SkyWest Inc., parent of SkyWest Airlines and Atlantic Southeast Airlines, reported net income of $159.2 million for 2007, a 9.2% increase over the $145.8 million earned the previous year. Revenue rose 8.3% to $3.37 billion and expenses climbed 9.2% to $3.03 billion. Operating income was up 1.6% to $344.5 million from $339.2 million in 2006.
Swiss International Air Lines and Kuoni Travel Holding will launch a comprehensive partnership under which Swiss will acquire Kuoni's leisure carrier, Edelweiss Air, while Kuoni will offer a range of hotel options on Swiss's website beginning next year. "This collaboration is a win/win situation for everyone involved," Swiss CEO Christoph Franz said. The parties agreed not to divulge financial terms, but Swiss media reported last week that Swiss will pay nearly CHF75 million ($68.2 million) for Edelweiss.
CAE reached agreement with the Indian government to become the managing partner of its flight school, Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi. It also entered into a JV with the Airport Authority of India to develop the Rajiv Gandhi National Flying Training Institute. IGRUA management activities include aircraft and runway maintenance, flying operations and air traffic control practices. JV calls for RGNFTI ownership to be shared between CAE and AAI and includes flying and maintenance activities. CAE will provide training curriculum, courseware and training methodologies.
Republic Airways Holdings continued its record of strong performance in 2007, reporting net income of $82.8 million, a 4.1% increase over the previous year's $79.5 million. ATW's Regional Airline of the Year, which operates subsidiaries Republic Airlines, Chautauqua Airlines and Shuttle America, reported a 13.1% rise in operating revenue to $1.29 billion and a 14.2% lift in expenses to $1.06 billion. Operating income climbed 8.3% to $230.3 million from $212.6 million.
Air France KLM flew 16.43 billion RPKs in January, a 2% increase on the year-ago month. Capacity rose 4.4% to 21.3 billion ASKs and load factor fell 1.8 points to 77.1%. Continental Airlines reported an estimated 9%-10% year-over-year increase in consolidated RASM in January. It flew 7.22 billion consolidated RPMs, up 2.9% on the year-ago month, against a 2.1% rise in ASMs to 9.4 billion. Load factor lifted 0.5 point to 76.8%.
Lufthansa Systems said Silverjet selected its Lido Operations Center flight planning application. Contract comprises Lido eFlightBag, Lido RouteManual, Lido FMS and Lido Takeoff Performance Analysis. Resource management requirements will be met by NetLine/Ops for operations control processes and NetLine/Crew for aspects of crew management.
Air Canada reported net income of C$429 million ($426.3 million) for 2007, significantly turned around from a net loss of C$74 million in 2006, crediting "an unrelenting focus on cost reduction" and the strength of the Canadian dollar for the strong result.
Lufthansa Technik AG is investing €50 million ($73.2 million) to extend its engine maintenance business in Hamburg. The new 15,000-sq.-m. facility will start operations early next year and should increase annual engine maintenance from 320 units to 400.
EasyJet reported revenue of £418 million ($820.1 million) in the fiscal first quarter ended Dec. 31, up 14.1% from the year-ago period, it said in a mid-semester management update released yesterday as it maintained its full-year guidance of a 20% increase in pre-tax earnings.
British Airways yesterday gave little credence to concerns that it has fallen behind major European rivals in the rush toward consolidation, insisting it must move at its own pace. Instead it confirmed an increase in its Iberia stake to 10.1% from 10% that "ensures we continue to derive tax and accounting benefits," according to CFO Keith Williams.
Ethiopian Airlines this week inaugurated a new 737NG full flight simulator from Flight Safety International. It is ET's second FFS; it has been operating a 767/757 simulator for 15 years. CEO Girma Wake said the carrier will save at least $800,000 a year by training its pilots in Addis Ababa.
SAS Group reported net income of SEK636 million ($98.6 million) for 2007, significantly lower than a SEK4.74 billion profit in 2006 that was attributable mostly to that year's sale of its 65% holding in the Rezidor Hotel Group.
Hainan Airlines will increase its 2007 net profit by more than 200% from the prior year when it earned CNY181.6 million ($25.2 million), parent HNA Group said. It credited the "rising value of [the yuan] and continuous development of [the] aviation industry" for the projected result. Hainan Airlines is set to be merged into Grand China Air ( ATWOnline, Nov. 30, 2007).
