AirTran Holdings announced that independent inspectors for Midwest Air Group confirmed that shareholders representing 65% of the company's shares elected three AirTran nominees to the Midwest board at last week's election ( ATWOnline, June 15) and that AirTran will meet with the newly constituted Midwest board on July 16 regarding its bid to buy the Milwaukee-based airline.
FedEx Corp. concluded its fiscal year ended May 31 with a net profit of $2.02 billion, up 12% from the $1.81 billion earned in the prior 12 months, a result it credited to "strong" volume growth at its FedEx Ground segment and "continued" revenue growth for FedEx Express International Priority products.
Chinese airlines posted a collective profit in May, although the exact figure has yet to be released, according to a monthly report from CAAC. The industry's operating revenue rose 10.9% from the year-ago month to CNY21.08 billion ($2.76 billion) against a 2.6% lift in expenses to CNY19.94 billion. Local industry analysts credited a drop in domestic oil prices and the "strong Chinese domestic air transport market" for the improved performance. It was reported that Chinese Oil Co. implemented a cost reduction of CNY90 per ton from April 1, which followed drops of CNY180 on Jan.
KLM Engineering & Maintenance Executive VP Peter Somers told ATWOnline at the Paris Air Show that Air France Industries and KLM M&E intend to increase their collective profile among the world's largest MRO providers and narrow the gap with Lufthansa Technik through both the addition of new capabilities and acquisitions. "Several of KLM M&E's present customers and/or KLM alliance partners [such as Northwest Airlines and Kenya Airways] have ordered the Dreamliner and they have approached us to see if can support them.
Northwest Airlines confirmed to ATWOnline at the Paris Air Show that it has been in serious discussions with Bombardier for more than two years to become the launch customer for the CSeries aircraft. NWA VP-Finance and Fleet Planning Dan McDonald said the company is "looking at this formally as an evaluation program at Northwest." The airline could order up to 60 of the 110/130-seat CSeries, which would replace DC-9-30/-40/-50 aircraft. "Internally, we want to be in a position at the end of the year where we have a specific plan for a launch," McDonald said.
Alaska Airlines announced the promotion of Angela Ursino to MD-talent strategy and organizational development, Dean DuVall to MD-procurement for Alaska Air Group, Arnie Stapnes to MD-IT customer service and infrastructure (succeeding DuVall) and Herman Wacker to associate general counsel and MD-labor and employment law.
JetBlue Airways yesterday released second-quarter guidance that featured a lift in its estimated pre-tax margin to 4%-6% from the 3%-5% forecast when it unveiled its first-quarter results two months ago ( ATWOnline, April 25). Full-year pre-tax margin still is expected to be 1%-3%, a figure reduced from 2%-4% following a $22 million first-quarter loss. Operating margin in the current quarter is expected to be 9%-11%, with full-year coming in at 5%-7%.
AirAsiaX, which committed to the A330-300 yesterday at the Paris Air Show, is preparing for a September launch and positioning itself as the planet's lowest-cost long-haul carrier.
Flybe is looking to differentiate itself from airlines offering only a carbon offset program with a new "ecolabel" system that grades the environmental impact of each flight based on emissions, noise level and fuel use. The ratings will be available to each passenger on every Flybe flight. The UK-based LCC said it believes customers can be swayed to travel with eco-friendly companies. Newer aircraft like the Q400 or E-195 receive marks in the A/B range while older BAe 146s, which will be replaced next year, receive a D, Flybe CCO Mike Rutter said.
TAM converted purchase rights for four 777-300ERs into firm orders. It announced the initial order for four firm aircraft and four purchase rights last fall ( ATWOnline, Nov. 2, 2006). TAM said its share of the international market among Brazilian carriers last month was 72.4% and it intends to grow "by increasing flights to countries where it already operates in Latin America, the US and Europe as well as launching other potential destinations to attract leisure and business passengers."
Alaska Airlines flew 1.58 billion RPMs in May, a 5.7% increase from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 6.2% to 2.05 billion ASMs and load factor fell 0.4 point to 77.1%. ATA Airlines flew 350.6 million RPMs in May, a rise of 9.6% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 5.7% to 397.3 million ASMs, raising load factor 12.3 points to 88.2%. SkyWest Airlines and Atlantic Southeast Airlines flew a combined 1.57 billion RPMs in May, up 15% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 13.5% to 1.94 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 1 point to 80.6%.
Air Berlin acknowledged yesterday that police and Federal Financial Supervisory Authority officials searched the offices and homes of six individuals accused of insider training, including CEO Joachim Hunold and Chairman Johannes Zurnieden.
