Emirates Airline received the 2011 Airline of the Year Award at the ATW Airline Industry Achievement Awards gala dinner event in Washington Tuesday evening.
Air Cargo Management Group said a "great deal of uncertainty" remains regarding international air cargo demand going forward despite the fact that 2010 international airfreight traffic exceeded 2007, when the industry's prior peak traffic performance was achieved.
Air France-KLM Group reported a €45 million ($61.5 million) net loss for its fiscal third quarter ended Dec. 31, narrowed from a €294 million deficit in the year-ago period, and warned that its operating profit for its full fiscal year ending March 31 will miss previous guidance.
Japan Airlines and American Airlines announced they have begun joint sales for Japan-to-North America flights. The two carriers will commence their previously announced transpacific joint business on April 1 ( ATW Daily News, Jan. 12).
Norwegian Air Shuttle launched Row 44 onboard high-speed broadband on Tuesday. “This is a product that no other airline in Europe is currently offering, which gives us a huge competitive advantage,” Norwegian Director of IT and Business Development Hans-Petter Aanby said.
Hainan Airlines said it expects to report 2010 net income of more than CNY2.01 billion ($306 million), a sixfold increase over a CNY335 million net profit reported for 2009 (ATW Daily News, April 26, 2010).
SAS Group incurred a net loss of SEK2.22 billion ($335.4 million) for 2010, narrowed from a SEK2.95 billion deficit in 2009, but swung to a SEK47 million fourth-quarter profit, turned around from a SEK1.3 billion net loss in the prior-year period.
WestJet posted 2010 net income of C$136.7 million ($138 million), up 39.3% over a C$98.2 million profit in 2009, on a 14.5% jump in revenue to C$2.61 billion.
United Continental Holdings, parent of United Airlines and Continental Airlines, reported strong unit revenue growth in January, with combined consolidated PRASM up an estimated 10.5% -11.5% compared to the pro forma results from January 2010 when the carriers were independent, while mainline PRASM climbed an estimated 11.5%-12.5% on a similar basis.
Etihad reached a codeshare agreement with Air New Zealand for flights across the Tasman, giving EY passengers the option to connect to cities including Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. The agreement complements EY's alliance with Virgin Blue, which became effective in 2010 ( ATW Daily News, Feb. 4).
WestJet, in a bold challenge to Air Canada in the country's lucrative "eastern triangle" business travel market, announced late Monday it will offer 10 flights each business day between Toronto and Montreal and nine flights each business day between Toronto and Ottawa, beginning May 2.
UPS said Monday it is extending its ExpressFreight air cargo service to Israel and Slovakia in order "to serve expanding hubs for high-tech, industrial and automotive companies." The delivery giant's premium air cargo offering includes one- to three-business day door-to-door service, customs clearance and an on-time guarantee.
United Continental Holdings said on Monday said it would cut up to 500 jobs at the Houston headquarters of Continental Airlines, which merged in October with United Airlines ( ATW Daily News, Oct. 4, 2010). The cuts would be management and salaried positions. UCH has about 6,000 such jobs and more than 80,000 employees worldwide, Reuters reported. Information was contained in a letter to the Texas Workforce Commission, according to press reports.
TUI Travel, the tourism conglomerate that includes TUIfly, Thomson, Arkefly, Corsairfly and Jet4you, among others, reported a net loss of £99 million ($159.4 million) for the fiscal first quarter ended Dec. 31, 2010, improved from a loss of £124 million in the year-earlier period.
Delta Air Lines will introduce an “Economy Comfort” section on all its long-haul international flights this summer as part of its previously announced plan to invest more than $2 billion in enhanced global products, services and airport facilities through 2013.
WestJet and Delta Air Lines said Monday that they have entered into an interline agreement, effective immediately that will allow passengers to connect between each other's flights at 25 US and Canadian airports.
American Airlines and United Airlines last month filed a lawsuit in Illinois to stop the City of Chicago from moving forward with the second phase of Chicago O'Hare expansion, arguing that the city government failed to get clearance from the carriers before approving $3.4 billion in modernization projects at the busy airport.
American Airlines flew 9.87 billion RPMs in January, a 2% year-over-year increase, while capacity rose 2.5% to 13.02 billion ASMs. Load factor fell 0.4 points to 75.8%. American Eagle Airlines operated 681.9 million RPMs in January, up 19.7% compared to January 2010, against an 18.2% lift in capacity to 1.06 billion ASMs. Load factor rose 0.8 points to 64.4%.
Aer Lingus confirmed Friday that it reached a successful conclusion to its industrial dispute with the IMPACT cabin crew union on the “full implementation of the Greenfield plan, including changes in [flight attendant work] rosters to deliver 850 annual flying hours."
JetBlue Airways CEO Dave Barger said the LCC is "excited" about Airbus's recent unveiling of the A320neo, a re-engined version of the narrowbody to be offered with either the CFM International Leap-X or Pratt & Whitney's PW1100G.
Domestic retail investors in Indonesia have shown a strong interest in Garuda Indonesia’s IPO offering, which went on sale Wednesday ahead of the airline’s listing on Feb. 11.
