Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, parent of Atlas Air and Polar Air Cargo, reported 2008 net income of $63.7 million, down 51.9% from a $132.4 million profit in 2007, citing "a challenging year for global trade and airfreight," high first-half fuel prices and the "global recession" in the second half of the year.
A huge fourth-quarter loss related to the collapse of Iceland's banking and financial sector last fall dragged Icelandair Group to a ISK7.47 billion ($65.9 million) full-year deficit, reversed from a ISL257 million profit in 2007. Revenue soared 77.7% year-over-year to ISK112.74 billion owing largely to a more-than-threefold increase in aircraft and crew leasing revenue. Operating loss of ISK5.69 billion compared to a ISK2.34 billion profit in the prior year. Fuel costs nearly tripled.
Air Berlin said its executive directors and "top managers" will forego 50% of their bonus entitlements for 2008, or a combined €2 million ($2.6 million). AB will announce its full-year results on March 30 and said it expects to report an operating profit. It also announced the launch of flights from Berlin Tegel to Krakow (four-times-weekly beginning April 29) and Oslo Gardermoen (five-times-weekly on April 24).
Bmi said it will stop operating its four daily services between London Heathrow and Leeds Bradford and thrice-daily LHR-Durham Tees Valley flights on March 28, citing a combination of falling demand, increased costs imposed by BAA and the UK government's decision to increase the Air Passenger Duty. "The fact is that due in the main to BAA's inflation-busting increases and changes to its pricing structures have placed a considerable disadvantage on short-haul flights," bmi MD Peter Spencer said. Ryanair also has cited the APD as the reason for recent cutbacks in its UK service.
The Air New Zealand A320 that crashed into the Mediterranean Sea during a Nov. 27 test flight conducted by XL Airways pilots was in the midst of a low-speed test conducted on approach to Perpignan when the cockpit crew lost control, according to a preliminary report issued yesterday by French investigators that raised questions about the test's timing and recommended that EASA develop regulations for "acceptance" flights.
Air Astana transported 2.8 million passengers in 2008, up 8% from the prior year, on a 16% increase in capacity to 7.5 billion ASKs. Load factor was 64%. It took delivery of three A320s last year, raising its fleet to 21 (two 767s, four 757s, two A321s, seven A320s, one A319 and five F50s). It plans to operate 34 aircraft in 2014 and 63 by 2022. Air New Zealand said January yield was up 8.1% year-over-year. It flew 2.35 billion RPKs during the month, down 8.5%, against a 6.6% fall in capacity to 2.82 billion ASKs. Load factor dropped 1.7 points to 83.4%.
Iberia flew 3.83 billion RPKs in January, a 12% decline from the year-ago month. Capacity was down 8.1% to 5.17 billion ASKs and load factor dropped 3.3 points to 74%. Aer Lingus flew 1.01 billion RPKs in January, down 5.6% year-over-year. Capacity fell 6.1% to 1.56 billion ASKs and load factor rose 0.3 point to 64.3%. Norwegian estimated a 16% year-over-year increase in January yield to NOK0.64 (US9.4 cents). Norwegian.no flew 520 million RPKs, up 20%, against a 26% increase in capacity to 734 million ASKs. Load factor fell 3 points to 71%.
Finnair said the Finnish Airline Pilots Assn. rejected a settlement proposed by a state arbitrator but agreed to back off its threat to stage five one-day strikes ( ATWOnline, Jan. 27). An overtime ban will continue, allowing flights to operate "for the most part normally," the carrier said. Finnair said it would have accepted the arbitrator's settlement and that negotiations will continue.
Indonesian prosecutors dropped the most serious charge against Garuda Indonesia Capt. Marwoto Komar but still are seeking a four-year prison term for negligence in the 737-400 accident at Yogyakarta that killed 21 in March 2007 ( ATWOnline, July 24, 2008). "As a senior pilot, the defendant was careless and caused an accident that led to a lot of casualties," Chief Prosecutor Mudim Aresto was quoted as saying. Komar is accused of ignoring 15 automated cockpit warnings and landing the aircraft at around 240 kt.
Gulf Air signed an agreement to lease four 312-seat 777-300ERs from Jet Airways. Three aircraft will arrive next month and the fourth in May and will replace A340s. Gulf currently wet-leases two A300s from Jet.
