FL Group, formerly Flugleidir Icelandair, has converted purchase rights from a January order into a new firm order for five 737-800s ( ATWOnline, Jan. 27), Boeing announced yesterday. The five aircraft, valued at $325 million at list prices, will be delivered in 2007. The company will take delivery of the 10 737-800s from the original order next year. It plans to lease all of the aircraft to other carriers.
Assembly of the first A380 freighter began yesterday with the first "metal cut" of the center wing box--which actually is constructed principally from composite materials--at Airbus's site in Nantes, France.
Shareholders of Virgin Express and SN Brussels Airlines successfully concluded merger negotiations and yesterday confirmed the terms of the deal that sees the two Brussels-based carriers come under common ownership while maintaining operational independence. Virgin Express will continue to target the low-cost market with SN Brussels remaining a full-service airline. Further plans and expected synergies have not been revealed, but under terms of the deal the Virgin brand has to be eliminated by 2007.
Air China reported net income of 2.39 billion yuan ($288.8 million) in 2004, up significantly over 160 million yuan earned in the prior year, as operating income almost doubled from 2.28 billion yuan in 2003 to 4.49 billion yuan. Chairman Li Jiaxiang said 2004 was a year in which "we achieved several milestones as we restructured the company, streamlined our organizational structure and successfully listed our shares in Hong Kong and London."
Alteon is opening a new training facility near Singapore Changi, President Pat Gaines announced yesterday at the World Airline Training Conference and Tradeshow in Dallas. Set to open in the first quarter of 2006, the center will be able to train more than 6,000 pilots and flight attendants annually. "The three-story facility will house six full flight simulators and other advanced-technology training devices such as flat panel trainers," the company said.
Air One Feeder Airline, a startup based in Bangalore, will be the first carrier in India to operate the 50-seat ERJ-145. It will lease two from Swiss International Air Lines and they will enter service in the second half of 2005.
ACE Aviation Holdings, in conjunction with its previously announced debt and equity offering ( ATWOnline, April 8), said underwriters elected to exercise in full their overallotment options to purchase an additional 1.135 million Class A shares at C$37 per share ($29.83) and C$30 million of 4.25% convertible senior notes due 2035. This resulted in additional gross proceeds of C$72 million, bringing the total to C$792 million.
Northwest Airlines would not confirm a report in Tuesday's Wall Street Journal that it is set to order up to 18 787s. In a statement, an airline spokesperson said, "We continue to speak with aircraft manufacturers about their product offerings." An NWA order would be a big win for Boeing and a setback for Airbus because the carrier operates the A330 and has a number still to be delivered. Separately, on Monday Northwest and China Southern Airlines inked a new partnership that includes reciprocal frequent-flier and airport lounge benefits.
L-3 Communications Security & Detection Systems received an order from the US Transportation Security Administration for eXaminer 3DX explosives detection systems. The deal is valued at $33 million.
Continental Airlines announced that Senior VP-Flight Operations Debbie McCoy will retire. The company said her position will not be filled and her team will now report to Executive VP Operations Mark Moran.
Kale Consultants of India said Delta Air Lines successfully implemented APEX, which is used to prorate Special Prorate Agreement-based revenue transactions as they flow through Delta's Revenue Pipeline System.
The 777-300ER is too heavy for the runways at Paris Orly, La Tribune reported, adding that this could pose problems for Air France, which intends to operate the aircraft from the airport beginning next summer on its popular leisure routes to the Caribbean and Indian Ocean as it retires its 747-200 fleet.
China Eastern Airlines reported a net profit of 514.1 million yuan ($62.1 million) in 2004, a complete reversal from a net loss of 949.8 million yuan in 2003. According to the Associated Press, revenue during the year rose 47.3% to 21.04 billion yuan.
