Malev Hungarian Airlines is late paying January wages to its employees and reportedly was able to distribute just HUF50,000 ($217.68) to each worker last Friday, promising the remainder following this week's extraordinary general meeting concerning the carrier's takeover by Russia's Vneshekonombank ( ATWOnline, Jan. 28).
Japan Airlines parent JAL Group reported a net loss of ¥38.5 billion ($428 million) for its fiscal third quarter ended Dec. 31, reversed from a ¥13.1 billion net profit in the year-ago period, citing a "downward slide" in demand and "volatile" fuel prices.
American Airlines flew 9.64 billion system RPMs in January, down 11.7% from the year-ago month. Capacity dropped 8.3% to 13.07 billion ASMs and load factor fell 2.8 points to 73.8%. American Eagle flew 521.9 million RPMs, down 17.9%, against a 12.4% decline in capacity to 852.6 million ASMs. Load factor was down 4.1 points to 61.2%. Delta Air Lines flew 8.87 billion system RPMs in January, a 2.2% drop year-over-year. Capacity was down 8.5% to 7.34 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 1.5 points to 76.4%.
Air France Industries, KLM Engineering & Maintenance and Aviation Repair Technologies Services formed an engine disassembly joint venture, Turbine Support International. TSI will disassemble, inspect and repair CF6-50, CF6-80 and CFM-56 parts to support engine repair activities on AF's and other third-party airlines and lessors. AFI and KLM E&M will assume a majority stake in TSI, which will be based at ART's Arkansas facility.
MacAir Airlines, an Australian regional carrier that served Queensland with 11 aircraft, shut down Friday. It operated one ATR 42-500, six Saab 340Bs and four Metro 23s and recently had entered voluntary administration.
British Airways was £127 million ($286 million) in the red through the first nine months of its fiscal year, compared to a £642 million surplus in the year-ago period, implying a net loss of £85 million in the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2008. CEO Willie Walsh cited "further economic weakness and the fall in sterling" for the result, while the airline repeated its forecast of a £150 million operating loss for the full year ( ATWOnline, Jan. 27).
Mxi Technologies will provide Pratt & Whitney with its Maintenix aftermarket software to support the OEM's power-by-the-hour contracts. Technology features an engine-centric dashboard, life-limited parts forecasting and utilization tracking.
Atlas Air Worldwide, parent of Atlas Air and Polar Air Cargo, said it will retire seven of its 14 747-200s and report a largely noncash pre-tax special charge of approximately $85-$95 million associated with retirements. "The current pronounced downturn in global airfreight demand has caused us to accelerate our plans to retire a portion of our older 747-200 assets," President and CEO William Flynn said. AAWW expects to report full-year 2008 pre-tax operating income of $55-$60 million when it releases its earnings on Feb. 24.
Austrian Airlines Group could become insolvent if a planned takeover by Lufthansa is not approved by European authorities. Speaking to Austrian journalists in Vienna last week, state holding company OIAG CEO Peter Michaelis said the company is "fighting hard to avoid drifting towards insolvency. . .However, I cannot rule out that possibility." OIAG agreed in December to sell its 41.6% share to LH ( ATWOnline, Dec. 8, 2008). Meanwhile AAG management is working on expanding its cost-cutting program.
Aeroflot confirmed its interest in purchasing a stake in CSA Czech Airlines following the Czech government's Feb. 5 tender launch. It intends to sell 91.5% of the national carrier in a two-round tender ( ATWOnline, Jan. 21).
Middle East Airlines and Banque Libano-Francaise entered a $65 million acquisition finance transaction covering the purchase of a new A330-200 to be delivered this month, the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation reported. The bank also committed to $32 million in financing for an A320-200 to be delivered next year.
Air India's low-cost subsidiary Air India Express added its 21st aircraft last week, a 737-800. It will use the plane on a weekly Srinagar-Dubai flight scheduled to start Feb. 14. IX now operates 176 weekly flights to 16 Indian and 14 international destinations.
