Airlines & Lessors

Katie Cantle
China Eastern Airlines (MU) and Cathay Pacific Airways (CX) have downgraded their first-quarter profit forecasts citing the slowdown of market demand and high fuel prices.

Kurt Hofmann
Austrian Airlines (OS) has concluded the planned transfer of the company’s flight operations into its subsidiary, Tyrolean Airways, to take place after July 1, as part of its $220 million restructuring program.

By Karen Walker
The Qantas (QF) Airbus A380 that had been undergoing major repairs in Singapore since an inflight engine explosion in November 2010 returned to Sydney over the weekend.
Safety, Ops & Regulation

By Polina Montag-Girmes
Russian Transaero Airline (UN) reported first-quarter net income of RUB15 million ($508,000), reversed from a net loss of RUB381 million ($12.9 million) in the year-ago period.

Kurt Hofmann
Lufthansa (LH) is planning to keep capacity flat this year and will phase out its Boeing 737 fleet by 2016 as part of its €1.5 billion cost-cutting measures, Deutsche Lufthansa AG executive board member Carsten Spohr told employees in an internal letter.

By Karen Walker
All Nippon Airways (ANA) has revised its 2011 full financial year performance forecast upward, citing strong tourism demand and reduced operating expenses.

Aaron Karp
American Airlines (AA) chairman, president and CEO Tom Horton pushed back against US Airways’ (US) efforts to bring about a merger of the two carriers, telling employees in a Monday letter that “we must be mindful of other parties who don’t have our best interests at heart.”

Aaron Karp
Hearings got underway Monday in a US bankruptcy court in New York to determine whether American Airlines (AA) will be able to terminate its labor contracts as part of the Chapter 11 restructuring process.

Aaron Karp
Air Canada (AC) and its 3,000 pilots said Thursday they will try again to reach a collective bargaining agreement that has so far been elusive.
Safety, Ops & Regulation

Michael Mackey
Jakarta-based low-cost carrier (LCC) Mandala Airlines (RI) relaunched operations Thursday with international service from Medan (MES), Indonesia to Singapore after undergoing financial restructuring last year.

Aaron Karp
US Airways (US) and American Airlines’ (AA) three largest unions reached an agreement Friday that supports a US-AA merger, a major development that threatens to upend AA’s plans to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy restructuring as an independent carrier.

Kurt Hofmann
Lufthansa (LH) Group announced Friday it completed the sale of British Midland International (bmi) to British Airways (BA) owner International Airlines Group (IAG).

Mubadala Aerospace has appointed Frederic Dupont as the new head of global sales of its MRO network. Dupont previously served as president and GM of Pratt & Whitney Engine Leasing.

By Linda Blachly
Hawaiian Airlines (HA) flight attendants have ratified a tentative agreement on a new contract that the airline said balances increased compensation for HA’s flight attendants with gains in productivity for the company.
Safety, Ops & Regulation

By Linda Blachly
Singapore Airlines’ (SQ) new medium- to long-haul low-cost carrier Scoot is taking off ahead of schedule with its inaugural flight from Singapore (SIN) to Sydney set for June 4, followed by SIN-Gold Coast on June 12.

Katie Cantle
China Eastern Airlines (MU), which is deepening its cooperation with the Qinghai provincial government, is launching a Xining-Beijing route as part of expansion plans into West China.
Airports & Networks

By Linda Blachly
Pinnacle Airlines Corp., the Memphis-based parent of regionals Pinnacle Airlines, Colgan Air and Mesaba Aviation, announced Thursday that COO John Spanjers will succeed Sean Menke as CEO, effective June 1.

Christine Boynton
Alaska Air Group, parent of Alaska Airlines (AS) and Horizon Air, earned net income of $40.8 million in the first quarter, a 45% drop from a $74.2 million net profit earned in the year-ago quarter.

Aaron Karp
Southwest Airlines (SWA), which had warned of a first-quarter loss, posted net income of $98 million for the period, improved over a $5 million net profit in the 2011 March quarter.

Aaron Karp
American Airlines (AA) parent AMR Corp., which is restructuring via the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process, incurred a $1.66 billion net loss in the first quarter, according to a filing Thursday with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Aaron Karp
Qantas Group (QF) has selected CFM International LEAP-1A engines for the 78 Airbus A320neo aircraft it has on order.
Aircraft & Propulsion

Kurt Hofmann
Lufthansa (LH) Group subsidiaries Austrian Airlines (OS) and Germanwings (4U) have launched codeshare flights between Austria and Germany.
Airports & Networks

Michael Mackey
All Nippon Airways (ANA) will resume regular flights to Myanmar’s Yangon International (RGN) for the first time in 12 years.
Airports & Networks

Aaron Karp
United Continental Holdings (UCH) executive VP and CFO Zane Rowe has decided to leave the company to take a position with Apple Inc.

Kurt Hofmann
Air Berlin (AB) CEO Hartmut Mehdorn has strongly criticized the North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) state government’s decision to ban passenger flights between the hours of 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. at Cologne/Bonn (CGN).
Safety, Ops & Regulation