AAR tapped Terry Stinson as group VP-Structures & Systems segment. Alaska Air Group promoted Megan Lawrence to MD-government & community relations. Crane Aerospace & Electronics appointed Allan Day GM & director-Electronics Manufacturing Solutions business. El Al named Offer Gat CEO-North & Central America. FlightSafety International welcomed Lowell Faulkenberry as dir.-finance. Frontier Airlines selected Patrick Zachwieja as VP-market planning. Gulf Air chose Bjorn Naf as acting president & CEO, replacing Andre Dose. London Luton Airport named Glyn Jones MD.
The second quarter was the first reporting period since the 2002 third quarter that ended with no US legacy carriers operating under Chapter 11 protection, a notable signifier that the world's largest air transport market has finally completed its long and painful slog through restructuring. With the
Alitalia's board met yesterday to "consider the need to raise new financial resources by means of a substantial, as yet undefined, increase in capital to be carried out during the coming months in connection with the project for ceding control of the company." The airline also revealed that the new business plan the board expected to review "will foresee redundancies," although it said that number also was undefined.
Norwegian ordered 42 new 189-seat 737-800s with blended winglets worth $3.1 billion at list prices, it announced yesterday, adding that it secured purchase rights for an additional 42 of the type. The new airplanes will supplement the 11 -800s Norwegian ordered in May and will be delivered in the 2009-14 period at a rate of about 10 per year. The airline said it secured US Export-Import Bank financing of 85% of the purchase price and has entered into hedging agreements to cover "a large part" of the dollar/kronor exposure related to the acquisition.
Delta Air Lines COO Jim Whitehurst announced his resignation late Tuesday, having been passed over for the CEO position awarded to Richard Anderson and the role of president that was given to CFO Edward Bastian ( ATWOnline, Aug. 22).
Touting its persistence in bringing the low-cost model to Southeast Asia, its success in securing governmental support for more open competition and dedicated airport terminals and a brand that "is the most recognizable ASEAN airline," AirAsia yesterday reported net earnings of MYR498.1 million ($142.1 million) for the fiscal year ended June 30, more than double the MYR201.7 million earned in the prior 12 months.
Tiger Airways chose the V2500 for its recently ordered A320s. The order for engines for the 50 A320s plus V2500Select aftermarket agreements is worth S$1.3 billion. Tiger ordered 30 A320s and took options on 20 at the Paris Air Show in June. The aircraft will underpin its aggressive expansion into the Australian domestic market from November and the Singapore-India market from October.
Aviation Capital Group completed a private debt offering of $270 million of senior unsecured notes to institutional investors. Merrill Lynch & Co. and Calyon Securities were the joint lead placement agents and HSH N Financial Securities LLC was the co-agent for the offering. Proceeds will be used to refinance existing secured debt and pre-fund future aircraft purchases.
Cebu Pacific is now the leading domestic airline in the Philippines in terms of passengers carried, according to new data released by the country's Civil Aeronautics Board. It carried 2.26 million passengers from January to June compared to Philippine Airlines' 1.98 million. It also attained an 84% load factor, up 12% on last year, compared to 80% and 72% for its nearest competitors. While the domestic market jumped 24% in the first half, Cebu's domestic passenger count leaped 72%.
Aer Lingus said it had an underlying profit of €6.8 million in the first six months of 2007, a 58% decline from €16.3 million in the year-ago period. Under International Financial Reporting Standards that the carrier adopted in conjunction with last year's IPO, however, first-half 2006 income totaled €3.6 million. It noted that current-period results include an exceptional charge of €7.8 million related to Ryanair's unsuccessful takeover bid.
China Eastern Airlines posted a CNY384 million ($50.8 million) net loss in the first half under international accounting standards, narrowed from a CNY1.71 billion deficit in the year-ago semester, on a 12.3% year-over-year lift in operating revenue to CNY19.04 billion. Based on domestic accounting standards, CEA reported a net profit of CNY58.2 million. Like its competitors, it cited the rapid growth of the Chinese economy and the "continuous appreciation of the yuan" as key to its improved performance, but said fluctuating fuel prices affected the result.