GKN Aerospace said it completed "on schedule" production of the prototype composite spars for Airbus's A350 XWB wing box demonstrator. Under a work package announced last September, GKN has responsibility for development and supply of the composite spars and fixed trailing edge assemblies for the A350 wings.
Virgin Blue Holdings blamed a one-off charge associated with establishment of its V Australia subsidiary and its fuel hedges for a net loss of A$101.4 million ($65.3 million) in the six months ended Dec. 31 compared to a A$113.3 million profit in the year-ago semester.
Airbus is seeking further financial help from European governments for aircraft financing, a top company official said over the weekend. In widely reported remarks made at a conference in Dubai, Airbus Middle East President Habib Fekih said €5 billion ($6.4 billion) recently loaned by France's government to French banks to be used to finance aircraft purchases ( ATWOnline, Jan.
Ryanair intends to close all its airport check-in counters by year end in a cost-cutting move. "All we will have is a bag drop where passengers can drop off their luggage, otherwise everything will be done online. Ultimately, we want just one in five people to check in luggage," CEO Michael O'Leary told The Daily Telegraph.
Air Dolomiti President and CEO Michael Kraus expects a stable ride through the current aviation downturn and intends to play a key role in supporting Lufthansa's new Milan Malpensa subsidiary by connecting the airport with regional destinations in the south or on certain islands. "Of course we also benefit from the weakness of Alitalia, but Italy offers a lot of opportunities for aviation thanks to its geography," Kraus said, adding that 92% of all intercontinental passengers from west of Milan and north of Pisa did not change aircraft to fly to their overseas destinations.
Mokulele Airlines scraped together a $300,000 payment to Republic Airways Holdings and prevented default on an $8 million loan, according to The Honolulu Advertiser. Last week, Republic CEO Bryan Bedford said he was prepared to assume control of the Hawaiian regional if the payment was not made ( ATWOnline, Feb. 19). Mokulele CEO Bill Boyer told the Advertiser that employees decided to defer paychecks for a week so the company could make the payment.
Aerolift An-12 freighter en route from Entebbe to Nikolaev, Ukraine, crashed Friday on takeoff from a refueling stop in Luxor, catching fire and killing all five crew onboard. Aerolift is a South African cargo carrier that operates a variety of services mostly to Middle Eastern and African destinations. It describes itself as a "dedicated specialist aviation contractor." It is unclear what services the crashed aircraft was providing. The Egyptian aviation ministry said the An-12 crashed about 700 m.
Time is running out for Austrian Airlines Group, which announced last week that it lost at least €131.5 million ($166.1 million) through 2008 and January 2009, or half of the total value of its shares. "The announcement of the loss was no surprise for us," AAG board member Peter Malanik said. But the company's ultimate survival depends on the closing of its takeover deal with Lufthansa, which must be completed by July in order for AAG to ensure its viability.
Air China is blaming its fuel hedges for its 2008 loss and plans to shift more attention to boosting ancillary revenue to help engineer a turnaround this year. The carrier reported a CNY6.8 billion ($993.2 million) noncash loss resulting from a Dec. 31 writedown in the value of its fuel hedges. It recorded cash losses of $5.9 million and $52.8 million on its fuel hedge contract in November and December respectively.
IATA reported that December premium traffic fell 13.3% year-over-year and full-year numbers were down 2.8%. "This precipitous fall has been driven by the abrupt decline in business activity and international trade," IATA said. Premium revenue in December dropped an estimated 20%. Economy traffic was down 5.3%. European Low Fares Airline Assn. members carried 149.5 million passengers in 2008, a 15.7% increase from 2007. Load factor averaged 81.5%, 0.5 point lower than the prior year.
Australia's Rex Regional Express Holdings reported a net profit of A$10.5 million ($6.8 million) for its fiscal year first half ended Dec. 31, up 1.9% from net income of A$10.3 million in the year-ago period, on a 5.4% increase in revenue to A$135.8 million. Expenses rose 5.3% to A$121.4 million. Operating income was A$14.4 million, up 6.7% from A$13.5 million in the prior-year period. "This was accomplished by controlling nonfuel-related expenses and by an increased focus on efficient capacity and yield management," Rex said.
US National Transportation Safety Board Member Steven Chealander, who is leading the investigation into the recent Colgan Air Q400 crash, announced his resignation effective Feb. 28 and was named Airbus Americas VP-technical training.
