British Airways said the "steady recovery continues" as it reported a net profit of £116 million ($184.2 million) in the first half ended Sept. 30, reversed from a £208 million deficit in the year-ago period. Revenue lifted 8.4% to £4.45 billion.
Cargolux Airlines International President and CEO Ulrich Ogiermann and Senior VP-Sales and Marketing Robert Van de Weg were indicted Thursday in US District Court in Miami on charges of conspiring to fix and coordinate certain surcharge rates on air cargo shipments to and from the US and for agreeing not to pay commissions on those surcharges, the US Justice Dept. said.
Spirit Airlines, the Fort Lauderdale-based LCC, will launch service to five new cities and add 11 nonstop routes next year. New destinations are Plattsburgh, and Niagara Falls, N.Y; Latrobe, PA.; Charleston, W.V.; and Dallas/Fort Worth.
While nearly all US airlines saw their earnings rise in the third quarter, Allegiant Air parent Allegiant Travel Co. reported net income fell 4.5% to $13.2 million from $13.8 million in the year-ago quarter. The carrier cited the "effects of the slowdown in the general economy," for the lower result.
China Eastern reported net income of CNY3.15 billion ($470 million) in the third quarter, significantly widened from CNY23.16 million earned in the year-ago period. The carrier cited “the synergy effect achieved through [its] merger with Shanghai Airlines” and “robust growth of the domestic market demand, especially stimulated by the Shanghai World Expo” as reasons for the much-improved performance.
LAN Airlines, which is in the midst of combining with TAM of Brazil under a holding company structure, is spreading its wings further northward with an agreement to acquire 98.94% of Colombia's Aires for $32.5 million.
Signaling that Europe's heretofore lagging recovery is gaining momentum, Lufthansa Group confirmed Thursday it netted €628 million ($866.3 million) in the third quarter ended Sept. 30, tripling a net profit of €209 million in the prior-year period, as revenue surged 27.5% to €7.57 billion.
Finnair broke a streak of seven consecutive quarters in the red by posting third-quarter net income of €32.4 million ($44.7 million), reversed from a loss of €18.1 million in the year-ago period. Revenue lifted 26.2% year-over-year to €551.4 million.
Southwest Airlines said Thursday that its "international connect" service in partnership with Mexico's Volaris will launch Dec. 1 with bookings opening on Nov. 12.
LAN Airlines, which is in the midst of combining with TAM of Brazil under a holding company structure, is spreading its wings further northward with an agreement to acquire 98.94% of Colombia's Aires for $32.5 million.
Alaska Airlines and Aircell launched the first inflight Internet service in the state of Alaska, with Gogo Inflight Internet onboard its Anchorage–Fairbanks flights. Service will go live on the remainder of the AS network later this year, which Aircell will expand to include Southeast Alaska by yearend. Aircell will keep the service complimentary until the remainder of its network goes live, it said. AS has outfitted more than 70% of its 737 aircraft with the Gogo service since May and expects fleet-wide installation to be complete in early 2011.
Air France KLM Group raised its financial forecast for its fiscal year ending March 31, 2011 and stated that “given the revenue performance of recent months, together with the current level of forward bookings,” it is now expecting a “positive” operating result except in the case of a major adverse event.
British Airways and Iberia called an extraordinary shareholders meeting for Nov. 29 and Nov. 28 or Nov. 29 on first or second call, respectively, to vote on their planned merger to create International Consolidated Airlines Group. The boards of both companies have already approved the merger and all regulatory approvals have been obtained. Both companies expect to complete the merger by Jan. 21, 2011 and IAG shares will start trading on the London Stock Exchange and Spanish Exchange Jan. 24, 2011.
Vueling Airlines continued this year’s solid performance in the third quarter with a €43.3 million ($60.2 million) net profit, although this was down 2% compared to the year-ago period. Total revenue increased by 7% to €276.6 million and revenue per passenger rose 1% to €79.15 and total. EBIT decreased 13% to €59.4 million owing to increased fuel costs and the dollar/euro exchange rate.
Ryanair will cut flights at its Frankfurt Hahn base by 30% from next summer 2011 in response to the German government’s planned air passenger tax of €8 ($11.12) for intra-European flights. It will reduce its HHN fleet from 11 to 8 based aircraft, trim the number of routes from 54 to 45, and reduce the number of weekly flights from 532 to 382. The LCC said these actions will lead to the loss of 1,000 jobs in Hahn, including 150 pilots and cabin crew jobs, and that HHN’s passenger throughput will decline by 1 million passengers annually.
LAN Airlines' third-quarter net income more than doubled to $106.2 million compared to $52.1 million in the prior-year period, "driven by a strong recovery in both cargo and passenger operations," the Santiago, Chile-based company said.
Korean Air reported third-quarter net income of KRW583.8 billion ($521 million), more than double a KRW264 billion profit in the year-ago period, attributing the earnings increase to "substantial growth in international passenger traffic and surging demand for cargo traffic."
China Southern Airlines announced Wednesday that it earned CNY3.04 billion ($457 million) in the third quarter, an almost tenfold increase over CNY284 million in net income in the year-ago quarter.
Lufthansa Group reported a net profit of €524 million ($728.8 million) for the first nine months of the year, significantly widened from €31 million earned in the year-ago period, and implying a third quarter profit of €628 million based on a previously-reported six-month net loss of €104 million (ATW Daily News, July 30).
