Lufthansa Passenger Airlines Executive VP-Marketing and Sales Thierry Antinori said at ITB Berlin last week that the company will continue to invest in its product and that it "see[s] some positive signs of recovery" in premium traffic, although it is "far from being able to relax." LH invests some €500 million ($688.2 million) annually in cabin and service products and through 2013 it intends to spend an additional €50 million to upgrade its lounges and check-in options.
Robin Hood Aviation, a small regional based at Graz, declared insolvency yesterday owing to debt of €3.3 million ($4.5 million). It operates two Saab 340s and plans to pay a bond of €100,000 to continue operations.
UK CAA said the country's airports handled 218 million passengers in 2009, a 7.3% decline from the prior year. The drop was the largest single-year decrease for 65 years and marked the first time that traffic fell for two straight years. "Passenger numbers are now back to the level they were six years ago and, although they will certainly rebound, the pace of recovery is uncertain and it could be a number of years before they reach their peak level again," Director-Economic Regulation Harry Bush said.
Air New Zealand has realigned its biofuel plans as the reality of sustainable production hit home. The airline, which conducted the first second-generation biofuel flight in late 2008, had set an ambitious target of 10% of its fuel being sourced from biofuel by 2013. According to CEO Rob Fyfe, it spent considerable time last year working through the carbon penalty issue of moving fuel long distances and instead turned its attention to home-grown options and settled on cellulose and algae as the two main contenders.
British Airways cabin crew represented by Unite announced Friday that members will strike for seven days this month, March 20-22 and March 27-30, and vowed that further industrial action could take place after April 14 "if the dispute has not been resolved."
Gol reported net income of BRL890.8 million ($504.2 million) for 2009, reversed from a BRL1.2 billion deficit in 2008, attributing its profitability to "synergies" created by the merger of Gol's and Varig's operations at the end of 2008 and its transformation into an efficient 737NG operator organized around a short-haul South American network that it believes appeals to Brazil's growing middle class.
American Airlines faces growing problems on two fronts as US FAA announced Friday it is seeking to collect civil penalties totaling $787,500 from the carrier for maintenance violations and its ground workers became the second labor group to ask the National Mediation Board for a release from talks that could lead to a work action.
Oman Air realizes that it is better to remain a "unique boutique airline, rather than to compete against Emirates and company," CEO Peter Hill told ATWOnline at ITB Berlin. "What we are looking at is to develop Oman and to serve the country well for business and tourism," he said. The carrier cannot match the big hubs in the region and will focus instead on point-to-point traffic.
Air China announced plans to raise more than $953 million through a share issue. It will issue up to 585 million new A shares to "10 specific investors" at CNY9.58 ($1.40) per share and 157 million new H shares to a subsidiary of parent company China National Aviation Holding priced at HK$6.62 per share ($0.85). The state-owned parent will subscribe directly to 157 million of the A shares for CNY1.5 billion. CA said the net proceeds from the A share issue will be CNY5.6 billion and will go toward working capital expenditure and its acquisition of a stake in Air China Cargo
ARC reported that ticket sales through participating travel agencies totaled $6.22 billion in February, up a healthy 16.8% over February 2009 and a 4.5% rise over January 2010, "accelerating seasonal expectations." Credit card sales, representing the bulk of agency sales, soared 19% year-over-year to $5.56 billion. Total fares excluding taxes and fees grew 17.5% to $5.22 billion. Domestic fares climbed 15.8% to $2.73 billion on a 12.3% rise in transactions, while international fares were up 19.5% to $2.49 billion on a 9.4% gain in transactions.
Aer Lingus applied to the US Port Director at Shannon to commence using the Customs and Border Protection facility for flights to New York JFK from early May. EI said it might extend the service to other US cities following the initial trial phase. It currently flies to JFK and Boston from SNN. British Airways' all-premium A318 flight from London City to JFK uses SNN's US customs and immigration pre-clearance facility.
Air France KLM said that poor weather and last month's four-day air traffic controllers strike had an estimated €22 million ($30 million) impact on revenue. The company flew 13.98 billion RPKs in February, down 0.6% year-over-year, against a 5% drop in capacity to 17.99 billion ASKs. Load factor rose 3.5 points to 77.7%. British Airways flew 7.79 billion RPKs in February, a 1.1% increase year-over-year. Capacity was cut 1.9% to 10.51 billion ASKs, lifting load factor 2.2 points to 74.2%.
