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.
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).
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%.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
US Dept. of Transportation gave final clearance to several passenger and cargo airlines that tentatively were granted rights in February to launch services to China ( ATWOnline, Feb. 23). As a result, American Airlines officially can start marketing its new Chicago-Shanghai flights that will begin next year. In addition, Federal Express, Northwest Airlines, Polar Air Cargo and UPS will be able to boost their cargo service to China in 2006 by adding three weekly flights each.
In what it described as a further step in its "commitment to intra-European travel," easyJet announced that it will establish a new base at EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg this summer and launch five new routes from the airport.
ATA Holdings Corp., which has been operating under Chapter 11 since October 2004, reported a massive $816.9 million net loss available to shareholders for 2004 in its annual report filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission last week. The figure included $638.5 million in reorganization expenses and a noncash charge of $27.3 million related to the company's bond exchange in the first quarter. This compares to a net income of $15.8 million in 2003, which was bolstered by $37.2 million in security rebates from the US government.
Swissport International will expand its presence in Africa through two new collaborations. In Algeria, the company is establishing a joint venture with Arcofina Group with a goal of obtaining an airport ground handling license this summer. In Sudan, the company has completed a franchise agreement with MASS Aviation Support that should allow it to begin ground handling activities there in May.
Avianca reported a net income of $116 million for 2004, a complete turnaround compared to the $108 million net loss the carrier posted in 2003. The airline said the improvement was primarily the result of benefits generated by its financial and operating restructuring carried out under bankruptcy and also reflected a $119 million equity enhancement. Operating revenues increased 20% to $652 million while direct operating costs rose 12.1% to $387.4 million on an 18.4% jump in fuel costs.
UT Air signed a contract to purchase two ATR 42-300s to develop its regional market. The first is expected to be delivered by Continental Airlines in June. UT Air also is negotiating with ATR for a training and global maintenance agreement for comprehensive airframe maintenance, equipment repair and standard exchange services
Gulf Air and Lufthansa Technik tomorrow are scheduled to reveal at the Aircraft Interiors 2005 conference in Hamburg the details of what LHT terms a "far-reaching" MRO contract to be signed by Gulf Air President and CEO James Hogan and Lufthansa Technik Executive Board Chairman August Henningsen.
PACE Aerospace Engineering and Information Technology announced that Seattle-based International Aero has purchased its standard cabin interior configuration software Pacelab.
Hit hard by $129.5 million in reorganization expenses as well as rising fuel prices and increased competition, bankrupt Hawaiian Airlines posted a $75.4 million net loss for 2004 compared to a net loss of $49.5 million in 2003. The airline said the reorganization expenses primarily consisted of $110.6 million in one-time noncash claims to settle leases with Boeing Capital Corp. for three 767-300s and 11 717-200s, and with Ansett for a 767-300 rejected by Hawaiian in 2003. Results also included an income tax provision of $16.8 million.
ACE Aviation Holdings, parent of Air Canada, entered into agreements with a group of underwriters to sell an aggregate of roughly 11.4 million Class A and B shares at a price of C$37 ($30) per share for proceeds of C$420 million. ACE also will sell C$300 million of 4.25% convertible senior notes due 2035. The notes will be convertible into shares at an initial conversion price of C$48 per share. ACE said both offerings were increased following strong investor demand.
AirNav Systems released AirNav Live Flight Tracker Gold, a new multiwindow airline flight tracking application that enables the user to track several areas with several different filters simultaneously.
