Mesa Air Group agreed to sell its stake in Kunpeng Airlines, its regional joint venture with Shenzhen Airlines. Mesa said in a filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission that it will sell its share to Shenzhen or its nominee and terminate the lease of five CRJ200s to Kunpeng for $4.5 million, minus $900,000 in returned security deposits. Mesa announced its intention to end its 44% participation in the JV last summer and said it expects the aircraft to be returned this month ( ATWOnline, Aug. 20, 2008).
Blue Wings, a Dusseldorf-based scheduled and charter carrier that suspended operations on April 1 after the authorities revoked its operating license, plans to re-launch full service Friday.
BOC Aviation announced a sale/leaseback transaction with Southwest Airlines covering six 737-700s that will be leased back to the carrier for 14 years each. The first tranche of three aircraft closed April 2 and the second is scheduled to close in the current quarter. The lessor closed a similar deal with SWA in January covering 10 aircraft ( ATWOnline, Jan. 15).
Delta Air Lines, including its Northwest Airlines subsidiary, flew 15.6 billion system RPMs in March, a 12.6% decrease from the year-ago month. Capacity was down 7.9% to 19.39 billion ASMs and load factor fell 4.4 points to 80.5%. JetBlue Airways said preliminary passenger RASM fell 12% in March. It flew 2.25 billion RPMs during the month, down 8.5% year-over-year, against a 5.6% fall in capacity to 2.83 billion ASMs. Load factor dropped 2.5 points to 79.3%.
EasyJet Chairman Colin Chandler will resign effective July 1 and be replaced on an interim basis by Senior Independent Director David Michels, the LCC announced. Chandler has held the post since 2002. British Telecom Chairman Michael Rake was named deputy chairman and will join the easyJet board prior to Chandler's departure.
China Airlines announced a net loss of TWD32.35 billion ($968.9 million) for 2008, widened sharply from the $77.5 million deficit reported in 2007. Operating loss of TWD10.21 billion compared to $41.54 million the prior year. CI said fuel costs climbed 45% during the first three quarters of 2008 and falling demand offset declining fuel costs in the fourth. The company lost TWD21.05 billion on its fuel hedges.
US Export-Import Bank announced approval of some $1.08 billion in financing to support the delivery of up to 30 737-900ERs to Indonesia's Lion Air. The financing comprises $238 million in a first stage and a nonbinding preliminary commitment of $841 million. Ex-Im Bank said the transactions were its first in support of the -900ER.
Indonesian court jailed Garuda Indonesia Capt. Marwoto Komar, 45, the pilot who was in command of a 737-400 that crashed in Yogyakarta two years ago, killing 21.
Star Alliance said it plans to move current London Heathrow Terminal 2 tenants Austrian Airlines, Croatia Airlines, Lufthansa, Swiss International Air Lines and TAP Portugal to T1 this summer. At that point, the 21 Star members serving LHR will remain split between T1 and T3.
Dermot Mannion's eventful tenure as Aer Lingus CEO, which featured privatization, two successful defenses against a Ryanair takeover and a reversal in fiscal fortunes leading to a €107.8 million ($145.3 million) loss last year, ended yesterday with his resignation after 3.5 years on the job. "It has been a privilege. . .to have led the company through a period of profound change," Mannion said in a statement. "My decision to step down will allow a new CEO to bring fresh thinking and new ideas to the business."
US airlines' customer service improved for the first time in five years in 2008, researchers from St. Louis University and Wichita State University said yesterday in releasing their annual Airline Quality Rating report. Improvement was across the board, with carriers scoring better on baggage handling, ontime performance, denied boarding and customer complaints, researchers said. The airline with the best overall AQR among the 17 graded was Hawaiian Airlines, followed by AirTran Airways, JetBlue Airways, Northwest Airlines and Alaska Airlines.
US Airways named former Eos Airlines Senior VP-Guest Experience Hector Adler VP- inflight services. Ryanair promoted Head of Scheduled Revenue Ken O'Toole to director-new route development. AirTran Airways named Transportation Security Administration Office of Strategic Communications and Public Affairs Deputy Assistant Administrator Christopher White director of public relations.
