British Airways and flight attendants represented by Unite set a Tuesday deadline "to determine whether or not a mutually acceptable settlement can be achieved," the UK Trades Union Congress said Friday. The parties have been negotiating with help from the TUC, doing so in the shadow of a strike authorization passed by cabin staff late last month and subsequent plans by the airline to use volunteers, pilots and 23 wet-leased aircraft to maintain operations ( ATWOnline, March 4).
European Low Fares Airline Assn.'s 11 members flew 162.5 million passengers in 2009, an 8.7% increase from 2008. Load factor averaged 82%. "These figures show clearly how ELFAA members are bucking the trend in the aviation sector when it comes to passenger numbers," Secretary-General John Hanlon said.
AirBaltic acquired full ownership of a cargo handling business at Riga International and will operate it under a new BalticCargo brand. It will offer "a full spectrum of cargo handling services of passenger aircraft and freighter aircraft, as well as cargo handling facilities," the airline said. "Latvia is currently the fastest-growing passenger aviation market in the EU. In our view, the cargo market has the potential to grow in a similar fasion, given Riga's favorable geographic location and the airport's expanding network of flights," airBaltic President and CEO Bertolt Flick said.
Ryanair will open a base at Malta International in May with one 737. It will launch six new routes from the airport, boosting the total number of destinations to 19 and the number of weekly flights to more than 120. It plans to serve 800,000 passengers per year at MLA. New service will be to Billund, Bologna, Krakow, Marseille, Seville and Valencia.
Avianca, which finalized its merger with Grupo TACA last month, plans to continue growing with the acquisition of Quito-based Aerogal, CEO Fabio Villegas said. Speaking last week to journalists in the Ecuadoran capital, he said Avianca parent Synergy Aerospace intends to invest $7.2 million on an 80% stake in Aerogal while TACA parent Kingsland Holding will acquire the remaining 20%, Dow Jones reported. Government approval is pending. Villegas said Aerogal will take delivery of three new A320s in the second half of this year, increasing its overall fleet to 15 aircraft.
Juneyao Group sold its 63% stake in Tianjin-based Okay Airways to Chinese cargo and logistics company Da Tian W Group and said it prefers to concentrate on building its Shanghai-based Juneyao Airlines.
American Airlines faces a growing labor problem as talks with its flight attendants broke down late Wednesday, leading to a strike threat, while its ground workers set a Monday deadline to reach an accord before taking action that could lead to a work stoppage.
American Airlines flew 8.44 billion system RPMs in February, a 2.2% decline from the year-ago month, while capacity dropped 4.2% to 11.18 billion ASMs. Load factor rose 1.5 points to 75.5%. American Eagle Airlines flew 527.3 million RPMs, up 1%, against a 1.3% cut in capacity to 790.5 million ASMs. Load factor increased 1.5 points to 66.7%.
Turkish Airlines applied to the country's Capital Markets Board for approval to increase its registered share capital from the current TRY500 million ($325 million) to TRY2 billion.
Air Slovakia ceased operations Tuesday owing to financial troubles and unpaid debts. It is the third Slovakian airline to shut down in the past six months following SkyEurope Airlines ( ATWOnline, Sept. 3, 2009) and Seagle Air ( ATWOnline, Oct. 26, 2009). Air Slovakia was founded in 1993 and operated two 737 Classics and one 757-200.
SAS Group President and CEO Mats Jansson told Dagens Nyheter that the company likely will be sold to another airline once it recovers financially. "My understanding is that, after this crisis is over, SAS will be part of a structural deal," he said, according to Reuters. "It is tough out there and there are obvious synergies and advantages to be had from being part of a bigger entity."
Air France KLM said it plans to reduce its summer schedule capacity by just 0.3% year-over-year, comprising an 8% lift in long-haul ASKs and a 4% reduction in the medium-haul network, as "tentative signs of recovery, depending on the country, have been perceived." The company will add Abu Dhabi (five-times-weekly from May 3) and Bata (twice-weekly via Malabo) as new AF destinations from Paris Charles de Gaulle and new KLM flights from Amsterdam to Denpasar (four-times-weekly via Singapore) and Aruba (twice-weekly). The summer program begins March 28.
Panasonic Avionics Corp. will install its overhead Panasonic Digital Multiplexed Passenger Entertainment System on three Israir Airlines A320s. DMPES incorporates the company's X Series System, "which reduces space, weight and power when compared with traditional overhead systems." Oman Air yesterday completed its first A330 flight offering Honeywell Inmarsat SwiftBroadband mobile and Wi-Fi Internet access.