United Airlines said this week in a filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission that second-quarter nonfuel unit cost may rise as much as 0.5% year-over-year from its second-quarter 2006 nonfuel CASM of 7.70 cents. Mainline passenger RASM for the current quarter is expected to increase 2.75%-3.25% over the year-ago period's 12.03 cents. Consolidated PRASM should rise 2%-3%. UA said that "yields continue to be strong internationally, but under pressure domestically as industry capacity grows and domestic industry revenue slows."
Italian government, reportedly concerned that neither of the consortia led by Aeroflot and Air One is in position to mount a successful bid for struggling flag carrier Alitalia, invited US private equity firm MatlinPatterson Global Advisors back into the competition, according to a statement from the national treasury cited by numerous press reports from Rome.
Competition for passengers in western China intensified dramatically in recent days as China Southern Airlines launched its new Chongqing Airlines over the weekend, while HNA Group subsidiary Lucky Air began operating its Chongqing-based West China Airlines last week ( ATWOnline, June 1).
Macquarie Airports yesterday announced the sale of its 44.7% stake in Aeroporti di Roma to the Gemina investment firm for €1.24 billion ($1.66 billion), nearly triple the €480 million it paid for the share in March 2003. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval. "We have been actively seeking to resolve the situation at AdR for some time.
Dutch government's proposed €25 tax on tickets for passengers departing the Netherlands drew fire from the Assn. of European Airlines. The levy is designed to bring in €350 million per year in addition to "reducing the impact of aviation on climate change," AEA said. However, said Secretary General Ulrich Schulte-Strathaus, "If the entire Dutch aviation sector were to close down, the impact on global CO2 emissions would be so small you could hardly measure it. But that is not what will happen.
US Dept. of Transportation issued a ruling largely in favor of the 28 airlines (seven domestic and 21 foreign) who complained in February about a variety of security, rental and terminal fees imposed by Los Angeles World Airports ( ATWOnline, April 16).
TAP Portugal is negotiating with Airbus regarding its order for 15 A350s, President and CEO Fernando Pinto told ATWOnline at the Paris Air Show. The Portuguese carrier was one of the first to commit to the aircraft when it placed an order for 10 plus five options in November 2005 ( ATWOnline, Nov. 22, 2005). Deliveries were scheduled to begin in 2013. "The 'old' version worked for us," Pinto revealed. "The XWB is a very different aircraft. We have to review if it fits in our fleet.
Austrian Airlines flew 1.59 billion RPKs in May, down 16.2% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 19.7% to 2.2 billion ASKs and load factor rose 3.1 points to 72.4%. Aeroflot flew 1.98 billion RPKs in May, up 12.7% from the year-ago month. Load factor was 67.5%. Copa Airlines flew 373.1 million RPMs in May, up 20.6% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 18.3% to 495.1 million ASMs, lifting load factor 1.4 points to 75.4%.
Continental Airlines and future SkyTeam partner China Southern Airlines yesterday unveiled a "strategic partnership" under which the carriers will offer loyalty program and lounge reciprocity and "extensive codesharing." Frequent-flier programs will be linked in September, with lounge access to become available when CZ joins SkyTeam later this year. From November, CO will place its code on CZ flights connecting to the US carrier's daily Newark-Beijing service as well as CZ's Guangzhou-Los Angeles service. China Southern will place its code on CO flights from LAX.
Grupo Marsans President Gonzalo Pascual confirmed to ATWOnline that his company is talking with SAS Group about the possible acquisition of Spanair ( ATWOnline, June 15). "It could be a good combination," Pascual said at the Paris Air Show. "Most of our activity is long-haul--Europe to South America--or within Latin America, whereas Spanair flies to domestic, European and North African destinations."
Finnair increased Helsinki-St. Petersburg frequencies to 20-times-weekly thanks to the award of three additional flights covered by a codeshare agreement with Rossiya. It also flies daily to Moscow Sheremetyevo in cooperation with Aeroflot. Finnair CEO Jukka Hienonen recently told ATWOnline that there are 13 Russian cities with more than 1 million people that Finnair would like to serve if it can secure permission. "Of course we can't fly to all of them, and it still isn't easy for us to get more traffic rights into Russia," he said.
US Airways Group flew 5.57 billion RPMs in May, up 0.1% from the year-ago month on a 1.6% fall in domestic and a 15.4% increase in transatlantic traffic. Consolidated capacity dropped 1.8% to 6.83 billion ASMs and load factor was up 1.6 points to 81.5%. Ryanair transported 4.1 million passengers in May, up 17% from the year-ago month. Load factor fell 2 points to 80%.
