US Dept. of Transportation yesterday announced a grant of transatlantic antitrust immunity to SkyTeam partners Delta Air Lines, Northwest Airlines, Air France, CSA Czech Airlines, Alitalia and KLM, upholding a tentative approval issued last month ( ATWOnline, April 11).
Qantas yesterday said it has increased its fuel hedging to cover 59% of expected crude oil requirements for the 2008-09 fiscal year at $111.81 per barrel of West Texas Intermediate inclusive of option premium and that it will raise international fares by approximately 4% and domestic by around 3% effective June 4 on top of increases announced earlier this month. CEO Goeff Dixon said QF still will be unable to cover an additional A$2 billion ($1.92 billion) in fuel costs this year.
Finnair now expects its operating result for both the half and full year to "fall short of last year's levels" as "rapidly rising oil prices and a sharp fall in passenger load factors" are "weakening" its "profit-making capacity." Its 2007 operating profit was €96.6 million ($151.7 million). It said its full-year fuel bill will exceed €600 million, up more than 36% year-over-year and more than 25% of estimated 2008 revenue. April load factor was down 6 points and is expected to "continue to fall" this month. "We are now planning to reduce capacity, particularly in Europe.
US FAA said its Adaptive Compression software, which went into operation in March 2007 and scans airport arrival slots emptied by a cancellation, delay or rerouting for incoming traffic at constrained airports, saved airlines $27 million and 1.1 million delay minutes in its first year of operation.
Air France KLM Group reported a consolidated net profit of €748 million ($1.17 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, a 16% decline from the €891 million earned in the prior year as it booked a €530 million provision to cover possible penalties arising from the ongoing antitrust probe into airline cargo activities.
Italian government decided to convert its €300 million ($471.2 million) bridge loan to Alitalia into an asset on the airline's books in an effort to win auditor approval of its 2007 finances, Reuters reported ( ATWOnline, May 6). "It is a temporary measure so that the internal auditors don't bring up questions," Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti said.
Transaero flew 3.83 billion RPKs in the first quarter, up 43% over the year-ago period, on a 44% increase in passenger numbers to 791,000. Freight rose 43% year-over-year to 367,000 tons. The Russian carrier also announced the completion of its IOSA certification. It operates 10 747s, 10 767s, 15 737s and one Tu-214. SAS Group airlines flew 2.96 billion RPKs in April, a 17.4% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 22.1% to 4.28 billion ASKs and load factor fell 2.8 points to 69.1%.
ARINC won a five-year renewal and upgrade on its contract with CUTE Club to provide its iMUSE common-use platform for passenger check-in and boarding as well as its BagLink baggage messaging system. Deployable on desktop workstations and handheld terminals, iMUSE supports IP and legacy host systems. BagLink technology features intelligent routing and messaging capabilities.
British Airways yesterday announced a $30 million, 18-month initiative to "enhance its premium ground facilities" at New York JFK. Scheduled to launch next month, the project will involve creation of a new premium check-in "pavilion" with dedicated curbside drop-off for first and Executive Gold Club customers, an enhanced and dedicated check-in area for Club World and Executive Club Silver customers and renovation of Terraces, First Class and Concorder Lounges to the Galleries specification now operating at London Heathrow's Terminal 5.
Southwest Airlines and AirTran Airways yesterday announced the addition of chairman to the titles of their respective CEOs. SWA CEO Gary Kelly was elected chairman yesterday and will succeed the departing Herb Kelleher. He also will assume the title of president, taking over from Colleen Barrett when her contract expires on July 15 ( ATWOnline, July 20). Kelleher and Barrett will remain with the airline through July 2013.
American Airlines yesterday said it will retire "at least" 75 aircraft, including 40-45 mainline jets, this year and begin charging $15 for the first piece of checked luggage on North American flights as it tries to cope with oil prices that reached more than $130 per barrel Wednesday. "We are facing an extraordinarily difficult environment," Chairman and CEO Gerard Arpey said in announcing the cutbacks. "The US airline industry was not built for $125 or $130 barrel oil. . .[and] will not and cannot continue in its current state."
Malaysia Airlines cited "higher operating expenses mainly from the increase in fuel costs" for a 9.5% dip in first-quarter profit to MYR120.5 million ($37.1 million) from MYR133.1 million earned in the year-ago period.
