IATA late last month extended its e-freight pilot program to the US, New Zealand and Australia. American Airlines, United Airlines, British Airways and KLM began transporting a portion of cargo between New York JFK and London Heathrow and Amsterdam without most paper documents. Similarly, Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific Airways and DHL began paperless cargo carriage on flights from New Zealand to Singapore and Hong Kong.
Olympic Airlines employees walked out again last Thursday, grounding nearly 100 flights and disrupting other air traffic in a runway protest against Greece's plan to sell the ailing state carrier ( ATWOnline, Oct. 1). The Greek government is looking for an investor to bail out Olympic, which has been losing nearly €2 million per day. Deadline for bidders was Sunday, and as of last week Qatar Airways was the only potential investor whose interest had been made public ( ATWOnline, Oct.
Air New Zealand today will roll out its new domestic airport product featuring a range of technical and design innovations designed to speed check-in and boarding. Unveiling will take place at Auckland's domestic terminal, where new kiosks will enable passengers to print their own bag tags and a conveyor belt bag drop zone will help shorten or eliminate queues. New gate scanners will allow for straight-to-gate check-in and boarding for those without bags.
Admitting that "conditions for profitable business are increasingly marginal," Finnair reported a €17.3 million third-quarter loss, reversed from a €39.6 million profit in the three-month period ended Sept. 30, 2007. "What is usually our best quarter of the year fell far short of expectations," President and CEO Jukka Hienonen said, citing high fuel prices and the fact that "aircraft are increasingly filled with leisure passengers who pay less for their tickets."
US Airways confirmed last week in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission that it expects mainline CASM excluding fuel, special items and transition expenses to rise 6%-8% year-over-year as it cuts capacity 5%-7%. Fourth-quarter Express capacity will fall 1%-3%, with unit cost excluding fuel rising 4%-6%. In 2009, US plans to cut mainline capacity 4%-6% and Express ASMs by 5%-7%. At year end it will operate 354 aircraft in the mainline fleet and 296 in the Express fleet.
ANA Group reported a net profit of ¥22 billion ($224 million) for its fiscal first half ended Sept. 30, a 79.1% drop from ¥105.5 billion in the year-ago period.
Boeing's ambitious plans to ramp up 787 deliveries may be under serious threat, according to forecasts from New York-based Bernstein Research. In a wrap-up following the manufacturer's third-quarter earnings teleconference, Bernstein warned that 787 deliveries may be a further 53 short of plans in the first four years of production (2009-12) and 153 short of plans from last January.
Hainan Airlines and Shanghai Airlines posted third-quarter net losses of CNY260.8 million ($38.1 million) and CNY437.4 million respectively as declining domestic demand and high fuel prices continued to wreak havoc on China's airlines ( ATWOnline, Oct. 31). Hainan reported a CNY228.9 million profit in the third quarter of 2007 while SAL was CNY77.3 million in the black.
Delta Air Lines, which completed its acquisition of Northwest Airlines last Wednesday ( ATWOnline, Oct. 31), on Friday revealed its new officer lineup serving under CEO Richard Anderson and President Ed Bastian, headed by COO Steve Gorman, previously executive VP-operations, and Senior VP and CFO Hank Halter, a 10-year DL veteran who previously was senior VP-finance and controller.
IN THE LAST EIGHT YEARS, UNITED AIRLINES HAS LOST ITS STATUS as the world's largest airline, survived a three-year bankruptcy restructuring, billions of dollars in losses and having its aircraft used to perpetrate the 9/11 terrorist attacks. For one of the oldest and most recognized names in the global air transport business, fancy new product offerings, shiny next-generation aircraft and expansion are not on the radar screen. More than 70 years after its founding as an airmail carrier, Chicago-based UA and its parent company UAL Corp.
Air France Industries KLM Engineering & Maintenance appointed Jonathan Soesman VP-sales-Southern Europe and Karen J. Berg VP-sales-North America. Air France KLM said that Chairman and CEO Jean-Cyril Spinetta will relinquish the latter title on Jan. 1 when Pierre-Henri Gourgeon will become CEO. AWAS tapped Frederic Mireur as head-corporate finance. Boeing named David Schumacher dir.-state & local government relations, Fakher Daghestani Middle East communications dir. and Chantal Dorange communications dir.-Europe, Middle East & Africa.
A NEW BEGINNING" was how Chinese Minister of Taiwan Affairs Office of State Council Wang Yi characterized the July 4 launch of weekend (Friday through Monday) flights between the mainland and Taiwan. Although cross-straits flights had occurred infrequently since 2003-typically during peak leisure travel periods such as the Spring Festival and Chinese New Year-this is the first time that such flights have been conducted on anything like a regular basis.
Compagnia Aerea Italiana, the consortium of investors negotiating a bid for Alitalia, reportedly walked out of talks with labor unions late Wednesday night, putting its bid for the failing flag carrier in doubt ( ATWOnline, Oct. 30). It was scheduled to present its offer this evening. CAI head Roberto Colaninno said he was "very worried about the situation caused by the breakdown of negotiations" in a statement cited by press reports.
