ANA this month will purchase a 33.5% stake in Overseas Courier Service, a Tokyo-based international parcel delivery and forwarding company, the airline said. Financial terms were not disclosed. The companies have been working together since July 2007, and ANA said the new investment will help "underpin" its Asian parcel delivery service out of the Okinawa cargo hub scheduled to open in October ( ATWOnline, Dec. 19, 2007).
Alitalia CEO Rocco Sabelli said the restructured carrier expects to lose €200 million ($251.8 million) this year, Reuters reported. "We had a terrible first three to four weeks" following the January re-launch he said ( ATWOnline, Jan. 13). "After those terrible three weeks we began to do better even if we're not filling the aircraft as much as we would like."
Vueling Airlines and Clickair have started cross-selling seats online on all domestic and international flights as the first step in a joint marketing initiative launched by the merging Spanish LCCs.
Virgin America is denying adamantly that it is in danger of losing the financial support of its US-based investors and claims that it may be profitable by year end. The airline is majority owned and operated by US investment groups Black Canyon Capital of Los Angeles and Cyrus Capital Partners of New York, which are rumored to be preparing to divest their stakes. Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin brand, maintains a 25% share.
Southwest Airlines yesterday agreed to pay US FAA a $7.5 million fine to settle an enforcement action stemming from the carrier's operating 46 737 Classics for nine days in March 2007 after it had disclosed to the agency that the aircraft were in noncompliance with an airworthiness directive.
SITA and Swissport announced deployment of the world's first common-use bag-drop solution at Zurich, allowing passengers from multiple airlines to use the same queue. Eleven Star Alliance carriers will use 10 common-use counters at the airport, where the departure control system will employ SITA's PassengerBagdrop software. Star Manager-Product and Services Anita Elste said the common-use bag drops have helped reduce processing time to under 30 sec. per passenger.
DAE Capital, the aircraft leasing arm of Dubai Aerospace Enterprise, signed an operating lease agreement with Garuda Indonesia for eight 737-800s. The deal is a sale-and-leaseback transaction covering aircraft scheduled to begin delivery in June. The eight -800s covered in the contract are the first of 50 737NGs (25 firm plus 25 options) that Garuda ordered at last year's Singapore Air Show ( ATWOnline, Feb. 20, 2008).
BOC Aviation finalized a sale-and-leaseback deal with Virgin Blue for one 737-800 delivered late last year and -800s scheduled for delivery in the 2009 fourth quarter. Aircraft will be leased for an average of 10 years each. BOCA has a portfolio of 104 aircraft and has 70 more on firm order for delivery through 2013.
Turkish Airlines confirmed Friday that the nine people killed in last week's 737-800 accident in Amsterdam comprised three pilots (including one trainee), one flight attendant and five passengers ( ATWOnline, Feb. 27). THY said it will pay €50,000 ($63,720) to the families of each of the deceased and €5,000-€10,000 to those being treated in hospitals.
Lufthansa announced the submission of its public takeover offer to all shareholders of Austrian Airlines Group for €4.49 ($5.72) per share. Acceptance period runs from today through May 11. LH said the offered share price is approximately 30% higher than the Feb. 26 closing price. LH already has agreed to acquire Austrian state holding company OIAG's 41.56% share in AAG for €366,000 plus an earn-out option that could reach €164 million depending on Austrian's future performance.
AirAsia reported a 2008 net loss of MYR471.7 million ($128.3 million), reversed from a MYR697.6 million profit in 2007, but insisted its 2009 outlook is strong because its low-fare model is attracting new traffic and it has "unwound" fuel hedges that weighed down second-half earnings.
Cyprus Airways reported a €1.7 million ($2.2 million) profit in 2008, up 41.7% from the €1.2 million earned in 2007, on a revenue increase of 8% to €311.4 million. It credited fuel surcharges and rising passenger numbers for the boost in turnover. Full-year operating profit plunged 64.8% to €1.9 million from €5.4 million as expenses rose 9.9% to €311.3 million. Fuel costs were up 42.1%. The year-over-year comparison in net results was helped by €3.3 million in finance costs in 2007.
