Malaysia Airlines said it will gain annual incremental revenue of MYR70-MYR100 million ($22-$31.4 million) thanks to an "enhanced" hub-and-spoke network that now includes 25 airline partners and affords customers the opportunity "to connect to most destinations worldwide." MD and CEO Idris Jala said, "We are now driving this harder, ensuring that we can extract the maximum value from our network." MAS last week announced a codeshare agreement with China Southern Airlines ( ATWOnline, March 24) and revealed that s
Aloha Airlines, which declared bankruptcy last week, said it received US Bankruptcy Court approval to continue operating and that it is looking for a possible buyer. "We are grateful to the US Bankruptcy Court for enabling us to move ahead and continue all operations while Aloha seeks additional investors and new opportunities," President and CEO David Banmiller said.
Ukraine International Airlines said it will add up to 30 new aircraft in the next 6-7 years, starting with four winglet-equipped 737-800s leased from Aviation Capital Group scheduled to arrive next year (two) and in early 2010 (two). Aircraft will be powered by CFM 56-7B26s. "This initial order represents the start of the rollout of our fleet renewal and expansion strategy," UIA President Yuri Miroshnikov said. "In the near future we plan to operate the newest and most technologically advanced fleet of aircraft in the region.
China Southern Airlines and Malaysia Airlines signed an expanded codeshare agreement in Guangzhou Friday that will include sales of tickets by each carrier for travel to regional destinations in the other country. CZ began codesharing with MAS in November on routes to Kuala Lumpur from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. "We can expand our route network from Kuala Lumpur to other cities in Malaysia as well as facilitate Malaysian passengers to reach our more than 100 Chinese domestic destinations," CZ Chairman Liu Shaoyong said at the signing ceremony.
United Airlines briefly grounded seven 747s last week when it was discovered that equipment used to test aircraft systems at a Korean Air-operated facility in Busan had not been checked as scheduled. UA said it voluntarily decided to ground the aircraft for several hours for inspections that led to "minimal disruption" of its schedule. No irregularities were found.
Iberia Handling will provide First Choice with handling services for its 4,000 flights to Spain during the summer and winter seasons. Contract covers all Spanish airports.
Aloha Airlines, which emerged from bankruptcy in February 2006, filed Chapter 11 again last week and cited actions by Mesa Air Group's go! as the main impetus behind the latest filing.
Germany and Russia reached an agreement on moving Lufthansa Cargo's regional transit hub from Astana in Kazakhstan to Krasnoyarsk in Siberia, ending a dispute that had resulted in the temporary cessation of LHC's Russian overflight rights. "Our overflight rights via Russia are now granted," LHC Chairman and CEO Carsten Spohr told ATWOnline last week in Frankfurt, adding that LHC will move to Krasnoyarsk once operational and commercial conditions are met and modernization projects at the airport are completed. He expects the earliest possible date to be sometime in 2009.
Lufthansa announced the payment of an approximately CHF269 million ($267.5 million) out-performance option to the former majority shareholders of Swiss International Air Lines. Combined with the fee LH paid for approximately 15% of Swiss's equity in 2005, the price for the complete acquisition now stands at some CHF339 million. LH said the out-performance option payout level depended on the performance of LH shares compared to those of British Airways, Air France KLM and Iberia.
Frontier Airlines reached agreement to sell two of its 49 A319s and two of its 11 A318s to VTB Leasing, which in turn will lease them to St. Petersburg-based Rossiya Airlines. SkyWorks Leasing arranged the sale. Financial terms were not disclosed. The move is part of the Denver-based carrier's effort to modernize its fleet in the face of high energy costs. President and CEO Sean Menke characterized its recent financial losses as "clearly not acceptable" and vowed to make necessary changes ( ATWOnline, Jan. 28).
Oneworld airlines serving Shanghai Pudong will begin collocating in Terminal 2 starting this week when British Airways and Qantas transfer to the new facility Wednesday. Finnair, Cathay Pacific Airways and Dragonair will follow on April 29 and American Airlines will move at an unspecified date. It currently operates out of T1, where Japan Airlines will remain.
Frontier Airlines flew 744.8 million RPMs in February, up 18.1% from the year-ago month, against a 7.5% rise in capacity to 957.6 million ASMs. Load factor rose 7 points to 77.8%. Passenger yield was down 3.9% to 9.95 cents while unit revenue rose 5.6% to 7.74 cents. Mesa Air Group flew 447.9 million RPMs in February, an 11.6% decrease from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 8.1% to 627.8 million ASMs, dropping load factor 2.8 points to 71.4%.
