TAP Portugal narrowed its first-half loss to €30 million ($41.1 million) from €52 million in the first half of 2006 on an 11.4% year-over-year increase in revenue to €806 million. The airline said that while it considers a full-year net earnings target of €37.9 million to be a "great challenge," its board "is standing by its determination to do everything" to reach it.
ABX Air reported second-quarter net income of $4.5 million, down 30.8% from $6.5 million in the year-ago period, but touted a rise in non-DHL-related revenue as evidence of its overall strength. The cargo airline attributed the loss to a deferred noncash $2.8 million tax expense and said excluding taxes it earned $7.3 million, a 13% lift in pre-tax earnings. The Wilmington, Ohio-based DHL subservice carrier's revenue decreased 7.3% to $281.3 million as revenue from DHL operations declined 12.2%.
With costs growing at twice the rate of revenue, TAM reported a second-quarter net loss of BRL28.6 million ($15 million), reversed from a BRL97.1 million profit in the year-ago quarter. The carrier noted that costs and claims related to the July 17 A320 crash at Sao Paulo Congonhas ( ATWOnline, Aug. 7), which occurred after the June reporting period ended, are unknown as it does "not have sufficient information" on the cause and potential damages.
Air Moorea DHC-6-300 Twin Otter crashed Friday on initial climb from Moorea Temae Airport, where it departed for a 10-min. flight to Tahiti. Thirteen of 19 passengers onboard and the lone pilot were killed, the Flight Safety Foundation's Aviation Safety Network said in a preliminary report. The remaining six passengers had not been found, although some reports indicated that there were 16 confirmed fatalities. The carrier, which is affiliated with Air Tahiti, operates 20 roundtrip daily shuttles between Tahiti and Moorea.
Reporting as a standalone company following ACE Aviation Holdings' spinoffs of its various subsidiaries including Jazz, Air Canada--formerly Air Canada Services--reported a C$155 million ($147.3 million) profit in the second quarter, up 2% from the C$152 million ACS posted in the year-ago period.
Austrian Airlines Group CCO Josef Burger will resign effective Sept. 30 after six years in the role, the company announced. CEO Alfred Oetsch assumed Burger's duties last week on an interim basis. Burger cited "irreconcilable and different opinions concerning the way of cooperation within the Management Board" for his decision.
Fresh from his trip to the US for the launch of Virgin America, Richard Branson was in Kuala Lumpur Friday to announce that Virgin Group purchased a 20% share of Malaysia's FlyAsianExpress, which will operate low-cost, long-haul flights as AirAsia X.
Northwest Airlines flew 7.28 billion consolidated RPMs in July, down 0.5% from the year-ago month, as domestic traffic fell 3.9% and international rose 4.2%. Capacity inched up 0.1% to 8.3 billion ASMs on a 4.4% domestic decline and a 7.2% international lift. Consolidated load factor fell 0.4 point to 87.7%. Domestic rose 0.5 point to 88.1% and international dropped 2.6 points to 88.7%. Frontier Airlines flew 1 billion RPMs in July, up 18.5% on the year-ago month, as capacity increased 14.1% to 1.14 billion ASMs. Load factor climbed 3.3 points to 88.5%.
Vanuatu government will sell a minority stake in flag carrier Air Vanuatu, with World Bank Group member IFC advising. Air Vanuatu operates to Sydney, Auckland, Brisbane, Nadi and Noumea in addition to a number of domestic destinations, IFC said. According to the Ascend CASE database, the carrier operates one 737-300, one ATR 42 and two Twin Otters. It has a 737-800 and three Y-12s on order.
Significant one-time gains helped boost Air France KLM's fiscal first quarter profit to €415 million ($571.4 million), up 70.1% on the €244 million earned in the three months ended June 30, 2006. The company said it was "on track" to reach its full-year "objectives" of an increase in operating income and a return on capital employed of 7%.
Finnair is "heading in the right direction," according to CEO Jukka Hienonen, as the carrier yesterday reported a second-quarter profit of €25.8 million ($35.5 million) that compares to €0.4 million in earnings during the year-ago period. It continues to expect a full-year operating result (EBIT excluding capital gains and changes in the fair value of derivatives) of more than €70 million. It reported an €11.2 million profit on a similar basis last year. "Unit costs have clearly decreased due to efficiency measures. .
