The Chinese government on Saturday responded to escalating oil prices by raising domestic jet fuel prices 5.8% to CNY6,340 ($963.56) per ton, putting added cost pressure on the country's airlines.
Asiana Airlines posted 2010 net income of KRW236 billion ($211.3 million), reversed from a net loss of KRW266.3 billion in 2009, as annual revenue surged 30.5% to a record KRW5.07 trillion.
Is the current distribution war finally cooling down, or have the opponents gone back to their foxholes to regroup? American Airlines reversed its plan to charge travel agents outside the U.S. and the Caribbean a “booking source premium” for booking the carrier through Travelport GDSs. In turn, Travelport dropped the increases in segment fees it imposed on American as part of its response to the carrier’s tussle with Orbitz, Travelport’s largest customer for GDS services.
News from Travel Technology Update: Is the current distribution war finally cooling down, or have the opponents gone back to their foxholes to regroup? American Airlines reversed its plan to charge travel agents outside the U.S. and the Caribbean a “booking source premium” for booking the carrier through Travelport GDSs. In turn, Travelport dropped the increases in segment fees it imposed on American as part of its response to the carrier’s tussle with Orbitz, Travelport’s largest customer for GDS services.
Ferrovial last week successfully completed the previously announced sale of aviation ground handling firm Swissport International to private equity firm PAI Partners for €695 million ($943.7 million). Swissport, which will continue to be led by President and CEO Per Utnegaard, said it "will now continue to pursue its growth strategy."
Hainan Airlines on Friday signed a strategic cooperation agreement with China Telecom Co. to develop inflight mobile phone and Internet service aboard the carrier's aircraft, pending CAAC approval. If approved, HNA would become the first Chinese carrier to offer inflight voice and Internet services. Shenzhen Airlines tried to get approval for a similar agreement with Swiss OnAir Co. in September 2007 but CAAC rejected the deal.
Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings is "in a transformative phase" in which it is solidifying profitability and is poised to escalate earnings further when new Boeing 747-8Fs begin delivering, President and CEO William Flynn told investors last week. Speaking to the Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. Transportation and Logistics Conference, available via webcast, he noted the company's record annual net profit of $143 million for 2010 reported last week, representing an 86% improvement over 2009 net income of $76.2 million.
The US's eight largest airline companies (counting United Airlines and Continental Airlines as one) earned collective 2010 net income of $2.32 billion with all but American Airlines profitable for the full year, ATW calculated.
The Dublin Airport Authority on Thursday said that negotiations with Ryanair ended after the carrier rejected DAA’s offer of more than €60 million ($81.1 million) worth of discounts on airport charges to stimulate increased traffic into its three Irish airports. Instead, DAA said, Ryanair insisted it be paid more than €100 million in discounts, with no guarantee of any additional traffic.
Kenya Airways confirmed it intends to raise additional capital “to finance its strategic future growth and expansion plans” and retained CFC Stanbic Bank as its financial adviser. KQ did not say how much it would raise or how. “At the moment we are unable to provide any additional information but the appropriate regulatory and shareholder approvals will be requested once decisions on the way forward are made,” said KQ Group MD and CEO Titus Naikuni.
In what it called the largest fine "ever assessed against an airline … in a non-safety-related case," US Dept. of Transportation on Thursday assessed a $2 million civil penalty against Delta Air Lines for alleged violations of rules protecting air travelers with disabilities.
Pinnacle Airlines Corp., the Memphis-based parent of regionals Pinnacle Airlines, Colgan Air and Mesaba Aviation, reported net income of $12.8 million in 2010, down 69.5% from a $41.9 million profit in 2009. A $4.3 million loss in the December 2010 quarter driven by severe winter weather, reversed from a $5.6 million profit in the 2009 fourth quarter, closed out a busy year in which the company expanded through acquisition.
United Continental Holdings ended speculation regarding whether United Airlines would retain its Economy Plus section following its merger with Continental Airlines last year, announcing Thursday that it intends to introduce the product into Continental aircraft beginning next year.
Qantas said it will acquire 28 aircraft and extend leases on others as it looks to boost its domestic, resources, charter and international fleets. It will also consider the Boeing 777 as a long-term option.
Malev Hungarian Airlines announced it will begin offering customers in Amsterdam the option of online check-in for departures. Beginning Feb. 25, passengers will be able to input reservation and ticket info on the carrier’s website up to 36 hours before departure and select a preferred seat. Online check-in is now available at 25 airports in Malev’s network, it said.
United Airlines temporarily grounded its fleet of 96 Boeing 757s on Tuesday for emergency checks on air data computer systems, but said the fleet was nearly back to normal by Wednesday afternoon. The carrier said 15 flights were canceled on Tuesday owing to the checks but none on Wednesday.
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.
