Record revenues were not sufficient for Singapore Airlines Group to stave off soaring fuel costs during the fiscal third quarter ended Dec. 31 as the company reported a S$396.6 million ($244 million) net profit that represented a 14.6% decline from net earnings of S$464.6 million in the year-ago period. The latter total was boosted by the sale of SIA's remaining stake in Star Alliance partner Air New Zealand. Numbers from the 2004-05 fiscal year were recalculated according to new national accounting standards.
AerCap established a 50/50 joint venture with LoadAir, a Kuwait-based aviation entity, to acquire, manage and market 70 A320 family aircraft to which AerCap committed at the Dubai Air Show ( ATWOnline, Nov. 24, 2005). The new company, AerVenture, will be based in Ireland. It firmed the AerCap LOI with Airbus in December. AerCap (formerly debis AirFinance) will provide complete asset management services for the portfolio. LoadAir is the trading name for International Cargo Airlines Co., which was floated on the Kuwait stock exchange in 2005.
Weather Services International said VLM Airlines will use its WeatherAlert terminal weather graphic visualization decision support tool for three years.
Defunct Independence Air was granted approval by the US Bankruptcy Court to sell its lease at Washington Dulles to United Airlines for $4.3 million. The lease includes 35 gates on Concourse A, which serves commuter flights. The move comes a day after UA exited three years in bankruptcy. While there has been speculation that the gates would be used to increase Regional flying, United spokesperson Jeff Green told ATWOnline the airline is "not providing any details" on future operations at Dulles. Independence Air, which declared bankruptcy in November, shut down Jan. 5.
Iberia announced a deal with representatives of Spanish national trade unions UGT, CC.OO and ASETMA for a collective bargaining agreement covering approximately 18,500 Iberia ground staff, or nearly 75% of the workforce, effective until Dec. 31 and retroactive to Jan. 1, 2005. The contract covers employment, pay, work rules and productivity and is highlighted by a single payment of €18 million ($21.8 million) to be distributed in March.
Norwegian will launch daily Oslo-Munich service from May 2. Alpine Air began operating a new cargo route between Honolulu and Lihue Saturday. Its contract runs through June 26, 2008. American Eagle will launch twice-daily Dallas/Ft. Worth-Charleston service aboard ERJ-145s from April 3.
Carmen Systems AB said Continental Airlines signed a five-year agreement for the use of Carmen's preferential bidding system for scheduling its 4,000 pilots.
Amadeus IT Group is the new name for Amadeus Global Distribution. The name change reflects that the company's IT portfolio "goes far beyond distribution."
SITA concluded a $6 million contract to provide a reservation system, online booking, Aircom and flight operations applications to startup TransCaribbean Airways, which plans to operate scheduled flights linking the Netherlands Antilles with Europe and the US.
Lufthansa Systems and Airbus reached agreement to offer the LHS eRouteManual across the Airbus fly-by-wire product line in new aircraft and as a retrofit. It already is offered as a Class III Electronic Flight Bag solution on the A380. The eRouteManual charts include taxiway displays for airports, approach and takeoff charts and a seamless worldwide en route chart. When provided as a retrofit solution for aircraft already in service, the product is being offered as a Class I or Class II EFB. Class III EFBs with fully integrated systems are available for all new aircraft.
Iberia said the number of business class travelers on its long-haul flights has increased 20% since the introduction of its Business Plus service last May. The seating class is available on 70% of Iberia's A340s and the remaining 30% will be equipped by spring. The carrier also said it plans to improve its short- and medium-haul business class service concurrent with a redesign of those fleets' interiors.
Bombardier signed a contract with Regco Holdings of Toronto for 10 Q400 70-seat turboprops, with options for an additional 10. The deal is valued at an estimated $250 million for the firm orders and brings the number of Q400 orders to 175.
