Gulf Air carried the most passengers in its history in 2004, breaking the 2003 record by 24% and predicting this week it would likely break even financially for the year. The airline carried nearly 7.5 million passengers for the year and passenger revenue grew 27.5%, thanks to a jump in the number of premium passengers flying on the airline. Traffic for the year grew 32%, outpacing the 26.1% capacity growth. Load factor rose 3.2 points to a record 71.4%. Gulf Air enjoyed similar growth in cargo, where revenue was up 18.1%.
Swiss shrank its flying operations significantly in 2004, continuing restructuring efforts as traffic decreased by 15% on 17.9% less capacity. The airline's load factor, however, improved 2.5 points to 74.9%. The capacity cuts affected both the long-haul and the European program, with Swiss reducing long-haul capacity by 18.1% and its European offering by 17.4%. The airline has recorded heavy losses since its inception in early 2002 and expects that despite earlier goals it will not make a profit in 2004.
International Lease Finance Corp. (ILFC) signed a deal with Aeromexico for two new Boeing 777-200ERs, which the airline will operate on 10-year leases. Aeromexico takes delivery of the 777s, powered by GE90-94B engines, in February and March of 2006. The carrier plans to fly the 777s from Mexico City to Madrid and Paris.
UPS stock took a hit from the carrier's reduced fourth-quarter revenue guidance (DAILY, Jan. 12), and FedEx was also dragged down slightly despite its efforts to distance itself from UPS' woes. UPS said Tuesday that its fourth-quarter revenues will be lower than expected because its December volume dropped dramatically after the Christmas peak period. At yesterday's close, UPS shares were down by more than 7% on the New York Stock Exchange.
Colombia's civil aviation department, Aerocivil, has a busy agenda for the year ahead and for the long-term, including privatizing four major airports, opening the country's skies to more international and domestic carriers and stabilizing commissions paid to travel agencies. This year Aerocivil will install six new radar systems to control all aircraft using Colombia's air space, "the first country in Latin America to do so" and a meaningful improvement to safeguard its Category 1 status, noted Juan Carlos Velez, who heads the department.
Delta says the customer response to its new fare structure -- known as SimpliFares -- has broken some of its online sales records. Traffic on the airline's Web site was up 300% on Jan. 5 when the restructuring was unveiled, and the airline said it set a new one-day sales record. In the first five days after the announcement, web ticket sales soared 60%. The SimpliFares structure pressured competitors to match the price cuts (DAILY, Jan. 7).
Airbus plans to deliver 350-360 aircraft in 2005, a sharp jump from last year's production level which, if implemented, would mean the European manufacturer would again deliver more aircraft than rival Boeing. "We are very confident in the long-expected growth of the air travel industry, which needs seats to cope with the ever-increasing demand for air transportation," Airbus President and CEO Noel Forgeard said at the annual Airbus press conference in Paris.
Venezuela's state-owned Conviasa earlier this week completed the first domestic flights from its home base of Porlamar on Margarita Island (DAILY, Dec. 15, 2004), flying Boeing 737-300s and Dash 8s painted in the former Viasa's traditional orange livery. The government says Conviasa will create 800 direct and 8,000 indirect jobs. The airline will get some US$2 million a month in discounts for airport and other government services and plans to boost its fleet to 12 by midyear, when 767s join the operation to link Venezuela and Europe.
Flight totals reached record highs in U.K. airspace last year, with the total of 2.2 million flights up 4.9% from 2003, the U.K.'s National Air Traffic Services (NATS) said. The London area control center handled 1.8 million en-route flights, up 3.2%, while the London terminal control center handled 1.3 million, an increase of 3.4%. The Manchester area control center saw a 6.9% increase in en-route flights to 586,289, the Scottish area control center had 7.9% growth to 586,441, and oceanic area control had 357,104 flights, up 5.2%.
Boeing completed its first full-scale development 7E7 composite component, a test article that is 22 feet long and almost 19 feet wide. The airframer used a computerized lay-down of composite tape on a mold, mounted the mold on a tool to rotate the barrel and applied the tape. Boeing then wrapped the piece and placed it in autoclave for curing.
Indian and U.S. officials will launch open skies talks today in Washington, the first major air services discussion between the two countries in almost 50 years. Heading the Indian delegation, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel is expected to meet with U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta to lead off two days of negotiations.
US Airways completed a major reshuffle in its senior ranks yesterday to fill several vacancies, including naming Express chief Bruce Ashby to replace Ben Baldanza as executive VP-marketing and planning in the wake of Baldanza's defection to Spirit (DAILY, Jan. 12). Spirit confirmed yesterday that Baldanza will be president and chief operating officer of the airline beginning Jan. 24.
Atlas Air asked U.S. officials for a fourth delay, to Jan. 31, in starting up its U.S.-Ecuador service as the carrier works through final licensing steps with the Ecuadorian civil aviation authority. The carrier told the U.S. Transportation Dept. it is "almost ready to start" using its six frequencies after more than six months of delay as Atlas worked out regulatory approvals in Ecuador.
Bombardier needs Canada's government to decide quickly whether and how much it will help launching the 100-seat C-series jet, because an internal group at the airframer is preparing to make a recommendation about product launch next month, suggests information recently released by the Conference Board of Canada.
Virgin Blue Holdings is working out details on a partnership with the government of Samoa to take over state-owned Polynesian Airlines' long-haul operations and should wrap up the deal before mid-year. The World Bank's International Finance Corp. is backing the agreement. Qantas and Air New Zealand vied with Virgin Blue for the joint-venture deal.
Air Canada plans this summer to launch nonstop flights between Toronto and Seoul, further building its main Toronto hub with more non-stop services to Asia. Air Canada will operate the service three times per week starting July 1, in addition to its daily nonstop flights from Vancouver to Seoul. With a flight time of 14 hours 15 minutes westbound and 12 hours 55 minutes eastbound, the non-stop flight will save three hours 20 minutes compared to the Vancouver routing. Air Canada will operate the new route using 282-seat Airbus A340-300s.
Spirit Airlines as early as today is expected to name top US Airways executive Ben Baldanza as its next leader, sources told The DAILY. His departure would be a sharp blow to US Airways as Baldanza now serves as senior VP-marketing in planning overseeing pricing, distribution and sales. Jacob Schorr is currently president and CEO of Spirit. An airline spokeswoman declined comment.
AirTran in May plans to launch service to Indianapolis after it lost a bid to buy ATA assets and start code-sharing with the Indianapolis-based airline. AirTran will start flights May 4 with four daily services from Indianapolis to Atlanta. The flight will be served with two-class Boeing 717s. AirTran will compete with Delta, which currently has eight daily flights on the route. Starting June 7, AirTran will launch one daily flight from Indianapolis to Orlando.
Emirates ordered 30 electronic flight bags (EFB) from Boeing, becoming the largest customer for the airframer's digital storage system for pilot forms and on-board tool to calculate a plane's ideal speed and engine setting. Emirates plans to use Boeing's EFBs on the 30 777-300ERs it has on order. The airline in March is scheduled to take delivery of the first plane equipped with a class-3 EFB, which means the equipment is installed on the aircraft instead of being portable.
