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.
Iberia confirmed Friday that it brought forward its next board meeting, originally planned for July 26, to this Thursday but did not confirm speculation that the board will discuss opening its books to a potential bid consortium including TPG Capital and British Airways ( ATWOnline, May 28). IB will open its books only to offers above €4 ($5.45) per share, Cinco Dias reported, citing shareholder sources. TPG's March approach valued IB at €3.4 billion, or €3.60 per share.
Gol said Friday that it will slow its growth owing to sluggish traffic in the Brazilian market, which has been beset by air traffic control problems ( ATWOnline, June 26). The carrier projects just 12% capacity growth in the domestic market for 2007 and 2008. As recently as March, its monthly domestic capacity increased 46.8%. While all Brazilian airlines have been hurt by ATC problems, the disruptions have hit the LCC, which counts on high aircraft utilization and fast turnarounds, especially hard.
Oman Air will begin serving Tehran and Damascus from Muscat in September and will launch its long-haul expansion in November with flights to London and Bangkok, the Arab Air Carriers Organization announced. AACO said Oman Air will be "operating its widebody aircraft" on the latter two routes.
GA Telesis announced that Aldebaran Leasing, its joint venture with EB-Erste Bank Internationale Beteiligungen, acquired two A340-200s on long-term lease to Royal Jordanian from GIE Lizad. Transaction represents GAT's first A340 acquisition and first Middle East lessee.
US Airways said last week in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission that it expects second-quarter nonfuel CASM to be higher than previously forecast, primarily due to maintenance costs related to returning eight leased aircraft throughout the year, the timing of engine MRO expenses and "additional spending to improve our operation." CASM is expected to rise in the third and fourth quarters as well due to an approximate 2% mainline and regional capacity reduction implemented through decreased utilization and "as a result of industry conditions."
Italian government again pushed back the deadline for submitting binding bids for its stake in Alitalia, this time to July 23, Reuters reported. Deadline had been set for July 12 ( ATWOnline, June 22).
AirTran Airways issued revised second-quarter guidance last week forecasting a 5%-5.5% decline in unit revenue, steeper than the 3%-5% fall predicted last month ( ATWOnline, June 18). It reported RASM of 10.75 cents in the second quarter of 2006. Nonfuel CASM is expected to fall 5.25%-5.75%, similar to last month's projection of a 5%-6% slide.
Air France KLM flew 17.75 billion RPKs in June, up 4.9% from the year-ago month, against a 4.5% lift in ASKs to 21.45 billion. Load factor was up 0.3 point to 82.7%. Delta Air Lines flew 11.67 billion system RPMs in June, up 5% from the year-ago month, on a 1.5% lift in domestic traffic and a 12.7% surge internationally. Capacity rose 3.3% to 13.59 billion ASMs as domestic fell 2.2% and international climbed 15%. System load factor gained 1.4 points to 85.9%--domestic rose 3.2 points to 87.3% and international fell 1.7 points to 83.4%.
Qantas yesterday said the level of foreign shareholding in the company has fallen to 44.5% from "just below" 50% ( ATWOnline, May 31). "Foreign shareholding is trending down and we are confident that our share register is in compliance with the Qantas Sale Act," CEO Geoff Dixon said.
CIT Aerospace yesterday announced an order for five additional 787s worth approximately $810 million at list prices. The lessor already had five 787s on order. Delivery schedule was not announced.
Okay Airways of Tianjin, as part of its accelerated preparation to launch a regional carrier, is nearing an order for 30 Xian MA60 turboprops. Negotiations with AVIC I are expected to conclude soon, Okay President Liu Jieyin announced yesterday. The airline signed an LOI at last year's Zhuhai Air Show for the aircraft, which are worth approximately CNY1.8 billion ($236.7 million).
World Air Holdings, parent of World Airways and North American Airlines, reported a net loss of $2.3 million for 2006, down from net income of $31.6 million the prior year, on a 4.9% rise in revenue to $825.7 million.
