US National Transportation Safety Board will dispatch a team to assist China's investigation into Saturday's crash of an MD-11F owned by Avient Aviation. The aircraft crashed on takeoff at Shanghai Pudong, killing three crewmembers and injuring four others. Indications are that it may have lifted off before the tail struck the runway. It was built in 1990 and subsequently converted. It was delivered recently to Avient and was en route to Bishkek.
Icelandair Group reported a ISK3.96 billion ($32.3 million) third-quarter profit, down 9.7% from the ISK4.39 billion earned in the year-ago period, and announced an agreement with co-owner Unimex Group to sell 20% of its stake in Czech LCC Travel Service at a ISK889 million loss.
EasyJet called for introduction of mandatory environmental standards covering the next generation of aircraft that will ensure a 40% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions. "Step-change technology is in the pipeline, and we need tough legislation on emission standards for it to be delivered sooner," CEO Andy Harrison said last week. "Wartime has led to the biggest leaps in aviation technology.
Aer Lingus scheduled an extraordinary board meeting for today to determine an "alternative" plan to achieve its targeted €97 million ($145.4 million) in cost cuts in case ongoing negotiations with labor unions do not result in an agreement ( ATWOnline, Nov. 19). CEO Christoph Mueller confirmed that EI will "proceed with alternative means of delivering the savings within the same timeframe as the plan in the absence of agreement."
China Eastern Airlines' merger with Shanghai Airlines received final approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission yesterday, giving CEA clearance to grab about 50% of the Shanghai market. China Eastern plans to acquire SAL through a share swap in which each SAL share will be exchanged for 1.3 CEA shares. SAL will keep its brand ( ATWOnline, Oct. 12).
Finnair announced the transfer of some 490 Northport ground handling employees at Helsinki Vantaa to Barona Group, a staffing agency, and some 130 Cargo Terminal Operations warehouse employees to Suomen Transval, effective today. "By creating solutions based on strategic partnerships, we can change our fixed costs into variable costs and focus on Finnair's core business," Deputy CEO Lasse Heinonen said. Around 200 Northport employees went on strike yesterday to protest the decision and AY said that "delays and individual cancellations are possible" as a result.
ALAFCO, the Kuwaiti lessor, earned a KWD10.2 million ($35.8 million) net profit in its fiscal year ended Sept. 30, "slightly more" than the previous year, it said.
Virgin Blue CEO Brett Godfrey told shareholders that the airline is back in the black after a difficult period at the beginning of 2009 and now is forecasting a profit for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2010. "We are currently profitable again," he told the airline's annual general meeting in Brisbane. "We expect that if the market continues as it is at the moment we'll be able to maintain that guidance through to June 30 [2010]."
Air India and pilots represented by the Indian Commercial Pilots' Assn. reached an agreement Sunday that allowed the carrier to avoid a strike scheduled to begin today ( ATWOnline, Nov. 18). "The agreement involves some financial payout by the airline," an AI official told The Hindu. ICPA General Secretary R.S. Otaal said AI "accepted all our demands," according to Mint.
Emirates President Tim Clark is upbeat about the airline's future despite the financial challenges facing Dubai that came to light last week, when the emirate announced it would seek to delay debt payments owed by Dubai World, the government's primary investment company.
El Al reported a $12.3 million third-quarter profit, down 60.3% from the $31 million earned in the year-ago period, on an 18% fall in revenue to $496.1 million caused largely by lower yields and the rising US dollar. CEO Haim Romano said the net result is "indicative of [El Al's] ability to weather the global financial crisis." Operating expenses declined 15% to $400.7 million as fuel prices fell, and operating profit slipped 53.4% to $23.8 million from $51.1 million in the 2008 third quarter. Passenger numbers climbed 7% year-over-year.
Edward Stimpson, who retired as chairman of the Flight Safety Foundation on Nov. 1, died Nov. 25 of cancer. He was 75. Before joining FSF he served as US ambassador to the ICAO Council for five years. Prior to his 1999 nomination to the Council, he spent 25 years as president of the General Aviation Manufacturers Assn. and is associated closely with the 1994 passage of the General Aviation Revitalization Act, widely seen as helping to revive that segment of the industry.
