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.
Arik Air appointed Jason Holt as its new MD. Holt had been working in London for Arik International, which provides logistical business support and management consultancy services to the carrier, and formerly was director-flight operations for Virgin Nigeria and BMED.
SkyWest Airlines and Atlantic Southeast Airlines parent SkyWest Inc. announced an agreement with United Airlines to provide a long-term loan of $80 million and extend its current codeshare relationship. The loan is secured by "certain ground equipment and airport slots held by United," the regional said. The agreement also includes a new partnership between UA and ASA, which will begin operating as a United Express carrier in the 2010 first quarter. ASA currently flies exclusively for Delta Air Lines.
Los Angeles International is in line for a $1.26 billion expansion and renovation of its aging Tom Bradley International Terminal. The Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners voted Monday to award two contracts to Walsh Austin Joint Venture for the project, which will include nine new boarding gates, concourses with larger lounges, new concession and retail space and aircraft support equipment to accommodate the A380 and 787. The terminal currently serves 35 airlines.
Hawaiian Airlines parent Hawaiian Holdings reported a $30.7 million third-quarter profit compared to a $6 million surplus in the year-ago period thanks to lower fuel prices and a one-time tax benefit of $20 million. Revenue fell 10.1% year-over-year to $305.6 million while expenses were down 9.8% to $281.9 million. Operating income slipped 13.1% to $23.7 million. HA's RPMs rose 8.6% to 2.13 billion against a 2.7% lift in capacity to 2.51 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 4.6 points to 84.9%. Yield declined 20.7% to 12.65 cents, operating RASM fell 12.4% and CASM was down 12.3%.
US Air Transport Assn. said September passenger revenue plunged 19% year-over-year despite a drop of only 2% in passengers. Ticket prices have fallen for 10 consecutive months, the organization stated. In September, the average price to fly 1 mi. was down 18%, greater than the 17% year-over-year decline in August. "The demand for air travel remains weak, as evidenced by the untenable pricing environment.
Allegiant Air parent Allegiant Travel Co. concluded the third quarter, which it described as "our historically weakest," with a $13.8 million profit that represented a nearly threefold gain over the $4.9 million surplus reported in the year-ago period.
United Airlines parent UAL Corp. suffered a $57 million net loss in the third quarter, or $63 million excluding noncash hedge gains and other charges, greatly narrowed from the $792 million deficit reported in the year-ago period, and is "poised to see better year-over-year unit revenue performance as economies begin to recover and business travel returns," according to Chairman, President and CEO Glenn Tilton.
ILFC received a $2 billion loan from parent American International Group to pay off debt due last week, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission cited in numerous press reports, further tying the lessor to the now majority government-owned insurance conglomerate ( ATWOnline, Sept. 4). AIG already had pumped $1.7 billion of government money into ILFC in the spring. ILFC reportedly put up aircraft as collateral for the loans.
Air Astana President Peter Foster told ATWOnline yesterday that the carrier's MOU with Boeing for three 787s plus three options is "inactive" and that it is searching for alternative fleet solutions. Speaking in Almaty, Foster said, "There is very little clarity on delivery dates," for the 787. The MOU was signed in 2007 and delivery originally was scheduled for 2014-15 ( ATWOnline, Jan. 3, 2008). Air Astana now estimates that its first Dreamliner could arrive as late as 2019.
Jazz Air dropped its C$10 million ($9.7 million) damages claim against Porter Airlines, the latter announced yesterday, although the Toronto City Centre-based carrier said it still plans to move forward on its C$850 million counterclaim against Jazz and Air Canada and a declaration that the capacity purchase agreement between the pair is unlawful. "The litigation by Jazz was entirely without merit and a heavy-handed attempt to overwhelm Porter when it was starting up," Porter President and CEO Robert Deluce said.
CSA Czech Airlines named Miroslav Dvorak, head of Prague Ruzyne operator Prague Airport, as its new chairman and CEO. He succeeds Radomir Lasak and will run both organizations, Reuters reported. Miroslav Zamecnik was named chairman of CSA's supervisory board, succeeding Vaclav Novak, who resigned. The Czech finance ministry said it is continuing to evaluate a CZK1 billion ($57.5 million) offer for the airline from Unimex and Travel Service.
