SAS reported a SEK407 million (US$41.78 million) loss in the first six months of 2002. Revenues totaled SEK31.6 billion ($3.24 billion), up 21% due to the full consolidation of Spanair and the Braathens acquisition. On comparable units, revenues decreased 3.4% but rose 0.1% in the second quarter. The airline had a SEK220 million profit in the first six months of 2001.
Northwest and American yesterday further expanded a round of fare cuts, leading some industry analysts to say the nature of the reductions have already exceeded the carriers' original intentions. The current spate of cuts began late last week and escalated this week. American began with 5% to 10% cuts on business fares in some markets, and Northwest followed suit. By press time yesterday, both Northwest and American had slashed their published business fares in selected markets by 15%-30%.
Venezuela's all-cargo carrier Transcargo has started operations to and from Miami through a strategic arrangement with Peru's air freight company Cielos del Peru, and counts Federal Express among its clients.
The FAA filed a detailed defense of its contract tower program with a federal court, opening the way for resolving an eight-year legal challenge the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) mounted against the program. While the control tower industry welcomes the FAA report, NATCA says it is flawed.
Frontier wants to begin its first international service, to Mexico, filing at DOT for Denver-Cancun and -Cabo San Lucas/Mazatlan service rights. It plans to start the nonstops to Cancan on Dec. 30, using 132-seat Airbus 319-111 aircraft, and the Cabo/Mazatlan flights Dec. 7, with the A319 or Boeing 737-300 aircraft. The Cabo/Mazatlan service would be seasonal until May, and while the carrier requests authority for year-round Cancun service, a schedule has not yet been determined, a Frontier spokeswoman said.
Boeing says it sold more A340-200/300s in 2001 than Airbus. Airlines ordered four A340-200/300s from Boeing Aircraft Trading while Airbus only received two firm orders for the aircraft, and had six cancellations. Boeing contends no orders were placed for the A340-500/600 with Airbus in that year and nine were canceled.
Colombia's Avianca, which formed Summa Alliance in May with its subsidiary SAM and Aces, improved its financial results for the first half of this year from 2001, as reported by DAILY affiliate AvNews Latin America & Caribbean. Losses were cut to $70 million from $84 million, assets were increased and debt and overhead costs were reduced. Equity stands at $3.1 billion.
Petrobras hiked jet fuel prices 11.31% in Brazil, a move expected to provoke new airfare increases. Last week, Varig, RioSul, Nordeste, Tam and Vasp increased ticket prices 11.4%, and low-cost, no-frills Gol went up 9.8%.
The Mexican states of Hidalgo and Puebla plan to push their areas as new airport locations in the wake of last week's government reversal on building the new international airport in the Texcoco area of Mexico state. The decision followed protests by farmers who stood to lose their lands.
Irish low fare carrier Ryanair plans to accelerate retirement of its Boeing 737-200 fleet and is converting more options into firm orders for the Boeing 737-800. The airline will take delivery of an additional three 737-800s before summer 2003, for a total of 13. The aircraft will help the airline accomplish its planned 30% growth for the next two years. Ryanair plans to carry just under 20 million passengers in fiscal 2003-2004.
Airline Owners and Pilots Association is challenging a Michigan law requiring felony background checks on flight school students. AOPA said this requirement is unconstitutional because it preempts FAA's control over pilot regulation. "AOPA is a strong advocate for reasonable measures to enhance aviation security," said AOPA President Phil Boyer. "But the Michigan law is unneeded and violates federal law."
The Coalition of Airline Pilots Associations (CAPA) is urging the Senate to fast-track legislation aimed at allowing firearms in the cockpit, instead of attaching it to the potentially contentious Homeland Security bill. The House version of the firearms bill has already been passed, but there has so far been no movement on the Senate version, which was written by Sen. Robert Smith (R-N.H.).
Northwest Airlines has secured $749 million in bond financing structured as enhanced equipment trust certificates (EETC) to buy 20 new aircraft. The order will comprise a mix of 11 Airbus A319s, six Boeing 757-300s and three A330-300s. The bonds have a final maturity up to 19 years, with a combination of fixed and floating interest rates. The initial average weighted interest rate is 4.07%. Northwest Executive VP and Chief Financial Officer Mickey Foret said, "This transaction is the largest EETC completed by Northwest since completing its first such transaction in 1994.
Lufthansa plans to restructure its widespread regional operation, simplify the fleet allocation and come up with a new brand for the feeder network. The airline hopes to achieve significant cost reduction and get rid of the current geographic allocation of the flying program. Contrary to earlier plans, its own fully owned subsidiary Lufthansa CityLine likely will not operate the new fleet of regional jets expected to be ordered in the fall and would no longer grow.
U.S. and Latvian aviation officials last week in Riga completed a first round of negotiations aimed at establishing open skies between the two countries. "Some issues remain open, but we made important progress," a senior U.S. official told The DAILY. There was a "narrowing of differences" and Latvia will "review the open issues" and is expected to contact the U.S. to schedule a second round. He is optimistic that there will be "further progress in the fall" on achieving open skies.
State ownership of Philippine Airlines (PAL) is on the Filipino government's priority list. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has directed the finance ministry to evaluate how the government could arrange to buy back PAL's shares. A finance ministry official told The DAILY that in order for the government to liberalize the local air travel industry and to boost tourism, it would be better for it to take back ownership of PAL and manage it. "The plan to regain ownership of PAL was being evaluated in line with the open-skies policy that is pending with the U.S.
Air Canada Technical Services has chosen Sinex Aviation Technologies FleetCycle software for heavy maintenance automation. Launch of the software in Air Canada's Technical Services offices in Montreal Winnipeg, Vancouver and Calgary is planned for autumn 2002. FleetCycle uses PC kiosks, handheld devices and application servers to help maintenance technicians assign and track tasks. FleetCycle also gives other airline employees online access to real-time updates on aircraft status.
FAA will make airport visibility data available to all National Airspace System (NAS) users over the web, a step the agency says will give airline dispatchers, business aviation companies and general aviation pilots better decision-making tools. The runway visual range (RVR) information that will be available on the Internet represents the distance a pilot is able to see down a runway during approach. Pilots and flight operations centers use RVR in determining whether to land an aircraft at an airport.
U.S. airlines might be backing off from their traditional reluctance to lower business fares despite traffic downturns, as several recently experimented with lower business rates in a move triggered by American. During the past several days, American quietly lowered business fares 10%, leading to competitive moves by other airlines.
Integration With Airline-controlled digital spare parts exchange Aeroxchange finished integrating its AeroBuy procurement package with Northwest Airlines' SCEPTRE purchasing system, the first full integration between the AeroBuy system and an airline. "AeroBuy brings end-to-end automation of procurement and purchasing," which should boost efficiency and shave costs, Aeroexchange said Monday.
US Airways plans additional service to the Dominican Republic and is seeking rights to serve La Romana and Puerto Plata from Philadelphia, initially with three and two weekly flights, respectively, and Punta Cana from Philadelphia twice weekly and Charlotte four times weekly. It will use Airbus A320s.
The United-US Airways code-share agreement would automatically terminate by Oct. 4 if the carriers don't win labor approvals by that time, according to a copy of the agreement presented to DOT.
