Qantas's safety record likely will fall under further scrutiny after it announced the withdrawal of six 737-400s from service while it cross-checked maintenance records relating to modification work carried out in one of its Australian facilities.
Gol and VRG parent Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes reported a second-quarter net loss of BRL171.7 million ($106.4 million), widened from a BRL35.4 million loss in the year-ago quarter, as it consolidated Gol and VRG's flight networks during the three-month period and contended with rising fuel costs.
Yemenia Yemen Airways reached a 10-year, $90 million fleet management agreement with Pratt & Whitney Global Service Partners. Deal covers IY's three PW4000-powered A310-300s.
SpiceJet secured approximately $100 million in funding from private investor WL Ross & Co. and Dubai-based Istithmar World Capital. The Indian LCC announced last month that it preferred Ross as a partner rather than Kingfisher Airlines ( ATWOnline, July 16). Istithmar's participation boosted the capital injection from the originally announced $80 million. Ross Chairman Wilbur Ross Jr.
TAM posted second-quarter net income of BRL50.2 million ($31.1 million), reversed from a BRL28.6 million loss in the year-ago period, riding a big boost in the domestic market driven by the replacement of 15 F100s with 13 A320s and three A321s and an expanded international network.
China Eastern Airlines board approved plans to launch a business aviation service company that will provide ground handling and maintenance for private and charter flights, among other services. The new venture will be a wholly owned subsidiary and will require an investment of CNY50 million ($7.3 million). The Shanghai-based carrier noted that it has no plans to purchase any business aircraft for the time being but it did not rule out the possibility of reconfiguring some of its existing aircraft.
Ural Airlines reported a RUB90.9 million ($3.7 million) loss in the first half of 2008, narrowed from the RUB246.4 million loss suffered in the year-ago semester, Russia's AK&M reported.
Finnair remained profitable in the second quarter, reporting €13.9 million ($20.9 million) in net earnings that represented a 46.1% fall from the €25.8 million posted in the year-ago period, but warned that second-half EBIT "may be negative" as the industry faces "a market failure caused by an overcapacity in relation to demand."
Air Canada named Claude Morin, currently president and CEO of Air Canada Cargo, VP-global sales effective Sept. 1, replacing the retiring Marc Rosenberg. Senior Director Cargo Services-Americas/South Pacific Lise-Marie Turpin will be promoted on Sept. 1 to GM-Air Canada Cargo, a position that will include responsibility for all aspects of the airline's cargo activities.
Virgin Atlantic Airways is increasing its lobbying against the anticipated antitrust immunity application by British Airways and American Airlines for transatlantic operations and confirmed that founder Richard Branson wrote a letter to US presidential candidates John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.) warning that the proposed alliance would "severely damage competition. .
HNA subsidiary Grand China Express Airlines, formerly Grand Xinhua Express, plans to sell a stake to Hyundai Heavy Industries so as to improve its financial performance, an industry insider told ATWOnline last week. The Tianjin-based regional has signed a letter of intent for cooperation with Hyundai, which is conducting due diligence on the airline in order to determine the size of its investment. It is widely speculated that the Korean company will purchase a 20% stake with an investment of about CNY120 million ($17.5 million).
SITA signed a five-year, $3 million agreement with Middle East Airlines to implement and maintain its IP VPN. SITA will provide secure Internet access to MEA network users at their sites around the world and connect the Beirut headquarters to 19 global outstations through one gateway. Implementation is underway and will take up to nine months to complete.
Gol reduced its fleet plan by two leased 737-800s in 2008 and five leased -800s in 2009. Full-year 2008 capacity growth will be around 20% instead of the 25% previously forecast. The Brazilian airline's board voted to suspend quarterly dividends for the remainder of 2008, freeing "cash to fund investments and improve credit ratios."
China Eastern Airlines yesterday continued to hope that it could secure Singapore Airlines as a strategic investor even though its stake sale deal expired officially on Saturday. CEA noted in a statement that the deal, reached last September, was "automatically terminated owing to the preconditions for implementing the agreement had not been satisfied by the deadline."
Pilots from Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines voted to approve a joint contract that will take effect when the carriers' planned merger is finalized. DL CEO Richard Anderson confirmed the positive vote yesterday and called it a "historic milestone" that would facilitate the merger.
Delta Air Lines flew 12.44 billion system RPMs in July, up 0.7% from the year-ago month, against a 0.9% rise in capacity to 14.34 billion ASMs. Load factor fell 0.1 point to 86.7%. United Airlines flew 10.49 billion system RPMs in July, down 4% year-over-year. Capacity dipped 1.4% to 12.33 billion ASMs and load factor fell 2.3 points to 85%.
Tiger Airways reported a net profit of S$37.8 million ($27.3 million) for the year ended March 31, according to Reuters. The previous year the airline posted a loss of S$14.30 million. Revenue increased 56% year-over-year to $S271 million. Tiger, which launched in 2004 and also operates an Australian subsidiary based in Melbourne, said passenger numbers rose 73.7% during the fiscal first quarter ended June 30. It will base two A319s at Adelaide early next year.
US Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the Republican presidential candidate, last week called the proposed UPS takeover of DHL's North American air lift a "train wreck" and vowed to "do everything in my power to avert it," while two prominent senators raised antitrust concerns with the US Dept. of Justice.
Air Canada reported second-quarter net income of C$122 million ($116.4 million), down 21.3% from C$155 million in the year-ago period, blaming the earnings drop on a "difficult industry environment created by unrelenting high fuel prices."
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said last week that his government is in talks with a "large foreign company" about forming an alliance with Alitalia. "We are in talks with a big foreign company for an alliance on an international level, exactly the opposite of the hypothesis of the fire sale to Air France KLM, which the previous government wanted, which among other things, included 7,000 job cuts," Berlusconi said in a television interview. "We already have the industrial plan. We have the investors.
Ryanair is interested in launching a £2 billion ($3.9 billion) bid for London Stansted if the UK Competition Commission recommends a breakup of airports operator BAA, CEO Michael O'Leary told The Daily Telegraph.
SkyWest Inc., parent of SkyWest Airlines and Atlantic Southeast Airlines reported second-quarter net income of $36.4 million, a 10.3% drop from the $40.6 million posted in the same period last year. Operating revenue rose 11.2% to $950.8 million thanks largely to increased cost reimbursements from SkyWest partners. Expenses were up 17.9% to $877.8 million on rising fuel and maintenance costs. Operating profit fell 14.6% to $72.9 million from $88.8 million. Traffic declined 3.5% to 4.49 billion RPMs against a 1.5% dip in capacity to 5.72 billion ASMs.
