Garuda Indonesia is on course for a $300 million initial public offering around the middle of this year, CEO Emirsyah Satar told reporters in Singapore. "We have yet to determine the underwriters. The IPO will either be in late second quarter or early third quarter of this year," he said, adding that the carrier plans to increase its fleet from the current 67 aircraft to 116 over the next five years. It will take delivery of 24 in 2010 and has converted its order for 10 787s into 777-300s that will begin delivery next year.
Shenzhen Airlines earned a net profit of CNY500 million ($73.1 million) last year, nearly 20 times the CNY26 million surplus posted in 2008. The carrier did not reveal its revenue and expense figures. It transported 15.1 million passengers in 2009, up 27.8%, and enjoyed a 22% jump in cargo traffic to 306 million FTKs. It introduced 14 new aircraft last year, increasing its fleet to 136, and opened 50 new routes.
Tarom expects to join SkyTeam this year, an airline source told ATWOnline, echoing comments from alliance officials in November ( ATWOnline, Nov. 6, 2009). RO also plans to launch new service in March from Bucharest Otopeni to Riga, Bari and Nice. The carrier currently operates four 737-300s, four 737-700s, three 737-800s, four A318s, two A310-300s, seven ATR 42s and two ATR 72s.
AerSale of Florida announced the acquisition of 44 DC-8-71F/-73F freighters, the accompanying CFM56-2C1 engines, spare parts and tooling and a Level D DC-8-70 series flight simulator from an unnamed seller thought to be UPS Airlines, which retired its fleet of 44 DC-8s last year ( ATWOnline, April 24, 2009).
Six of the 10 American carriers that have reported 2009 fourth-quarter results turned a profit in the period, among them AirTran Airways, whose CFO Arne Haak said that "yield and average prices are very different from what we saw 3-6 months ago" and that "even on an absolute basis, things are looking more normal than in quite some time."
British Airways' decision to impose staffing cuts and introduce changes to cabin crew working conditions, which has prompted two strike votes by the Unite union ( ATWOnline, Jan. 21), now is being challenged in court. "It's about whether an employer can, without due notice or negotiation, systematically change the longstanding contracts of employment of its workforce," Unite National Officer for Civil Aviation Steve Turner said.
After two consecutive quarterly losses, Singapore Airlines Group returned to the black in its third fiscal quarter ended Dec. 31, posting a S$403.7 million ($286.1 million) profit that marked a 19.7% increase from the S$337.2 million earned in the year-ago period.
Japan Airlines did not decide between American Airlines/oneworld and Delta Air Lines/SkyTeam yesterday as expected ( ATWOnline, Feb. 1), with CEO Kazuo Inamori telling reporters that a decision on a partner and alliance will be finalized "as early as possible." Newly appointed President Masaru Onishi said, "We're talking about the alliance with people concerned within the company. It's also not a matter that can be decided by an individual.
UPS said it finished 2009 "on a high note," reporting significant fourth-quarter improvement and closing out the year with a $2.15 billion profit, down 28.3% from the $3 billion earned in 2008. Full-year revenue fell 12% to $45.3 billion against a 10% cut in costs to $41.5 million. The company's operating profit slipped 29.4% to $3.8 billion to $5.38 billion.
Grupo TACA and Avianca yesterday announced the finalization of their merger agreement and the forming of their joint holding company, to be called Avianca-TACA Ltd. It will be domiciled in the Bahamas and held 67% by Avianca parent Synergy Aerospace Corp. and 33% by TACA parent Kingsland Holding.
Austriair, a Vienna-based startup scheduled to launch operations this spring ( ATWOnline, Jan. 18), has changed its name to MAP Jet following complaints over the original name from Austrian Airlines. MAP is an Austrian business jet, charter and ACMI operator and has been contracted by Austriair to fly its three wet-leased E-195s. MD Bosoko Rasovic told ATWOnline that the carrier has no plans to extend its initial network beyond VIE, Munich, Frankfurt and Stuttgart.