IATA reported that international passenger traffic grew 6.4% year-over-year in January on a 1.2% lift in capacity, pushing load factor up 3.7 points to 75.9%. International cargo traffic jumped 28.3% compared to the prior year, when the airfreight traffic decline was near its lowest point. Cargo traffic is still 3%-4% below early 2008 levels, the organization noted. January passenger and cargo demand reflected "a steady improvement from the precipitous fall in demand that characterized the early part of 2009 rather than a dramatic improvement," it said.
Qantas Group CFO Colin Storrie announced his resignation "for personal and health reasons" effective March 5, the airline announced yesterday. Gareth Evans, currently CFO of the QF airline unit, will fill in for Storrie on an interim basis. The company said it "will consider internal and external candidates" in its search for a permanent successor. Storrie, 41, was appointed CFO and finance director in September 2008.
Japan Airlines announced that it has ended negotiations related to a possible merger of its cargo operations with Nippon Cargo Airlines. JAL and NCA parent Nippon Yusen announced last August that talks about a merger were underway ( ATWOnline, Aug. 24, 2009).
Continental Airlines said last month's snowstorms and their impact on its Newark operation cost it approximately $25 million in lost passenger revenue. At the same time, the resulting cancellations were worth a 1-point increase in RASM. February consolidated unit revenue rose an estimated 7.5%-8.5% from the year-ago month while mainline RASM was up an estimated 5.5%-6.5%. CO flew 6.07 billion consolidated RPMs during the month, up 3.3% year-over-year. Capacity fell 3.8% to 7.81 billion ASMs and load factor surged 5.2 points to 77.7%.
Shanghai Hongqiao-based Juneyao Airlines reported net income of CNY108 million ($15.8 million) in 2009, a more-than-ninefold improvement from the CNY11.5 million profit posted in 2008.
Lufthansa yesterday said it ended a "difficult" 2009 with a net loss of €112 million ($151.9 million), reversed from a restated 2008 profit of €542 million and the company's first full-year deficit since 2003. Revenue fell approximately 10% to €22.3 billion, while operating profit plunged 90% to €130 million from €1.3 billion in 2008.
Singapore Airlines will replace its 777s with A330-300s on flights to Abu Dhabi, Jeddah, Kuwait City, Male (all from March 28), Fukuoka, Taipei (each April 28) and Colombo (May 1) as part the carrier's "product enhancement efforts." SIA currently flies the A330 to Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth, Nagoya Chubu and Osaka Kansai. It has nine of the type, seating 30 in business class and 255 in economy, and will take an additional 10 by year end.
Gol expects domestic demand to increase 12.5%-18% in 2010, more than double the rate of Brazil's expected 5%-6% growth in GDP. The LCC said it anticipates yield this year in the BRL0.195-BRL0.21 (10.79-11.62 cent) range and an operating margin of 10%-13%. It plans to operate 111 aircraft by year end compared to 108 on Dec. 31, 2009, and to transport 31.5-36.5 million passengers. Gol was BRL493 million in the black through the first nine months of 2009. It is scheduled to release its full-year results on March 11.
Gulf Air yesterday launched a combined premium product called Falcon Gold, "offering the very best elements of Gulf Air's first class for the price of a traditional business class fare." Cabin will feature former first class catering, new bedding and overnight amenity kits and beginning at the end of 2011 a new lie-flat seat on flights longer than 4.5 hr. In the interim, passengers traveling on a more expensive, fully flexible FG ticket will have priority access to Gulf's lie-flat first class sleeper seats. Interior refurbishment in the combined cabin will be finished by April.
China Eastern Airlines subsidiary China Cargo Airlines took delivery of its first 777 freighter Sunday as it begins to upgrade its MD11 fleet in order to compete more effectively with Western carriers. The aircraft is scheduled to operate between Shanghai and Luxembourg beginning today. CCA noted that the new 777 will be used mainly on its European network as the city prepares for Expo 2010, which will take place in Shanghai from May to October. CCA plans to introduce three more 777s before August. It currently operates six MD11s, two 747s and three A300 freighters.
SunExpress posted a 4.8% increase in 2009 revenue to €429.6 million ($585.4 million) on a 32.2% surge in passenger numbers to 5.6 million. The Turkish Airlines/Lufthansa joint venture is targeting €500 million in revenue and 7 million passengers this year as it increases its 737-800 fleet from 20 to 25.
Cimber Sterling cut its forecast for its fiscal year ending April 30 owing to "increased competition with severely squeezed fares, lower demand and extra costs related to the severe winter weather" and now expects an operating loss of DKK200-DKK220 million ($36.6-$40.2 million). That result excludes DKK10 million in costs related to its initial public offering and compares to the Danish airline's earlier forecast of a DKK60 million operating loss. It lowered its 2009-10 revenue guidance to DKK1.55-DKK1.61 billion from DKK1.68-DKK1.73 billion.