Ryanair is considering charging passengers £1 ($1.43) to use onboard lavatories, CEO Michael O'Leary told the BBC. "One thing we have looked at in the past and are looking at again is the possibility of maybe putting a coin slot on the toilet door so that people might actually have to spend a pound to spend a penny in future," O'Leary said. A UK CAA spokesperson told The Times that "there is no legal requirement for an aircraft to have a toilet onboard, so if an airline does have a toilet they can charge to use it. Ryanair is legally able to do this."
Thai Airways reported a THB21.38 billion ($592.1 million) loss in 2008 compared to a THB4.43 billion profit in 2007 as the economic downturn and the protest-induced closure of Bangkok Suvarnabhumi in the fourth quarter proved too much to overcome. Thai suffered a THB14.8 billion fourth-quarter loss that represented a reversal from a THB1.84 billion profit in the final three months of 2007 ( ATWOnline, Dec. 5, 2008).
While noting that last year was "one of the most difficult in recent memory," Iberia Group still managed to achieve its 13th consecutive full-year profit with net earnings of €32 million ($40.8 million), down 90.2% from the €328 million reported in 2007.
Aeroflot transported 635,900 passengers in January, up 0.3% from the year-ago month. Traffic climbed 2.6% to 1.97 billion RPKs and load factor slipped 1.4 points to 62.5%.
China Eastern Airlines is looking to drive load factors by making it easier and more economical for potential passengers to connect. CEA said its point-to-point network has made it difficult to attract more passengers in a declining market, so it has identified some 900 "transit routes" featuring multiple segments between markets that may have growth potential.
Virgin America's poor financial showing has led to speculation that the San Francisco-based startup may be in jeopardy of losing the support of its US-based investors. Founded by impresario Richard Branson and designed to capitalize on the success of the Virgin brand, the airline is majority owned and operated by US investment groups Black Canyon Capital of Los Angeles and Cyrus Capital Partners of New York. Branson maintains a 25% share ( ATW, August 2008).
After wrangling with the U.S. Department of Transportation, the carrier last week reinstated a "Passenger Usage Fee" of $4.90 each way. Spirit began charging the fee last summer, along with a $2.50 "natural occurrence interruption fee" and an $8.50 "international service recovery fee." A natural occurrence is more commonly known as "weather." The recovery fee aimed to offset the costs of doing business with international destinations.
Air Algerie/UK named Zoheir Houaoui GM-UK and A. Benabderrahmane station mgr. Airclaims welcomed Paul Jenkins as technical services engineer, Simon Martin as surveyor/project mgr., Ian Cox as powerplant mgr. and James Rust as technician. Airports Council International-North America tapped Jane Calderwood as VP-government & political affairs. Air Southwest appointed Peter Davies MD. ALTA selected Hector A. Chichoni as national immigration counsel. Amsafe chose Terence W. Lyons as president & CEO. ANA elevated Shinichiro Ito to president & CEO.
American Airlines joined the Climate Leaders program of the US Environmental Protection Agency, becoming the first major passenger carrier to enter the program.
The good times didn't last long. Following the comeback of 2007--a year in which the US's 10 largest airlines all were in the black after years of bankruptcies and red ink--2008 proved to be among the most humbling ever for the world's largest air transport market. Carriers were hit hard by soaring fuel costs in the first half, and then hit hard again when oil prices plummeted in the second half of the year to well below airlines' hedging positions. Heavy noncash goodwill impairment charges also weighed down bottom lines.
Air New Zealand said its foreign exchange hedging program limited the effects of fluctuating fuel prices and the economic downturn as it remained profitable in the fiscal first half ended Dec. 31, reporting a NZ$24 million ($12.3 million) net that was 79% lower than the year-ago result.
Malaysia Airlines reported a MYR245.7 million ($67 million) profit in 2008, a 69.7% decrease from the MYR852.7 million earned in 2007 but a result that MD Idris Jala called "solid" and evidence "that if we set our minds to do the impossible, we can do it."
Shanghai Airlines is expected to receive a CNY1 billion ($146 million) capital injection through the issuance of a nonpublic stock offering to Jinjiang International Holding, its third-largest stakeholder. The move is designed to reduce SAL's debt ratio and relieve some pressure as its financial situation worsens ( ATWOnline, Feb. 6). The carrier said its debt ratio will fall 5.9 points to 85.5% as a result. Last month it warned that its 2008 loss may be double the CNY435 million reported in 2007.
