Turkish Airlines CEO Temel Kotil said his company has a growing interest in taking over LOT Polish Airlines. "Yes I want to buy LOT," he told the Polish daily Rzeczpospolita. The Polish government, which currently owns 68% of LOT, is believed to have asked THY previously to make a major investment ( ATWOnline, March 8).
Ryanair claimed it did not receive official notification from Italian civil aviation authority ENAC that it was fined €3 million ($3.7 million) for 178 alleged violations of the EU passenger rights regulation between April 17 and April 22 and vowed it will "vigorously" appeal any fines if or when it receives notification of them. ENAC announced over the weekend that it had fined the LCC for failing to provide passengers at Rome Ciampino with drinks, food and accommodation after it cancelled flights owing to volcanic ash-related airspace closures.
Continental Airlines said it is notifying holders of the $174,950,000 outstanding principal amount of its 5% Convertible Notes due 2023 that they have an option under the terms of the notes to require CO to purchase some or all of them on June 15 at par plus any accrued and unpaid interest to June 15. The airline has the option to buy back the notes with cash, stock, or a combination of the two, and has elected to pay in cash.
Pamir AirwaysAn-24B turboprop crashed in a mountain pass in Afghanistan yesterday morning at approximately 9:30 a.m. local time, killing all 43 passengers and crew on the aircraft, according to the Flight Safety Foundation's Aviation Safety Network. Flight PM112 was en route from Kunduz to Kabul when it went down near the Salang Pass north of Kabul. Heavy fog was reported in the area of the accident, ASN stated.
Air New Zealand General Counsel John Blair said the statement of claim lodged against ANZ yesterday by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission alleging airfreight pricing irregularities is "an obvious jurisdictional and financial grab challenging the right of governments in places such as Hong Kong to regulate their own outbound air services and airfreight markets."
AirBaltic transported 211,503 passengers in April, a 3% decline year-over-year. Load factor fell 2 points to 63%. During the first four months it transported 835,694 passengers, a 16% year-over-year improvement. Load factor for the four-month period remained flat at 62%. Air France KLM flew 14.28 billion RPKs in April, a 15.9% drop from the year-ago month. Capacity was down 15.3% to 17.85 billion ASKs and load factor fell 0.6 point to 80%.
Air Astana, which celebrated its eighth anniversary last week, said it plans to expand its Almaty hub by launching new services to Urumchi in western China, Dushanbe in Tajikistan and Tashkent in Uzbekistan during the second half of this year. "Additional new routes to other cities in southern Russia, including Omsk and Yekatenburg, are also under consideration," it said. It said it will operate the routes with new, leased E-190s it will begin taking delivery of next year. It will use A320s on the routes until the Embraer aircraft arrive.
Tiger Airways reported net income of S$28.2 million ($37.7 million) for its fiscal year ended March 31, reversed from a S$50.8 million net loss in the prior year. Underlying operating profit, which excludes fuel-hedging losses of S$21.7 million and IPO-related expenses, was S$49.7 million, turned around from a S$30.2 million operating deficit in the previous year. Revenue lifted 28.6% to S$486.2 million.
Iberia narrowed its first-quarter consolidated net loss to €52 million ($65.5 million), a 43.8% improvement over the €92.6 million deficit in the year-ago period, on a 4.4% decline in revenue to €1.05 billion. Operating costs narrowed 9.5% year-over-year to €1.13 billion owing to a 21% reduction in fuel expenses as well as capacity cuts and cost control measures. Consequently, recurring operating loss almost halved to €75.5 million from a negative €147.3 million EBIT a year earlier.
TAM, which yesterday officially became a member of Star Alliance, said it will make a decision by the second half of this year on whether to spin off its MRO subsidiary. "We've already talked to eight to ten possible" buyers, VP-Operations and MRO Ruy Amparo told ATWOnline this week in San Carlos, Brazil. "In about two months from now, we will decide if our MRO subsidiary will become a spinoff. We are ready to spin off [MRO]."
Air China appointed former CA President Cai Jianjiang chairman of Shenzhen Airlines, signaling that its plan to take control of Shenzhen is coming to fruition.
Investigators examining the Afriqiyah Airways A330-200 crash are expected to focus on faulty landing aids and the pilots being blinded by the sun as possible causes.
Asiana Airlines reported first-quarter net income of KRW958 billion ($83.8 million), reversed from a KRW2.62 trillion net loss in the year-ago period, on a 27.4% rise in revenue to KRW11.76 trillion.
Emirates Group reported net income of AED4.2 billion ($1.14 billion) for its fiscal year ended March 31, a substantial increase over a AED1.49 billion profit in 2008-09, marking its 22nd consecutive profitable year despite what it described as "a year fraught with worldwide market instability and economic uncertainty."
A nearly new A330-200 operated by Afriqiyah Airways crashed on final approach to Tripoli early Wednesday, killing 103 of the 104 people aboard, including 11 crewmembers. The accident was the deadliest so far in 2010. A boy from the Netherlands reportedly was the lone survivor. The crash occurred as Flight 8U771, en route from Johannesburg, was attempting to land at Tripoli International at about 6 a.m. local time. All but 11 of the passengers were continuing onward to European destinations, according to a statement from the airline.
