EasyJet broke ranks with its European legacy counterparts and strongly condemned the move toward a temporary suspension of the EU's so-called "use it or lose it" slot rule, which dictates that carriers must use their slots at an 80% rate or return them to the pool.
Esterline CMC Electronics reached an agreement with Boeing for its PilotView Class 2 Electronic Flight Bag hardware to be made available for select aircraft types, starting with 737NGs.
British Airways yesterday lowered its guidance for the 2009-10 financial year beginning April 1 and said it now expects revenue to decline 5% and an operating result similar to the £150 million ($211.1 million) loss forecast for the current year excluding any severance costs.
The Chinese airline industry showed some signs of recovery in January as domestic carriers posted a collective net profit of CNY40 million ($5.8 million), according to CAAC. The airlines reported a CNY7.07 billion net loss through the first 11 months of 2008. The regulator credited "favorable policies" implemented in December for the January result, including its decision to withhold approval for new entrants until 2010 and its call for carriers to cancel or delay aircraft orders. Fee reductions and infrastructure improvements also played a role, CAAC said.
Special charges were the key contributor to Pinnacle Airlines Corp.'s $4.9 million loss in 2008, a reversal from a $34.6 million profit in the prior year.
Ryanair yesterday presented a "rescue plan for Irish tourism," part of its ongoing campaign to convince the government to scrap the €10 ($12.50) "tourist tax" set to kick in on March 30. The LCC cited the levy when announcing flight cuts at Dublin and Shannon ( ATWOnline, Feb. 13) and claimed its plan would grow air traffic and tourism to Ireland by 20% over the next two years.
Oman Air CEO Peter Hill said the carrier will continue to enhance its network despite the current industry downturn and expects to operate to up to 40 destinations by year end. It currently serves 27. Hill was speaking at this week's Aviation Outlook Middle East conference in Abu Dhabi. The airline plans to add Paris Charles de Gaulle, Frankfurt, Colombo and Male this year. It recently took delivery of a 737-800, bringing its fleet to 15 aircraft, and expects to take four more -800s and four A330-300s in the coming months.
Etihad Airways CEO James Hogan said the carrier is targeting a 24% year-over-year increase in 2009 revenue to $3.1 billion as it takes delivery of 11 new aircraft, bringing its fleet to 53.
American Airlines flew 8.63 billion system RPMs in February, down 13.5% from the year-ago month. Capacity dropped 10.1% to 11.67 billion ASMs and load factor slipped 2.9 points to 73.9%. American Eagle flew 522 million RPMs, down 14.1%, against a 9.1% decline in capacity to 800.5 million ASMs. Load factor fell 3.8 points to 65.2%. United Airlines' February traffic plunged 15.2% year-over-year to 7.66 billion consolidated RPMs. Capacity was down 14% to 10.46 billion ASMs, lowering load factor 1 point to 73.2%.
Delta Air Lines indicated it is having second thoughts about committing fully to Northwest Airlines' 2005 order for 18 787-8s, eliminating the aircraft from its list of firm orders in the annual report released this week. "The Boeing Co. has informed us that Boeing will be unable to meet the contractual delivery schedule for these aircraft. We are in discussions with Boeing regarding this situation," DL said in the report filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. It has not canceled the order.
US Bankruptcy Court judge invalidated the transfer of the Aloha Airlines brand to Mesa Air Group for use on its go! subsidiary because the sale by Aloha shareholder Yucaipa Co. was not public ( ATWOnline, Dec. 8, 2008). A second auction will be held.
Lufthansa Italia will launch service from Milan Malpensa to Rome Fiumicino (four-times-daily), Naples (twice-daily) and Bari (daily) on April 1. It began serving Brussels, Budapest, Bucharest and Madrid this week and will add London Heathrow and Lisbon flights at the end of the month ( ATWOnline, Jan. 29). "Advance bookings for the coming months have developed so favorably that we are already in a position to expand our services," Lufthansa Passenger Airlines Executive VP Karl Ulrich Garnadt said.
