Frontier Airlines, which is set to emerge from bankruptcy on Oct. 1 as a subsidiary of Republic Airways Holdings, suffered a $2 million net loss in August, which it attributed to expenses associated with bankruptcy. It lost $5.6 million in August 2008. It showed dramatic improvement on the operating level, reporting a $10.2 million operating profit compared to a $3.3 million surplus in the year-ago month. It said August net profit would have been $10.2 million excluding special items. Mainline unit revenue fell 8.2% to 10.17 cents while passenger RASM was down 12.6% to 9.31 cents.
Austrian Airlines Group is increasing the number of potential layoffs as a result of its acquisition by Lufthansa. CCO Andreas Bierwirth told the Austrian Press Agency that "the total workforce could be reduced to 6,000" by the middle of next year, as opposed to the originally planned 6,500. "In several areas, it is necessary to reduce the workforce more than planned." As many as 300 of those jobs could come from Austrian's Vienna maintenance operation. "AAG has to operate profitably when ticket prices are down," Bierwirth said.
OAG reported that global airline capacity grew 1.4% year-over-year in September, the second consecutive month of growth. The world's airlines scheduled 296.9 million seats for the month, or 4.13 million more than in September 2008, OAG said. "As the summer season winds down, the steady upward trend we have seen since May is continuing," VP-Market Intelligence David Beckerman said. "After 11 straight months of capacity cutbacks, these figures indicate a growing confidence within the industry that demand for air travel is starting to pick up."
British Airways is introducing a charge for pre-selection of seats on Oct. 7, claiming that the new "service will give customers more control over their seating options."
SkyWest Airlines and Atlantic Southeast Airlines flew 1.67 billion RPMs in August, up 8.5% year-over-year, against a 5.7% increase in capacity to 2.05 billion ASMs. Load factor rose 2.1 points to 81.5%. Hawaiian Airlines flew 734.8 million RPMs in August, a 7.3% lift year-over-year. Capacity was up 3.2% to 860.1 million ASMs and load factor rose 3.3 points to 85.4%. Republic Airways Holdings airlines flew 1.07 billion RPMs in August, a 14.7% increase year-over-year. Capacity rose 13.3% to 1.36 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 1 point to 78.5%.
US Dept. of Transportation and National Air Traffic Controllers Assn. are expected to sign a new labor agreement today following an affirmative ratification vote by union members ( ATWOnline, Aug. 14). Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said the vote "marks a new day between the controllers and the FAA."
Jet Airways said it received shareholder approval to raise up to $400 million through private share placements, global depository receipts or foreign currency convertible bonds, according to a filing with the Bombay Stock Exchange cited by numerous press reports.
Alitalia has sufficient funds to support its operations through next year and does not need new capital, CEO Rocco Sabelli told a parliamentary transport committee. "Alitalia has been stabilized. It has moved from the recovery room to another room where it will complete its rehabilitation," Chairman Roberto Colaninno said, according to Dow Jones. Sabelli reportedly said that AZ is focused on shoring up its Rome Fiumicino operation and solidifying its position at secondary and tertiary airports where LCCs have eaten into its market share.
Ryanair yesterday said it now expects to carry 66 million passengers this year rather than 67 million owing to its cuts at London Stansted ( ATWOnline, July 22) and Dublin ( ATWOnline, June 18).
Pratt & Whitney announced maintenance contracts with El Al and Martinair. El Al deal is a $70 million, five-year Fleet Management Program extension covering PW4060s on its 767s and 747-400s, plus a five-year option. Martinair signed a 10-year service agreement covering its PW4056, PW4060 and PW4462 engines. No value was announced. Lufthansa Technik signed a three-year contract with Vietnam Airlines for MRO on the PW124s powering seven ATR 72-200s and the PW127s on up to 16 ATR 72-500s. LHT also extended its deal with VN covering APU MRO on its A321s until mid-2010.
Embraer said it plans to raise an unspecified amount of money through an offering of a series of notes due 2020 to global capital markets through its Embraer Overseas subsidiary. Proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes and repayment of short-term debt. Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley are book-running underwriters.
