Air Canada and Jazz Air this week signed an MOU modifying their capacity purchase agreement. AC said the new accord will "provide us with reduced capacity purchase costs that are more consistent with market realities and will allow us to enjoy greater flexibility in our fleet deployment." Highlights of the revised agreement include a reduction in the mark-up rate paid to Jazz on the first 375,000 block hr. of flying from 16.7% to 12.5%; a reduction in AC's commitment to Jazz's minimum fleet from 133 aircraft to 125; an extension of the capacity purchase arrangement to Dec.
Frontier Airlines, operating under bankruptcy protection, reported net income of $12.6 million for the second quarter, reversed from a $57.7 million loss in the year-ago period. It said profit would have been $27.6 million excluding $14.9 million in reorganization expenses. It also reported a $5.1 million mark-to-market gain on fuel hedges. Revenue fell 23.6% to $275.6 million while expenses lowered 39.7% to $242.6 million, producing operating income of $33 million, reversed from a $41.5 million loss in the year-ago period.
Royal Jordanian reported net earnings of "around" JOD7.7 million ($10.8 million) for the first half of 2009, reversed from a JOD4 million loss in the year-ago semester. Revenue decreased 12.7% to JOD274 million on a 6% drop in passengers carried and a 33% fall in uplifted cargo. Operating cost fell 19.6% owing to cost-cutting measures and the dramatic decrease in fuel prices, the airline said. Passenger yield fell 9% and cargo yield 10%. Seat load factor in the first half dropped 6 points to 65%.
Ryanair yesterday said it has complained to the European Commission about Ireland's €10 ($14.23) air passenger duty, which it blamed for last month's decision to cut capacity at Dublin and Shannon ( ATWOnline, June 18).
Air France confirmed a Le Figaro report that one of its A320s flying from Rome Fiumicino to Paris Charles de Gaulle on July 13 had a "very brief six-second anomaly" in its airspeed data display that was "probably due to icing at high altitude." The aircraft was fitted with the new Thales BA probes, AF noted, adding that the crew applied the necessary procedures and the aircraft maintained its flight path with no change. The incident was reported and is being examined closely by manufacturers and authorities, AF said.
Lufthansa Group posted a €40 million ($56.9 million) profit in the second quarter, down a sharp 88.4% from the €345 million earned in the year-ago period, but remained €216 million in the red through the first half of the year owing to a rough first quarter.
While warning that it is too early to assess the potential financial impact of the swine flu outbreak, easyJet yesterday maintained its former guidance and said it expects to post an underlying pre-tax profit of £25-£50 million ($41.2-$82.4 million) in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30 compared to a £123 million pre-tax profit in the year ended Sept. 30, 2008.
SpiceJet reported a INR263 million ($5.4 million) profit in its fiscal first quarter ended June 30, reversed from a INR1.29 billion loss in the year-ago period. It said operating revenue rose 15% year-over-year on a 21% jump in passenger numbers. Unit cost fell 24% as ASKs climbed 12%. Load factor rose 6 points to 76%. "We had a great quarter given the challenges the industry continues to face. We saw an increased acceptance of our service by the consumers. This helped in absorbing the additional 10% capacity that we deployed over last year," CEO Sanjay Aggarwal said.
Air China (CNY1.5 billion ($219.3 million)), China Southern Airlines (CNY1.5 billion) and China Eastern Airlines (CNY100 million) are expected to receive additional capital injections from the Chinese government, according to Shanghai Securities News. CEA Board Secretary Luo Zhuping responded by saying that the airline will not receive any new money until its merger with Shanghai Airlines is complete ( ATWOnline, July 14).
LAN Airlines reported second-quarter net income of $4.2 million, down 93% from a $60.5 million profit in the year-ago period, but touted its continued growth even in a recession as traffic rose 13.5%.
Lufthansa asked the Austrian Takeover Commission to extend the deadline for its proposed acquisition of Austrian Airlines Group by one month to Aug. 31 because the European Commission has not yet cleared the tie-up, while the EC confirmed yesterday that it has received a new proposal from the German company addressing some of the competition concerns associated with the potential merger.
Ethiopian Airlines yesterday said it placed an order for 12 A350-900s from Airbus and five 777-200LRs from Boeing, a move it called "unprecedented," while Turkish Airlines added eight more 777-300ERs to its order book.
