Malev Hungarian Airlines announced that CEO Janos Gonci has left the post "by mutual agreement" and will be replaced by former British Airways executive and Air Astana CEO Lloyd Paxton. Gonci remains a member of the Malev board, the airline said. Paxton joined BA in 1960 and held a wide variety of positions over 35 years at the airline before moving to Kazakhstan. Malev credited Gonci with facilitating its recent privatization and oneworld membership and "maintaining the corporation's liquidity."
Cathay Pacific Airways and Dragonair flew 6.67 billion RPKs in June, up 1.4% from the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 1.5% to 8.23 billion ASKs and load factor slipped 0.1 point to 81%. TAM flew 1.79 billion domestic RPKs in June, up 15.2% from the year-ago month. Domestic capacity rose 24.4% to 2.47 billion ASKs and load factor fell 5.8 points to 72.6%. International RPKs grew 66.5% to 905 million against an 80.3% climb in ASKs to 1.3 billion, dropping load factor 5.8 points to 69.4%.
Air China will take delivery of 23 A320s that were part of the government's purchase of 150 aircraft concluded last fall ( ATWOnline, Oct. 27, 2006), according to widespread press reports from China. CA will take the aircraft, worth approximately $1.41 billion at list price, between January 2009 and December 2012, according to a company statement. Its capacity will rise 5.9% with the new aircraft.
Aeroflot announced a deal with Rosneft, a Russian oil company, under which the carrier will purchase "petroleum derivatives and oil chemistry products," transport Rosneft employees and exchange infrastructural assets, technical expertise and marketing, among other elements. The parties also will cooperate on establishing storage and fueling facilities at domestic airports. Rosneft posted a $3.5 billion profit in 2006, according to SU. Separately, SU said it appointed Natalya Goncharova to direct the company's "interaction with the investment community."
Mexicana Airlines announced the elevation of CFO Manuel Borja to CEO replacing Emilio Romano, who held the position since March 2004. Borja, who will take over July 16, held a similar position at hotel operator Grupo Posadas, which acquired Mexicana from state-controlled holding company Cintra in late 2005 ( ATW, May 2007).
Northwest Airlines said it is selling nine of its 65 A319s as part of an effort to right-size its fleet. The carrier said the deals were negotiated during its Chapter 11 restructuring and now are nearing closing. Buyers and purchase prices were not disclosed. NWA's A319s are configured with 16 business-class and 108 economy seats. It also has 73 148-seat A320s.
Swissport International appointed Per Utnegaard president and CEO of Swissport Group. He replaces Santiago Olivares, who recently was named CEO of Ferrovial Servicios.
Lufthansa yesterday signed an MOU with Moscow Domodedovo operator East Line Group to transfer its 61 weekly flights to the Russian capital to DME from Sheremetyevo beginning with the summer 2008 schedule.
AiRUnion is planning to apply for IOSA certification once the merger of the five constituent carriers is complete, a source close to the airline told ATWOnline in Moscow. That is expected to occur in November. The companies won government approval two months ago ( ATWOnline, May 4). None of the five airlines--KrasAir, Domodedovo Airlines, Sibaviatrans, Samara Airlines and Omskavia--is an IATA member.
The board of China Southern Airlines, which also is the parent of Xiamen Airlines, yesterday approved the purchase of 20 A320 family aircraft for CZ and 25 737-800s for Xiamen. The two orders will cost a combined CNY23.5 billion ($3.09 billion), according to a statement released yesterday. China Southern and Xiamen will sign contracts with Airbus and Boeing separately. CZ noted it expects to take delivery of A320s from March 2009 to August 2010 while Xiamen will introduce the 737s between July 2011 and November 2013.
L'Avion is speeding up its expansion, citing "better than forecasted" results for the first six months of operation. The Paris Orly-based all-business-class carrier said it will add a second 90-seat 757-200 at the end of October and a second daily frequency on its ORY-Newark service. It reported a 78% June load factor.
