A fourth-quarter net loss of $43 million, representing a significant improvement over a $208 million loss in the year-ago quarter, allowed Continental Airlines to close 2005 just $68 million in the red and in far better shape than it was one year ago, when it posted a $409 million deficit. Still, airline executives said yesterday that when combined with crippling fuel prices and competition from both encroaching LCCs and revamped legacy carriers, the improvement was not sufficient to forecast a return to profitability anytime soon.
Embraer ended 2005 with 120 commercial aircraft deliveries comprising 46 170s, 14 175s, 12 190s, 46 ERJ-145s and two ERJ-135s. Two 190s scheduled for delivery in December were delivered in January and delivery of two 170s sold by Embraer's defense segment to a state-run airline was rescheduled to this year. The airframer delivered 141 aircraft in 2005 and held a firm order backlog, including defense and business aircraft, valued at $10.4 billion. It has firm orders for 45 members of the ERJ-145 family and 322 orders for 170/190 aircraft.
Gol marked its fifth anniversary of operations yesterday. In December its market share rose to 30%, making it the second-largest domestic carrier in the Brazilian market.
Although SAS Group has succeeded in reducing costs by SEK14 billion ($1.8 billion) over the past three years through its Turnaround 2005 program, the company's namesake airlines, collectively known as Scandinavian Airlines Businesses, continue to underperform.
Air Baltic carried 93,442 passengers in December, up 73% compared to the same month in 2004. In 2005 it carried 1,037,925 passengers, 76% more than in 2004. President Bertolt Flick said it was the first time the airline carried more than 1 million passengers in a year. Load factor in December was 60%, up 11 points compared to the year-ago month.
Volvo Aero signed a SEK1.1 billion ($142.5 million) deal to produce the fan case for the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000, which will power the 787. Deliveries will begin at year end.
Austrian Airlines Group is eyeing service to new destinations in Siberia. "We are currently studying whether to start services from Vienna to Tjumen and Celyabinsk. We also hope to get permission to operate regular services to Kazakhstan during 2006," CCO Josef Burger told ATWOnline. In addition, Austrian plans to add 19 weekly frequencies to Eastern European destinations and 21 frequencies to Western Europe.
El Al will launch Miami-Tel Aviv service on March 28. American Airlines is ending service to Houston Hobby from April 3, according to the Dallas Business Journal. AA currently operates service to New York LaGuardia and Austin from HOU. Its Regional affiliates American Eagle and American Connection will continue to serve the airport with flights to Dallas/Ft. Worth and St. Louis respectively. Allegiant Airlines will increase frequencies between Bellingham, Wash., and Las Vegas from four flights weekly to six from April 5.
Emirates Airline said it will use Pacelab Cabin software to support refurbishment projects on its medium- and long-haul aircraft and to aid aircraft acquisition decisions.
International Aero Engines said Friday its contract with Mexican startup Volaris to provide V2500 engines for its order of up to 56 A319s ( ATWOnline, Jan. 13) will be worth up to $950 million if all options are exercised. The aircraft order consists of 16 firm and 40 options. Volaris also signed a long-term engine MRO agreement that includes comprehensive support and off-wing services under the recently launched V2500Select approach.
DGI Training Center introduced a training program that adheres to FAA's new SFAR 99, which covers airline personnel involved in dangerous goods transport.
San Francisco International Airport will begin limited testing of e-passports that include biometric information in an embedded chip. The test will apply to passengers who are citizens of Australia or New Zealand, Singapore Airlines crewmembers and US diplomatic officials holding e-passports and traveling to SFO, Singapore Changi or Sydney. The testing, which will run through April 15, will measure the operational impact of new equipment and software used to verify the embedded information.
Northwest Airlines pilots approved the freezing of their defined benefit pension plan by an 81.5% to 18.5% margin in voting by nearly 5,000 members of the Air Line Pilots Assn. The plan will freeze assets as of Jan. 31 and the interim 5% defined contribution will begin the following day, according to an ALPA MEC hotline. The agreement also includes new long-term disability and family member benefit programs.
US Federal Communications Commission set a date of May 10 to begin auctioning airwaves for use by providers intending to market Internet, telephone and broadband services to airline passengers. The action notwithstanding, use of mobile phones on commercial aircraft by passengers is not permitted under FAA regulations. FCC proposed a $5 million minimum to complete a sale at auction, according to media reports. The airwaves up for sale currently are used by Verizon for in-seat phones and may be split depending on the bids received.
Alaska Airlines announced changes to its senior management team Friday, including the promotions of Kevin Finan to executive VP-operations and Glenn Johnson to senior VP-customer service for airports. The carrier said the appointments were part of the "succession plan" following the Dec. 31 retirement of Executive VP-Operations George Bagley. In addition, Alaska said VP-Safety Dave Prewitt will be leaving the company next month to take the same position at Sikorsky Aircraft Corp.
Varig paid $56 million owed to aircraft leasing companies last Thursday, eliminating the threat that 40 of its aircraft--around 70% of its fleet--would be repossessed. The carrier, which has been operating under Brazilian bankruptcy protection since last June, also announced that it completed the sale, announced in December, of two subsidiaries for $72 million. A portion of the proceeds from the sales was used to pay off the lessors.
World Airways signed an $11 million, nine-month contract with an unidentified international freight forwarder to provide DC-10-30F cargo lift. The deal calls for World to operate five international roundtrips per week.
Antitrust motion filed by unsecured creditors of Delta Air Lines against certain aircraft bondholders "highlights the growing strength of lessors from the tightening of the worldwide aircraft market," according to debt and equity research firm CreditSights. Proposed lease rates for the 89 older aircraft "are above current market [rates] with return conditions significantly improved," CreditSights stated. The aircraft are a mix of MD-88s, 757s and 767s between 13 and 22 years old backed by Equipment Trust Certificates.
Taiwan's China Airlines acquired a 25% stake in China's Yangtze River Express Airlines. CAL Chairman Philip Wei attended a share transfer ceremony yesterday in Beijing finalizing the company's acquisition of shares in Yangtze River. The deal was valued at $38.7 million, according to media reports. Total share transfer among four investors was for 49%. Other partners include Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp., which holds a 12% stake; Wan Hai Lines with 6%, and China Container Express Lines with 6%.
American Airlines and United Airlines are objecting to BAA's handling of the ongoing fuel shortage situation at London Heathrow caused by the Buncefield oil depot fire last month ( ATWOnline, Dec. 15). The carriers state that BAA's rationing policy is "blatantly discriminatory" because "so-called 'base' carriers at Heathrow, including British Airways and Virgin Atlantic," are provided with 82% of their fuel requirements for long-haul services, while "so-called 'visiting' carriers," including American and United, receive only 70% of their requirements.
Southwest Airlines continues to rebuild service to New Orleans following last summer's hurricane and flood that destroyed large parts of the city. From March 17, service to Houston Hobby will grow from five to eight daily flights, to Orlando International from two to three daily flights and to Dallas Love Field from two to three daily flights. Merpati Nusantara Airlines soon will reopen 40 domestic routes shuttered two years ago in a cost-cutting move, The Jakarta Post reported.
