Lufthansa Flight Training opened a simulator center in Munich yesterday. Swiss Aviation Training will operate its own E-190/195 simulator initially, with an LFT A320 simulator scheduled to enter operation in the coming weeks. An A330/A340 simulator will be running by year end.
Gol and Varig parent Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes swung to a BRL1.39 billion ($606.7 million) loss in 2008 from a BRL272.3 million profit the prior year, but said it "continues to evaluate expansion opportunities" while approving a BRL203.5 million capital increase.
LAN Airlines flew 2.46 billion RPKs in February, an 8.2% increase from the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 9.7% to 3.08 billion ASKs and load factor dipped 1.2 points to 80%. Aer Lingus flew 992 million RPKs in February, down 7.5% year-over-year. Capacity dropped 14.4% to 1.38 billion ASKs, lifting load factor 5.3 points to 72%. SkyWest Airlines and Atlantic Southeast Airlines flew a combined 1.2 billion RPMs in February, a 9.2% drop year-over-year. Capacity fell 9% to 1.61 billion ASMs and load factor slipped 0.1 point to 74.9%.
SkyTeam partners Air France KLM and Aeroflot were among the four groups filing official yet nonbinding expressions of interest in fellow alliance member CSA Czech Airlines, the Czech Finance Ministry announced. The Czech government is selling its 91.5% stake in the airline ( ATWOnline, March 4). Other interested parties are charter carrier Travel Service/Unimex Group and Odien, a private investor.
Republic Airways Holdings took control of 50% of Mokulele Airlines through a $3 million cash injection and the conversion of $3 million of its $8 million loan to the Hawaiian carrier ( ATWOnline, March 19). Mokulele CEO Bill Boyer was replaced by Republic VP-Strategic Alliances Scott Durgin. In response, Mesa Air Group announced yesterday that it will terminate the two-year-old codeshare agreement between its go! subsidiary and Mokulele.
Continental Airlines Chairman and CEO Larry Kellner told the Houston Chronicle that "if the government wanted to re-regulate the business, I wouldn't be opposed to it" and that "what we've got today doesn't work. It isn't creating a stable industry." He told the paper that managing labor costs was key and "the structure of the [Railway Labor Act] creates a very cumbersome process." Separately, CO received tentative approval from the US Dept.
Ethiopian Airlines reported a ETB515 million ($45.8 million) profit in its fiscal first half ended Dec. 31, up 9% from the year-ago semester, on a 54.8% surge in operating revenue to ETB6.7 billion. CEO Girma Wake said the carrier "remains optimistic that its performance will be sustained going forward, considering the strategic cost reduction efforts and improved operating procedures we have put in place."
United Airlines expects first-quarter consolidated passenger RASM to fall 11%-12% year-over-year, with mainline PRASM dropping 12.3%-13.3%, along with an $80 million cash loss on settled fuel hedge contracts.
Virgin America will begin charging passengers $15 for their first piece of checked luggage on travel booked from May 5. The second through 10th checked bags also will cost $15 each, replacing VX's old policy of $25 for the second bag and $50 each for subsequent pieces. First class passengers will be permitted to check two bags for free, and those purchasing VX's Main Cabin Select product will get one free bag. "Because we fly to primary airports, we mainly compete with the large network carriers, all of whom already charge this fee," VP-Planning and Sales Diana Walke explained.
Cathay Pacific and Dragonair flew 6.65 billion RPKs in February, a 4.9% drop from the year-ago month. Capacity was down 3.7% to 8.68 billion ASKs and load factor fell 1 point to 76.6%. GM-Revenue Management Tom Owen said premium cabin demand is "persistently weak" and that yields are under "tremendous pressure." TAM flew 1.84 billion domestic RPKs in February, down 1.9% year-over-year. Capacity climbed 13.6% to 3.02 billion ASKs, dropping load factor 9.6 points to 60.9%. International RPKs rose 12.6% to 1.37 billion against a 16.9% lift in capacity to 1.92 billion ASKs.
Air India said it plans to maintain its policy of introducing 2-3 new aircraft to its fleet per month during the fiscal year beginning April 1, claiming that the global slump in demand "will be short-lived" and that traffic to and from India will rise "considering [the] improved business environment and the enormous potential" of India as a tourist destination. AI added 45 aircraft in the past 18 months and now operates more than 150. Thirty are scheduled to arrive during the upcoming fiscal year, including three 777-200LRs during the June-August period.
Austrian LCC Niki posted a profit of €7.1 million ($9.6 million) in 2008, up 103% on the prior year, President Niki Lauda told ATWOnline last week, on a 25% year-over-year increases in revenue to €229 million and passenger numbers to 2.1 million. "All in all, 2008 was a record year for us. And I also expect a good 2009," he said, adding that the airline will benefit from Austrian Airlines' struggles ( ATWOnline, Feb. 24).