Virgin Blue filed an application with the US Dept. of Transportation to operate 10 weekly Australia-US flights beginning in November 2008, which would put it in direct competition with rival Qantas on lucrative transpacific routes. The Australian carrier applied for the traffic rights under the name "Virgin Blue International Airlines," a subsidiary of the Virgin Blue group of companies, but said it will choose a new name for its future transpacific operations prior to launch. It also is seeking an Australian operating certificate for VBIA, which is expected to be granted.
Sequa Corp., which manufactures, repairs and remanufactures engine blades, vanes and other engine components, agreed to be acquired by Carlyle Group in a transaction valued at $2.7 billion.
Bmi Group is buying five A330s and five A321s to support its "strategy of developing new mid-haul and long-haul routes from London Heathrow," the carrier announced yesterday. The five A330s are worth approximately $500 million, bmi said, and will join three already in service with the carrier. First delivery is scheduled for next spring. The A321s, valued at $250 million, will feature on a short-/medium-haul network boosted by the February acquisition of British Mediterranean. No engine choice was announced.
Bristol International Airport announced it is switching to SITA's AirportConnect CUTE Open IT platform, including self-service check-in kiosks, to handle predicted growth from 6 million to 9 million passengers.
US Airways Group said passenger RASM "has gotten progressively better during the second quarter" and June figures were "up slightly" over the year-ago month. "We see an encouraging revenue environment moving into the third quarter due, in part, to stronger year-over-year bookings and improving yield trends," President Scott Kirby said. The group flew 5.89 billion consolidated RPMs in June, up 0.4% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 1.4% to 6.91 billion ASMs and load factor rose 1.6 points to 85.3%, the highest for any month in the company's history.
Lufthansa flew 10.57 billion RPKs in June, up 7.6% on the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 4.9% to 13.22 billion ASKs and load factor rose 2 points to 80%. Royal Jordanian transported 204,000 passengers in June, a 14% increase on the year-ago month. Load factor rose 4.8 points to 72.2%. LAN Airlines flew 1.78 billion RPKs in June, a 29.7% increase from the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 22.5% to 2.45 billion ASKs and load factor rose 4 points to 72.6%.
Dubai International Capital said it purchased a 3.12% stake in Airbus parent EADS through its Global Strategic Equities Fund. Reuters reported that the stake is worth more than $830 million and makes the fund EADS' fifth-largest shareholder. DIC, which is wholly owned by the Dubai government, said in a statement that it is confident in the eventual success of Airbus's "comprehensive restructuring program."
Rolls-Royce announced that ILFC chose the Trent 1000 to power 40 of the 74 787s it has an order ( ATWOnline, June 20). The deal is worth $1.3 billion at list prices and supersedes a previous contract covering 10 aircraft that was announced last summer. Rolls said the order represents the largest single purchase it has received from the lessor and that it now has orders and options for more than 500 Trent 1000s from 15 customers.
Northwest Airlines flew 6.96 billion consolidated RPMs in June, down 0.7% from the year-ago month, as domestic traffic fell 2.1% and international rose 1.2%. Capacity was up 0.3% on a 2.7% domestic decline and 5.2% international lift. Load factor dropped 1 point to 88% as domestic rose 0.5 point to 87.9% and international declined 3.5 points to 89.6%. SAS Group airlines flew 3.99 billion RPKs in June, up 6.6% from the year-ago month, against a 6.7% rise in capacity to 5.22 billion ASKs. Load factor slipped 0.1 point to 76.4%.
Air Berlin yesterday said the order for 25 787s placed during the weekend's festivities in Seattle ( ATWOnline, July 9) included options and purchase rights for a further 25, making it the largest Dreamliner order from a European airline.
Touting the success of last year's €400 million ($544.6 million) IPO, Aer Lingus said it remains on track for "mid-teen operating profit growth" for full-year 2007. Operating profit in 2006 was €76 million, reduced from €81.4 million the year before.