An Aer Lingus source confirmed to ATWOnline that the airline's ambitious cost-cutting plan is targeting "every single part of the company," especially its long-haul operations.
ACSS, an L-3 Communications and Thales joint venture, introduced a software enhancement that will enable aircraft operators with its TCAS 2000 and TCAS II to upgrade to "Change 7.1 capability," which it said "delivers two important safety enhancements: Reversal logic and new aural alerting for Adjust Vertical Speed." The upgrade will be available in the fourth quarter.
Air France Industries and KLM Engineering & Maintenance extended its contract with Virgin Atlantic Airways for heavy airframe maintenance on 747-400s for one additional year through 2011. It also announced that its CRMA subsidiary was named a primary repair source on the Engine Alliance GP7200 TCF and combustion chambers by GE.
Gol announced the early October sale of at least 51.8 million shares on the Sao Paulo stock exchange--34.5 million preferred shares in a primary offering and 17.3 million voting shares in a secondary offering. According to press reports form Sao Paulo, the offering would raise BRL963.9 million ($530.1 million) based on Tuesday's closing price and would raise the LCC's capital to BRL2.57 billion.
American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and US Airways each made moves in the financial markets over the past two days, indicating that confidence in the industry is starting to recover somewhat even if traffic and revenue continues to lag.
Helvetic Airways will continue to operate three F100s for Swiss International Air Lines through spring 2014 under an extended ACMI agreement announced this week. Helvetic operates a fourth F100 on charter flights.
Sensis said US FAA has introduced its wide-area multilateration surveillance system at four Colorado airports to enable ATC to track aircraft not covered by radar in the state's remote mountainous regions. FAA is sharing the cost of the system with the Colorado Dept. of Transportation. Initial operations began on Sept. 12 at Yampa Valley-Hayden, Craig-Moffat, Steamboat Springs and Garfield County Regional-Rifle. "The new system is comprised of a network of relatively small sensors deployed in remote areas," FAA said.
TAP Portugal pilots called a 48-hr. strike today and Friday over pay. The airline said it expected "some disruptions in its operations" but that it "has taken all measures to minimize its impact." Flights operated by its PGA Portugalia Airlines subsidiary will be unaffected and connections between Lisbon and the Azores, Madeira, Luanda and Luxembourg will be maintained, TAP said. It estimated that the stoppage will cost the company around €10 million ($14.8 million), according to the Associated Press.
Commercial Jet of Miami named M7 Aerospace VP-MRO Sales and Service John Schildroth as VP-business development and Leading Edge Aviation Services GM Dale Mullinax as VP-operations.
Emirates may be in the market for more aircraft at November's Dubai Airshow and is revisiting the prospect of operating up to 30 A330s during off-peak periods, President Tim Clark hinted when speaking to ATWOnline yesterday. EK signed a letter of intent for 30 A330s in July, 2008 when it took delivery of its first A380, but the order was never confirmed and eventually lapsed as fuel prices soared and the economic downturn took hold ( ATWOnline, July 29, 2008).
Air France KLM Group hopes to reach breakeven by the April 1 start of the 2010-11 fiscal year excluding its fuel hedge contracts, CEO Pierre-Henri Gourgeon told Les Echos. The hedges will continue to have a negative impact, but previously announced cost cuts should stop the deterioration in cash flow, he said, adding that he does not expect a return to 2008 traffic levels until 2012. Gourgeon insisted that AF is not evolving toward a low-cost service concept on its medium- and short-haul network, but "passengers are moving toward the low-cost.
Nexcelle is the new name for the joint venture company created by GE's Middle River Aircraft Systems and Safran Group's Aircelle last year to develop engine nacelles for next-generation integrated propulsion systems. According to a statement from the companies, Nexcelle's responsibility covers complete nacelles and nacelle subsystems for CFM International engines in applications on both new and existing aircraft. The collaboration was announced at last year's Farnborough Airshow ( ATWOnline, July 16, 2008).
Kingfisher Airlines plans to raise $150-$175 million through both a rights issue and global depository receipts, parent UB Group CFO Ravi Nedugandi told Press Trust of India. "Timing will be before March 2010," he said, adding that the carrier is carrying debt of approximately INR60 billion ($1.23 billion).
