China Eastern Airlines plans to schedule a second shareholder conference to consider Singapore Airlines' bid for a strategic stake following the Aug. 24 conclusion of this summer's Olympic Games. CEA minority shareholders rejected SIA's purchase of a 24% stake in January ( ATWOnline, Feb. 14).
Jamaican government and International Finance Corp. signed an $820,000 grant agreement with the US Trade and Development Agency "to assist with technical services for the Air Jamaica divestment process," Jamaica's Ministry of Finance and Public Service announced. The government is targeting March 2009 as its divestment deadline. Prime Minister Bruce Golding previously said that Air Jamaica lost approximately $170 million in 2007 and has accumulated losses in excess of $1 billion overall. It carried 1.7 million passengers last year.
ExpressJet Holdings, which flies for partners Continental Airlines and Delta Air Lines as well as its own branded operation, reported a $31.3 million first-quarter loss, reversed from a $10.2 million profit in the first three months of 2007. A $13.7 million impairment charge related to investments in auction rate securities held by the company dragged on the bottom line, while revenue rose just 8.6% to $448.2 million.
Austrian Airlines Group confirmed yesterday that Saudi-Austrian investor Mohamed bin Iassa Al-Jaber wants to pull out of a deal to buy a 20% stake in the airline company worth €150 million ($231.3 million).
American Airlines flew 10.79 billion RPMs in April, down 6.6% from the year-ago month owing largely to the MD-80 flight cancellations. Capacity fell 4.3% to 13.46 billion ASMs and load factor dropped 2 points to 80.1%. American Eagle flew 681.8 million RPMs, down 7.6%, against a 3.1% drop in capacity to 963.3 million ASMs. Load factor slipped 3.4 points to 70.8%. Southwest Airlines flew 6.26 billion RPMs in April, up 5.7% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 5.3% to 8.63 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 0.3 point to 72.6%.
Malaysia Airlines is offering 1 million free domestic fares this month to promote its new Everyday Low Fares program, which MD and CEO Idris Jala said "will redefine the rules in the travel industry" if successful. MAS's effort to compete against low-fare giant AirAsia will feature nonrefundable one-way fares of MYR76 ($24) and MYR120 between East and West Malaysia excluding airport taxes and surcharges and will be available online at least 30 days prior to departure. Jala said there will be no loss in revenue, as the fares represent 30% of surplus seats that otherwise would go unsold.
SriLankan Engineering said it is conducting mandatory CFM56 modifications at its shop at Bandaranaike International for SriLankan Airlines' fleet of A340s. Work includes upgrades to strengthen the integrity of the C duct.
Aloha Airlines' cargo operation, which employs 300 and transports 85% of goods moving by air among the Hawaiian Islands aboard six 737-200Fs, reached agreement to be purchased by Seattle-based Saltchuk Resources for an undisclosed sum.
Boeing completed carbon brake testing for its 737NG and plans to submit the results to US FAA for certification during the second quarter. Brakes are manufactured by Messier-Bugatti. Production entry is slated for the third quarter. Aircraft currently in service will be offered a retrofit program.
JetBlue Airways named former British Airways Executive VP-The Americas Robin Hayes as executive VP and chief commercial officer. He will be responsible for revenue, network, sales and marketing strategy.
Korean Air is on target to begin scheduled operations of its new low-cost subsidiary Air Korea by July, VP-International Affairs and Alliances Bang Sun Oh told ATWOnline in Seoul.
Continental Airlines reported an estimated 3%-4% year-over-year increase in consolidated April RASM. It flew 7.84 billion consolidated RPMs during the month, down 0.2% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 3.4% to 9.86 billion ASMs, dropping load factor 2.9 points to 79.4%.
Alitalia Group said its net debt at the close of the first quarter was €1.35 billion ($2.1 billion), a 1.1% reduction from the figure on Feb. 29. It had €180 million in cash-in-hand and short-term financial credits.
Korean Air is eyeing opportunities to expand its market share in North America using Incheon as a gateway hub to China, GM-North America Song Bo Young told ATWOnline in Seoul. KE currently serves 23 Chinese destinations and also will promote Incheon as a gateway from the US to Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore. The proposed merger between Northwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines, which already are codeshare partners with KE through SkyTeam, will strengthen its North American market position, Song said. Last year, North American service added some $800 million to KE's bottom line.
Taiwanese carriers China Airlines and EVA Air reported first-quarter losses of TWD2.97 billion ($97.4 million) and TWD2.29 billion respectively. The airlines, which reported the results in filings with the Taiwan Stock Exchange cited by Bloomberg News, each blamed high fuel costs for the poor results.
American Airlines and US FAA turned in reports to Transportation Secretary Mary Peters Friday regarding last month's disruptive grounding of AA MD-80s, and the carrier reportedly detailed an inconsistent oversight response by FAA including discord between the agency's Washington headquarters and a Dallas area field office.
JAL Group last week issued a revised full-year forecast for the year ended March 31, 2008, saying that "trends in recent performance" led it to raise expected net earnings to ¥16 billion ($153.9 million) from the ¥7 billion projected in its most recent forecast last November. It reported a ¥16.2 billion loss in the year ended March 31, 2007.
Opposition from some quarters to potential moves by US airlines in response to the recent Delta Air Lines/Northwest Airlines merger announcement is fierce, with Virgin Atlantic Airways vowing to fight a British Airways/American Airlines/Continental Airlines transatlantic alliance and United Airlines' pilots expressing strong disapproval of management's reported merger negotiations with US Airways.
Clickair and Germanwings announced an Internet marketing partnership under which they will make select flights between Spain and Germany available on each other's websites. Effective immediately, Clickair customers will be redirected to Germanwings' site if they wish to fly to Stuttgart or Cologne Bonn from Barcelona, while Germanwings customers will have access to Clickair flights to Barcelona from Frankfurt, Berlin Tegel and Munich.
AirTran Airways parent AirTran holdings yesterday announced the initial closing of concurrent offerings of 5.5% convertible senior notes due 2015 and common stock and said the initiatives netted proceeds of approximately $140.3 million. Sale of an additional 2.3 million shares of common as part of an overallotment option is set to close today.
Alteon Training won CASA approval as MTRO under new Civil Aviation Order 100.66 aligning Australian maintenance training regulations with European regulations. Approval affects the 737NG family. The 777 and 787 are slated for approval later this year.
Gol reported a first-quarter net loss of BRL3.5 million ($2.1 million), reversed from a profit of BRL116.6 million in the year-ago period, as last year's acquisition of Varig and its subsequent integration with Gol weighed heavily and led to sinking load factors.
