Republic Airways Holdings saw its second-quarter profit dip 6% to $19 million from $20.3 million in the year-ago quarter on a 12.7% increase in revenue to $320.3 million. Operating expenses climbed 14.7% to $265.7 million and operating income was up 3.8% to $54.5 million. Republic operates as Republic Airlines, Chautauqua Airlines and Shuttle America. During the quarter it took delivery of seven E-175s to be operated under a fixed-fee contract for US Airways and eight CRJ200s to be flown for Continental Airlines on short-term leases.
United Airlines parent UAL Corp. named Rohit Philip as VP-financial planning and analysis, Todd Arkenberg as VP-employee experience and Robert Sahadevan as VP-Mileage Plus.
Sensis Corp. announced that its Airport Surface Detection Equipment Model X system at Louisville International Airport is operational. According to Sensis, ASDE-X uses a combination of surface movement radar, transponder multilateration and ADS-B sensors "to provide controllers with an accurate picture of the location and identity of aircraft and vehicles on the airport surface." The system also features conflict detection and alerting technology.
A380 received EASA and US FAA approval to operate on runways with a width of 45 m. or more, which is the standard at most airports around the world, Airbus said. The aircraft already has visited 45 airports and the manufacturer claimed that more than 70 will be ready for the A380 by 2011.
China's LCCs, which are facing a lack of access to trunk routes, restriction on the introduction of new aircraft and pilot shortages, are experiencing mixed results in their efforts to attract the foreign investors they need to move forward with listing plans. Spring Airlines has met with success, sealing a deal with Citibank under which the latter will serve as strategic investor and financial adviser, Spring spokesperson Zhang Lei revealed ( ATWOnline, July 4).
Alitalia Chairman Berardino Libonati resigned from both his position and the board yesterday. The AZ board is scheduled to convene today in order to discuss the options facing the carrier following the government's failure to sell its stake at auction.
Qantas finalized the first of three investment installments in Vietnam's Pacific Airlines, taking an 18% stake. The entire investment for 30% will be concluded over the next two years ( ATWOnline, April 27). Jetstar Airways CEO Alan Joyce and CFO David Hall will represent Qantas Group on Pacific's six-member board, while QF and Jetstar executives will fill a number of key management roles to support the investment.
Midwest Air Group yesterday took a further step toward a possible acquisition by AirTran Holdings, which has been pursuing it for more than eight months, announcing it had appointed a committee to "commence discussions with AirTran regarding its proposal to acquire all the outstanding shares of Midwest." The company added that the committee also will "hold discussions with other strategic and financial parties that have recently expressed interest in pursuing a transaction with Midwest." The decision came a few days after the Milwaukee-based carrier reported a 44.6% drop in second-quart
Surges in passenger traffic and ancillary revenue helped lift Ryanair's first fiscal quarter profit by 20% to a record €138.9 million ($189.7 million) from the €115.7 million earned in the three months ended June 30, 2006. In addition, it raised its full-year earnings guidance to a 10% improvement from the originally forecast 5% thanks to planned aircraft utilization and capacity reductions at London Stansted.
ANA Group is continuing to realize the benefits from the sale of its hotel business, which helped boost the company's profit for the first fiscal quarter ended June 30 to a record ¥87.3 billion ($736.6 million) from the ¥7.6 billion earned in the year-ago quarter.
Swiss International Air Lines, which became wholly owned by Lufthansa on July 1, posted a net profit of CHF295 million ($244.8 million) in the first six months of 2006, nearly four times higher than the CHF76 million reported in the year-ago period.
GE Aviation said Republic Airways signed a 10-year OnPoint Solutions agreement extending maintenance and overhaul coverage to the CF34-8Es powering the 119 E-170s/-175s in service or on order. GE valued the agreement at more than $240 million.