Smiths Aerospace and Aviall Services announced an agreement under which Aviall will become a global distributor of Smiths Aerospace systems spare parts after a transition phase of several months. "Aviall will use its core competencies of inventory forecasting and management, product fulfillment, quality management and sales and marketing to ensure Smiths' commercial aftermarket customers' requirements are met," the companies said in a statement. The 10-year agreement is expected to be valued at up to $2 billion in sales.
Swissport and Ryanair announced a six-year agreement under which Swissport will handle more than 54,000 flights per year at London Stansted, including those presently handled by Stansted Ground Operations. The deal becomes effective Feb. 20. Under the new agreement, Swissport will provide full passenger, ramp and ticketing services for all operations. The accord also will see some 120 current SGO employees transfer to Swissport.
Air Tran will offer service from White Plains, N.Y., to Atlanta (twice daily), Orlando (daily) and West Palm Beach (daily) beginning April 4 aboard 717s. Frequency to Atlanta will increase to thrice-daily May 9. Separately, AirTran launched a new cargo website yesterday enabling customers to track shipments 24 hr. a day, among other features. It also announced a partnership with Kayak.com to distribute fares and ticket availability through that search engine. Kayak.com was created by Orbitz, Travelocity and Expedia.
AeroMexico placed an order for three 737-700s and three 737-800s, Boeing announced yesterday. The aircraft are worth approximately $372 million at list prices and will begin delivery in 2007. "Since they were introduced to our fleet in 2003, the Boeing 737-700 has proved to be an exceptional airplane and with the acquisition of the 737-800 in 2006, we will continue our fleet renovation program with great success," said AeroMexico CFO Francisco Cuevas. The carrier is scheduled to take delivery of eight 737NGs and two 777-200ERs this year.
Indian startup IndiGo named former North American Airlines COO Steven Harfst as its COO. New Heights Aviation Services President Jeff Wehrenberg will succeed Harfst at NAA. Amadeus appointed former Director-Airline Sales Chris Barnes VP of e-commerce sales.
United Airlines formally, and finally, exited bankruptcy yesterday after 1,150 days during which it cut annual costs by approximately $7 billion including more than $3 billion in concessions from labor unions, reduced and reconfigured its fleet to fly more profitable international routes and launched its low-cost subsidiary Ted.
Frontier Airlines will become a subsidiary of Frontier Airlines Holdings, a new Delaware corporation, according to a reorganization plan approved Tuesday by the carrier's board. There will no anticipated effect on shareholders, who must approve the plan at a meeting tentatively scheduled for March 27.
Messier Services secured 777 landing gear MRO contracts with Malaysia Airlines and Thai Airways International covering nine and 14 shipsets respectively. In addition, Boeing selected Messier Services Asia Pte as an approved facility for landing gear and component repair and overhaul.
JetBlue Airways' inability to control costs and misplaced capacity increases cost it dearly in the final quarter of 2005 as it suffered a net loss of $42.4 million--by far its worst quarterly performance since it started service in February 2000. JetBlue earned $1.5 million in the year-ago quarter. The surprising 2005 result plunged the carrier into the red for the fiscal year ended Dec. 31. It posted a $20.3 million annual loss compared to a $46.2 million profit in 2004. In addition, it is forecasting a loss in both the current quarter and for full-year 2006.
El Al will launch twice-weekly Miami-Tel Aviv service on March 28 using two-class 767s. It replaces a twice-weekly direct service. Separately, El Al will introduce an onboard calling service on its 767s through the Iridium satellite network for $1.60 per min. Gilat Satcom through its GayaCom subsidiary is supplying the Iridium terminals and calling card services.
Boeing yesterday raised its earnings outlook for 2006-07 on the back of strong sales and earnings momentum as it reported that fourth-quarter net income more than doubled to $460 million from $186 million in the year-ago period. The result propelled full-year income up 37% to $2.57 billion from $1.87 billion in 2004. "Boeing made great progress in '05, which has given us a solid foundation for even better performance in 2006 and beyond," said Chairman, President and CEO Jim McNerney during a webcast.