Air France KLM will have to wait until at least Feb. 20 to conclude negotiations with Alitalia following an Italian court's decision to hold a hearing that day on Air One's challenge to the exclusive discussions ( ATWOnline, Feb. 5). AZ Chairman Maurizio Prato said AF KLM had intended to begin meeting with AZ unions starting Feb. 15, according to Reuters. Doubts about the sale's progress already had risen with the recent resignation of Prime Minister and AF KLM supporter Romano Prodi.
United Airlines flew 8.73 billion system RPMs in January, a 5.3% decrease from the year-ago month. Capacity declined 3.4% to 11.41 billion ASMs, dropping load factor 1.5 points to 76.5%. British Airways flew 8.61 billion RPKs in January, down 1.6% from the year-ago month, as capacity fell 0.6% to 12.45 billion ASKs. Load factor dropped 0.7 point to 69.2%. Southwest Airlines flew 5.49 billion RPMs in January, up 5.9% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 5.3% to 8.55 billion ASMs and load factor improved 0.4 point to 64.2%.
Clickair CEO Alex Cruz declined to comment publicly on rumors that his carrier has launched merger negotiations with Vueling Airlines. Rumors of a tie-up between the two Barcelona-based LCCs are not new but gained momentum this week after Inversiones Hemisferio, Vueling's largest shareholder, claimed it was talking with various airliness including Clickair.
Finnair reported a net profit of €101.6 million ($150.5 million) for 2007, turned around from a net loss of €13.6 million in 2006, on a 9.6% lift in revenue to €2.18 billion. President and CEO Jukka Hienonen said one-time restructuring costs were "evident" in the 2006 results but changes made to the operating model that year "laid a solid foundation" for the strong profit earned in 2007. Finnair's 2007 results also were helped by the sale of Swedish subsidiary FlyNordic.
SkyEurope Airlines' new CEO said the carrier is in a "turnaround" and hopes to stem its losses and ensure financial viability. It launched out of Bratislava in February 2002 with a single Brasilia. By last September it was operating 14 737-500s and serving 44 destinations in 10 countries. It lost €24.1 million ($35.7 million) in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2007 ( ATWOnline, Dec. 3, 2007), and €57.3 million in the prior year.
Aeroflot said its net profit through the first nine months of 2007 nearly doubled to $357.3 million according to International Financial Reporting Standards, from $186.3 million in the year-ago period. Consolidated revenue climbed 31.9% year-over-year to $2.8 billion against a 21.9% rise in expenses to $2.28 billion. In a statement, Deputy DG-Finance and Planning Mikhail Poluboyarinov cited "effective control of fuel costs, favorable market conditions and profitable currency exchange rates." SU now operates a fleet of 83 aircraft to 93 destinations in 47 countries.
Blue Air, Romania's first LCC, placed an order for two 737-800s plus two purchase rights valued at $150 million at list prices, Boeing announced. The airline has a 787-800 arriving on lease later this year. "We have doubled our passenger traffic every year since starting our operations [in December 2004]," GM Gheorghe Racaru claimed. It currently operates one 737-500, two 737-400s and two 737-300s. Separately, Blue Air will launch thrice-weekly Bucharest Baneasa-Berlin Schoenefeld on March 31.
Ryanair net income for the fiscal third quarter ended Dec. 31, 2007, slipped 1.2% to €47.2 million ($69.8 million) from €47.7 million earned in the year-ago period, but the LCC maintained its forecast for a 17.5% rise in full-year earnings to €470 million for the year to March 31. Third-quarter operating profit fell 22.7% to €44.2 million compared to €57.2 million in the year-ago period. Revenue per passenger declined 4% year-over-year "in line with the decrease in average passenger fares," the airline said.
Deucalion Aviation Funds signed an LOI with Air France to acquire six 747-400 passenger aircraft for conversion and subsequent delivery in 2009 and 2010. Deucalion will convert the aircraft to full freighters at the IAI/Bedek conversion facility with the first expected to be available in September 2009. Marketing of the freighters is being undertaken by DVB Bank, which manages Deucalion.