Connecticut-based SkyWorks Capital has teamed with Cathay Pacific Airways parent Swire Pacific and Air China to create SkyWorks Capital Asia Ltd. The new Hong-Kong based joint venture, ownership of which is evenly divided between SkyWorks, Swire and Air China Development Corp. (Hong Kong), will give the aerospace and aviation advisory firm a presence in the booming Asia/Pacific market to complement its major role in the US, SkyWorks MD and COO Steven Gaal told ATWOnline.
Pinnacle Airlines board authorized a share repurchase program worth up to $30 million in outstanding common stock, two-third of which is contingent upon the "completion of certain financings," the company said. It reacquired more than 1.6 million shares in a similar $30 million repurchase last month.
Qantas announced the Leigh Clifford, the recently retired CEO of UK and Australia-based mining company Rio Tinto, will replace Margaret Jackson as chairman when she retires in November ( ATWOnline, May 22). "I am personally delighted to be passing the mantle of Qantas chairman to someone of Leigh's caliber and look forward to working closely with Leigh to ensure a smooth transition on my retirement," Jackson said. Clifford was at RT for 37 years and became CEO in 2000.
SkyWest Airlines and Atlantic Southeast Airlines parent SkyWest Inc. reported second quarter net income of $40.6 million, a modest 3.4% increase over earnings of $39.3 million in the year-ago period. Operating revenue climbed 8.2% to $855 million while operating expenses were up 9.3% to $766.2 million, dropping operating income 0.9% to $88.9 million. Key factors in the result were a 14.5% year-over-year increase in capacity to 5.8 billion ASMs offset by a 5.7% decline in yield to 18.2 cents, plus increased fuel cost reimbursements from major partners, the company said.
Brazil's ongoing ATC problems and costs associated with recently acquired Varig sunk Gol to a second quarter net loss of BRL35.4 million ($18.3 million), reversed from a profit of BRL73.4 million in the year-ago quarter.
Aer Lingus's decision to open a base in Belfast and transfer its Shannon-London Heathrow service to Northern Ireland met with predictable opposition in the western part of the Republic as well as from Ryanair, which holds 25% of the flag carrier and has appealed to Prime Minister Bertie Ahern to maintain the status quo.
The addition of Dragonair accounts into Cathay Pacific's books, along with higher yields and robust demand, helped the Hong Kong-based airline group lift its profit attributed to shareholders for the six months ended June 30 by 54.7% to HK$2.58 billion ($329.57 million) from HK$1.67 billion in the year-ago semester.
After keeping a decidedly low profile during Virgin America's contentious US Dept. of Transportation certification process, Virgin Group Chairman Richard Branson was front-and-center yesterday for the carrier's launch, calling the US airline industry "abysmal" and promising better service aboard the startup's A319s/A320s than passengers can get on competing domestic flights.
Lufthansa will use the introduction of the A380, which is scheduled to join the fleet in time for the summer 2009 schedule, as an opportunity to launch an all-new first class product across its long-haul fleet.
Barco, in cooperation with NCS Communications Engineering, Singapore, received operational acceptance by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore for the arrival management system at Changi. According to Barco, the AMS features "automatic en-route holding advice generation in order to avoid congestion in the approach area. This unique feature, which has never been put into operation before, lowers the operating costs of the airlines by enabling economically optimal high-level holding instead of low-altitude delay absorption methods."
ExpressJet Holdings posted a second-quarter loss of $26.4 million, reversing a $23.3 million profit during the same period a year ago, while revenue fell 5.8% to $395.2 million as the company launched its branded flying operation. The new entity, which launched on April 2, contributed $28.2 million in revenue. It operates 42 dedicated aircraft to 24 cities in the Western, Central and Southeastern US. By quarter's end it had flown 200.3 million RPMs with a 39.3% load factor.
SunExpress, a joint venture between Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines that operates bases in Antalya and Izmir, reported a 36% year-over-year increase in passengers to 1.3 million in the first half of 2007. It expects to surpass the 3 million mark this year (compared to 2.3 million in 2006). It operates a fleet of 14 737-800s and 757-200s. JetBlue Airways flew 2.5 billion RPMs in July, up 13.4% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 9.5% to 2.87 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 3 points to 86.9%.