Lufthansa yesterday released details of a year that ended with its first net loss in six years, a €112 million ($152.5 million) deficit that marked a reversal from the €542 million profit posted in 2008, but with an operating profit that reflected "broadly poised and ideally equipped" business segments, according to Chairman and CEO Wolfgang Mayrhuber. Group revenue slipped 10.3% to €22.28 billion, a drop fueled by an 11.8% decline in traffic revenue to €17.6 billion. Operating result plunged 89.8% to €130 million from €1.28 billion in 2008, but remained positive.
Korean Airlines and Asiana Airlines will be subject to fines of KRW10.4 billion ($9.2 million) and KRW640 million respectively for engaging in anticompetitive practices to hurt smaller Korean carriers, South Korea's Fair Trade Commission announced yesterday. The announcement came just days after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission charged KE with air cargo price fixing.
Air France KLM intends to maintain its strong position in Africa and a strategy of continuous growth despite the economic downturn and increased competition, Senior VP-Africa & Middle East Etienne Rachou told ATWOnline. "In terms of the number of destinations, frequencies and product, we are the number one to Africa. We will do everything we can to keep our leadership position," he said yesterday in Brussels.
Emirates President Tim Clark told ATWOnline yesterday in Berlin that the airline's A380s have been a success with passengers and on the balance sheet but that "there are still problems with the reliability of the aircraft. And when we fix snags, we find new ones. I am trying to be kind to Airbus, but they have to solve the problems." The operational reliability of EK's seven in-service A380s is 90%-95%, which he said is not good enough, although he added that the manufacturer "gives us good support." EK plans to take seven more A380s and six 777-300ERs this year.
Qatar Airways will launch its first flights to South America when it begins flying to Sao Paulo Guarulhos and Buenos Aires from Doha later this year. Frequency and dates for the 777 services were not announced. QR already has announced plans to start serving Copenhagen (March 30), Ankara (April 5), Tokyo Narita (April 26) and Barcelona (June 7). Its summer schedule from March 28 will feature capacity increases to 15 additional destinations, including third daily flights to both Colombo and Kathmandu.
China Eastern Airlines has taken a 51% stake in Shanghai Pudong-based cargo carrier Great Wall Airlines. The stake, formerly held by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp., reportedly was transferred at the behest of the state-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, which is the controlling shareholder of both CEA and CASTC. CEA said it will integrate Great Wall with its China Cargo Airlines subsidiary as well as with Shanghai Airlines Cargo.
Tibet Air, a startup based at Lhasa Gonggar, yesterday was approved for launch by CAAC. The carrier is expected to base its fleet around the A319 or 737-700 and has registered capital of CNY280 million ($41 million), according to the regulator. Tibet Investment Co. holds 51%, Tibet Sanli Investment Co. 39% and Tibet Ruiyi Investment Co. 10%. China Eastern Airlines had planned to participate but withdrew after facing its own operating loss.
Cathay Pacific Group returned to profit in 2009, posting a HK$4.69 billion ($604.9 million) surplus that was reversed from a restated 2008 loss of HK$8.7 billion, as fuel hedges, one-time gains and capacity and cost cuts boosted the bottom line. Revenue dropped 22.6% to HK$66.98 billion, but the company benefitted from fuel hedge gains of HK$2.76 billion and HK$1.25 billion from the sale of a 12.5% stake in Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Co. ( ATWOnline, Sept. 17, 2009).
The current round of pilot negotiations at US major network airlines "will be the most important since deregulation" and could determine the future growth path for the regional airline segment, according to William Swelbar, a research engineer at MIT's International Center for Air Transportation.
British Airways and Aer Lingus each reached a crossroads yesterday with disgruntled flight attendants as attempts to agree on terms designed to produce cost savings met with resistance.
Air Astana reported a $47 million net profit in 2009, a record result for the airline that represented a 176% improvement from the $17 million surplus posted in 2008. Revenue fell 16% to $546 million and the carrier benefitted from an $8.2 million foreign exchange gain. "The result represents the effectiveness of cost-saving measures from mid-2008," President Peter Foster said. "The fact that we were not fuel hedged until April 2009 meant that we took full advantage of price falls.
Delta Air Lines expects March unit revenue to soar 16% year-over-year, but the February snowstorms will impact revenue by an estimated $30 million, according to a US Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Nevertheless, operating margin now is expected to be 1%-2% rather than the breakeven forecast in late January. System capacity will be down 4%-5%.
