Eurocontrol said the number of flights in Europe in November fell 7% from the year-ago month and noted that "a decline of this magnitude has not been seen since the months immediately following 9/11." Even low-cost carriers, which for years have been the biggest driver of European growth, operated fewer flights--the first decrease for the segment in 15 years. Conversely, Eastern Europe, particularly Turkey, continued to see growth. Boosted by high oil prices, Russia also has been a significant contributor of new flights on the European network.
Greek air traffic controllers are expected to stage a one-day strike today, forcing the cancellation of all commercial flights, according to press reports. Aegean Airlines confirmed the cancellation of its program on its website.
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey yesterday said it "applauds" the US Court of Appeals decision to stay FAA's slot auctions at New York JFK, LaGuardia and Newark ( ATWOnline, Dec.
Airbus booked 84 firm orders in November, including 51 from Etihad Airways, helping it pull away from Boeing in the 2008 orders race. It also delivered 46 aircraft.
UK CAA yesterday issued its proposals for charges at London Stansted during the five years from April 1 and recommended caps lower than the ones proposed by the Competition Commission last month ( ATWOnline, Nov. 5) "to take account of airport charge revenues from cargo and other non-passenger flights." CAA said caps should be set at £6.34 ($9.39) per passenger for the first two years and then rise to £6.65 for the final three.
Virgin Atlantic Airways President Richard Branson yesterday said that "talks will take place with Lufthansa, maybe are taking place, to see whether it makes sense for the two companies to work together," the Associated Press reported. "There is some logic in the two companies getting together," Branson said. Virgin has maintained interest in either a stake or cooperation with UK rival bmi ( ATWOnline, Nov.
United Airlines parent UAL Corp. announced a sale and leaseback transaction with Wayzata Opportunities Fund II subsidiary East Shore Aircraft covering 15 757s. UAL said the deal will boost liquidity by $150 million.
Delta Air Lines announced a multiyear extension of its branded credit card partnership with American Express that will provide it with more than $2 billion in combined incremental liquidity and contract enhancements. DL said it will receive "an immediate $1 billion boost to its liquidity" from an American Express purchase of SkyMiles, in addition to $1 billion in contract improvements through 2010.
Ukraine International Airlines said yesterday that it plans to buy back the 6% stake held by AerCap for approximately $3.3 million, or $100 per share, Reuters reported. State Property Fund of Ukraine is the controlling shareholder at 61.6% while Austrian Airlines holds 22.5% and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has 9.9%.
Lufthansa Group airlines flew 11.83 billion RPKs in November, up 0.7% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 3.6% to 15.56 billion ASKs, dropping load factor 2.2 points to 76%. Air Canada and Jazz flew a combined 3.22 billion RPMs in November, down 5.2% year-over-year. Capacity fell 7.5% to 4.15 billion ASMs and load factor rose 1.9 points to 77.6%. JetBlue Airways flew 1.9 billion RPMs in November, a 7.8% year-over-year decrease. Capacity dropped 6.3% to 2.51 billion ASMs and load factor fell 1.3 points to 75.7%.
Skymark Airlines of Japan expects to post a ¥2.1 billion ($22.6 million) loss in the fiscal year ending March 31 but should return to profit the following year, President Shinichi Nishikubo told Bloomberg News. Skymark expects to return two leased 767s, helping it cut costs and boost net earnings to approximately ¥2.6 billion in the 2009-10 fiscal year. It is reconfiguring its fleet around the 737 and plans to operate 11 by the end of the current FY.
Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air parent Alaska Air Group promoted Executive VP-Finance and Planning and CFO Brad Tilden to president. Executive VP-Customer Service Glenn Johnson will succeed Tilden in his current position. Also, VP-Seattle Operations Ben Minicucci was named executive VP-operations and COO, MD-Planning Andrew Harrison was named VP-planning and revenue management and Executive VP-Flight and Marketing Gregg Saretsky will leave the company.
Okay Airways began its one-month passenger service suspension on Saturday rather than the originally scheduled Dec. 15 after airports began demanding cash for fueling services, the Xinhua news agency reported ( ATWOnline, Dec. 8).
