UPS last week reported third-quarter net income of $549 million, down 43.4% from a $970 million profit in the year-ago period, and stated that economic recovery is still at a very early stage.
Norwegian will equip its new 737-800s with 186 seats rather than the available 189, the carrier revealed last week. The LCC is the European launch customer of the Boeing Sky Interior, which will be standard on its -800s delivered after 2010. It has 48 737NGs on order from Boeing as well as 22 airplanes from leasing companies.
Lufthansa intends to pay €0.50 ($0.75) per share to buy out remaining Austrian Airlines shareholders. The Austrian board and shareholders, likely to meet in mid-December, must approve the deal. "The minority shareholders of Austrian Airlines will receive cash compensation for their shares in conformity with the law after notification of the squeeze-out has been entered in the commercial register. That will probably occur in the first half of 2010," Austrian said. LH currently holds 95.4% of Austrian.
B/E Aerospace and Aviation Partners Boeing signed a three-year contract under which B/E's Consumables Management segment will support the hardware kitting requirements for approximately 250 767 winglet kits.
Spring Airlines reported net income of CNY140 million ($20.5 million) for the first nine months of 2009, a better than fourfold increase over the CNY30 million earned in the same period last year, according to a company spokesperson. The result implies a bumper third quarter, as Shanghai-based Spring was CNY41.2 million in the black through the first half. Chairman Wang Zhenghua had said he expected a CNY100 million profit for the full year.
Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, the 747 wet-lease freighter specialist, announced Friday that it has won a contract to operate "outsourced premium-passenger private charter service" between Houston Intercontinental and Luanda using two customized executive-class 747-400s provided by Angola's SonAir. The "Houston Express" charter service will ferry members of the US-Africa Energy Assn. between the US's primary oil center and West Africa on thrice-weekly flights. The service is not open to the public.
JetBlue Airways posted a third-quarter profit of $15 million, reversed from an $8 million loss in the year-ago period, marking the carrier's third profitable reporting period of the year.
Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air parent Alaska Air Group credited capacity cuts, the deployment of aircraft in "promising new markets" and "record operational reliability" for an $87.6 million third-quarter profit that represented a reversal from the $86.5 million loss suffered in the year-ago period. Revenue fell 9.2% year-over-year to $967.4 million against a 31.9% drop in costs to $807.6 million, producing a $159.8 million operating profit. It lost $120 million on an operating level in the 2008 third quarter. A $7.3 million mark-to-market fuel hedge gain also helped the bottom line.
Continuing its expansionist path, Norwegian yesterday announced its commitment to an additional 12 737-800s, lifting its firm order for purchased and leased aircraft to 70 for delivery by 2014, as it reported the highest quarterly operating profit in its history.
JetBlue Airways promoted New York JFK Base Chief Pilot Andres Sandoval to VP-flight operations and named Northwest Airlines Director-System Operations Control and Central Load Control Marc Gross VP-system operations, planning and control.
SunExpress, the Antalya-based joint venture between Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa, said revenue through the first nine months of 2009 rose 5.9% year-over-year to €329 million ($492.1 million) on a 29% lift in passenger numbers to 4.1 million. Load factor grew 1 point to 79.4%. It plans to launch service during the winter schedule from Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen to Hamburg, Nurnberg, Dusseldorf, Dortmund, Zurich, Hatay and Mardin. It currently operates 23 737-800 and 757-200 aircraft.
Southwest Airlines announced service increases from Denver and St. Louis. From DEN it will launch daily flights to Hartford, Boise, Ontario, Detroit and Washington Dulles on March 14, as well as a third daily frequency to Oklahoma City. In May it will start Saturday flights to New York LaGuardia along with additional frequencies to seven US cities. SWA said it has acquired two additional gates on Concourse C, giving it 12 at the airport.
Singapore Airlines will fly the A380 to Zurich beginning in February, a ZRH spokesperson told the Neue Zurcher Zeitung. SQ reportedly will cease its 12-times-weekly 777 SIN-ZRH service and replace it with a daily A380 flight.