ST Aerospace said the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore approved its commercial pilot training subsidiary, ST Aviation Training Academy, as a Flight Training Organization. "Aspiring pilots who train with STATA will be CAAS-certified. This eliminates the previous practice of having to convert licenses obtained from foreign FTOs to a CAAS license," the company said.
Air New Zealand simplified its fare structure to comprise two options rather than three and cut average fares by 10%, with cheapest domestic tariffs falling by up to 23%, effective yesterday. The largest cuts are in regional markets where ANZ faces no competition rather than in cities where Qantas subsidiary Jetstar Airways operates domestic flights. ANZ's fare structure now consists of Smart Saver and Flexi Plus fares. It flew 2.49 billion RPKs in September, down 6.8% year-over-year, against an 11.9% cut in capacity to 3.03 billion ASKs. Load factor rose 4.5 points to 82.3%.
Air France KLM flew 17.35 billion RPMs in September, a 3.7% fall from the year-ago month. Capacity was down 4.9% to 21.19 billion ASMs and load factor lifted 1 point to 81.9%. Southwest Airlines flew 5.77 billion RPMs in September, up 8.8% year-over-year. Capacity fell 7.8% to 7.72 billion ASMs and load factor surged 11.3 points to 74.7% JetBlue Airways flew 1.92 billion RPMs in September, up 9.8% from the year-ago month, against an 8.6% increase in capacity to 2.47 billion ASMs. Load factor rose 0.9 point to 77.6%.
Japan's finance minister is planning to meet with the country's transport minister today to discuss a potential government bailout of Japan Airlines, which saw its weakened financial status deteriorate further over the weekend when its largest creditors balked at providing ¥300 billion ($3.3 billion) in debt relief and equity swaps.
Porter Airlines President and CEO Robert Deluce said the first phase of a new C$45 million ($43.4 million) privately financed terminal will open in December at Toronto City Centre. The second phase, which will add 150,000 sq. ft. to the airport, will open before the summer season, he said at last week's Airports Council International-North America meeting in Austin.
Gol said it raised BRL627.1 million ($356.4 million) through the sale of 38 million common and preferred shares, part of a global share offering comprising 62.2 million shares that netted BRL1.07 billion. Gol controlling shareholder Fundo ASAS also participated in the capital raising ( ATWOnline, Sept. 24). Gol said its improved cash position now represents more than 20% of net revenue in the past 12 months
Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China last week agreed to purchase a 48% stake in Sichuan Airlines subsidiary United Eagle Airlines in order to facilitate the sale of its ARJ21 and C919 aircraft. A COMAC source told ATWOnline that the manufacturer will invest CNY1 billion ($146.3 million) in Chengdu-based United Eagle, which under terms of the agreement will order 30 ARJ21s after the stake sale is concluded.
Aeroflot said it earned a RUB3.5 billion ($119.2 million) first-half profit according to Russian accounting standards, representing a 55.6% increase over the RUB2.25 billion earned on the same basis in the first six months of 2008. Passenger revenue fell 12.1% year-over-year but market share rose 1.5 points to 26.2%.
Airport Council International-North America launched a new database that will give airports access to information on successful programs and sustainability trends. "Airports across the country and around the world have undertaken or are in the process of implementing innovative sustainability programs to improve efficiency in aviation, but until today, there has been no central repository of this important information," ACI-NA President Greg Principato said last week in Austin.
Spanish government will lend domestic airlines up to €600 million ($895.8 million) in 2010-12 in order to "avoid possible restructuring or bankruptcies," it said in a statement cited by Dow Jones.
Japanese Transport Minister Seiji Maehara once again attempted to ease fears about Japan Airlines' weak financial prospects, saying at a Friday news conference that "there is no change at all in our policy that the government will back up" the airline if it is in imminent danger of collapse. JAL's share price hit a seven-year low Friday, driven by concern over the struggling carrier's effort to develop a viable restructuring plan ( ATWOnline, Oct. 14).
SITA confirmed that 12 Arab Air Carriers Org. member airlines will be the first to deploy its Aircraft Emissions Manager ( ATWOnline, July 2). Next month's deployment follows the submission, in consultation with SITA, of the airlines' plan to monitor carbon dioxide emissions and capacity to EU authorities in an effort to comply with the new Emission Trading Scheme.
