Lufthansa Systems said its operating result for 2004 increased 56.4% over 2003 to €61 million on a 3% rise in revenues to €628 million. The share of business generated by customers outside LH Group increased 9.8% to €224.2 million or almost 36% of revenues.
Lufthansa Flight Training and Austrian Airlines will establish a simulator training center in Vienna. The companies will hold a joint press conference April 14 to discuss the program.
Patrick Corp. has reinforced its move to control Virgin Blue by lifting its holding to more than 62% despite the continuing refusal of founder Richard Branson and CEO Brett Godfrey to sell their shares. Following the close of Patrick's A$1.90 ($1.48) a share bid last Friday, the diversified transport group said it has garnered acceptances from most of the independent shareholders in Virgin Blue. However, Branson's Virgin Group and Godfrey, with 25.6% and 2.7% respectively, have held tight to their stakes. Patrick Corp.
United Airlines reached agreements with SkyWest and GoJet, a new subsidiary of Trans States Holdings, to replace some of the services currently provided by Air Wisconsin in its United Express codeshare operation. The two carriers will operate a total of 30 70-seat CRJ700s under yesterday's accord. Subsequent to the announcement, SkyWest ordered 20 additional CRJ700s in a deal valued at $637 million. Air Wisconsin currently flies 70 aircraft in the United Express network, but last fall United issued an RFP to replace that service ( ATWOnline , Nov. 12).
SriLankan Airlines launched an Internet booking engine on its website that allows customers to make reservations online. In addition, it introduced e-ticketing on flights to 10 destinations.
Aloha Airgroup and subsidiary Aloha Airlines finalized a $65 million debtor-in-possession financing facility with Ableco Finance, an affiliate of Cerberus Capital Management, and Goldman Sachs Credit Partners. Aloha said it used some of the funds to pay off the last portion of its Air Transportation Stabilization Board federal loan guarantee and certain local bank term loans.
Austrian Airlines Group is deemphasizing previously discussed plans to invest in airlines in the Balkans and Eastern Europe as part of its broader strategy to build its network in the region, CEO Vagn Soerensen told ATWOnline . As these states join or move closer to membership in the EU, "it make less sense for us to invest in [them], because one of the advantages--to get better traffic rights--is gone," he said.
The world's airlines will lose $5.5 billion in 2005 if oil prices average $43 per barrel for the full year, IATA DG and CEO Giovanni Bisignani stated yesterday in New York (on April 1, the price of the May crude-oil contract hit a record $57.70 a barrel on the NY Mercantile Exchange, the Wall Street Journal reported).
Virgin Group chief Richard Branson has floated plans to establish a second Australian flag carrier in partnership with local investors that will focus on routes to China, Japan and the US by the end of 2005. In a move that is sure to antagonize Singapore Airlines, Branson said the Australian government should give precedence to the proposed new venture in allocating rights to service the US West Coast. SIA, a 49% shareholder in Virgin Atlantic, is seeking to gain rights to begin Sydney-Los Angeles flights in the middle of next year.
Continental Airlines last week recalled the last of the 637 pilots that were furloughed following 9/11. Separately, Continental said it flew 6.92 billion RPMs in March, up 14.8% over the year-ago period. Capacity climbed 7% to 8.6 billion ASMs and load factor jumped 5.6 points to 80.5%. In March, the carrier said consolidated passenger RASM is believed to have increased 4%-5% compared to March 2004, while mainline passenger RASM is estimated to have climbed 4.5%-5.5%. For February, consolidated passenger RASM rose 2.1% over February 2004 and mainline passenger RASM grew 3%.
EU-US talks on eliminating launch aid for new aircraft programs appear to have broken down among mutual recriminations and allegations of bad faith. Yesterday, US Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick told reporters in Brussels that the EU is not serious about negotiations, the Associated Press reported, while the EU has accused the US of backing away from an agreement to try to resolve the dispute outside of the World Trade Organization.
In an about-face for an airline that has shunned travel search engines, American Airlines formed a partnership with San Mateo, Calif.-based Mobissimo, one of the new meta search companies. An American spokesman would not provide details of the agreement but said American had determined that Mobissimos business model represents a low-cost form of distribution.
Boeing selected UK-based Ipeco Group to provide flightdeck seats for the 787. Ipeco has supplied flightdeck seats for all Boeing commercial aircraft since 1985.
European Regions Airline Assn. reported a 7.1% increase in traffic for its member airlines in 2004. Capacity climbed 6.9% year-over-year and load factor rose almost 1 point to 60.3% for the year. Passenger growth averaged 4.1% with the largest increases seen in the Baltic states. Ireland and Finland also saw significant growth in passenger numbers by ERA members based in these countries.
News from Travel Technology Update:
In an about-face for an airline that has shunned travel search engines, American Airlines formed a "partnership" with San Mateo, Calif.-based Mobissimo, one of the new meta search companies. An American spokesman would not provide details of the agreement but said American had determined that Mobissimo's business model represents "a low-cost form of distribution."
American Eagle , the Regional affiliate of American Airlines, started selling snack boxes for $3 on most of its flights. AA also sells the snack boxes in the main cabin on select domestic flights longer than 3 hr.
B/E Aerospace was selected by Air France to provide business class seating for two of the carrier's widebody fleets in programs valued at up to $40 million. Under the agreements, B/E will manufacture and deliver versions of its MiniPod lie-flat business class seats for AF's A380s and part of its 777 fleet.
Malaysia Airlines Engineering Division was named as an authorized mod center for Aviation Partners Boeing Blended Winglet retrofits for 737NGs, 757-200s and 737 Classics.
Aiming to reduce the risk of fire spreading aboard an aircraft, FAA Friday proposed a new rule that will require airlines to replace or modify certain insulation blankets on more than 800 US-registered Boeing aircraft over the next six years.
