Alaska Airlines flew 1.48 billion RPMs in April, down 5.9% year-over-year. Capacity dropped 8.3% to 1.87 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 2 points to 78.9%. AirTran Airways flew 1.51 billion RPMs in April, up 0.3% year-over-year, against a 7.9% fall in capacity to 1.88 billion ASMs. Load factor rose 6.5 points to 80.4%. WestJet flew 1.19 billion RPMs in April, a 5.5% increase from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 7.2% to 1.47 billion ASMs and load factor dropped 1.3 points to 81.2%.
Emirates Group said that "under the circumstances" its AED1.49 billion ($405.6 million) profit in the fiscal year ended March 31, a 72% drop from the record AED5.3 billion posted in 2007-08, was a "satisfactory result" and demonstrated its "flexibility in a challenging economic period." Group revenue rose 10.4% to AED46.3 billion but profit suffered as a result of "the record fuel prices in the first six months of the [fiscal] year and the impact of the global recession," EK said. Fuel accounted for 36.2% of the carrier's expenses compared to 32.9% in the prior year.
Bmi founder and Chairman Michael Bishop initiated UK court proceedings to force Lufthansa to purchase his 50%-plus-one-share stake in the carrier, according to multiple UK press reports. Bishop in December exercised an option to sell his stake to LH (which owns 30% minus one share) for an estimated £350-£400 million ($544-$622 million) under terms of a contract signed in 1999. LH announced seven months ago that it would purchase Bishop's stake ( ATWOnline, Oct.
US FAA and the National Air Traffic Controllers Assn. began mediated negotiations this week, guided by a three-member panel comprising former FAA Administrator Jane Garvey, Richard Bloch and George Cohen ( ATWOnline, May 4). Agreement provides for binding resolutions of unresolved issues, "guaranteeing a new collective bargaining agreement," FAA said. Process is expected to last through early June.
Embraer announced the delivery of the first of two 50-seat ERJ-145s to Passaredo Linhas Aereas through its ECC Leasing subsidiary ( ATWOnline, March 20). The aircraft operated its first flight for the Ribeirao Preto-based airline Monday. The second plane is being prepared for delivery at Embraer Aircraft Maintenance Services in Nashville. Passaredo also operates six Brasilias.
Boeing Corporate President and CFO James Bell said Boeing Capital Corp. will provide about $1 billion in financing for new aircraft deliveries in 2009 but expressed confidence that there also are "adequate sources of financing" in traditional credit markets. He added that it's too early to make an assessment for 2010 but said the company does not plan to be a primary financing source going forward. "There is not the need [for Boeing] to finance aircraft [on a large scale]," he insisted.
Lufthansa may "walk away" from its acquisition of bmi unless current shareholders inject more capital, CFO Stephan Gemkow told the Financial Times. "What we want to have is the company in its contractually agreed state and that means the company has the licenses it needs to operate and the funds it needs to operate," he told the paper. "We have a situation in which, to our understanding, the conditions have not been met. .
CEOs of Air France KLM Group and Delta Air Lines signed a profit/loss-sharing joint venture agreement yesterday in Paris covering a wide network around 10 hubs representing more than 200 flights and approximately 50,000 seats per day. The airlines said their venture, which will concentrate on service to/from Amsterdam, Atlanta, Detroit, Minneapolis, New York JFK and Paris Charles de Gaulle as well as Cincinnati, Lyon, Memphis and Salt Lake City, represents about 25% of the industry's total transatlantic capacity.
US National Transportation Safety Board wrote to American Airlines this week recommending that the carrier evaluate its maintenance program's Continuing Analysis and Surveillance System "to determine why it failed," contributing to a September 2007 MD-82 inflight engine fire during a departure climb from St. Louis ( ATWOnline, April 8). "Then, make necessary modifications to the program to correct these shortcomings," NTSB told AA.
Regional Express Holdings of Australia reported a A$7.5 million ($5.8 million) pre-tax profit for the fiscal third quarter ended March 31, down 6.3% year-over-year. Revenue fell 7.8% to A$57 million on a 19.8% drop in passenger numbers to 292,386. Load factor slipped 4.1 points to 63.2% on a 15% reduction in ASKs. Fiscal year-to-date pre-tax earnings of A$21.9 million were up 1.9% from the year-ago period, although Rex said its full-year net may be down as much as 10%. It flies 40 Saab 340s.
Southwest Airlines announced yesterday that it will start service in November or December at Milwaukee, a market targeted for growth this year by rival AirTran Airways.
