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%.
The Chinese commercial aviation industry appeared to post a significant turnaround in 2006 with a collective net profit of CNY2.38 billion ($311 million) compared with a CNY1.35 billion loss in 2005. However, that reversal, outlined in the recently released CAAC annual report, largely was a result of Air China's success. The Beijing carrier reported a CNY3.19 billion net last year ( ATWOnline, March 21), which helped boost the industry back toward 2004 profit levels.
AirTran Airways parent AirTran Holdings said it is forecasting a "record" profit in the second quarter despite that fact that it expects unit revenue to fall 3%-5% from the year-ago period, when it reported RASM of 10.75 cents. But nonfuel unit cost also will decline, by an estimated 5%-6% from the 6.3 cents in the second quarter of 2006 when it earned $32 million.
Italian government appointed Credit Suisse to carry out an independent evaluation of the privatization bids for Alitalia. The government put its 49.9% stake up for sale in December and short-listed three bidders: Air One owner AP Holding, the Aeroflot/Unicredito Italiano combination ( ATWOnline, June 7) and a consortium led by TPG. The latter pulled out last month ( ATWOnline, May 31). Deadline for binding offers is July 2.
American Airlines Chairman and CEO Gerard Arpey told analysts and investors last week that it would be a "mistake" to assume US carriers' "troubles are behind us" despite vastly improved earnings over the past year.
European Air Express, a German regional based in Monchengladbach, said it will shut down Sept. 30 due to tough competition from LCCs. EAE was founded in 1999. It operates five ATR 42-300s and transported 98,000 passengers last year on 144 weekly flights to seven destinations.
Terra Firma and AWAS completed their acquisition of Pegasus Aviation Finance of San Francisco, which was announced last month ( ATWOnline, May 14). The combination will create the world's third-largest aircraft lessor, AWAS said. The new company owns 223 aircraft valued at more than $5.5 billion and has an additional 101 aircraft under management and on lease to more than 120 customers. It has $2.2 billion worth of orders in place with Airbus and Boeing.
Delta Air Lines and Gol announced an interline agreement effective July 1 under which DL passengers will be able to connect through Rio de Janeiro or Sao Paulo to each of the LCC's 58 Brazilian destinations as well as eight in South America.
EasyJet announced the addition of flights to Austria and Romania, bringing its network to 22 countries. Daily London Luton-Vienna service will begin Oct. 29 and daily Milan Malpensa-Bucharest Baneasa flights will launch sometime in September. The LCC transported 3.3 million passengers in May, up 13.8% from the year-ago month. Load factor slipped 0.3 point to 83.6%.
Airbus entered the fray over aviation's environmental impact, saying yesterday that it is targeting a 50% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions and an 80% lowering of nitrogen oxide production in new aircraft by 2020 compared to those manufactured in 2000. President and CEO Louis Gallois called for an environmental summit of CEOs representing engine and airframe manufacturers. "Technology and leadership is key," he said.
Shin Corp. of Thailand said this week that it divested its remaining stake in Thai AirAsia in order to focus on its telecom business, according to press reports from Bangkok. Shin held 50% of the airline until last year, when it set up a company called Asia Aviation to control the stake following the purchase of Shin by Singapore's Temasek Holdings. Shin held 49% of that company but sold off the remaining shares to airline management for THB472 million ($14.4 million).
Air Berlin announced executive changes at its dba subsidiary. Former Lufthansa, Hapag-Lloyd and TUI executive Wolfgang Kurth will head the technology and finance departments and former Etihad Airways VP-Operations Helmut Weixler will lead flight operations. MDs Martin Gauss (operative personnel and commercial department) and Peter Wojahn (technology, finance and personnel) will leave the company.
Lufthansa and EgyptAir announced a codeshare agreement yesterday that they said will be part of a close cooperation between the two and that will boost rumors that the African carrier is being courted by Star Alliance. A source close to the tie-up confirmed that there have been discussions about EgyptAir's potential membership. Codesharing will start with the introduction of the winter schedule and will be introduced on Frankfurt-Cairo, FRA-Alexandria and Munich-CAI flights.
Cathay Pacific Airways and Dragonair flew a combined 6.35 billion RPKs in May, up 1.1% from the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 1% to 8.46 billion ASKs and load factor rose 0.1 point to 75.1%. Hawaiian Airlines flew 672.7 million RPMs in May, up 19.6% from the year-ago month, on a 19.8% lift in capacity to 776.6 million ASMs. Load factor dipped 0.2 point to 86.6%.
CAE signed contracts to design and manufacture three CAE 7000 Series full flight simulators and training devices valued at C$48 million ($44.9 million), bringing first-quarter simulator sales to 13. CAE will build a 7000 Series 747-8 Freighter FFS and a suite of Simfinity747 ground school training devices for Cargolux International Airlines, launch customer for the 747-8F. Emirates ordered a 777-300ER FFS. Hainan Airlines will receive an ERJ-145 FFS along with a suite of Simfinity training devices.
