Hawaiian Airlines parent Hawaiian Holdings remained in the black in the second quarter, posting a $27.5 million profit that compared to a $54.3 million surplus in the year-ago period.
Aircell Chairman Ron LeMay and President and CEO Jack Blumenstein have swapped titles, the inflight Internet and communications service company announced.
Jet Airways suffered a INR2.25 billion ($46.1 million) loss in its first fiscal quarter ended June 30, a reversal from the year-ago period's INR1.43 billion profit, but said that "operationally the performance has stabilized" and that efforts to reduce capacity and costs "have started to show results."
Volga-Dnepr Group, the outsize air cargo specialist that also operates scheduled 747 freighter carrier AirBridgeCargo Airlines, said its overall traffic for the first six months of 2009 fell 5% to 835,000 FTKs. ABC actually saw an uptick as it transported 65,100 tons of freight during the half year, a 4.6% year-over-year increase.
Aria Air Il-62 originating in Tehran crashed on landing at Mashhad Friday, killing at least 16 including the carrier's managing director, in the second fatal crash in Iran in fewer than 10 days. Mehdi Dadpey, who was one of Aria's founders in 1999, headed the Iranian airline and also served as a flight captain including on Friday's doomed Flight 1525. The carrier was grounded by Iranian authorities following the crash.
UK passengers have been making claims against British Airways and Virgin Atlantic Airways in increasing numbers relating to the carriers' price-fixing practices on long-haul flights between Aug. 11, 2004, and March 23, 2006, Dow Jones reported ( ATWOnline, July 14). More than 211,000 refunds have been processed so far, of which 170,000 are from UK passengers, claimant law firm Hausfeld & Co. LLP said. Payment has been authorized in 133,000 of these cases.
Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker ratcheted up his rhetoric about Boeing Friday, telling reporters ahead of a meeting with the manufacturer regarding the airline's delayed 787 program that "a lot of heads would roll" if he were running the company, according to USA Today.
Hainan Airlines opened a branch office in Shenzhen and said the move is part of an effort to expand its presence in the Pearl River region. "We plan to interconnect Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Zhuhai with Hong Kong," HNA VP-Marketing Chen Ming said. The company already has set up a branch office in Guangzhou and a sales center in Zhuha and holds 45% stakes in Hong Kong Express Airways and Hong Kong Airlines.
Air France KLM Group said revenue in the fiscal first quarter ended June 30 plunged 20.5% year-over-year to €5.19 billion ($7.37 billion), reflecting continuation of the January-March trend and "in line with our expectations." Revenue in the passenger business fell 18.7% to €4.01 billion on the back of a 4.7% reduction in capacity, a 5.8% drop in traffic and a 14.5% decline in yield. Cargo revenue plummeted 41.5% to €544 million on a 22.7% decrease in traffic and 17.2% cut in capacity. Unit revenue was down 25.1%.
A $192 million fuel hedging gain pushed US Airways to a second-quarter net profit of $58 million, reversed from a $568 million loss in the year-ago period when goodwill impairment charges weighed on the bottom line.
Vueling Airlines posted a second-quarter net profit of €2.9 million ($4.1 million), reversed from an €8.7 million deficit in the year-ago period, as it completed a restructuring plan based on network rationalization, access to new market segments, increased ancillary revenue and cost reductions. Revenue decreased 5.3% to €105.4 million and operating cost fell 25% to €92 million. Operating profit excluding restructuring costs was €13.4 million, reversed from an €11.4 million loss in the 2008 second quarter.
JetBlue Airways yesterday reported a $20 million second-quarter profit, reversed from a $9 million loss in the year-ago period, and said it expects to remain in the black in both the third and fourth quarters. "We believe our strong brand, unique value proposition and ongoing focus on maintaining financial strength will position us for continued success in this recessionary environment. Despite a challenging revenue outlook, we continue to expect to generate a profit every quarter this year," CEO Dave Barger said.
MyAir suspended all operations following a decision by Italian civil aviation authority ENAC to revoke the LCC's AOC effective July 24. ENAC said MyAir's service became unreliable owing to persistent financial difficulties and that it failed to meet restructuring-related obligations. The carrier had been flying on a provisional AOC since June 25. It operated scheduled services linking a dozen Italian cities and destinations in Europe and Morocco with a mixed fleet of A320s and CRJ900s. It commenced operations in December 2004 and had its main bases at Bergamo and Venice.
Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air parent Alaska Air Group reported second-quarter net income of $29.1 million, down 53.9% from a $63.1 million profit in the year-ago period, but said earnings improved excluding special charges owing to significantly lower fuel costs.
Air France KLM flew 17.07 billion RPKs in June, down 6.4% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 5% to 21.25 billion ASKs and load factor dropped 1.1 points to 80.3%. Air Canada and Jazz flew 4.17 billion RPMs in June, a 9.1% drop year-over-year, against a 7.6% cut in capacity to 5.15 billion ASMs. Load factor slipped 1.3 points to 80.9%. AirTran Airways flew 1.76 billion RPMs in June, down 6.5% year-over-year. Capacity fell 5.3% to 2.11 billion ASMs and load factor dropped 1.1 points to 83.6%.
UPS reported second-quarter net income of $445 million, down 49% from $873 million in the year-ago period, on a 16.7% reduction in revenue to $10.8 billion. Chairman and CEO Scott Davis said that while weak global economic conditions have "pressured" the delivery company, "UPS remains financially very strong" and "can weather this recession." CFO Kurt Kuehn added, "Declines in both our domestic and international business appear to be stabilizing but volumes will remain significantly below last year's levels. .
Copa Airlines said the US Export-Import Bank offered a final commitment for financing two 737-800s scheduled for delivery this year and preliminary commitments covering 10 additional aircraft for delivery in 2010-12. Copa has 25 737NGs on order from Boeing.
AirTran Airways parent AirTran Holdings reported a second-quarter net profit of $78.4 million, reversed from a net loss of $14.8 million in the year-ago period, and projected it will maintain profitability in the second half of 2009 despite the poor economic environment.
Oxford Aviation Academy signed a five-year agreement with British Airways covering provision of pilot training and simulator time for BA CityFlyer's incoming E-170s and E-190SRs.
Aeroflot carried 758,100 passengers in June, an 11.1% decline year-over-year. Load factor fell 3.8 points to 70.7%. Through the half-year, SU's passenger numbers fell 12.1% to 3.9 million, with load factor at 63.5%.
ExpressJet Holdings reported a $13.1 million second-quarter loss, an improvement from the $34.3 million deficit during the same period a year ago. Revenue plunged 61.9% to $170.6 million, a decline attributed to a drop in passengers and the suspension of its ExpressJet branded and Delta Air Lines operations. Operating loss narrowed to $10.8 million from $43.7 million as expenses sank 29.8% to $20.3 million. "These results are reflective of the worldwide drop in passenger revenues, which are forecast to continue through 2009," President and CEO Jim Ream said.
US scheduled passenger airlines employed 6.8% fewer fulltime-equivalent workers in May than in the year-ago month, according to the Dept. of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics. It marked the 11th consecutive month of decline. The seven network airlines reduced their May employee rolls by 8.2% year-over-year, LCCs' rose 1.2% and regionals' fell 7.7%.
Allegiant Air parent Allegiant Travel Co. continued to defy the shrinking economy during the second quarter, launching 20 new routes and posting a net profit of $23.9 million that compared to earnings of just $2.6 million in the corresponding 2008 period.