ARINC reached a deal with Enerjet to provide data link communications including its AviNet Ground Network and GLOBALink for 737-700 charter flights. Work involves configuring avionics and data message flow through ARINC's network to interface with Enerjet's applications and third-party providers.
Claiming that its "situation as this relegation battle begins is stronger than many others," Finnair yesterday reported a €42 million ($54.4 million) loss for 2008 that compared to a €101.6 million profit in 2007.
Cathay Pacific Airways CEO Tony Tyler confirmed to ATWOnline at this week's oneworld anniversary event in Madrid that the carrier has no plans to lay off employees despite the current downturn and repeated profit warnings.
LCAL, the Dubai-based lessor established in 2004 to buy and lease 787s, cut its Dreamliner order from 21 aircraft to five, dealing another blow to Boeing's troubled next-generation aircraft program. The 16 cancellations announced by the manufacturer yesterday, valued at $2.8 billion, marked the second big 787 order cut revealed in the last two weeks. Russia's S7 confirmed last week that it had cancelled its order for 15 ( ATWOnline, Jan. 30).
Mexicana parent Grupo Mexicana will launch a Guadalajara-based regional airline designed to "complement the routes currently covered" by the mainline and its Mexicana Click LCC subsidiary. The unnamed carrier will operate 13 leased CRJ200s and fill the gap on routes that are not cost-effective for its partners or that were operated by competing LCCs that have failed or reduced capacity. Initial flights will be to Puerto Vallarta, Torreon, Veracruz, Monterrey, Chihuahua and Ciudad Juarez. A timetable was not announced.
Southwest Airlines flew 5.14 billion RPMs in January, down 6.4% year-over-year. Capacity fell 4.4% to 8.17 billion ASMs and load factor dropped 1.4 points to 62.8%. Ryanair transported 4.1 million passengers in January, up 11% from the year-ago month. Load factor held steady at 69%.
Ryanair announced a reduction of its Shannon base owing to a €10 ($12.94) "tourist tax" that the LCC claimed "is devastating forward bookings" at the Irish airport. From March 30 it will reduce its based aircraft to four from six, cut five routes (to 25), 20 weekly flights (to 116) and more than 100 employees (to fewer than 200). "Irish tourism can only succeed if Ireland is a low-cost destination," Ryanair said, adding that the cuts "would be immediately reversed" if the tax is repealed.
China Eastern Airlines is targeting a breakeven 2010 and a profitable 2011, newly appointed Chiarman Liu Shaoyong said this week, adding that the carrier is open to consolidation and a potential merger with Shanghai Airlines. Liu told reporters, "I don't think it's a bad thing that there is a wide expectation that CEA will merge with SAL," noting that the airlines' cooperation has not extended to negotiations regarding a stake sale or swap.
Qantas yesterday reported a A$216 million ($138 million) profit for the half-year ended Dec. 31, down 65% from the A$618 million earned in the year-ago semester, and announced a A$500 million share placement designed to "enhance financial flexibility."
Etihad Airways CEO James Hogan said the Abu Dhabi-based carrier is pressing ahead with its expansion plans and is on target to achieve "breakeven" financial results by 2010 despite the "rough ride" the global airline industry currently is enduring. Speaking yesterday at an International Aviation Club luncheon in Washington, Hogan said Etihad--launched in November 2003--benefits from having "no legacy [airline] costs. . .We had the ability to start with a clean piece of paper. . .and are still on the upward curve of our expansion."
Saab Aircraft Leasing completed 17 aircraft transactions in 2008, allocating its entire portfolio to customers. Company officials said business was limited only by the number of aircraft available. At year end, SAL's portfolio comprised 125 aircraft leased to 17 clients in 11 countries.
United Airlines flew 8.58 billion consolidated RPMs in January, a 10.9% decrease from the year-ago month. Capacity dropped 10.5% to 11.41 billion ASMs and load factor was down 0.3 point to 75.2%. US Airways said January consolidated passenger RASM fell 2%-4% year-over-year. Traffic was down 6.2% to 4.5 billion RPMs against a 6.8% decline in capacity to 6 billion ASMs. Load factor rose 0.5 point to 75%.
