TUI said that Monteray Enterprises, which is wholly owned by shipping magnate John Fredriksen, acquired an 11.7% stake in the company with the purchase of 29.5 million shares. Fredriksen now is the largest shareholder in the travel company.
US FAA named Air Force Reserve Brig. Gen. Robert Tarter VP-safety services for the Air Traffic Organization. He also was a pilot for Delta Air Lines. Swiss International Air Lines elevated Bernd Bauer to head of sales and marketing-Europe. He succeeds Alexander Arafa, who become head of cabin crew last week.
Driven by strong domestic demand and yuan appreciation, China Southern Airlines increased its full-year earnings nearly tenfold in 2007, reporting a CNY1.871 billion ($267.1 million) profit compared to CNY188 million the previous year.
Eos Airlines said it agreed to a term sheet outlining terms on which the all-business-class carrier will secure an additional $50 million in capital from an unidentified current investor. Transaction is expected to close May 1. "When we closed on our last round of financing, we were clear that we would need to raise additional capital. Our success, in the face of this extremely challenging economic and credit environment, shows that investors continue to be enthusiastic about our business model," President and CEO Jack Williams said.
Pratt & Whitney Canada will open a 49,987-sq.-m. flight test operations center at Montreal Mirabel. Facility will feature two bays for test aircraft and development engines and is expected to employ more than 75, including test engineers and specialized technicians. "Establishing this single, state-of-the-art facility will improve our competitiveness and support flight testing for the complete range of Pratt & Whitney engines, from turboprops to turbofans up to 90,000 lb. of thrust," Senior VP-Service Centers & Operations Benoit Brossoit said.
Aeroflot signed a cooperation agreement with MIAT Mongolian Airlines that will begin with an interline agreement and by October include codeshare flights between Moscow Sheremetyevo and Ulan Bator, a special prorate agreement, luggage check-through and interline e-ticketing. Loyalty program linkup and cooperation on freight and promotion will come later. SU flew 2.13 billion RPKs in March, up 14.4% on the year-ago month, as passenger numbers rose 19.7% to 723,700. Load factor was 68.8%.
Analysts agree that the proposed merger between Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines could lead to a consolidation of hubs and elimination of overlapping routes, but it is uncertain how this would affect regional airline partners that operate under contract with the carriers.
Oasis Hong Kong Airlines liquidator KPMG said Friday that the deadline to find a new buyer or investor had passed despite "substantive negotiations with several interested parties" and that there now was "no alternative but to reduce costs substantially." Jobs of all pilots, cabin crew and office staff were terminated, with a "small number" kept on to assist the liquidators, KPMG announced. Reuters reported that about 700 lost their jobs. Oasis ceased operations on April 9 ( ATWOnline, April 10).
China Eastern Airlines said it will "take the lesson seriously" as it apologized for the March 31-April 1 flight returns that resulted in CAAC sanctions last week ( ATWOnline, April 18). "We would like to express our deep regret for any negative impact and inconvenience caused by this incident," CEA said in a statement. It admitted that the incident, in which 21 flights returned to Kunming shortly after takeoff, exposed management problems at its Yunnan Branch Co.
Cargolux Airlines International reported a consolidated net loss of $47.1 million compared to a profit of $82.6 million in 2006 as it decided to provision its 2007 accounts with a $155 million charge to cover potential exposure to the antitrust proceedings initiated by the European Commission in February 2006.
Bombardier Aerospace named former automotive executive Guy Hachey president and COO succeeding Pierre Beaudoin, who will become president and CEO of Bombardier Inc. on June 4. Beaudoin's promotion was announced last fall ( ATWOnline, Nov. 29, 2007). Hachey will take over on May 12. In addition, President-New Commercial Aircraft Program Aircraft Services Gary Scott, who led the CSeries program, will become president of the new Bombardier Commercial Aircraft unit that will combine its Regional and NCA programs.
A plunge in first-quarter profit to $34 million from the $93 million earned in the first three months of 2006 revealed both the strength of Southwest Airlines' business model and the weakness of the environment in which it now operates, as even the US's most consistently profitable airline is struggling with soaring fuel costs.