Northwest Airlines closed a $500 million secured revolving credit facility led by U.S. Bank with Citigroup and Morgan Stanley as co-lead arrangers and joint book runners. Financing comprises a three-year, $200 million secured revolving credit facility priced at LIBOR plus 4.5% with a final maturity on Oct. 28, 2011, and a 364-day, $300 million secured revolving credit facility with a final maturity on Oct. 28, 2009, bearing interest at LIBOR plus 3.5%.
Republic Airways Holdings reported third-quarter net income of $17 million, a 15.7% drop from the $20.2 million earned in the year-ago period. Operating revenue rose 16.7% year-over-year to $385.2 million and expenses climbed 19.2% to $325 million. Operating income was up 4.8% to $60.2 million from $57.4 million last year. During the quarter the company incurred $7.4 million in expenses related to the estimated return costs of 11 ERJ-135s and $8 million in carrying costs tied to unallocated E-170s returned from service with Frontier Airlines.
China Southern Airlines yesterday reported an CNY810 million ($118 million) net loss for the third quarter, joining "big three" rivals Air China and China Eastern Airlines deep in the red. CA and CEA earlier reported CNY1.9 billion ( ATWOnline, Oct. 29) and CNY2.33 billion ( ATWOnline, Oct. 30) three-month losses respectively. China Southern's operating revenue dropped 11.6% year-over-year to CNY14.59 billion against a 14.2% increase in expenses to CNY14.07 billion.
Virgin Atlantic Airways, which has held several discussions with bmi over a possible tie-up, still believes a combination is possible and reportedly is seeking a partnership with its UK counterpart and its future-owner Lufthansa ( ATWOnline, Oct. 30). "Everyone has speculated that it would make sense for Virgin Atlantic and bmi to combine their long-haul and short-haul networks," CEO Steve Ridgway told Reuters. "There is now a major opportunity to do that and create a new, strongly viable competitor to British Airways.
Silver Air, a charter and ACMI carrier based in Dubai, said it has received its UAE air operator's certificate. It has three 737-200s and one 737-300 and said it plans to operate 10 737 Classics by 2010.
Boeing this week forecast that China will need 3,710 new aircraft worth approximately $390 billion over the next 20 years, an increase from last year's projection of 3,400 planes ( ATWOnline, Sept. 19, 2007). "China will continue to be the fastest-growing aviation center in the world, requiring 41% of the entire Asia/Pacific region airplane demand," Commercial Airplanes VP-Marketing Randy Tinseth said. Single-aisle aircraft will account for 70% of the new purchases.
Frontier Airlines Holdings, which continues to operate Frontier Airlines and Lynx Aviation under bankruptcy protection, reported a $29.7 million net loss in the fiscal second quarter ended Sept. 30 and a $5.8 million operating loss. In September, when it lost $20.8 million, it reported $7.0 million in reorganization costs and $2.1 million in unrealized losses on fuel hedges. It recorded gains of $9.9 million from the sale of two aircraft.
Air Berlin confirmed that it will absorb its dba subsidiary by Nov. 30, ending branded flying by the carrier AB acquired two years ago ( ATWOnline, Aug. 18, 2006). Dba operates nine aircraft and three of its 737-300s will leave the AB fleet entirely. Dba's 120 pilots and 175 cabin crew will be transferred elsewhere within AB or offered buyouts.
Kenya Airways reported a KES736 million ($8.5 million) profit in its fiscal first semester ended Sept. 30, down 62.7% from the KES1.97 billion earned in the year-ago period, as fuel prices rose and it managed only "paltry" passenger growth owing to the tourism decline caused by the violence that followed last December's elections.
Hawaiian Airlines parent Hawaiian Holdings reported third-quarter net income of $6 million, down 69.4% from $19.6 million in the year-ago quarter, explaining that improvements in inter-island and transpacific revenue were "offset by the high cost of fuel."
Delta Air Lines yesterday began the 12- to 24-month process of integrating Northwest Airlines, now a wholly owned subsidiary of DL, with the flying public likely to begin noticing changes in the first half of 2009. NWA stockholders each will receive 1.25 DL shares based on the latter's closing price on Oct. 29, an exchange rate that is the equivalent of $9.99 per NWA common share. DL said its code will be added to "nearly all of the Northwest system" by year end and "a fully consolidated worldwide flight schedule" will be launched in advance of summer 2009.
Ethiopian Airlines said it posted a ETB507 million ($51.2 million) profit in the fiscal year ended June 30, which would mark a significant improvement over profits of just over $14 million in each of the prior two fiscal years. Revenue rose 34% year-over-year to ETB9.2 billion while expenses were up 31% to ETB8.8 billion. Passenger numbers climbed 20% to 2.5 million.
