Asiana Airlines posted income before taxes of KWR14.7 billion ($12.1 million) for the second quarter, down 75.5% from a KRW60 billion pre-tax profit in the year-ago period owing mainly to a KRW74.3 billion net loss on foreign currency exchange.
Strong domestic market demand helped propel Chinese airlines to an aggregate net profit of CNY10 billion ($1.48 billion) in the first half of 2010, up 2.6% over income of CNY3.85 billion in the prior-year period. According to CAAC, China’s airlines transported a total of 126 million passengers for the first six months, up 17.6% over the same period in 2009, while cargo traffic climbed 38.6% to 2.6 million tonnes. Domestic carriers took delivery of 90 aircraft in the same timeframe.
Qantas Group announced yesterday that it brought forward deliveries of eight of its 50 787s on order to mid-2012, a move it said would allow it to speed the retirement of its 767s, give its low-cost carrier Jetstar a competitive edge and bolster its own domestic fleet.
Lufthansa believes that the 747-8, which will enter service late next year, will have almost the same fuel burn per passenger as the A380 on LH’s typical missions while the CSeries will outperform both.
Copa Airlines flew 533.8 million RPMs in June, up 10.6% year-over-year, against a 9% lift in capacity to 728.9 million ASMs. Load factor lifted 1.1 points to 73.2%. Affiliate Aero Republica flew 99.8 million RPMs, up 10.3% while capacity grew 3.9% to 138.5 million ASMs. Load factor improved 4.1 points to 72%. EasyJet transported 4.5 million passengers in June, up 9.4% from the year-ago month. Load factor rose 0.9 point to 87.2%.
AerCap Holdings said it purchased 19 aircraft and two engines in the second quarter of 2010. It also delivered 18 aircraft and 11 engines under lease agreements, signed new lease agreements for five aircraft, sold five aircraft and five engines and disassembled nine aircraft and eight engines. New lease agreements were with Wizz Air (three new A320s), MNG Airlines (one A300) and Air Company Yakutia (one 737). As of June 30, AerCap’s portfolio comprised 329 aircraft and 90 engines either owned, on order, under contract or letter of intent, or managed.
Air France and Flybe yesterday concluded an extensive commercial agreement under which Air France will market and add its AF code to 45 Flybe routes between the UK and France and 17 UK domestic routes through Birmingham, Manchester and Southampton. In turn, Flybe will market and add its code to five AF routes between France and the UK as well as to seven new domestic French routes and 11 international routes.
Air Berlin transported 3.02 million passengers in June, up 3.4% from the year-ago month, while load factor fell 3.7 points to 75.1%. Allegiant Air flew 479.9 million RPMs in June, up 7.8% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 6.2% to 516.7 million ASMs and load factor increased 1.4 points to 92.9%.
Air France KLM and Martinair agreed to pay €87 million ($110 million) to settle civil antitrust claims in the US related to price-fixing in the air cargo business on flights to/from the US between 2000 and 2006.
China Eastern Airlines parent China Eastern Air Holding Co. posted a net profit of CNY2.21 billion ($326.7 million) for the first half of 2010, a better-than-threefold increase over the CNY600 million earned in the prior-year period.
EgyptAir said it is making good progress with implementation of its strategy of network expansion and product enhancement and is on course to take delivery of its first new A330-300 next month and a further two 777-300s in November and December as scheduled.
Royal Air Maroc and TUI Travel signed a letter of intent stipulating that RAM will take a majority stake in Jet4You, TUI Travel's Moroccan low-cost/charter carrier. Jet4You operates 175-seat 737-400s and 189-seat -800s on a network spanning seven Moroccan airports and 12 European cities, mainly in France but also including Barcelona, Geneva and Brussels South Charleroi. It has been 100%-owned by TUI since 2008.
Air China is looking at combining Ameco Beijing, its successful MRO joint venture with Lufthansa, and its internal maintenance organization, Air China Engineering and Technics. According to an industry insider, CA is having internal discussions about how the companies might be integrated but has not determined a specific plan. Ameco, which was created in 1989, is the oldest JV MRO organization in China involving mainland and foreign participants.
Southwest Airlines flew 7.07 billion RPMs in June, a 5% increase on the year-ago month, against a 1.9% lift in capacity to 8.63 billion ASMs. Load factor grew 2.4 points to 81.9%. US Airways operated 5.79 billion system RPMs in June, a 2.9% increase from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 2.7% to 6.7 billion ASMs and load factor gained 0.2 point to 86.4%. Domestic RPMs declined 0.8% to 4.18 billion against a 0.2% rise in capacity to 4.83 billion ASMs.
ARC reported that ticket sales through participating travel agencies climbed 21.9% in June compared to June 2009 to $7 billion, marking the eighth consecutive month of improvement. June credit card sales grew 22.6% year-over-year to $6.3 billion. Total fares excluding taxes and fees rose 22.9% to $6 billion. Domestic fares jumped 18.9% to $3.1 billion on a 5% lift in transactions and international fares leaped 27.7% to $2.9 billion on a 6% rise in transactions.