American Airlines announced the following changes to its London service: One of its two daily Dallas/Fort Worth-Gatwick flights and its daily Raleigh/Durham-LGW service, both aboard 777s, will switch to Heathrow on March 29. A new daily New York JFK-Stansted flight begins Oct. 28 aboard a 221-seat 767-300, with a second daily frequency added next spring. Separately, AA flew 12.22 billion system RPMs in June, down 3.5% from the year-ago month, as domestic traffic declined 3% and international fell 4.3%.
American Eagle Airlines flew 806 million RPMs in June, down 2.4% from June 2006, against a 2.2% fall in ASMs to 1 billion. Load factor was off 0.2 point to 80.3%. Ryanair transported 4.3 million passengers in June, up 18% from the year-ago month. Load factor dropped 2 points to 85%. AirTran Airways flew 1.63 billion RPMs in June, up 26% from the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 21.3% to 1.97 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 3.1 points to 82.9%.
Continental Airlines and Kingfisher Airlines announced a partnership under which they will offer loyalty program and lounge reciprocity effective Oct. 1. Codesharing is scheduled to begin by year end. CO operates a daily Newark-Delhi service and plans to launch daily EWR-Mumbai flights on Oct. 1.
SAS Scandinavian Airlines yesterday officially introduced its new flexible fare structure allowing business, Economy Extra and economy passengers to purchase Fully Flexible, Flexible and Fixed fares for any class on any segment. All fares are available to book immediately save Fixed Economy Extra, which will be ready by year end. "The new fixed fares allow customers to purchase business or Economy Extra class at a competitive price, if they book well in advance," SAS International CCO Lars Sandahl Sorensen said. "They can also mix classes to suit their budgets and schedules.
Continental Airlines and representatives of the Air Line Pilots Assn. this week signed a Protocol Agreement that "sets the stage for the parties to begin talks about changes to the pilots' contract," CO said. The current contract becomes amendable on Dec. 31, 2008, and ALPA requested that discussions begin earlier than the originally scheduled April 2008 date. Separately, CO estimated that June consolidated unit revenue climbed 1.5%-2.5% year-over-year and mainline RASM rose 3.5%-4.5%.
Mesa Air Group placed a firm order for 10 CRJ700 NextGen aircraft valued at approximately $334 million at list prices, Bombardier announced yesterday. Two are conversions from previously placed CRJ900 orders. They will be operated for United Airlines. Mesa also placed a conditional order for an 11th CRJ700 NG, which was unveiled last month, along with the CRJ900 and 1000 variants, by the Canadian manufacturer ( ATWOnline, June 4). Mesa currently operates 58 CRJ100s/200s, 20 CRJ700s and 38 CRJ900s.
Six weeks after trading in its stock was suspended, China Eastern Airlines appears to be moving forward with its 25% stake sale to Singapore Airlines with the submission of plans to relevant government entities.
South African Airways' restructuring program, which is aiming for revenue improvement/cost reduction of ZAR2.7 billion ($378 million) by the end of 2008, is moving ahead rapidly, CEO Khaya Ngqula told Business in Africa. He said losses in the second half of its fiscal year ended March 31 were about ZAR200 million, not as steep as some had projected and reduced from a loss of ZAR652 million in the first fiscal semester.
Southwest Airlines flew 6.83 billion RPMs in June, up 11% on the year-ago month. Capacity rose 8.7% to 8.32 billion ASMs and load factor was up 1.7 points to 82.1%. Gol flew 1.61 billion RPKs in June, up 30.6% from the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 47.3% to 2.35 billion ASKs, dropping load factor 8.7 points to 68.6%.
Spring Airlines plans a stock listing to finance the acquisition of six A320s in 2009 ( ATWOnline, June 29), President Wang Zenghua announced. The LCC also plans to reach a deal with an international investment bank as a strategic investor next year, preferring an institution over another airline as it holds fast to its "go it alone" strategy. Wang said Citibank is Spring's first choice and the parties already are in discussions. He said the carrier's biggest headache at present is a shortage of pilots.
