LAN Airlines yesterday resumed limited domestic and international service from Santiago, where it has helped set up a temporary tent facility for passengers. "The situation is far from normal operations. We are working to be able to resume just 15% of our domestic and international operations," President and COO Ignacio Cueto said Monday. Until Friday LAN will focus on transferring passengers affected by cancellations. Afterward, "operations are expected to begin getting back to normal," the airline said. Saturday's earthquake was centered some 200 mi.
United Airlines will launch daily Washington Dulles-Accra flights, its first nonstop service to Africa, on June 20. UA is awaiting Nigerian approval to extend the flight to Lagos.
Turkish Airlines launched daily Istanbul Ataturk-Bologna service. AirBaltic will launch service from Riga to Rovaniemi (four-times-weekly on May 3) and Kuusamo (thrice-weekly on March 31), thrice-weekly flights from Talinn to Tampere (March 31) and Oulu (May 11), four-times-weekly Tampere-Rovaniemi on May 3, thrice-weekly Lappeenranta-Kuusamo on March 31 and four-times-weekly Lappeenranta-Kuopio on March 31. Flydubai will launch twice-daily service from Dubai to Kuwait City (March 28) and Muscat (March 30) on 737-800s.
American Airlines yesterday officially opened its relocated cargo terminal at New York JFK. Facility includes 135,000 sq. ft. of warehouse space, 24 dock doors and two 20-ft. elevated transfer vehicle handling systems that can accommodate "any type of aircraft unit currently in use," AA said.
New York JFK's longest commercial runway was closed yesterday for four months of construction and repair work that will force a reduction in overall arrivals and departures by nearly 20% and resulted in delays averaging 100 min. on the first day, according to FAA's Air Traffic Control System Command Center.
Dubai's low cost airline Flydubai, has announced a brace of GCC routes to kick off what it describes as a very busy year of route announcements for the carrier.
Munich Airport operator Flughafen Munchen posted a net profit of €105 million ($142.3 million) in 2009, up 34.6% from the €78 million earned in 2008, excluding nonrecurrent effects through provisions for ground handling that have not been determined and interest on shareholder loans. Revenue fell 3% to €844 million and operating profit rose 27.6% to €97 million excluding the aforementioned items. Passenger volume dipped 5.4% to 32.7 million on an 8.2% decline in aircraft movements to 396,805. Freight and mail dropped 11.8% to 229,095 tons.
MAp, the Australian holding company formerly known as Macquarie Airports, lost A$589.3 million ($529.2 million) in 2009, reversed from a A$2.44 billion profit in 2008. The company holds 74% of Sydney Airport, 36% of Brussels Airport, 30.8% of Copenhagen Airport, 16% of Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste and 1% of Bristol Airport. It sold its 14.9% share in Japan Airport Terminal last year with resulting proceeds of A$260 million and reached a deal in September to offload a 34.5% stake in Bristol to the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan for £128 million ($192.2 million).
Schiphol Group, which operates airports in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Eindhoven, suffered a 29% fall in profit last year to €132.7 million, which compared to the €186.9 million surplus reported in 2008. Revenue was flat at €1.15 billion as increased charges were offset by a drop in traffic, while expenses climbed 5.2% to €927 million. Operating profit slipped 36.4% to €187.1 million. Passenger numbers across the three main Dutch airports slid 7.7% to 46.2 million on an 8.4% decline in aircraft movements to 418,672. Freight fell 17.9% to 1.3 million tonnes.
UK airports operator BAA reported a 2009 loss of £684 million ($1.04 billion), widened from a £201.1 million deficit in 2008, as heavy noncash charges including a £277.3 million loss related to its sale of London Gatwick and £217.8 million related to increased pension deficits offset a slight rise in revenue.
Aeroports de Paris reported a €269.9 million ($366.1 million) profit in 2009, just 1.1% down from the €272.7 million earned the prior year, which Chairman and CEO Pierre Graff said was "thanks to the implementation of the savings plan announced at the beginning of 2009 and the continuation of our commercial and real estate strategy."
