Korean Air on Tuesday took delivery of its first Airbus A380 in a Toulouse ceremony. It will become the first Asian carrier to operate a GP7200-powered A380.
Despite soaring fuel prices, the AirAsia Group posted a 46% year-over-year lift in first-quarter operating profit to MYR241.72 million ($79.4 million) on a 20% increase in revenue to MYR1.05 billion.
Despite soaring fuel prices, the AirAsia Group posted a 46% year-over-year lift in first-quarter operating profit to MYR241.72 million ($79.4 million) on a 20% increase in revenue to MYR1.05 billion.
International Lease Finance Corp. appointed Elias Habayeb CFO. He formerly was senior VP -investments and financial Services for ILFC parent AIG. Estonian Air announced President and CEO Andrus Aljas resigned, to be effective June 1. Aljas joined the company in 2006 as member of the management board and VP-finance. Fokker Technologies named Jeroen Koot president of Fokker Aircraft Services, replacing Edwin Schilling.
Embraer delivered an E-190 to Air Astana on Monday, the first of the type the airline has received and the first of two it had been slated to take this year. The aircraft, which is leased by KC from Florida-based Jetscape, will be used to “right size routes and fill a capacity gap between its Fokker and Airbus fleets,” according to an Embraer statement. It will used to fly a mix of domestic and international city pairs from Almaty and Astana.
Brussels Airlines reaffirmed its intent to launch service to the US but stressed plans are still under analysis. SN said the plans are conditional on obtaining transatlantic antitrust immunity with its Star Alliance partners and inclusion in their Atlantic Plus-Plus joint venture.
Shanghai-based China Eastern Airlines inked a cooperation agreement with Liaoning province in northeast China, seeking to enhance its position in North China by adding capacity and boosting flight frequencies on routes from the provincial capital, Shenyang, to Shanghai, Xian and Kunming. According to the agreement, SHE-Shanghai service will increase to nine-times-daily in coming days. Flights from SHE to XIY and KMG will increase from three to five-times-daily on each route over the next two years.
Ryanair reported a net profit of €374.6 million ($530 million) for its fiscal year ended March 31, up 23% from €305.3 million earned in the prior fiscal year.
Air Canada's pilots voted to reject a tentative labor contract that included guidelines for AC's establishment of a leisure-destination focused LCC, delivering a blow to airline management.
Delta Air Lines and US Airways unveiled a revamped New York LaGuardia/Washington National slot swap agreement that the carriers believe will mollify US Dept. of Transportation objections to their original proposal put forward in 2009.
Ryanair reported a net profit of €374.6 million ($530 million) for its fiscal year ended March 31, up 23% from €305.3 million earned in the prior fiscal year.
Southwest Airlines Senior VP and CFO Laura Wright said that specific revenue initiatives undertaken by the carrier helped to boost sales by $2.2 billion between 2007 and 2010, exceeding the carrier's target of growing top-line revenue by $1.5 billion. Addressing the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Transportation Conference, available via webcast,Wright noted that the revenue growth was achieved "on capacity that was slightly down" from 2007."
Aeroflot will take delivery of its first Sukhoi Superjet 100 this week and plans to put it into service June 16, according to Superjet International Deputy Senior VP-Commercial Svetlana Issaeva.
International Lease Finance Corp. on Friday announced it has increased the total amount of its cash tender offer for "certain of its existing outstanding notes" to $1.75 billion, up 133% from the $750 million figure it revealed on Thursday. Barclays Capital Inc. and JP Morgan Securities LLC will act as dealer managers for the offer, it said.
Atlantic Southeast Airlines is "about halfway through" the process of merging with ExpressJet, ASA President Brad Holt told reporters at the Regional Airline Assn. Annual Convention in Nashville. He said the SkyWest Inc. subsidiaries expect to receive a single operating certificate "by late November, early December."
AirAsia X selected GE’s CF6-80E1 engines to power three firm and two option Airbus A330-200s ordered in March ( ATW Daily News, March 1). The aircraft, which is scheduled for delivery from 2012, will be operated on the carrier's expanding network, offering low-fare service to destinations in Europe, Asia and the Pacific.
Scandinavian Airlines announced Thursday it signed a letter of intent with Singapore Airlines to further develop and enhance their partnership. “This may cover additional codeshare flights, as well as network cooperation on potential new sectors between Scandinavia and Singapore,” SAS said in a statement.
SkyTeam members Delta Air Lines, Air France, KLM and Alitalia announced they will reduce transatlantic capacity between Europe and the US and Canada offered through their joint venture by 7%-9% this fall in response to significantly higher fuel prices "and fluctuating seasonal demand."
AirBaltic President and CEO Bertolt Flick reiterated that the carrier will need to strengthen its capital base if it proceeds with an order for narrowbodies to renew its medium-haul fleet, which he asserts is becoming urgent owing to the high fuel prices.
Air France KLM Group reported a profit for the fiscal year ended March 31 of €613 million ($873.5 million), reversed from a €1.6 billion deficit in its 2009-10 fiscal year, citing a “more favorable economic environment” and cost-cutting controls for the turnaround.
China Southern Airlines signed a cooperation agreement with the Beijing government paving the way for the Guangzhou-based carrier to enhance its position at the new Beijing Daxing airport, which is projected to open in 2016. Construction is set to begin this year. CZ noted that over the next 10 years, it will allocate about 200 aircraft—Airbus A330s and A380s—from Beijing Capital International, which is facing slot shortages, to the new airport.
EasyJet stepped up its campaign to halt what it calls “destructive” government changes to the air passenger duty tax, citing the results of a report it commissioned by Frontier Economics which forecasts the proposals would be “bad for the environment and the economy.” It also called on the government to switch from a per-passenger duty to a per-plane tax.