Malaysia Airlines returned to the red in the third quarter, reporting a MYR298.9 million ($88.2 million) loss that represented a reversal from the restated MYR38.6 million surplus earned in the year-ago period and its second deficit in three quarters this year. A precipitous 26.8% year-over-year plunge in operating revenue to MYR2.89 billion, plus a MYR202.1 million loss on fuel hedges, proved too much for MAS to overcome. Nevertheless, MD and CEO Azmil Zahruddin said that "fuel prices are on an upward trend [and] hedging is the right policy as fuel prices remain volatile."
Australia's Regional Express posted net income of A$3.7 million ($3.4 million) for its fiscal first quarter ended Sept. 30, down 22.9% from a A$4.8 million profit in the year ago period, blaming the decline on one-time restructuring costs incurred by its charter subsidiaries and the "global financial crisis."
Air Slovakia will wet-lease five aircraft to Albanian Airlines for one year and will "assist [Albanian] to develop its operational capabilities in its efforts to operate scheduled services and become the leading airline of the region." Air Slovakia operates 737s and 757s while Albanian has BAe 146s and MD-82s, according to its website.
Engine Alliance named Mary Ellen Jones president succeeding Jim Moravecek, who will return to Pratt & Whitney. Jones led Pratt's Commercial Engines & Global Services Marketing division.
Shunfeng Airlines, which will be China's first express delivery cargo airline, has been approved by CAAC. The carrier was established by delivery company Shunfeng Express and has registered capital of CNY100 million ($14.6 million), according to the regulator. Shenzhen Taihai Investment Co. will hold a 75% stake and Shunfeng Express the remainder. The new venture will be based in Shenzhen and is expected to operate two 757-200s initially.
Singapore Airlines flew 7.28 billion RPKs in October, down 6% from the year-ago month, against a 10.3% cut in capacity to 8.98 billion ASKs. Load factor rose 3.6 points to 81.1%. Swiss International Air Lines flew 2.5 billion RPKs in August, a 0.2% fall year-over-year. Capacity dropped 5.1% to 2.9 billion ASKs and load factor rose 4.2 points to 86.2%. Austrian Airlines flew 1.52 billion RPKs last month, an 8.5% reduction year-over-year, against an 11.8% decline in capacity to 1.94 billion ASKs. Load factor rose 2.8 points to 78.2%.
PACE signed an agreement with Airbus Operations Germany to develop a software solution for streamlining configuration of its passenger cabin maintenance manuals.
Bmi yesterday outlined a major restructuring of its mainline and regional operations, including suspension of unprofitable routes, reduction of its mainline fleet by nine aircraft to 30 and around 600 fulltime job cuts. The manpower reductions equate to approximately 13.5% of bmi's workforce of 4,470 and will impact all areas of the business. "Further job cuts cannot be ruled out," the airline warned. The moves follow the bmibaby shakeup announced three weeks ago ( ATWOnline, Nov. 5).
Delta Air Lines intends to raise $688.7 million through the sale of pass-through certificates in two classes with annual interest rates of 7.75% and 9.75% respectively. The notes are backed by 27 Boeing aircraft, with proceeds going toward refinancing 22 aircraft DL currently operates and payments on an additional five aircraft delivered this year, it said in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Ryanair will set up its 37th base, and first in Norway, at Oslo Rygge in March with three aircraft and 16 new routes, it announced yesterday. It currently service six destinations from RYG. New destinations will be Aarhus, Berlin Schonefeld, Dublin, Dusseldorf Weeze, Eindhoven, Gdansk, Krakow, La Rochelle, Malaga, Memmingen, Palma, Paris Beauvais, Riga, Wroclaw, Valencia and Treviso. The LCC said its investment at the airport will exceed $200 million and that it eventually expects to serve 1.7 million passengers per year.
Qantas dismissed rumors out of London that it is interested in restarting merger talks with British Airways, stating yesterday that "consolidation is not on the carrier's agenda."
Japan Airlines yesterday said it reached agreement with the Development Bank of Japan for an emergency bridge loan "necessary for continuance of our flight operations." The troubled airline said the Japanese government had approved the loan. JAL did not reveal the loan's amount but Japanese media pegged it at around ¥100 billion ($1.12 billion).