Aeroflot flew 2.19 billion RPKs in June, up 9.3% on the year-ago month. Load factor was 72.5%. Hawaiian Airlines flew 678.5 million RPMs in June, up 17.9% from the year-ago month. Capacity climbed at the same rate to 779.7 million ASMs leaving load factor steady at 87%. Air Berlin transported 2.2 million passengers in June, up 13.9% on the year-ago month. Load factor was up 0.5 point to 80.3%.
Citing "challenging" competition on its key routes, Hawaiian Airlines parent Hawaiian Holdings reported a second-quarter net loss of $3.9 million, narrowed from $26.4 million in the year-ago quarter, on an 8.8% rise in revenue to $244.2 million.
Aviareps said it is offering passenger revenue accounting as a new service in cooperation with Tiralis Global. Separately, Aircalin extended its cooperation with Aviareps beyond Canada to include Germany.
With domestic capacity growth "starting to slow down" and revenue from its nascent international operations more than doubling, Jet Airways was able to post a INR309 million ($7.6 million) profit in its first fiscal quarter ended June 30 compared to a INR450 million deficit in the year-ago period. The Indian carrier's revenue climbed 19.8% year-over-year to INR19.83 billion, helping boost EBITDAR 8.3% to INR2.24 billion. Passengers dipped 4.6% to 2.7 million as RPKs rose 11.8% to 3.29 billion and capacity grew 17.8% to 4.76 billion ASKs. Load factor fell 3.8 points to 69.1%.
Italian government will not be able to sell its stake in Alitalia through private negotiations, Economy Minister Tomasso Padoa-Schioppa said last week in Cortina D'Ampezzo, according to widespread press reports from Italy. He argued that the courts would investigate why the government negotiated with one suitor rather than another, making the transaction impossible to complete. The government has not revealed its course of action following its failure to sell off its 49.9% stake.
Spirit Airlines said its dispatchers represented by the Transport Workers Union ratified a new labor agreement. No other details were provided. Separately, the carrier will launch daily Fort Lauderdale-Ponce flights on Nov. 1. It will be Spirit's third destination in Puerto Rico.
Midwest Air Group reported second-quarter earnings of $4.9 million, a 44.6% drop from the $8.8 million profit posted during the same period a year ago. Operating revenue rose 10% to $194.5 million, which the company attributed to a 15.8% increase in passenger traffic. "While the pricing environment was challenging, the demand for travel remained strong in the second quarter," CEO Timothy Hoeksema said.
PowerJet, the 50/50 joint venture between Snecma and NPO Saturn developing the engine for the Sukhoi Superjet, named Jean-Paul Ebanga chairman and CEO. He replaces Michel Dechelotte, who is moving to another position within Safran Group.
China Eastern Airlines created a Beijing Branch Company in order to establish itself further in the capital, where its passenger traffic has increased 15% over the past two years but its market share is just 11%. The Shanghai-based carrier noted that Beijing offers greater opportunities due to its location and next summer's Olympic Games. "We can take advantage of our Beijing Branch Company to expand our network in the Beijing-centered northern region," MD Cao Jianxiong said. Expanding in Beijing is becoming an attractive option for Chinese airlines based outside the capital.
A series of one-time charges plus the "sharp decline in traffic and passenger revenue" that President and CEO Jeff Potter said has plagued "much of the industry" during the spring contributed to a $3.5 million first fiscal quarter loss for Frontier Airlines, which posted a $4 million profit in the year-ago period.
Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air parent Alaska Air Group suffered a 16.9% decline in second-quarter profit to $46.1 million compared to the $55.5 million earned in the year-ago quarter, which Chairman and CEO Bill Ayer said represented "a solid performance in view of significantly higher fuel costs and a softer revenue environment."
Lufthansa yesterday released its full first-half and second-quarter financial performance, confirming the €992 million six-month profit announced Wednesday ( ATWOnline, July 26) and its forecast of a full-year operating profit "significantly above" €1 billion. First-half operating profit rose 83.7% to €621 million. Second-quarter profit of €438 million compared to the €183 million posted in the year-ago quarter.