Kale Consultants was contracted by Finnair Cargo to provide airmail cargo revenue accounting services including scans, document processing and invoice production. Work will take place at Kale's MPS center in Mumbai.
SAS Group airlines flew 2.34 billion RPKs in February, a 14.4% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 13.5% to 3.5 billion ASKs and load factor lifted 0.5 point to 66.8%. SAS Scandinavian Airlines flew 2.03 billion RPKs, up 13.6%, against a 12.2% increase in ASKs to 2.95 billion that boosted load factor 0.9 point to 68.9%. WestJet flew 1.06 billion RPMs in February, up 19% on the year-ago month, against an 18.2% increase in capacity to 1.28 billion ASMs. Load factor rose 0.5 point to 82.8%.
Emirates said that the "first authorized mobile phone call made from a commercial flight" occurred yesterday aboard one of its A340-300s flying at 30,000 ft. en route from Dubai to Casablanca, marking the launch of its $27 million program to equip its fleet with the AeroMobile system that will allow passengers to use their own cell phones in flight.
US Dept. of Transportation and European Commission announced a "joint research project" to determine the impact of airline alliances on competition and the potential impact of transatlantic open skies. The bodies will interview airlines, travel agents, analysts and consumer groups in addition to performing data analysis. A report will be published in mid-2009.
Cirrus Airlines Dornier 328 overran the runway at Mannheim City Airport and crashed into an earthen barrier, causing significant damage to the left wing and engine. None of the 24 passengers or three crew was injured. Flight was en route from Berlin Tempelhof.
Air France KLM confirmed that its restructuring of Alitalia will include approximately 1,600 job cuts, fleet downsizing and the transfer of some 2,800 AZ Servizi employees to AZ Fly with the remaining AZS staff retained for up to two consecutive periods of four years. State severance schemes will be implemented for the employees who lose their jobs.
Qantas plans to allow domestic customers to use e-mail and SMS functions on their mobile phones and PDAs beginning later this year. The decision follows a trial onboard a 767-300 that ran from April 2007 to January ( ATWOnline, Aug. 29, 2007). The tecnology will be installed on "a number" of domestic 767-300s and A330-200s. "The evaluation of this new technology was a great success," Executive GM John Borghetti said. Qantas worked with AeroMobile on the project.
Air Greenland reported pre-tax earnings of DKK73.2 million ($15.4 million) in 2007, a result it said was "considerably better than anticipated" but that represented a 2.4% decrease from the DKK75 million profit earned in 2006. It cited a "high level" of charter activity and an increase in domestic passengers as plusses but said it suffered low load factors on routes to and from Copenhagen and Baltimore.
BOC Aviation announced a sale/leaseback deal with Air Canada covering two new 777-300ERs scheduled for delivery this month and next. Lease deals are for 12 years each. BOCA also announced the delivery of the first of seven new 737-800s to Jet Airways. A second will arrive at the end of this month with the remaining five scheduled for delivery in 2010 and 2011.
Private Kuwaiti carrier Jazeera Airways reported a KWD2.3 million ($8.6 million) profit in 2007, level with the $8.7 million profit earned in 2006, its first full operational year ( ATWOnline, April 17, 2007). Revenue climbed 61.2% to KWD34.7 million, but the carrier did not report costs or cite a specific reason that the increased turnover did not boost the bottom line. Jazeera launched a second hub in Dubai last year and transported 1.2 million passengers during the 12-month period, doubling 2006 totals.
FedEx posted a 6% drop in net income for its fiscal third quarter ended Feb. 29 to $393 million compared to $420 million in the year-ago period and warned that rising fuel prices and "a weak US economy" likely portend "limited earnings growth" for the current three-month period and its next fiscal year starting June 1.
United Airlines reported in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing yesterday that first-quarter mainline PRASM is expected to increase 9%-10% year-over-year while consolidated unit revenues will rise 8.5%-9.5%. In addition, "solid" PRASM performance is expected in the second quarter. First-quarter mainline traffic is expected to drop 2.5%-3% from the year-ago quarter against unchanged capacity while consolidated RPMs will decline 2.8%-3.3% on a 0.1% drop in capacity. Mainline CASM is expected to increase 15.2%-15.5% year-over-year, or 3%-3.5% excluding fuel and special items.
Air France KLM said it has secured the approval of the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance for its bid for Alitalia, but the road ahead may be difficult as a majority of trade unions, and the future government, still must sign off on the deal, AF KLM chief Jean-Cyril Spinetta said yesterday in Rome ( ATWOnline, March18). "The deal is at risk. But I still have hope," he said, according to widespread press reports.
