SkyWest Airlines and Atlantic Southeast Airlines flew 1.44 billion RPMs in November, up 10.7% from the year-ago month. Capacity increased 12.3% to 1.9 billion ASMs and load factor dropped 1.1 points to 75.6%. Midwest Air Group flew 380.7 million RPMs in November, up 14.2% from the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 21.1% to 545.7 million ASMs and load factor fell 4.2 points to 69.8%. Yield rose an estimated 4% to 15.51 cents and passenger unit revenue fell an estimated 2% to 10.82 cents.
Singapore Airlines' new A380 has performed with 100% reliability since the carrier placed it in operation about a month ago, CEO Chew Choong Seng told ATWOnline during the Star Alliance event in Beijing.
Alitalia board is scheduled to meet today to discuss bids by Air France KLM, Air One/AP Holding and a consortium led by an Italian attorney ( ATWOnline, Dec. 11). The company said that "at the end of the . . . meeting, a press release will be issued announcing the decisions taken." AF KLM Chairman Jean-Cyril Spinetta promised yesterday in Milan that his company's bid does not include cuts at the loss-making flag carrier.
Frontier Airlines yesterday celebrated the "birth" of its new regional subsidiary, Lynx Aviation, after months of delays. The first flight took place Dec. 7 from Denver to Billings aboard one of Lynx's 10 Q400s. "We can move into markets with less competition and have more opportunity to feed connecting traffic through our hub, all with a very fuel efficient aircraft that burns 30% less fuel than a comparably sized regional jet," Frontier President and CEO Sean Menke said.
UK House of Lords Science and Technology Committee issued a report calling on the government to tax "premium economy" seats on long-haul flights at the same £40 ($82) rate as economy seats rather than, as is current practice, at the £80 rate it charges for first class seats. The committee argued that "premium economy was intended to represent a small extra charge to guarantee extra legroom for those who required it. .
Jordanian government yesterday announced the "successful completion" of an IPO of 71% of flag carrier Royal Jordanian at JOD3.08 ($4.32) per offer share ( ATWOnline, Dec. 5). With 59.9 million shares being sold, the market capitalization of the carrier is JOD260 million. Total proceeds came to JOD164.5 million. The shares are expected to begin trading on Dec. 17.
China Southern Airlines announced the launch of a new telephone payment system that will allow customers to book their e-tickets with a CZ representative rather than directly entering their credit card information. CZ flew 6.79 billion RPKs in November, up 18.6% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 10.5% to 8.89 billion ASKs, lifting load factor 5.2 points to 76.4%.
China Airlines said yesterday that its board approved the signing of a letter of intent with Airbus to purchase 14 A350-900s plus six options valued at $4.2 billion if all options are exercised.
Star Alliance will decide before year end which Indian carrier it intends to invite into the partnership, CEO Jaan Albrecht told ATWOnline yesterday in Shanghai on the eve of the official joining ceremony of Shanghai Airlines and Air China.
ILFC announced the following aircraft lease deals: Jet Airways for one new 737-800 powered by CFM56-7B24s, delivered in December 2008 under a 10-year lease, and Jet subsidiary JetLite for one 737-700 powered by CFM56-7B24s, delivered next month under a seven-year lease; Air Canada for one new 777-300ER powered by GE90-115Bs, delivered in April 2009 under a 10-year lease; Air Berlin for three new 787-8s, delivered in May 2011 under 12-year leases; Air Europa for two 767-300ERs powered by CF6-80C2B7Fs under a lease extended from early next year to spring 2013. Also, TAM for one A320-20
JetBlue Airways Flight 641 left New York JFK yesterday morning for San Francisco featuring the airline's new free Wi-Fi service onboard. Dubbed BetaBlue, the service allows passengers to access Yahoo! Mail (sans attachments) and Messenger from their laptops and personal e-mail and text messages from two models of BlackBerry PDAs ( ATWOnline, Dec. 10). The aircraft returned to JFK last night and will continue to fly mostly on JetBlue's transcontinental network.