TNT reported second-quarter net income of €81 million ($115.3 million), down 60.5% from a €205 million profit in the year-ago period, but noted that the decline in volume at its Express segment that relies heavily on air operations "seems to be bottoming out." Operating income lowered 45.1% to €178 million on a 10% dip in revenue to €2.53 billion. TNT Express posted an 81% decrease in operating income to €29 million on a 15.5% fall in revenue to €1.45 billion.
Cargoitalia operated its first commercial flight with an 87% load factor, the reorganized airline said. The MD-11SF departed Milan Malpensa on July 25 for Hong Kong and returned via Almaty on Monday ( ATWOnline, July 21).
News from Travel Technology Update: United Airlines told a group of congressmen and senators that it would delay by up to 60 days the implementation of a policy that denies certain agencies the right to use the carrier's credit card merchant accounts to process credit card sales for United tickets. In response to a request from the group to reconsider or at least delay the move, United said it would "individually notify and assist the impacted agents that request more time to adjust to this change, providing up to sixty additional days to transition."
Ryanair launched a booking service on its website allowing passengers to purchase their seats up to 6 hr. before departure and check in online up to 4 hr. before the flight. Separately, it confirmed that it has lodged proceedings in the High Court in Dublin against German ticket tout Travelviva. Ryanair said it is the first of a number of High Court cases it intends to bring over the coming weeks against European "screenscrapers."
US National Transportation Safety Board swore in Deborah Hersman, a member for five years, as chairman. She succeeds Mark Rosenker, who announced his resignation last week ( ATWOnline, July 22). Before joining NTSB she was a senior professional staff member of the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. Air Mauritius appointed Kamal Taposeea chairman.
Assn. of Flight Attendants-CWA, which represents Northwest Airlines flight attendants, asked the US National Mediation Board to declare that NWA's merger with Delta Air Lines requires a representation election for all the new airline's cabin staff. DL flight attendants are not unionized.
European Commission yesterday described the number of mislaid, damaged or lost bags at EU airports as "excessive and unacceptable" and said it is considering ways to improve current legislation if the situation does not improve. "In order to protect passengers' rights adequately, we should provide citizens with the appropriate instruments. For the time being these instruments are not available," EC VP-Transport Antonio Tajani said.
AAR Corp. signed a letter of intent with SuperJet International to become a service center for the Superjet 100. AAR will provide heavy airframe maintenance, modifications, interior and exterior refurbishment, unscheduled maintenance service and will have field teams available for off-site support.
Singapore Airlines flew 6.46 billion RPKs in June, an 18.2% plunge from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 14.4% to 8.54 billion ASKs, lowering load factor 3.5 points to 75.7%. Air New Zealand flew 2.32 billion RPKs in June, down 10.1% year-over-year, against a 12.3% cut in capacity to 2.92 billion ASKs. Load factor rose 2 points to 79.5%.
SAS Group said June yield dropped an estimated 5.3% year-over-year. Group airlines flew 2.52 billion RPKs during the month, down 17%, against a 13.2% cut in capacity to 3.29 billion ASKs. Load factor dropped 3.1 points to 76.7%. SAS Scandinavian Airlines flew 2.32 billion RPKs, down 14.9%, against a 15% fall in ASKs to 3.01 billion. Load factor rose 0.1 point to 77.2%. Aer Lingus flew 1.6 billion RPKs in June, a 0.7% decline year-over-year. Capacity dipped 0.5% to 1.97 billion ASKs and load factor slipped 0.2 points to 81.3%.
Virgin Group Chairman Richard Branson will sink another A$80 million ($65.3 million) into Brisbane-based Virgin Blue as part of a deeply discounted (31%) A$231 million capital raising designed to bolster a balance sheet buffeted by one-off costs and souring hedges.
Ryanair reported a €123 million ($174.6 million) net profit in its fiscal first quarter ended June 30, reversed from a €90.5 million loss in the year-ago period, but it issued a warning that full-year net income will be at the lower end of its previous guidance of €200-€300 million because its full-year decline in yield will be "at or slightly more" than 20%.
Airports Council International-World said the number of arriving and departing passengers worldwide was 4.87 billion in 2008, up just 0.1% from 2007. A record 1,357 airports, which account for 98% of global traffic, were included in the report released yesterday. "We are a long way from the dynamic 6.8% growth witnessed in 2007," ACI-World DG Angela Gittens said. Domestic freight dropped more than 5.4% while international freight was reduced by 2.5%. Aircraft movements fell 2.1% to 77 million. The impact of crude oil prices and the global recession were cited as reasons for the decline.