El Al named former Israeli Air Force Maj. Gen. Eliezer Shakedi as its new CEO, succeeding the resigning Haim Romano. Globes reported that the transition is expected to take two months. The airline did not release a statement.
Delta Air Lines flew 15.13 billion system RPMs in September, a 5.2% drop from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 6.7% to 18.32 billion ASMs and load factor was up 1.4 points to 82.6%. United Airlines flew 9.25 billion consolidated RPMs in September, a 1.1% decline year-over-year. Capacity fell 3.7% to 11.39 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 2.1 points to 81.2%. Lufthansa Passenger Airlines flew 10.99 billion RPKs in September, a 2.8 % year-over-year decline, against a 3.6% cut in capacity to 13.69 billion ASKs. Load factor rose 0.7 point to 80.3%.
EU's Environment Council agreed Wednesday to set a target of reducing aviation greenhouse gas emissions by 10% below 2005 levels by 2020. The EU will use this target as a negotiating position for December's UN climate change conference in Copenhagen.
US Airways reported an $80 million loss in the third quarter, narrowed considerably from the year-ago period's $866 million deficit that resulted from heavy fuel hedge losses and other special charges. Excluding special items, US was $110 million in the red, compared to $243 million on a similar basis last year.
Delta Air Lines reported a third-quarter net loss of $161 million, widened from a $50 million deficit in the year-ago period, blaming $212 million in special charges and a "significant revenue decline" driven by global economic weakness. Charges included an $83 million noncash hit associated with the refinancing of subsidiary Northwest Airlines' debt, $78 million in merger-related items and $51 million for employee severance. Absent the charges, DL would have posted net income of $51 million, reversed from a $64 million loss on a similar basis in the 2008 third quarter.
Qantas yesterday promised to be more responsive and innovative as the first "encouraging signs" of a recovery in passenger demand start to appear across its network, although speaking at the annual general meeting in Perth yesterday, Chairman Leigh Clifford warned shareholders that the global economic outlook remains uncertain. "The Qantas Group is well-positioned to withstand this period of downturn with the strengths of its two flying brands, strong management and dedicated people.
American Airlines parent AMR Corp. reported a $359 million loss in the third quarter, reversed from a $31 million surplus in the year-ago period, but claimed recent financing announcements and network adjustments "better position it to address near-term challenges and achieve long-term success." The loss included some $94 million in one-time charges related to sold and grounded aircraft, while the year-ago result was boosted by a $432 million gain from the sale of American Beacon Advisors.
AirTran Airways reported a $10.4 million third-quarter profit, reversed from a $94.6 million loss in the year-ago period, as falling fuel costs and the LCC's commitment to "maintaining our industry-leading low-cost structure" paid dividends, according to CFO Arne Haak. Operating revenue fell 11.3% year-over-year to $597.4 million but expenses dropped 22.2% to $560.4 million, resulting in a $37 million operating profit that AirTran said was the second-best third-quarter result in its history. It lost $47.4 million on an operating basis in the 2008 third quarter.
Southwest Airlines yesterday announced it will launch service at the new Northwest Florida-Panama City International Airport next May, operating at least two daily flights to four undisclosed destinations. The airport, slated to open May 18, is being built on land donated by St. Joe Co., Florida's second-largest landowner and a major developer in northern Florida. Under a "strategic alliance" between the companies, St. Joe agreed to reimburse SWA on a quarterly basis if the airline incurs losses during the first three years.
Boeing's ongoing problems with the 787 and 747-8 hit home yesterday as previously announced charges totaling $3.5 billion resulted in a $1.56 billion third-quarter loss despite a 9% year-over-year lift in revenue to $16.69 billion.
Continental Airlines reported a third-quarter net loss of $18 million, much improved over a loss of $230 million in the year-ago period, and earned $2 million excluding special charges, which Chairman and CEO Larry Kellner described as "basically breakeven."
Sudan Airways 707-300 freighter on lease from Azza Transport crashed yesterday after taking off from Sharjah, killing all six aboard. The flight was scheduled to land in Khartoum.