Lufthansa will strengthen the independent hub system it initiated in October 2006 at Frankfurt and Munich, where it installed managers responsible for their own fleet, employees and operations ( ATWOnline, Oct. 16, 2006). "We realized economical and operating synergies [at FRA and MUC]. For example, since we split the fleet at each hub, aircraft efficiency has increased by 5%," Executive VP Karl Ulrich Garnadt told ATWOnline.
Continental Airlines reported a first-quarter net loss of $80 million, reversed from a $22 million profit in the year-ago period, and confirmed yesterday that it has redeemed Northwest Airlines' "golden share" that prevented CO from entering into merger agreements.
CAAC yesterday announced it will transfer rights to routes operated by China Eastern Airlines in Yunnan Province to other carriers and impose a fine of CNY1.5 million in response to a March 31-April 1 incident in which pilots returned outbound flights to Kunming ( ATWOnline, April 8). CAAC's investigation concluded that the "disgraceful incident" involving 21 flights largely was the fault of disgruntled CEA pilots.
Sterling Airlines managed to reduce its full-year net loss drastically to DKK34 million ($7.2 million) in 2007, narrowed from the DKK166 million deficit it posted in the prior year. Revenue decreased 0.8% to DKK3.89 million as average fare fell 5.2% to DKK805. Ancillary revenue per passenger, however, increased 55.4% to DKK101.
Midwest Airlines will eliminate positions for 109 employees, including 35 pilots who will be furloughed, and reduce flights by 2.5% owing to soaring fuel costs, it announced this week. "The actions. . .will enable us to maximize revenues, reduce our cost structure, provide sufficient cash and help us weather the storm," CEO Tim Hoeksema said.
US airline executives this week expressed alarm at the consistently high price of fuel, warning that no relief is in sight. "We're not expecting fuel prices to decline," Delta Air Lines President and CFO Edward Bastian said, explaining that DL's proposed merger with Northwest Airlines was driven in part by soaring energy costs. "When we thought about how we would cope with the higher price of fuel, both of us came to the conclusion that we needed greater scale," he said.
AirTran Airways flew 1.71 billion RPMs in March, up 15.8% on the year-ago month. Capacity rose 12.9% to 2.15 billion ASMs and load factor increased 1.9 points to 79.6%. Finnair said March unit revenue fell by nearly 3% year-over-year as traffic rose 15% to 2.01 billion RPKs. Capacity climbed 18.2% to 2.63 billion ASKs, dropping load factor 2.2 points to 76.4%. Aer Lingus flew 1.42 billion RPKs in March, up 22.1% from the year-ago month, against a 26.5% increase in ASKs to 1.88 billion. Load factor slipped 2.8 points to 75.3%.
Hewa Bora Airways DC-9 crash Tuesday remained under investigation as the confirmed death toll reached 40, according to the BBC ( ATWOnline, April 16). Most of the dead likely were on the ground, according to reports, as the aircraft was unable to lift off the shortened runway at Goma International and crashed through a wall into nearby shops and houses.
Chinese airlines suffered a collective drop in growth in the first quarter owing to a sharp slowdown in international growth caused by depreciation of the US dollar. According to CAAC statistics released yesterday, Chinese airlines carried 45.7 million passengers and transported 983,000 tonnes of cargo in the quarter, up 11% and 12.4% year-over-year respectively.
Japan Airlines agreed to pay a $110 million fine as part of a plea agreement with the US Dept. of Justice related to its role in the fixing of international cargo rates. Qantas, British Airways and Korean Air already had pled guilty and agreed to penalties in a long-running investigation by US and European authorities that has targeted other carriers as well ( ATWOnline, Jan. 3).
EADS CEO Louis Gallois, in perhaps his starkest language yet regarding its and Airbus's fiscal plight, referenced Greek tragedy to describe the impact on aerospace manufacturing in Europe that the rising euro/sinking dollar is having. "We are at levels which are becoming unbearable," he told reporters in Paris yesterday. "We cannot stay under this Damocles sword, which is starting to fall." He reiterated that each 10 cent rise in the euro compared to the dollar costs Airbus €1 billion ($1.59 billion) as it builds aircraft in euro costs and sells them in dollars.
Airstream International Group arranged the sale and leaseback of two F70s and a related spare Rolls-Royce Tay 620-15 engine. Aircraft are operated by Malev Hungarian Airlines. Aircraft and spare engine were purchased by Gladiator Leasing.