Malaysia Airlines Engineering & Maintenance said it is targeting a 15% year-over-year increase in 2009 revenue to MYR520 million ($142.4 million). Senior GM Mohd Roslan Ismail said third-party revenue has doubled in the past two years to MYR438 million in 2008 and that "there continues to be a high demand for our services." The company also said its MRO joint venture with GMR Hyderabad International is scheduled to be operational by the third quarter of 2010 ( ATWOnline, Aug. 22, 2008).
Air France will introduce a new premium economy cabin called Premium Voyageur that will be phased in gradually on all long-haul flights operated by 777s, A340s and A330s. First routes to offer the new configuration will be Paris Charles de Gaulle to New York JFK, Tokyo Narita and Osaka Kansai. Premium Voyageur will feature a new seat especially designed for AF and equipped with a fixed shell. Seats will be 48 cm. wide, have 97-cm. pitch and offer 123-deg. back recline.
Austrian Airlines flew 1.06 billion RPKs in February, down 17.8% year-over-year. Capacity dropped 14.2% to 1.53 billion ASKs and load factor fell 3 points to 69.1%. Pinnacle Airlines flew 326.5 million RPMs in February, down 3.6% year-over-year. Capacity rose 5.1% to 490.5 million ASMs and load factor was down 6 points to 66.6%. Germanwings transported 432,072 passengers in February, down 10.4% year-over-year. Load factor fell 3.8 points to 74.7%.
Malev Hungarian Airlines said parent company AirBridge has committed to a HUF3 billion ($13.1 million) capital injection. The airline also said that the ownership structure of AirBridge has changed in order to maintain majority Hungarian control.
Air New Zealand asked the High Court to forbid the New Zealand Commerce Commission from withholding evidence in litigation concerning air cargo price-fixing. ANZ has protested its innocence and last year claimed NZCC was "grandstanding to justify its existence" after announcing plans to bring charges against it and 12 other carriers ( ATWOnline, Dec. 16, 2008).
US Dept. of Transportation said 2.3% of scheduled domestic flights were canceled in January, an improvement from 2.9% in the year-ago month. Comair canceled 6.2% of its flights, the highest rate, followed by American Eagle at 4.1% and American Airlines at 3.5%. Hawaiian Airlines and Frontier Airlines canceled just 0.5%. The industry's ontime arrival rate was 77%, up from 72.4% in January 2008. HA led at 90.8%, followed by Southwest Airlines at 83.3% and ExpressJet Airlines at 79.8%. Comair was worst at 56.7%, followed by Atlantic Southeast Airlines at 68.3%.
The massive downturn in global airfreight is hitting home at Lufthansa Cargo despite a 20.9% increase in year-over-year operating profit to €164 million ($214.5 million) in 2008, with cargo carriage falling 25% in January and February with similar figures expected this month, according to Chairman and CEO Carsten Spohr.
FedEx reported net income of $97 million for its fiscal third quarter ended Feb. 28, down 75% from a $393 million profit in the year-ago period, blaming "the continued deterioration in global economic conditions."
Superjet International, which provides marketing and support for Sukhoi's Superjet 100, signed an agreement with Lufthansa Technik Logistik to provide global logistics services for the new regional aircraft. Sukhoi will have access to Logistik's Frankfurt facility, which provides parts and customer support.
Austrian Airlines Group executive board members Peter Malanik and Andreas Bierwirth confirmed to ATWOnline Thursday that the company does in fact possess sufficient liquidity to safeguard operations until its merger with Lufthansa is approved and completed. However, AAG does not possess the stability to survive long-term on its own, they said. AAG and LH officials hope that the tie-up will be finalized before summer ( ATWOnline, March 16).
American Airlines parent AMR Corp. said first-quarter consolidated unit revenue should fall 10.2%-11.2% year-over-year and mainline unit revenue is expected to decline 9.6%-10.6%. Consolidated CASM is expected to be 12.51 cents for the quarter and 12.34 cents for the full year.
Embraer said the Regional Labor Court in Campinas "ruled in favor of maintaining the layoffs" conducted in February, when it cut some 20% of its workforce ( ATWOnline, Feb. 20), and determined compensation payments. Embraer said it would "determine its position" following the rule's formal publication. Separately, the manufacturer yesterday launched its Lifetime Program that will provide support services for customers of pre-owned commercial aircraft.
Air Cargo Management Group released its latest 20-year freighter forecast yesterday, projecting 2028 fleet sizes for both an "optimistic" scenario in which air cargo traffic averages 6% annual growth and, taking into account the weak global economic situation, a "low growth" scenario in which traffic rises just 3%-4% per year ( ATWOnline, March 4). "The baseline assumption used by ACMG is that the current downturn will prove to be a short-lived event in the context of a 20-year forecast," MD Robert Dahl said.
