AirBridge Cargo and Nippon Cargo Airlines signed an agreement to share 747 cargo capacity between Europe and Japan beginning in January. The carriers will market capacity on twice-weekly flights through AirBridge's Krasnoyarsk hub.
Air Jamaica named Michael Conway as CEO. Conway co-founded America West Airlines in the early 1980s and served as that carrier's CEO in the early 1990s. He also founded and led National Airlines, a short-lived, Las Vegas-based carrier that failed in December 2000.
Midwest Air Group, parent of Midwest Airlines and Skyway Airlines/Midwest Connect, reported a third-quarter net loss of $26.9 million, double the $13.4 million loss in the year-ago period, owing to surging expenses.
Frontier Airlines returned to the black in its fiscal second quarter ended Sept. 30, earning $6.9 million compared to a net loss of $2.1 million in the year-ago period. It marked the carrier's best financial performance in seven quarters, but the Denver-based LCC warned it expects to post a loss in the December quarter that likely will exceed its September quarter profit "in magnitude" owing to higher fuel prices and disruption of its services to Cancun by Hurricane Wilma.
Swiss European Air Lines has been issued its Air Operator's Certificate by the Swiss Federal Office for Civil Aviation, allowing it to begin operations Nov. 1 ( ATWOnline, Oct. 11). The wholly owned Swiss subsidiary will operate wet-lease services in the European market on behalf of its parent company and will serve some 30 destinations. Eighteen Avro RJ 85s/100s and eight Embraer 145s will be transferred to the new company, which will be led by its own management team headed by Peter Koch. Service will commence Tuesday morning with flights from Basel and Geneva to Zurich.
Southwest Airlines will inaugurate its new Denver service ( ATWOnline, October 21) on Jan. 3 with 13 daily nonstop flights to three destinations. Chicago Midway will get four daily roundtrips, Las Vegas five and Phoenix four. Southwest will occupy two gates on the C concourse at Denver International Airport and start with approximately 40 local employees. "Denver is a market that has been a significant gap in Southwest's system for many years, and now we can connect Denver customers into our coast-to-coast operations," CEO Gary Kelly said.
Thai Airways has raised its fourth-quarter fuel hedges. Reuters reported that the carrier increased its cover to 22% at $71 a barrel from 15% at $74 per barrel last quarter.
Air Arabia said it has carried more than 1.5 million passengers in the two years since it started operations and confirmed it will post a proft for the fiscal year ending Dec. 31. "We are now a profitable airline and going to announce our audited financial results on the current financial year early next year," Marketing Manager Jyotsna Kaur Habibullah told Gulf News. She added that the airline, the first and only LCC in the Middle East and North Africa, broke even at the end of its first year. The Sharjah-based carrier commenced operations Oct.
In its first quarterly report since filing for bankruptcy last month, Northwest Airlines Corp. said its net loss widened to $475 million for the three months to Sept. 30 compared to a loss of $46 million in the year-ago period. Excluding $82 million in pension curtailment charges and $159 million in charges related to its Chapter 11 reorganization, net loss for the current period was $234 million. The airline did not address the impact of its continuing mechanics strike on the quarter's performance.
Chicago O'Hare's massive expansion program can move forward while a US Court of Appeals hears arguments from opponents of the plan, the court ruled earlier this week. FAA approved the modernization program at the end of September.
CAE received simulator orders from JetBlue Airways and China Eastern Airlines' training subsidiary worth C$35 million ($29.9 million). CAE will deliver an Embraer 190 full-flight simulator and two Simfinity FTDs for the 190 and the A320 to Orlando and an A320 full-flight simulator and a Simfinity 737NG integrated procedures trainer to Shanghai.
Singapore Airlines parent SIA Group reported a profit attributable to shareholders of S$343.2 million ($202.8 million) for the fiscal second quarter ended Sept. 30, down less than 1% compared to earnings of S$346.4 million last year despite a 65% jump in fuel costs between the periods. Operating revenue rose 9.7% to S$3.35 billion while expenses climbed 10.4% to S$3.02 billion. SIA noted that excluding fuel, expenses actually declined 6.1% compared to the year-ago period. Operating profit rose 3.4% to S$330.6 million from S$319.7 million in 2004.
AirTran Airways reported near-breakeven results for the third quarter to Sept. 30, losing $0.2 million for the period, narrowed from a loss of $9.8 million in the year-ago quarter. "While we continued to drive down nonfuel cost, the increasing price of fuel more than offset our effort," CFO Stan Gadek commented. Fuel expense for the quarter rose 98% to $127.8 million, representing more than a third of operating expenses for the quarter.
Ryanair may stop adding capacity to Sweden because of a proposed SEK100 ($12.68) tax on tickets designed to encourage more environmentally friendly energy policies. Ryanair head Michael O'Leary said, "Sweden will begin immediately to lose out," Reuters reported.
LAN Airlines posted a profit of $23.8 million in a busy third quarter marked by record fuel prices and startup costs related to the launch of LAN Argentina. The figure represents a 34.6% drop from $36.4 million net income in the year-ago period. Operating income plunged 75.7% to $10.01 million from $41.1 million.
Continental Airlines said yesterday that it will launch daily nonstop service between Newark and Cologne May 10 using 757-200s in two-class configuration. Air France will start a five-times-weekly service from Paris Charles de Gaulle 2 to Bangalore Oct. 30 using three-class A330-200s. During the winter schedule it will operate 35 weekly flights to five cities in India. Aer Lingus will launch thrice-weekly service between Dublin and Dubai in March aboard A330s. The carrier said the new route is the "first step in the expansion of its new long-haul network."
KLM Engineering & Maintenance said Eos signed a Maintenance and Pool Agreement covering MRO, availability and transport for some 325 components on the transatlantic startup's 757. Eos launched service between New York JFK and London Stansted last week.
Cathay Pacific and Air China will codeshare between Beijing and Hong Kong from Oct. 30. Cathay will operate 10 weekly flights to Beijing and Air China will operate thrice-daily roundtrips.
Eleven people were killed and 15 injured in a late-night fire at the detention center at Amsterdam Schiphol. The blaze broke out soon after midnight in the center, which houses illegal immigrants and suspected smugglers awaiting deportation from the Netherlands. The prefabricated complex is located close to one of the runways on the east side of the airport. Media reports indicated the fire's cause is unknown and flights were unaffected.
Eurowings phased out its last turboprop, an ATR 72, on Sunday. The German carrier operated 44 ATR 42/72 aircraft at one time. It now is an all-jet operator with a fleet of CRJ100s/200s and BAe 146s. Some of the ATRs will be converted to freighters.
Discover the World Marketing will handle sales and marketing for ANA subsidiary Air Nippon in Taiwan beginning this month. Discover also represents ANA in a number of Latin American markets.