Lufthansa will purchase LCC Germanwings from Eurowings, in which LH already holds a 49% stake, according to a statement cited by the Associated Press. "Eurowings can now concentrate more on its core business," CEO Friedrich-Wilhelm Weitholz said. Transfer is expected to occur Jan. 1. Germanwings posted revenue of €630 million ($801 million) last year.
British Airways will reduce the number of aircraft based at London Gatwick to 37 from 41 next summer and cut more than 100 ground operations positions. "We have briefed our staff and their trade unions that the number of departures at Gatwick will reduce by 15% next summer compared to this summer. We aim to have a voluntary severance program in place by the end of the year," BA said in a statement cited by Bloomberg News.
Boliviana de Aviacion, a state-owned startup designed to replace Lloyd Aereo Boliviano, will take delivery of its first two aircraft by year end, GM Ronald Casso told Reuters. Three more will be leased soon, he added, and BdA will begin flying domestic services next year.
Delta Air Lines flew 8.91 billion system RPMs in November, a 4.9% decrease from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 5.3% to 11.5 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 0.3 point to 77.4%. Northwest Airlines flew 5.67 billion system RPMs in November, down 7.4% year-over-year. Capacity dropped 4.7% to 7.08 billion ASMs and load factor fell 2.3 points to 80.1%. Republic Airways flew 727 million RPMs in November, down 6.5% year-over-year. Capacity declined 0.2% to 1.08 billion ASMs and load factor was down 4.6 points to 68.8%.
Qantas CEO Alan Joyce warned that there is "no guarantee" of any deal with British Airways and there will be no three-way combination including oneworld partner and BA merger target Iberia. In his first public speech since taking over as CEO, Joyce told attendees at the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce luncheon in Sydney yesterday that there are "a number of significant matters that still need to be resolved, including agreeing on an appropriate merger ratio and resolving issues around BA's pension fund and the broader economic outlook."
The Brazilian Air Force is set to release a final report on the Sept. 29, 2006, midair collision between a Gol 737-800 and an ExcelAire Legacy 600 that led to the deaths of all 154 aboard the 737, and reportedly it will cite as primary causes the ExcelAire pilots' negligence in inadvertently turning off the aircraft's transponder and a series of mistakes by air traffic controllers. The report is expected to be released officially tomorrow after victims' families have been given an opportunity to review it. Brazilian media reported the findings over the weekend.
A J Walter Aviation opened a Dubai office to support hubs in London, Singapore, Miami and Prague. Site will advance management services across the region.
EADS said Friday that it will "simplify" Airbus's corporate structure by merging the Airbus France unit into the Airbus SAS entity next year, but denied European news reports that it would be forced to inject as much as €2 billion ($2.54 billion) collectively into Airbus's French, German, British and Spanish units to cover cost overruns. "We are simply going to move the Airbus France capital into the Airbus SAS holding company," an EADS spokesperson told Agence France Presse. "There is no EADS money involved in this process.
China Eastern Airlines appealed to China's Ministry of Finance for a reduction in its tax liabilities as it reported a CNY1.83 billion ($265.5 million) fuel hedging loss as of Oct. 31. CEA CFO Luo Weide said the carrier's tax burden includes a business tax, import tax, value-added tax and civil aviation fees. It paid approximately CNY20.6 billion to the Beijing government from 2002 through the first half of this year.
Aer Lingus said Friday that a "sufficient" number of SIPTU employees accepted voluntary leave at Dublin, Cork and Shannon to deliver the carrier's targeted savings of €25 million ($31.7 million), which also will include work rule and pay changes accepted by the union last week ( ATWOnline, Dec. 5). EI CEO Dermot Mannion said the restructuring "will provide an excellent platform for growth at each base in the future."
Ryanair transported 4.3 million passengers in November, up 11% year-over-year. Load factor rose 1 point to 79%. EasyJet transported 3 million passengers in November, up 3.4% year-over-year. Load factor rose 3.1 points to 83.9%.
Austrian state holding company OIAG's supervisory board approved the sale of its 41.56% stake in Austrian Airlines Group to Lufthansa for €366,268.75 ($464,865) on Friday, continuing the German airline's aggressive European shopping spree.