Aegean Airlines' net loss widened to €4.4 million ($6.8 million) in the first quarter, traditionally its weakest period, from €2.6 million in the year-ago quarter. Revenue climbed 23% to €98.8 million on the back of international network expansion and a 6% rise in sectors flown. Fuel costs jumped 57% to €24.4 million and operating loss plunged to €6 million from €2.6 million.
JetBlue Airways flew 2.28 billion RPMs in April, a 0.8% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity rose 7.4% to 2.87 billion ASMs, dropping load factor 5.2 points to 79.5%. Gol and VRG flew 2.31 billion RPKs in April, up 17.8%, against a 25.1% increase in capacity to 3.65 billion ASKs. Load factor fell 3.9 points to 63.2%. Aer Lingus flew 1.38 billion RPKs in April, up 9.3% on the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 25.7% to 1.95 billion ASKs and load factor dropped 10.6 points to 70.5%.
Following the formation of an alliance with five other logistics companies in January, Shanghai Airlines took a further step toward strengthening its position in a city that commands 70% of the Chinese freight market through the injection of CNY260 million ($37.2 million) into its SAL Cargo International subsidiary.
Porter Airlines has been advised by the US Dept. of Transportation that it must reduce its Toronto City-Newark schedule less than two months after launching the seven-times-daily service ( ATWOnline, March 27). The cutback is part of DOT's effort to reduce congestion at New York area airports ( ATWOnline, May 19). Porter will eliminate one flight each weekday from June 20.
Spirit Airlines reported a $3.8 million loss in 2007, a significant improvement from its $79 million deficit in 2006, according to US Dept. of Transportation figures cited this week by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. A $14.2 million loss in the fourth quarter pushed Spirit into the red, the paper said. Full-year revenue climbed 41% to $761.6 million. Despite increased fuel costs, the low-fare carrier continues with its expansion plans, adding 20 new flights this summer. It operates A319s and A321s on 200 daily flights to 39 destinations.
Ryanair will begin charging passengers who check in online the same £4/ €5 for its priority boarding service as those who check in at the airport effective June 3. It previously had been free of charge for Web check-in customers. The LCC makes 40% of its seats (80) available for priority boarding on each flight. Separately, it will launch thrice-daily Dublin-Kerry on July 22.
US FAA named Air Traffic Organization VP Vicki Cox as senior VP-NextGen and operations planning. "Given the aviation community's increasing need for faster modernization of our air traffic control system, we must implement NextGen at a quicker pace," Acting FAA Administrator Robert Sturgell said. "The FAA is putting an emphasis on near- and mid-term implementation, while the Joint Planning and Development Office continues its focus on long-term research and development and cross-agency cooperation."
Turkish Airlines plans to announce a major fleet renewal program later this year and is considering the A340-600, 777, A350 XWB and 787 for its widebody orders, CEO Temel Kotil told ATWOnline yesterday in Istanbul, where the carrier celebrated its 75th birthday.
Martinair suffered a €68.9 million ($107.2 million) loss in 2007, a steep fall from its €7 million deficit in 2006 on level revenue of €951 million, as operating loss deepened to €71 million from €5 million.
SAS Norge will pay NOK132 million ($26.3 million) in damages to Norwegian following a district court ruling in the nearly three-year-old proceeding into SAS's alleged misuse of information contained in Norwegian's Amadeus reservation system. SAS was acquitted in a 2005 criminal trial but was found to have misused confidential information ( ATWOnline, Nov. 20, 2006).
Virgin Blue and Hawaiian Airlines have cancelled maintenance work with Air New Zealand after ANZ warned that it is facing industrial action from engineers in Auckland and Christchurch. The strike by members of the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union and the Aviation and Marine Engineers Assn. is due to start June 6. While the action excludes third-party work, the two airlines decided to take their work elsewhere.
Airbus announced an order for six A350 XWB Prestiges (five -900s and one -800) from Middle Eastern company MAZ Aviation and n order for two A318 Elites and one Airbus Corporate Jetliner from Austria's Jetalliance Group.
Singapore Airlines yesterday launched daily A380 service to Tokyo Narita using the fourth aircraft that was delivered last month. The first three fly to Sydney and London Heathrow. The inaugural flight from NRT carried 420 passengers and fell on the 30th anniversary of the airport. Delivery of SIA's fifth aircraft is expected by the end of next month. SIA also recently announced that it will operate an A380 on one of its three daily flights to Beijing Aug. 2-8 to accommodate increasing travel ahead of the Olympic Games. The other two flights will continue to be operated with 777s.
