati saw the largest year-to-year fare index increase in the quarter with a 36.6% jump. Charlotte and Houston recorded the smallest increases.
Air France said it has become the first carrier to be awarded ISO 22000 certification for food safety. Initial certification covers flights from Paris, with other cities to be included in the next year.
Pratt & Whitney said last week that it secured nearly $1.5 billion in new business for its Commercial Engines unit at the Farnborough Airshow earlier this month.
VivaAeroBus, a Mexican LCC startup formed by Mexican bus group IAMSA and Ryanair-backed RyanMex, said its first base will be Monterrey. It will start operations in September with two 737-300s.
Varig said it reestablished domestic service Wednesday from Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo to Porto Alegre, Salvador, Recife, Fortaleza and Manaus and is continuing international flights to Buenos Aires and Frankfurt. The airline said on its website that it already has "solved a series of problems in this period of transition" following last week's purchase at auction by former subsidiary VarigLog ( ATWOnline, July 21).
Boeing said design enhancements that increase the short-field performance of the 737NG earned US FAA certification this week after a four-month test program. The improvements allow carriers to fly increased payload at airports with runways shorter than 5,000 ft. and include a two-position tail skid that reduces approach speeds, sealed leading-edge slats for lift and increased spoiler deflection on the ground. The features are standard on the dash 900ER and optional on the dash 600, dash 700 and dash 800. Gol is the launch customer for the short-field performance package.
Industry experts shared their views on streamlining bag-handling costs yesterday in the ATWOnline webcast, "Don't Get Left Holding the Bag: Creating Value in the Airline Luggage Chain." SJ Consulting Group President Satish Jindel argued for an "unbundling" of airline ticket pricing that would allow carriers to charge passengers per bag checked, just as they now charge for onboard meals. Luggage Express Chairman Richard Altomare advocated that carriers separate moving passengers from moving luggage.
Delta Air Lines will launch eight-times-weekly Atlanta-Marathon, Fla., service Nov. 16 aboard an Atlantic Southeast Airlines 40-seat CRJ. TAM will begin daily Sao Paulo Guarulhos-London Heathrow service on Oct. 28 with an A330-200. It is TAM's second European destination after Paris Charles de Gaulle. The airline launched the following daily routes: GRU-Maceio, GRU-Manaus-Porto Velho, GRU-Brasilia-Goiania-Congonhas and Rio de Janeiro Galeo-Brasilia-Manaus-Boa Vista.
IATA reported a 6.5% year-over-year increase in worldwide international RPKs in June and a 4.4% rise in ASKs, resulting in a 1.5-point gain in load factor to 78.3%. Highest regional load factor was North America's 85.3%, where RPKs rose 6.8% and capacity climbed 5.1%. Global freight traffic increased 4.1% against a 4.6% hike in ATKs. Air China flew 4.99 billion RPKs in June, a 19% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity rose 15.8% to 6.6 billion ASKs and load factor climbed 2 points to 75.6%. Mountain Air Cargo carried 11.2 million lb. of freight in June.
The records piled up for AirTran Airways in the second quarter, with net income of $32 million--nearly triple the year-ago quarter's $11.4 million profit--the highest in any three-month period in its 13-year history. All-time quarterly records also were set for RPMs, capacity, enplaned passengers and load factor, figures that "speak clearly of the customers' demand for our product," according to Chairman and CEO Joe Leonard.
Airbus parent EADS yesterday reported a €527 million ($663.9 million) second-quarter net profit, down 9% from €582 million in the year-ago quarter, on revenues of €9.9 billion, a 10% rise over last year. It conceded that "operational issues" leading to A380 delivery delays, the A350 redesign and the resignations of top executives at both EADS and Airbus made the second quarter a difficult one.
German court ruled that the government was partly liable in the 2002 midair collision between a DHL 757 freighter and a BAL Bashkirian Airlines Tu-154M that killed 71 people, as the government had granted Swiss ATC firm Skyguide control over a portion of German airspace, according to press reports. The court has yet to decide how much compensation is due Bashkirian, which reportedly is seeking $3.3 million. Other civil lawsuits are pending.
Air Deccan said its 21.2% market share in June made it India's second-largest airline, passing Indian Airlines, which held a 20.8% share, according to Deccan. The LCC operates 14 A320s and 21 ATR turboprops on 265 daily flights to 55 domestic destinations.
