Air China parent China National Aviation Holding Co. submitted its formal bid to China Eastern Airlines last Friday, it announced yesterday, saying it intends to purchase 2.9 billion H shares in CEA for at least HK$5 per share and raise its stake to 26.14% from the current 12.07%.
News from Travel Technology Update: Lufthansa rocked the German travel market last week, saying it will increase fares booked through GDSs for flights departing German and Austria beginning July 1. The fares will increase by €15 for one-way flights and €30 for roundtrips. Lufthansa will continue to offer its pre-hike fares, which it has dubbed "Lufthansa Preferred Rates," after July 1 for direct sales through its Web site, call center, ticket counter and its dedicated travel agent Web site, lufthansa-agent.com.
Shanghai Airlines expects to post a loss in 2007 after reporting an CNY8.2 million ($1.1 million) profit in 2006, according to a company statement cited by Reuters. The airline said high fuel prices, slow development of new international routes and the establishment of a cargo subsidiary were the principal causes. It posted a narrowed CNY134.5 million loss in the first six months of 2007 ( ATWOnline, Sept. 3, 2007).
United Airlines parent UAL Corp. reported 2007 net income of $403 million, a result the company touted as its first full-year profit since 2000, but it did post a $53 million net loss in the fourth quarter owing to "the sharp rise in the price of fuel." UAL's 2007 result is not comparable to $22.88 billion in net income reported in 2006 thanks to extraordinary gains upon emergence from bankruptcy. Its pre-tax income for 2007 was $695 million, reversed from a pre-tax loss of $45 million in 2006 that excludes reorganization charges and benefits.
British Airways pilots will vote on strike action in a dispute over their status in the airline's new OpenSkies subsidiary, British Air Line Pilots Assn. confirmed. BALPA represents nearly all BA's 3,200 pilots and said the decision to ballot was taken after weeks of "abortive" negotiations with the airline. "This is not about money and it is not about safety," General Secretary Jim McAuslan said.
Copenhagen Airports supervisory board said it plans to invest DKK1 billion ($196.1 million) in 2008 to improve check-in facilities, gates, aircraft stands, baggage facilities and security, among others. The airports operator will add 150 employees this year.
Air India Chairman and MD Vasudevan Thulasidas said Friday that "Boeing is willing to give us the compensation" it is seeking for delayed 787 deliveries, the first concrete indication that the manufacturer will have to make penalty payments.
United Airlines parent UAL Corp. Chairman, President and CEO Glenn Tilton, who repeatedly has called consolidation a "strategic imperative" for the US industry, spoke publicly for the first time regarding the latest merger speculation, insisting Friday that UA has options even if Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines reach a combination agreement.
Intersky, an Austrian LCC, will add a fourth Dash 8-Q300 to its fleet and launch service from Friedrichshafen to Paris Charles to Gaulle (four-times-weekly) and Munster Osnabruck (five-times-weekly) on March 29. Intersky enjoyed an 11% increase in 2007 revenue to €23 million ($33.7 million) as passenger numbers climbed 9.1% to 180,000. It expects to carry 235,000 in 2008.
Hawaiian Airlines' fleet overhaul is in jeopardy because of strained relations with its pilots, the carrier said Friday in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Finnair flew 1.78 billion RPKs in December, up 18.1% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 18.3% to 2.36 billion ASKs, lowering load factor 0.6 point to 58.4%. Copa Airlines flew 450.5 million RPMs in December, up 13.1% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 15.1% to 577.9 million ASMs and load factor dropped 1.4 points to 78%. Republic Airways flew 737.6 million RPMs in December, a 32.1% rise from the year-ago month, against a 32.9% increase in ASMs to 1.06 billion. Load factor slipped 0.4 point to 69.3%.
Northwest Airlines pilots represented by the Air Line Pilots Assn. resolved last week to form a merger committee and said they are "prepared to protect Northwest pilots' careers and seniority while also taking advantage of any positive operational synergies to extract contract enhancements and long-term pilot job security." Separately, the MEC said in a notice to pilots that NWA will reduce its fleet by 27 aircraft in 2008, comprising 24 DC9s and three 747-200s.
Shanghai-based Juneyao Airlines last week sold a 25% stake to a foreign private fund for $100 million, a source at the carrier said yesterday, taking the LCC one step closer toward its goal of listing on an overseas market by early 2009.
Southwest Airlines board authorized a new share repurchase program to acquire up to $500 million of SWA common stock, equal to roughly 41 million shares. It is the sixth repurchase program authorized since January 2006, resulting in the repurchase of 116 million shares of common stock worth $1.8 billion, CEO Gary Kelly said. The company has around 735 million shares outstanding.
LOT Polish Airlines signed a contract for 12 E-175s plus two options and 10 purchase rights, the Brazilian manufacturer announced yesterday, adding that the aircraft were listed on its fourth-quarter backlog as unidentified. Firm aircraft are worth $372 million and the order could rise to $744 million if all options and purchase rights are exercised. Aircraft will seat 82 passengers. LOT will become the largest E-Jet operator in Europe once the jets are delivered, Embraer said. It was an E-Jet launch customer with the E-170 in 2004 and currently operates 10 170s and six 175s.
Lufthansa will start operating a wet-leased PrivatAir A319LR outfitted with an all-business-class cabin on a Munich-Dubai flight from June 1, creating an all-year service that will supplement LH's winter flights aboard a three-class A340-300, the carrier confirmed to ATWOnline. It sees sufficient demand to justify an all-business operation during the summer. LH currently has two PrivatAir A319LRs operating from its minihub in Dusseldorf on a daily Newark run and a five-times-weekly service to Chicago O'Hare.
UK's Air Accident Investigation Branch will be joined by the US National Transportation Safety Board and Boeing to investigate yesterday afternoon's accident at London Heathrow, where a British Airways 777-200ER landed in the grass several hundred meters short of Runway 27L near a busy perimeter road. The aircraft skidded, causing severe damage to the landing gear, both engines and the wings. Three passengers suffered minor injuries during evacuation, BA said.
Eurocontrol revealed that the number of flights in Europe surged to approximately 10 million in 2007, an all-time high and an increase of 5.3% on 2006. Average daily traffic was 27,676 flights last year compared to 26,286 in 2006. Traffic growth was strongest in Eastern Europe, with several states seeing growth near 20%, while growth in Finland, Sweden, Azores and Canary Islands was lower than the European average.
Continental Airlines reported pre-tax income of $566 million for 2007, up 53.4% over earnings of $369 million on a similar basis in 2006, but the company is resolving a "noncash tax" issue related to pilot pensions that prevented it from disclosing net income yesterday.
PrivatAir converted a 787-8 purchase right into a firm order, Boeing announced yesterday. The company now has two 787s on firm order plus one remaining purchase right. "The ever-increasing demand from charter customers for long-range, large-cabin aircraft shows no sign of abating," PrivatAir CEO Greg Thomas said.
Thai Airways plans to lease 20 A320s to replace its 737s and 14 787s to replace its A300s and A330s, according to sources at the airline. The 787 deliveries are thought to start from 2014.
Midwest Airlines announced that Skyway Airlines, which provides regional lift as Midwest Connect, will cease flying this spring, resulting in 380 layoffs, as operations are transferred to SkyWest Airlines under terms of a five-year agreement that took effect last April ( ATWOnline, April 3, 2007). The latter will use 50-seat CRJ200s as opposed to the 32-seat Fairchild-Dornier 328s used by Skyway, and frequencies will decline in Skyway markets.