Qantas withdrew first class from sale for flight departures between July 6 and Oct. 31 on three routes due to the downturn in premium traffic. The flights are Sydney-San Francisco, Sydney-Buenos Aires and Melbourne-Hong Kong-London Heathrow.
Singapore Airlines reported an 18.2% year-over-year plunge in passenger numbers last month to 1.2 million. Traffic fell 17.7% to 6.27 billion RPKs against just a 12.9% cut in capacity to 8.68 billion ASKs, lowering load factor 4.2 points to 72.2%. On the cargo front, FTKs were down 21.6% and load factor fell 3.7 points to 58%. SIA has cut flights to Los Angeles, Osaka Kansai, Vancouver and Amristar and grounded 17 aircraft.
Despite what it called its responsiveness to unprecedented conditions in the second half of its fiscal year ended March 31, Air France KLM Group incurred its first loss since the 2003 merger, an €814 million ($1.1 billion) deficit that compares to a €756 million profit in 2007-08. Its operating loss amounted to €129 million, reversed from a €1.41 billion operating profit the prior year.
Aeroflot declined Alexander Lebedev's offer to purchase his 49% stake in Blue Wings for €1 ($1.35) ( ATWOnline, May 8), Blue Wings Chairman Jorn Hellwig told Der Spiegel. Lebedev now is considering negotiating with S7 Airlines and Rosavia, as well as Arabian investors, in his search for more capital. Discussions with Air Berlin or the German government also may occur, Hellwig said.
Jazeera Airways lost KWD1 million ($3.4 million) in the first quarter, reversed from a KWD745,815 profit in the first three months of 2008, on a 7.4% decline in revenue to KWD10 million. It cited "heavy investments in our operations," which Chairman Marwan Boodai said "were tasked with putting in place the right launchpad for our next wave of growth." It expects to take delivery of two A320s by July, bringing its fleet to 10.
Skyways Aviation announced the placement of an ERJ-145 with Andalus of Spain on behalf of Air Vendee Investissement. Aircraft will be based in Gibraltar and operate service to Madrid starting this month and Barcelona from June. Andalus currently has two 145s and plans to operate four by year end. Skyways also said it was selected by Ernst & Young to remarket an ATR 42-500 formerly operated by Macair Airlines, which ceased operations in February.
Spanish government is eliminating airport taxes for all carriers that increase or maintain the level of traffic at the country's "largest airports" during the second half of 2009 compared to the year-ago period, Ryanair said. The LCC again called upon the Irish government to end its €10 ($13.49) air passenger duty ( ATWOnline, March 17), citing recent efforts by Belgium, Greece, the Netherlands and Spain to reduce charges "to reverse recent traffic and tourism declines."
Owing to the global economic downturn and the depression in the cargo market, China Southern Airlines has decided to postpone the launch of its cargo joint venture with Air France KLM, according to CZ Chairman Si Xianmin. "Based on the original plan, our cargo JV with AF KLM should have been launched in the first quarter. But we have to reconsider this plan after taking the current market situation into account," Si said.
Islandbanki, formerly Glitnir, increased its share of Icelandair Group to 47% from 5%, both the bank and the airline announced yesterday. The parties said the move "will not affect the daily operations of the company" and that Islandbanki will sell the stake "in an open and transparent sales process as soon as possible." The shares acquired yesterday were pledged as security for loans to finance other shareholders' investment in Icelandair.
The first A320 assembled outside Europe successfully completed its inaugural flight yesterday, taking off from Tianjin International in the morning and landing safely a little more than 4 hr. later. The aircraft assembled at Airbus Final Assembly Line China was ordered by Dragon Aviation Leasing and is set to be delivered in June to Sichuan Airlines. "This A320 assembled in China unquestionably demonstrated the same quality and performance as those assembled and delivered in Hamburg or Toulouse," Airbus Senior VP-Flight & Integration Tests Fernando Alonso said.
Turkish Airlines flew 10.7 billion RPKs during the year's first four months, up 10.7% from the year-ago period. Capacity climbed 17% to 15.9 billion ASKs and load factor fell 3.9 points to 67.2%. Air Canada and Jazz flew a combined 3.83 billion RPMs in April, a 4.1% decline from the year-ago month. Capacity dropped 2.2% to 4.73 billion ASMs, lowering load factor 1.6 points to 81.1%. EasyJet transported 3.8 million passengers in April, up 6.3% year-over-year, while load factor rose 4.2 points to 84.2%.
Southwest Airlines cabin staff represented by the Transport Workers Union ratified the four-year labor agreement reached in Mach. Contract covering more than 9,700 flight attendants runs through May 2012 ( ATWOnline, March 30).