American Airlines flew 10.32 billion system RPMs in March, down 10.9% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 5.6% to 13.04 billion ASMs and load factor slipped 4.8 points to 79.2%. American Eagle flew 643.1 million RPMs, down 6.1%, against a 4.2% decline in ASMs to 894.2 million, lowering load factor 1.5 points to 71.9%. US Airways Group said March consolidated passenger RASM fell an estimated 17%-19% year-over-year, although total RASM dropped 13%-15% including ancillary revenue.
Aeroflot said last week that new CEO Vitaly Savelyev, named to replace the ousted Valery Okulov, will assume the position Friday ( ATWOnline, March 31). It also said an efficiency program implemented last summer will be worth $161 million in reduced costs this year and more than $400 million by the end of 2010. In addition, it announced establishment of a separate, Moscow-based charter division that will operate mostly Il-96s.
JetBlue Airways and Aer Lingus said bookings during the first year of their partnership exceeded targets by 50% and that JetBlue was able to connect more than 80 passengers a day from Ireland. The deal allows customers in both the US and Ireland to book a single connecting fare on EI's website and provides for baggage transfer. It originally involved connections between Dublin and Shannon, New York JFK and 25 JetBlue onward destinations but now includes flights via Boston as well. EI CEO Dermot Mannion said the companies will "continue to grow and develop new opportunities."
Qantas agreed to contribute an additional A$66 million ($46.7 million) over the next three years into the defined benefit divisions of the Qantas Superannuation Plan, in addition to current contributions, in response to the turmoil in the financial markets that has hit pension funds hard around the globe. It said the plan has assets of around A$5 billion and remains "in a strong financial position despite the challenging economic environment."
EU and Mongolia signed a horizontal aviation agreement designed to "restore legal certainty regarding bilateral air services agreements" between Mongolia and 12 EU member nations. It will remove nationality restrictions in the existing air services agreements, allowing any EU airline to operate between Mongolia and any of the 12 nations in which it is established.
Air France KLM and Gol signed an agreement Friday linking their respective loyalty programs and establishing a codeshare arrangement under which AF will add its code to Gol flights between Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and 13 Brazilian cities by mid-year. A similar deal is being prepared between Gol and KLM. The European carriers operate 21 weekly flights to Sao Paulo Guarulhos and 14 to Rio de Janeiro Galeao.
Delta Air Lines CEO Richard Anderson and President Ed Bastian told employees in a memo last week that "it is prudent for us to restructure and reduce the size of our executive team" and announced that five management officials will leave the company June 1, the Associated Press reported. The departing executives are Senior VP-International Laura Liu, Northwest Airlines Senior VP-Customer Service Crystal Knotek, NWA VP-Chief Accounting Officer Anna Schafer, Minneapolis/St. Paul VP-Corporate Affairs Tammy Lee Stanoch and MSP Senior VP-Customer Service Todd Anderson.
Austrian Airlines Group announced a one-year agreement with flight crew at both Austrian Airlines and Tyrolean Airways that includes reduced work time and deferred compensation and constitutes an important step in its effort to cut costs by €225 million ($300 million). OS's executive board, the Inflight Works Council, the vida union and the aviation section of the Austrian Chamber of Commerce signed the deal. AAG already had reached an agreement with ground employees ( ATWOnline, March 12).
Rolls-Royce signed a long-term TotalCare engine service agreement worth more than $350 million with Mexicana Group, covering 25 BR715-powered 717-200s operated by its low-cost subsidiary MexicanaClick.
Following the dramatic slowdown in demand during the second half of 2008, the Chinese airline industry experienced double-digit domestic growth in January and February that is being credited to Beijing's economic stimulation policies. Chinese carriers transported 34.5 million domestic passengers in the first two months of 2009, up 15.3% over the year-ago period. Boardings on domestic routes climbed 21.3% to 16.3 million in January and 17% to 16 million in February, according to CAAC.
British Airways last week maintained its guidance for an operating loss of approximately £150 million ($218.7 million) for the fiscal year ended March 31 and said the deficit will be deepened by £75 million in severance costs.