Ryanair reported a €10.9 million ($15.1 million) net loss in its fiscal third quarter ended Dec. 31, a 90.8% improvement from the €118.8 million lost in the year-ago period, and raised its full-year earnings forecast to €275 million from the "lower end" of the €200-€300 million range. Third-quarter revenue was up a slight 1.2% year-over-year to €611.9 million against a 14.5% fall in operating expenses to €610.5 million. Operating profit of €1.4 million compared to a loss of €109.2 million in the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2008.
The European Commission confirmed yesterday that it is assessing "the effectiveness of proposed commitments" received from oneworld partners British Airways, American Airlines and Iberia designed "to alleviate" its concerns over anticompetitive aspects of their proposed joint venture.
Webjet Linhas Aereas, a Rio de Janeiro Galeao-based LCC, has received an offer from Ryanair to purchase a stake in the carrier. A spokesperson told Bloomberg News that Webjet owner Guilherme Paulus "received a first contact and heard a proposal from Ryanair" and that talks will continue if the Brazilian government passes a law allowing foreigners to own up to 49% of a domestic airline rather than the current limit of 20%. That decision is expected in March. Webjet operates 20 737-300s to 10 destinations.
Delta Air Lines completed the integration of Northwest Airlines' reservation system over the weekend and transitioned all NWA flights and passenger reservations to the DL system, allowing for the retirement of NWA flight numbers and nwa.com. NWA customers will be able to use their original reservation and confirmation numbers, DL said. "Throughout the integration of Delta and Northwest, we've taken a phased, deliberate approach to make the transition simple and seamless for our customers," Senior VP and CIO Theresa Wise said.
Allegiant Air parent Allegiant Travel Co.'s board increased funds available for its common stock repurchase program to $25 million from $10.4 million. The program was launched in January 2009 with $25 million and an additional $10 million was added last July. Allegiant repurchased 637,902 shares with the $24.4 million spent so far.
AMR Corp. regional subsidiary American Eagle Airlines faces a $2.5 million fine for "operating flights without adequately ensuring the weight of baggage was properly calculated," FAA announced yesterday. The agency said that Eagle operated at least 154 scheduled flights in January-October 2008 for which the baggage weight listed on cargo load sheets did not match data entered into its Electronic Weight and Balance System.
Lufthansa is scheduled to take delivery of its first A380 on May 10 and plans to operate it on select scheduled flights from Frankfurt to Munich and Hamburg in order to familiarize crew and airport staff with the aircraft, while also generating publicity. It will be used for training in Leipzig as well. LH also reportedly is considering using the plane to transport the German national team to the World Cup in South Africa. The tournament begins June 11. Long-haul scheduled services, starting with FRA-New York JFK, will commence once the second A380 arrives in early summer.
Great success stories in commercial aviation are rare even in good times. ATW's Regional Airline of the Year for 2010, Regional Express, is one of those and much more. Remarkably, the Sydney-based carrier has stayed profitable during the worst economic downturn in at least four decades while both rebuilding and expanding a business that was born out of the collapse of Ansett Australia in 2001.
Riga International home carrier and largest operator airBaltic reiterated its call for the urgent construction of a new passenger terminal and is pressing for private financing as a result of the Latvian government's delay in moving forward. RIX last year bucked the trend of falling passenger traffic and reported solid 10% growth to 4.1 million on a 5% rise in flight movements to 60,087. AirBaltic alone added routes to 12 new destinations. Cargo volume rose 22.9% to 9,429 tonnes.
The most acute problems are on Europe's periphery, where many smaller economies are experiencing crises strongly reminiscent of past crises in Latin America and Asia. Latvia is the new Argentina." Thus wrote Paul Krugman, 2008 Nobel Laureate in economics, in The New York Times in December of that year. The Baltic state's GDP contracted 10.5% in the fourth quarter of 2008, the steepest decline in the EU, and plunged an estimated 18% in 2009. Neighboring Estonia and Lithuania were similarly hard hit.
In this most competitive and capricious of industries, and during this most trying of times, staying on top is difficult even for those airlines with entrenched advantages. Simply leveraging a timeless brand, a supportive government, a key hub or sheer size no longer guarantees success, especially when the effort required to innovate increasingly is focused on ensuring survival.