Lufthansa will launch five-times-weekly Frankfurt-Nanjing service March 31 and thrice-weekly Munich-Shenyang service via Seoul June 8, bringing the number of Chinese destinations served to five. Routes will be operated with 221-seat A340-300s. LH flew 9.38 billion RPKs in November, up 6.7% on the year-ago month. Capacity rose 5% to 12.37 billion ASKs, lifting load factor 1.2 points to 75.8%.
Copa Airlines flew 419.9 million RPMs in November, up 14.4% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 16.1% to 535.7 million ASMs and load factor fell 1.1 points to 78.4%.
Jet Airways exercised options for five A330-200s, according to a statement cited by widespread press reports. Delivery is scheduled from October 2009 through first-quarter 2011. The airline placed an order for 10 of the type plus 10 options at the 2005 Paris Air Show ( ATWOnline, Oct. 26, 2005).
Frontier Airlines said it expects a pre-tax loss of $0.58-$0.68 per share excluding special items in the third fiscal quarter ending Dec. 31. It did not offer a comparison to the year-ago quarter, when it reported a net loss of $14.4 million. It also said it planned to reduce year-over-year mainline capacity growth for the fiscal fourth quarter to 8.6% from the originally scheduled 13.7%. Frontier flew 788.8 million RPMs in November, up 22.5% from the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 14.1% to 1.01 billion ASMs and load factor rose 5.3 points to 78.1%.
Berjaya Air of Malaysia placed an order for four ATR 72-500s worth $74 million, ATR announced, firming an MOU signed at the Paris Air Show. The 72-seat aircraft will be delivered in 2009-10 and replace 48-seat Dash 7s.
Aircraft lessors were active yesterday as Babcock & Brown Aircraft Management placed an order with Boeing for 20 737-800s valued at $1.5 billion and CIT Aerospace signed contracts with Ryanair for the purchase of 15 737-800s.
Gol and Varig parent Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes yesterday reduced its full-year profit outlook once again while offering a preliminary indication of next year's performance.
Air France KLM flew 16.09 billion RPKs in November, up 3.5% on the year-ago month, against a 3.7% climb in capacity to 20.53 billion ASKs. Load factor fell 0.1 point to 78.4%. TAM flew 1.9 billion domestic RPKs in November, up 15.5% on the year-ago month, against a 9% rise in capacity to 2.63 billion ASKs that lifted load factor 4.1 points to 72.1%. International RPKs climbed 58.4% to 960 million while capacity grew 65% to 1.41 billion ASKs. Load factor fell 2.9 points to 68%.
United Airlines parent UAL Corp. approved a special distribution of $2.15 per share to holders of its common stock, or approximately $250 million, scheduled for Jan. 23. It also said it has paid down $500 million of the term loan under its existing credit agreement ( ATWOnline, Nov. 28).
Sinotrans Air Transportation Development Co. and Korean Air will expand on their cargo agreement with construction of a new freight station in Tianjin. The joint venture will launch with $14.9 million in capital, of which Sinotrans Air contributed $3 million for a 20% stake while Korean invested $7 million for a controlling 47% stake. Other investors are Air Korea, Hanjin Group and Dongliqu Economic Investment Co. The station will be developed in two phases.
Air France KLM's plan to concentrate Alitalia's operations at Rome Fiumicino appear to have won the backing of AZ Chairman Maurizio Prato, who told Corriere della Sera over the weekend that the Franco-Dutch bid "is based on Alitalia's own plan with integrations and changes" while rival Air One presented a bid containing "some generic statements" and AZ "still need[s] to understand how the [Air One] plan will actually work."
Kingfisher Airlines, the Indian domestic carrier with plans to become an international player in the next few years (it has 20 A350 XWBs and five A380s on firm order), reported a loss of INR5.77 billion ($146.2 million) in the fiscal year ended March 31.