Riga-based airBaltic said its revenues rose 54% in 2004 to €74.4 million ($96.1 million) but extraordinary costs associated with the investment in its new hub in Vilnius, fleet restructuring and the significant increase in fuel prices caused it to report an annual loss of €1.2 million. The carrier, which is owned jointly by Latvia and SAS, carried 589,288 passengers, up 75% over 2003, as it launched nine new routes from Riga and opened 11 routes from Vilnius.
Styrian Spirit, a Regional carrier based in Austria, expects its shareholders to approve an increase in share capital of €840,000-€1.2 million ($1.1-$1.6 million) at an April 28 meeting. The airline will take delivery of a new CRJ700 by this summer, simultaneously withdrawing a CRJ200. "With the delivery of a second CRJ700 next year, our fleet will grow to a total of five aircraft," CEO Otmar Lenz told ATWOnline. The carrier, which also operates under the name Slovenian Spirit, plans to start services from Maribor in Slovenia to Dubrovnik.
Mexicana this week unveiled plans to transform its Regional subsidiary Aerocaribe into what it called Mexico's "first low-cost airline." The new carrier, which will be called Click Mexicana, will launch in July with three of Aerocaribe's F100s, growing to 10. Initially it will operate flights from Mexico City to nine destinations in Mexico: Saltillo, Nuevo Laredo, San Luis Potosi, Oaxaca, Zihuatanejo, Huatulco, Tuxtla Gutierrez, Villahermosa and Merida. Click will be headed by Isaac Volin Bolok and will have the same infrastructure support offered by Mexicana.
Swiss International Air Lines flew 1.72 billion RPKs in March, down 4.8% from the year-ago period. Capacity decreased 8.9% to 2.2 billion ASKs and load factor rose 3.3 points to 78.1%. For the three months ended March 31, RPKs declined 7.7% to 4.7 billion, ASKs dropped 10.9% to 6.34 billion and load factor gained 2.6 points to 74.2%.
Gol flew 648.5 million domestic RPKs in March, up 56.3% over the year-ago period. Domestic capacity climbed 29.1% to 899.9 million ASKs and load factor gained 12.6 points to 72.1%. Internationally, the carrier flew 59 million RPKs during the month on capacity of 45.5 million ASKs. This resulted in a load factor of 77.1%.
LAN Airlines flew 1.51 billion RPKs in March, up 23% over the year-ago period. Capacity grew 17.2% to 1.98 billion ASKs and load factor improved 3.6 points to 76.3%. For the three months ended March 31, RPKs increased 19.2% to 4.56 billion, ASKs rose 15.5% to 5.98 billion and load factor was ahead 2.4 points to 76.3%.
Market share of low-cost carriers worldwide has doubled since April 2001 and LCCs now account for 12% of all scheduled flight operations and 15% of all available seats, according to OAG data. In its latest Quarterly Airline Traffic Statistics, OAG noted that in North America the low-cost sector now holds 17% of the total market, up 5 points since April 2001 and representing 147,000 of 838,000 total flights. In Europe LCCs represent 14% of the market. OAG also said the number of flights on offer worldwide this month is 5% higher than in April 2004.
Swiss International Air Lines pilots are threatening to strike over plans to cut jobs in the carrier's regional business. The union is demanding a guarantee that more pilots will remain than Swiss planned under a cost reduction program and that those made redundant will receive better financial packages. "The pilots union now has a mandate for strike action, because 93% of the pilots voted in favor for that.
Lufthansa flew 8.64 billion RPKs in March, up 3.1% over the year-ago period. Capacity climbed 4.4% to 11.62 billion ASKs and load factor fell 0.9 point to 74.4%. For the three months ended March 31, RPKs increased 2.9% to 23.77 billion, ASKs rose 2.2% to 32.47 billion and load factor gained 0.5 point to 73.2%.
Gol filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission an amendment to its registration statement revising the size of its proposed offering to 14.7 million of its preferred shares, consisting of roughly 5.5 million shares offered by Gol and approximately 9.2 million by a selling shareholder, BSSF Air Holdings.