Air China and Air Macau parent Air China Ltd. earned net income of CNY1.57 billion ($207.4 million) in the first half under international accounting standards, up 242.6% from the year-ago semester profit on a 17.2% lift in operating revenue to CNY23.35 billion. CA explained that its earlier projected year-over-year increase of 2000% was calculated based on the old domestic accounting standard ( ATWOnline, Aug. 3).
TAM placed an order for four additional 777-300ERs, taking its commitment to the type to eight. Its first aircraft is scheduled for delivery in June 2008. Boeing said the order pushed all-time sales of the 777 past 1,000.
Skyservice Airlines, a Canadian charter carrier that also offers MRO and other support services, announced it will sell a "majority" of its charter business to private equity firm Gibralt Capital Corp. of Vancouver. No financial details were disclosed. "Our plan is to leverage our profitable base of operations, not only in the charter business but also in aviation services and maintenance," Skyservice Chairman and CEO Russ Payson said. The airline said senior management will continue in their roles and "no changes to. .
American Airlines Chairman and CEO Gerard Arpey yesterday suggested that voluntary schedule reductions by airlines could be a way to reduce delays and congestion at New York JFK, one of the US's most delay-prone airports this year.
Citing "the sluggishness experienced by the aviation industry in the 2nd quarter" and a "downturn in demand due to the weather and particularly noticeable in April," Air Berlin yesterday reported a €12.1 million ($16.5 million) profit that fell 59.9% from net earnings of €30.1 million in the 2006 June quarter.
Australia's Regional Express Holdings, which flies as Rex, announced a net profit of A$23.6m ($19.4 million) for the fiscal year ended June 30, an increase of 50.4% from the previous year's A$15.7 million. Revenue was up 29% to A$225 million and passenger numbers rose 18% to 1.4 million. Expenditures grew 21% to A$177.7 million with the major cost increase in fuel, which jumped 18.6% to A$32.5 million.
Republic Airways will replace 16 70-seat E-170s operated on behalf of Delta Air Lines with 76-seat E-175s in the second half of 2008 and early 2009 under terms of a newly amended service agreement, the Associated Press reported yesterday. Also, Republic will add 10 70-seat 170s to its agreement with United Airlines. In addition to DL and UA, it operates under service agreements with American Airlines, Continental Airlines, US Airways and Frontier Airlines. Separately, parent Republic Airways Holdings announced a year-long stock buyback program worth up to $100 million.
Aeroflot, Snecma Services and Russian MRO provider BAP3-400 signed an MOU to look into creation of a joint venture for CFM56 MRO in Russia next year, SU announced. SU plans to be operating 56 A320 family aircraft by 2010 and said that "intensive growth" of CFM56 use in Russia "is happening not only in Aeroflot but also in other air companies." Separately, SU said it issued "more than" 100,000 e-tickets in the six months since it started transitioning to the platform ( ATWOnline, March 23).
Air New Zealand concluded a year full of highlights by reporting its best result in a decade, a NZ$214 million ($154.7 million) net profit in the fiscal year ended June 30 that represented a 123% increase over the prior year's NZ$96 million in earnings.
First two CRJ200s painted in the red, gold and white livery of Kunpeng Airlines are heading for China, Mesa Air Group CEO Jonathan Ornstein confirmed yesterday to ATWOnline. He said he expects the joint venture with Shenzhen Airlines to launch domestic service on Sept. 16. Kunpeng will be based in Xi'an ( ATWOnline, April 11). Under terms of an agreement that was announced in December, Shenzhen holds a 51% stake in Kunpeng with MAG holding the remainder.
Ryanair announced an agreement with Brussels South Charleroi Airport and said it will release seats for sale on flights from Nov. 12. The LCC suspended bookings at CRL last week, citing outstanding issues related to a June wildcat strike by security employees that forced a suspension in operations ( ATWOnline, Aug. 23). It said the deal "addressed all concerns" and cited an accord between the Belgian Ministry of Transport and public service unions that guarantees there will be 48-hr.
Cyprus Airways reported an €11.7 million ($16 million) loss in the first six months of 2007, narrowed from a deficit of €40 million in the year-ago period that included the results of charter subsidiary Eurocypria Airlines, which was sold to the Cypriot government last year ( ATWOnline, July 12, 2006). Revenue fell 15% year-over-year to €126.5 million but rose 12.3% if Eurocypria's contribution is excluded from the comparison figure. Expenses declined 21.6% to €135.9 million.
