In an effort to counter Virgin Blue’s new business class product on domestic Australian services, Qantas announced it will deploy internationally configured Boeing 747s and Airbus A330s with lie-flat beds on transcontinental routes to Perth.
Ryanair will prune its base at Girona Airport at the end of this month, removing five aircraft, closing 18 routes and reducing frequencies on a further 17 routes, citing the refusal of the new government of Catalonia to honor the five-year extension agreement it reached with the outgoing government in December.
Norwegian Air Shuttle reported a net profit of NOK189 million for 2010 ($32.5 million), down 57.6% from the NOK446.3 million it earned in 2009 despite a 21.2% increase in passengers to 13 million and a 17.6% rise in revenue to NOK8.6 billion.
Southwest Airlines and its stock clerks, represented by International Brotherhood of Teamsters, announced Tuesday they have reached a tentative agreement for a new, five-year labor contract retroactive to Aug. 16, 2008. The accord, if approved, would run through Aug. 16, 2013. A previous tentative agreement was rejected by the 170 stock clerks ( ATW Daily News, Dec. 15, 2010).
Kenya Airways flew 2.3 billion RPKs in its 2010 fiscal third quarter ended Dec. 31, 2010, up 8.9% over the year-ago period, on a 5.2% increase in capacity to 3.4 billion ASKs. Average load factor improved two points to 69.8%. Passenger boardings rose 7.3% to 829,263.
US Dept. of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics reported that US airlines carried 58.1 million scheduled domestic and international passengers in November 2010, a 6.1% increase from November 2009, representing the largest year-over-year rise since August 2007. Traffic rose 7.4% to 62.5 billion RPMs on a 5.4% rise in capacity to 77.7 billion ASMs, producing a load factor of 80.4%, up 1.4 points year-over-year. Load factors for domestic and international flights averaged 81.1% and 78.4% respectively.
China Southern Airlines plans to further explore the market potential in western China, saying it will double capacity in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region over the next five years. According to an agreement between the Guangzhou-based carrier and the Guangxi local government, CZ is expected to boost its flight frequencies on routes from Nanning to Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Beijing and Shanghai by 2015. It will also open “air shuttle service” on Nanning-Guangzhou and Guilin-Guangzhou routes.
EgyptAir said its business is returning to normal following massive flight cancellations during the nearly three weeks of civil unrest in Egypt that led to President Hosni Mubarak's resignation Feb. 11.
Delta Air Lines and United Continental Holdings will pay out a combined total of $537 million in profit sharing to their respective employees as a result of their strong 2010 performances. DL earned $593 million in 2010 ( ATW Daily News, Jan. 19) and UCH had pro forma earnings of $854 million ( ATW Daily News, Jan. 27).
Boeing said it welcomes reports that El Al has selected the 737-900ER and looks forward to finalizing a contract. El Al said it ordered four 737-900ERs with an option for two more, in a deal valued at up to $320 million, Reuters reported. The 737-900s are intended to replace its 757s. EL AL took delivery of its first 757 in 1987.
Air Astana President Peter Foster told ATW that the carrier's dispute with GDS provider Amadeus is not over and could escalate. Amadeus was obliged to restore distribution services to KC after a Madrid court granted the Kazakh carrier injunctive relief on Feb. 3. Amadeus canceled KC’s agreement, which expired on Dec, 31, on Jan. 21 after 15 days’ notice, alleging a breach of the terms of the agreement ( ATW Daily News, Feb. 9).
Alitalia and Meridiana Fly are in talks about a possible partnership, Meridiana said, although it did not confirm reports in Il Messaggero that the airlines’ respective management teams are reviewing the details of a possible acquisition.
Henry Hubschman, who led GE Capital Aviation Services from 1997 first as president and CEO and then as chairman, died of cancer Feb. 9. He was 63. Under Hubschman's leadership, GECAS' aircraft assets grew from $10 billion to $49 billion as the fleet reached 1,800 aircraft operated by nearly 250 airlines in more than 75 countries.
Air New Zealand last week announced it will enable its new Airbus A320, outfitted with an all-black livery in homage to the country's famous All Blacks rugby team, with voice and data capability. It will be the first commercial aircraft in the country that will allow passengers to use their mobile phones during domestic flights. ANZ earlier this month took delivery of the first of 14 A320s it is expected to receive through 2016, with three more coming this year. The aircraft will progressively replace the airline's Boeing 737-300s on domestic flying.
Aegean Airlines, whose proposed merger with competitor Olympic Air was blocked by the European Commission last month ( ATW Daily News, Jan. 27), said it expects to report a net loss of €22-€24 million ($30-$33 million) for 2010 and warned that a loss for the current year is “very likely” owing to higher fuel prices and continued weak demand in the domestic market. It estimated 2010 revenue at about €590 million.
The European Commission announced Friday that it has launched formal antitrust investigations into the free-flow codeshare agreements between Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines on the Munich-Istanbul Ataturk and Frankfurt-IST routes and between Brussels Airlines and TAP Portugal on the Brussels-Lisbon route.
Chinese carriers reported CNY2.82 billion ($428 million) in collective net income for the month of January, reversing a collective net loss of CNY50 million in the year-ago month, according to CAAC.
Copa Holdings, parent of Panama's Copa Airlines and Copa Airlines Colombia (formerly Aero Republica), posted 2010 net income of $212.1 million, down 11.8% from a $240 million profit in 2009.
Air Canada earned net income of C$107 million ($107.5 million) in 2010, reversed from a C$24 million net loss in 2009, crediting cost discipline and strong growth in international revenue—particularly on transpacific flying—for the turnaround.
Copa Holdings, parent of Panama's Copa Airlines and Copa Airlines Colombia (formerly Aero Republica), posted 2010 net income of $212.1 million, down 11.8% from a $240 million profit in 2009.
OAG reported that worldwide scheduled airline capacity for the month of February increased 5% compared to February 2010, to 285.7 million seats, on a 4% increase in number of flights, to 2.3 million departures. In terms of frequency of service, the two fastest growing markets are to and from the Middle Eastand to and from Asia/Pacific, each growing 13%.
Strike action looms as Qantas and its international pilots faceoff over job security and pay rates. The airline dismissed claims by the Australian and International Pilots Assn. that QF flight deck crew job security is imperiled as “completely unfounded” while warning that the pilots’ wage requests are not viable. Qantas said in a statement Thursday that it has “not made a pilot redundant in almost 40 years and there is no threat to the job security of our pilots.”
Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker responded strongly to remarks made last month by Ulrich Schulte-Strathaus in which the secretary general of the Assn. of European Airlines called for an ICAO mechanism to regulate "capacity dumping" by Qatar Airways, Emirates Airline and Etihad Airways, describing the comments as "factually incorrect and unfounded."
