Chile's LAN Airlines posted 2011 net income of $320.2 million, down 23.7% from a net profit of $419.7 million in 2010. Operating income decreased by 13.4% to $539.7 million while operating margin slid 4.3 points to 9.4%.
Hawaiian Holdings, parent of Hawaiian Airlines (HA), reported fourth-quarter net income of $20.9 million, down 70% from a $70.6 million profit in the year-ago period.
American Airlines (AA) chairman, president and CEO Tom Horton outlined the bankrupt carrier's plan for emerging from Chapter 11 protection in a Wednesday letter to company employees, calling for $1.25 billion in annual labor cost cuts.
The Hungarian government has put state-owned Malev Hungarian Airlines (MA) into bankruptcy protection. CEO Lorant Limburger said in a Monday statement that the company was running out of money. Board chairman János Berényi has requested management to draw up a liquidity plan by the end of the week.
Flight attendants from Southwest Airlines (SWA), represented by the Transport Workers Union (TWU), and AirTran Airways, represented by the Assn. of Flight Attendants (AFA) voted to ratify their seniority integration agreement. The tentative agreement, reached late last year, integrates the two groups' seniority lists ( ATW Daily News, Dec. 27, 2011).
Etihad Airways (EY) carried 8.3 million passengers in 2011, a 17% increase on the previous year. Etihad Crystal Cargo carried 310, 000 tonnes, up 18% on 2010. EY president and CEO James Hogan said the results “reflect our commitment to sensible, strategic expansion, which is why we launched eight new routes last year.”
All Nippon Airways (ANA) parent ANA Group reported net income of ¥33.7 billion ($440 million) for the first nine months of its April 1-March 31 fiscal year, down 10.1% from a ¥37.5 billion net profit the prior-year period. Revenue for the nine months increased by 3% year-over-year to ¥1.07 trillion while operating income rose 17.3% to ¥91.1 billion.
United Parcel Service (UPS) posted 2011 net income of $3.8 billion, up 14% over a net profit of $3.34 billion in 2010, and projected that it will do well in 2012 despite uncertainty about the global economy.
Air New Zealand CEO Rob Fyfe plans to step down by the end of 2012, it was widely reported by New Zealand media Monday. The New Zealand Herald quoted a statement from Fyfe saying that his decision was made partly to create the space for the airline’s talented and capable executives to realize their full potential. Fyfe, who has been ANZ CEO since 2005, is credited with introducing many of the changes that transformed the airline.
Germania Fluggesellschaft has named Andreas Wobig as CEO, replacing Axel Trampnau, who left the company for personal reasons. Wobig has served as CTO for Germania since early 2011. Turkish Technic has signed an agreement with 328 Design GmbH to work together on “design projects.” The 328 group has over 200 supplementary TC’s on various aircraft types, including the Airbus A320.
Kenya Airways (KQ) carried 956,742 passengers in its third fiscal quarter ended Dec. 31, a 15.4% increase on the year-ago period. RPKs rose 9.9% on a systemwide 6.4% lift in ASKs as a result of increased frequencies to several destinations and the launch of Jeddah operations ( ATW Daily News, July 22, 2011). Load factor gained 2.2 points to 72%. The amount of cargo carried was up 6.2% to 16,131 tonnes, on a 6.5% capacity increase.
Transaero Airlines (UN) carried 8.453 million passengers in 2011, up 27.2% compared to 2010, the carrier said in a statement. RPKs increased to 33,180 million, up 26.2% over 2010. The Moscow-based carrier opened 22 routes from Sheremetyevo (SVO) and Domodedovo (DME) airports and Pulkovo (LED) in St. Petersburg. It launched 23 flights from regional airports in Ekaterinburg, Kazan, Krasnoyarsk, Novosibirsk, Perm, Rostov-on-Don, Samara and Ufa. Domestic boardings rose 30% and international boardings increased 26.8%.
All Nippon Airways (ANA) pilot unions have threatened a 24-hr. strike Wednesday but the airline said it is continuing negotiations to try stave off the planned industrial action and disruption to passenger services.
Ryanair (FR) reported a net profit of €14.9 million ($19.7 million) in the third quarter ended Dec. 31, 2011, a complete turnaround from a €10.3 million deficit in the year-ago period.
Hainan Airlines (HU) has reduced the price of its additional share offerings from CNY6.42 per share in the Shanghai Stock Exchange to CNY4.84 per share to raise CNY8 billion ($1.28 billion) to pay off a bank loan of CNY6.08 billion and increase its cash flow.
Lufthansa Cargo (LHC) is considering replacing its fleet of 18 Boeing MD-11Fs and will decide by 2014 which aircraft to go with, LHC chairman and CEO Karl-Ulrich Garnadt told ATW in Seoul, South Korea.
Financially troubled Austrian regional Air Alps has ceased operations. The carrier operated three Dornier 328-100s, on mainly codeshare flights for Alitalia from Rome Fiumicino-Parma and Bolzano as well as Milan Malpensa–Salerno. Welcome Air, a small regional carrier based in Innsbruck and owned by Swiss Lions Air Group AG, owns 76% of Air Alps ( ATW Daily News, Sept. 30, 2009).
The new chairman of the Assn. of European Airlines (AEA) has warned that tensions arising from the controversial EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) tax will be extremely damaging for European air travel. Bernard Gustin, AEA chair and co-chief executive of Brussels Airlines, said that Europe was bracing itself for a “turbulent 2012” and it was therefore “more critical than ever to have a competitive and thriving European airline industry.”
