Southwest Airlines reached agreement last week with the City of Chicago that Mayor Richard Daley's office said is "a very big first step" toward its planned privatization of Midway Airport. US legislation enacted in 1996 created a pilot program for five airport privatizations, but under the law a city needs the approval of 65% of an airport's airline tenants in order to use proceeds from a privatization for nonaviation-related purposes, which has been a historical stumbling block.
British Airways flew 9.63 billion RPKs in October, up 2.2% from the year-ago month, against a 1.3% increase in ASKs to 12.68 billion. Load factor rose 0.6 point to 75.9%.
ABX Air posted third-quarter net income of $2.4 million, down 63.4% from a net profit of $6.6 million in the year-ago quarter, and said it has agreed to arbitration to resolve its dispute with DHL over reimbursement of expenses related to its contract flying for the express delivery giant.
Copa Airlines and AeroRepublica parent Copa Holdings reported net earnings of $46.8 million in the third quarter, a 25.7% increase over the $37.2 million posted in the year-ago period. The result was boosted, however, by an $8 million pre-tax gain related to insurance proceeds stemming from the July runway overrun that destroyed an AeroRepublica E-190 in Santa Marta. Company revenue during the quarter climbed 14.7% year-over-year to $264.6 million, but operating income rose just 3.3% to $46.7 million from $45.2 million in the third quarter of 2006.
Philippine Airlines suffered an $11.8 million loss in its fiscal second quarter ended Sept. 30, widened from a $6.2 million deficit in the year-ago period. PAL said the increase was due principally to higher maintenance and fuel expenses. Revenue rose 13% to $354.1 million as yields climbed, it said. Fuel accounted for $108.2 million of the $365.9 million in expenses. Despite the result, PAL reached the halfway point of its fiscal year a record $22.7 million in the black compared to a surplus of $10.9 million in the year-ago semester.
Lufthansa Flight Training will place a new A320 Level B simulator in Berlin. The 5000 Series simulator manufactured by CAE was ordered last spring and will be operational from March. It is LHT Berlin's ninth simulator.
Despite falling passenger traffic revenue and continuing labor unrest, Alitalia managed to narrow its third-quarter deficit. Its pre-tax loss of €57.6 million ($84.3 million) was an improvement over the €66.4 million suffered in the year-ago period, while its operating loss narrowed to €19.1 million from €42 million in the third quarter of 2006.
Spatial Composite Solutions of Dubai won an $8.8 million contract from Emirates to design and install 13 cabin service trainers for assorted Airbus and Boeing aircraft, including the A380.
UK Office of Fair Trading is seeking comments on easyJet'acquisition of GB Airways ( ATWOnline, Oct. 26). The LCC announced last month that it agreed to acquire the British Airways franchise partner, excluding its London Heathrow slots, from Bland Group for £103.5 million ($214.4 million) in cash.
Air France Industries was contracted by Nouvelair to provide CFM56-5A/5B engine support for its fleet of A320/A321 aircraft. Contract gives access to AFI's engine and component pools.
Lufthansa added 350 flight attendants in the first nine months of this year at its Munich base, 25% more than in 2006. LH now employs 2,700 cabin staff at MUC. Next year it will add three long-haul aircraft to the base.
Skybus Airlines finalized an agreement with BOC Aviation providing pre- and post-delivery financing for 13 new A319s worth more than $750 million at list prices. Aircraft will be delivered in 2009-10. The parties reached a similar deal last spring covering four aircraft. Skybus currently operates seven A319s and will take delivery of 67 over the next five years.
Lufthansa flew 10.48 billion RPKs in October, up 5.7% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 3.1% to 13.46 billion ASKs and load factor climbed 1.9 points to 77.9%. Iberia flew 4.8 billion RPKs in October, a 3% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity grew 1% to 5.7 billion ASKs, lifting load factor 1.6 points to 84.2%.
China Southern Airlines became the first mainland Chinese carrier to gain full membership in a global airline alliance yesterday as it officially became the 11th member of SkyTeam.
Airbus said it received firm orders from 10 customers for 163 aircraft worth more than $28 billion at list prices at the recently completed Dubai Air Show. Emirates' order for 70 A350 XWBs and 11 A380s was the most valuable single order in the manufacturer's history ( ATWOnline, Nov. 12).
Iberia's sale is looking more probable following its confirmation yesterday that it received a takeover approach from a consortium led by private equity group Gala Capital. In March, a consortium led by US investment fund TPG that included British Airways (which holds a 10% stake in IB) made an indicative offer of €3.60 ($5.28) per share ( ATWOnline, July 13).
China Eastern Airlines expects to improve its financial and operational performance greatly on international routes through its planned cooperation with Singapore Airlines, according to CEA Board Secretary Luo Zhiping. "Currently we [lose] between CNY1 million ($134.000)-CNY2 million in one flight from Shanghai to New York," Luo said. "And our average load factor of business class/first class is 30%-40% in international routes while this figure is more than 90% [for] SIA, so we hope to raise our figure to 70%-80% in partnership with SIA."
TAM and United Airlines launched their new codeshare agreement yesterday, enabling both carriers' customers to earn and redeem frequent-flier miles/points on the partner. "By combining the two networks, TAM customers may now purchase tickets on United Airlines operated flights between Brazil and the United States. . .[and also] connect to several destinations in the United States," UA said. "United Airlines will offer service on flights operated by TAM from Miami and New York [JFK] to the cities of Sao Paulo and Manaus, enabling passengers to connect to several points in Brazil."
Adria Airways, a regional airline based in Ljubljana, placed a firm order yesterday for two CRJ900s and one CRJ1000 collectively valued at $122.7 million. Adria currently operates seven CRJ200s and two CRJ900s.
Delta Air Lines acknowledged yesterday, after it was revealed that a shareholder is urging it to merge with United Airlines, that its board has established a "special committee. . .to review and analyze strategic options. . . including potential consolidation transactions."
Bmi launched a reciprocal codeshare agreement with EgyptAir on flights between London Heathrow and Cairo, effectively doubling the number of weekly nonstop services available to 14. The agreement follows on from the launch by bmi on Nov. 4 of a daily LHR-Cairo service and the formal invitation of EgyptAir into Star Alliance ( ATWOnline, Oct. 18). Separately, bmi will launch thrice-weekly LHR-Dammam flights early next year aboard A330s, bringing to three the number of destinations served in Saudi Arabia.
IATA said worldwide premium traffic growth slowed to 2.6% in September from 5.3% in August. "There is much volatility and distortion in the data at present but the [premium traffic] growth trend remains positive," IATA said. "Excluding structurally weak within-Europe markets, premium traffic grew 6.8% in September. . .Strong premium revenues have been key to protecting profitability from high fuel costs."
Dutch Transport and Water Management Inspectorate levied a €30,000 ($43,740) penalty on TAP Portugal and a €15,000 fine on Pegasus Airlines for repeated abuse of the legally set special noise regime during the night and early morning period at Amsterdam Schiphol. Compliance with the relevant environmental standards at AMS has been tightened since July following an agreement between Airport Coordination Netherlands, the Dutch slot coordinator, and the Inspectorate of the Ministry of Transport and Public Works.
Etihad Airways and Virgin Blue announced a comprehensive interline deal that will provide passengers connectivity to 22 Australian cities and from Brisbane and Sydney to Abu Dhabi and beyond to Etihad's 45 international destinations. Deal is effective immediately. Etihad launched daily flights to Sydney in March (becoming 11-times-weekly in March 2008) and thrice-weekly service to Brisbane in September.