Aegean Airlines joined the bidding for Olympic Airlines, offering a combined €170 million ($214.2 million) for OA's flight operations, MRO division and its successor company Pantheon. "The objective of Aegean and its shareholders is the creation of a more powerful Greek air company" that can compete with larger European airlines, the carrier said. It added that it would be able to take over OA within 60 days of signing a deal and that it was willing to cede some domestic routes in order to facilitate competition.
Delta Air Lines, which in January predicted a "solidly profitable" 2009 ( ATWOnline, Jan. 28), now expects a rough start to the year and a "significant loss" in the current quarter, "primarily due to fuel hedge losses coupled with the impact of the global recession," it said in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. It expects the "majority" of the losses relating to its 2008 fuel hedge contracts to be recognized in the first half of 2009.
Alaska Air Group board yesterday announced plans to give stockholders a nonbinding vote on compensation for the company's five highest-paid executives. It said the vote "will inform the board's future decisions on executive compensation." Stockholders proposed the measure last year.
ACE Aviation Holdings, which was created in 2004 as part of Air Canada's restructuring and still holds a 75% stake in AC, indefinitely postponed an April 7 shareholders meeting at which it was slated to hold a vote on the company's dissolution ( ATWOnline, Dec. 12, 2008). The ACE windup would make AC an independent company, but "current market conditions" made the postponement "appropriate," ACE said.
Air China is pessimistic about its financial prospects and now is not expecting a turnaround this year. It already has said it expects to report a heavy loss for 2008 ( ATWOnline, Jan. 21), and this week Chairman Kong Dong said, "We don't have confidence that the carrier will earn a profit this year," Reuters reported. Kong revealed that CA's cargo volume has hit a new low, dropping 30%-40%.
Qantas was forced to withdraw its three A380s from service Monday because of unrelated fuel system problems that came after what had been described as the best entry into service of any aircraft with Australia's national airline. One A380, QF's first, had technical troubles in Sydney Saturday and was delayed 19 hr. before taking off for London Heathrow. On the return trip, the aircraft suffered a fuel leak and passengers were transferred 12 hr. later to a 747-400. Engineers in London fixed the leak and the A380 was back in service yesterday.
Air France will defer delivery of its sixth and seventh A380s in order to "create some savings on the down payment this year and the year after," Air France KLM CEO Pierre-Henri Gourgeon said Monday at the Reuters Travel and Leisure summit in New York. Last month the group announced it would cut capital expenditure by €1.2 billion ($1.51 billion) to address the economic downturn and would defer delivery of half-a-dozen planes including "777-300ERs, 777Fs and some Airbus aircraft."
TNT reported a €556 million ($700 million) profit in 2008, down 43.6% from the €986 million earned in 2007 as the air cargo market continued to deteriorate and the company took a €70 million one-time charge related to job and fleet cuts in its Express division. It said those reductions will result in €51 million in savings this year, part of a €400 million cost-cutting effort. Group revenue rose 1.2% year-over-year to €11.15 billion and operating income fell 17.6% to €982 million.
Spirit Airlines yesterday began charging passengers booking flights on its website or through its reservation center a fee of $4.90 per segment. The new "passenger usage fee" is the latest in a series of ancillary revenue generators implemented by Spirit ranging from bag check fees to onboard beverage charges. Customers who purchase tickets at airport check-in counters will not be charged the fee. "It's all part of our overall philosophy. We like to break out the base fare from additional fees and taxes," a Spirit spokesperson told ATWOnline.
Continental Airlines said that February consolidated RASM fell an estimated 11.5%-12.5% year-over-year. It flew 5.88 billion consolidated RPMs, down 13.2%, against an 8.9% fall in capacity to 8.11 billion ASMs.
ANA this month will purchase a 33.5% stake in Overseas Courier Service, a Tokyo-based international parcel delivery and forwarding company, the airline said. Financial terms were not disclosed. The companies have been working together since July 2007, and ANA said the new investment will help "underpin" its Asian parcel delivery service out of the Okinawa cargo hub scheduled to open in October ( ATWOnline, Dec. 19, 2007).
