JetBlue Airways will launch daily flights from New York JFK to Puerto Plata (from Jan. 10) and St. Maarten (from Jan. 17) and a daily Salt Lake City-Burbank service on Dec. 15, all aboard A320s. JetBlue flew 1.84 billion RPMs in September, up 11.8% on the year-ago month, against a 13.7% rise in ASKs to 2.57 billion that lowered load factor 1.2 points to 71.4%.
Emirates raised $239 million with the support of the US Export-Import Bank to finance two 777-200LRs delivered in August and September. The 12-year financing was arranged and funded by BNP Paribas and its leasing subsidiary Capstar Partners.
Naverus named United Airlines Senior VP-Flight Operations Steve Forte as its new COO, effective Nov. 1. Air Jamaica released a statement confirming last week's resignation of CEO Michael Conway, saying that his contract "offered the option" to resign owing to a change in the national government, which owns the carrier. The airline's new board, chaired by Shirley Williams, will meet this week. "She will be temporarily assuming a larger executive role until the new direction of the airline's management is determined," the carrier said.
Aeroflot will decide within two weeks whether to submit a second bid for Alitalia, according to press reports citing SU Deputy GD-Finance and Planning Mikhail Poluboyrarinov, who said the airline may raise up to €1 billion ($1.43 billion) to finance the acquisition. SU was named on a shortlist of potential bidders two weeks ago ( ATWOnline, Oct. 9).
Garuda Indonesia 737-400 crash at Yokyakarta that killed 21 people in March ( ATWOnline, April 9) was the result of pilot error, according to widespread press reports citing comments from National Transportation Safety Commission Chairman Tatang Kurniadi. The pilot, who reportedly had more than 15,000 hr. of -400 flight time, approached the runway at 408 kph--approximately 65% faster than normal--despite at least 15 alerts from the GPWS and advice from the copilot, Kurniadi said.
Qantas announced an order for 12 Q400s for regional subsidiary QantasLink, plus options and purchase rights for an additional 24. Firm order deliveries will begin in June 2008 and boost QantasLink's Q400 fleet to 21 aircraft. QF CEO Geoff Dixon said the order is valued at A$400 million ($356 million) and that the 72-seat aircraft are "central to QantasLink's growth strategy." The carrier will retire its 36-seat Dash 8-100s by early 2010. It is forecasting annual capacity growth of 19% during the July 2008-June 2010 period.
Dongbei Air, the new regional that Sichuan Airlines plans to launch in the first half of next year, is expected to receive CAAC approval soon. According to a CAAC statement, Sichuan will hold a 33.5% stake in the startup with an investment of CNY53.6 million ($7.1 million), while Shenyang Zhongrui Investment Co. put in CNY54.4 million for 34% stake.
LOT Polish Airlines management board last week presented a new "seven pillar" strategy for the 2008-12 period. The company plans to standardize its fleet, maintain two brands (LOT and low-cost subsidiary Centralwings), develop connections in the east (especially in Russia and Ukraine) and increase sales through the Internet by a minimum 40% in the next five years. The board also anticipates listing on the Warsaw Stock Exchange no later than 2008 and achieving a net profit of PLN200 million ($77.6 million) in 2012.
Skyservice Airlines announced that Gibralt Capital Corp. of Vancouver completed acquisition of a "majority interest" in Skyservice's charter business ( ATWOnline, Aug. 30), with no changes planned for the carrier's leadership, workforce or operations. Skyservice's business aviation operation will continue to be owned by Skyservice Investments.
Pacific Blue will bring forward the launch of its New Zealand domestic service by three days to Nov. 12, it announced Friday ( ATWOnline, Aug. 24). Tickets went on sale Saturday for flights between Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.
Continental Airlines flew 7.29 billion consolidated RPMs in September, up 5.6% from the year-ago month, against a 4.5% lift in ASKs to 9.23 billion. Load factor rose 0.8 point to 79%. Air China flew 5.94 billion RPKs in September, up 6% from the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 1.4% to 7.13 billion ASKs, lifting load factor 3.6 points to 83.3%. AirTran Airways flew 1.26 billion RPMs in September, a 32.3% increase from the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 19.3% to 1.83 billion ASMs and load factor was up 6.7 points to 68.5%.
Vueling Airlines reported a net profit of €350,000 ($498,750) for the third quarter, a sharp decrease from the €5.02 million earned in the year-ago period. "This reduction is completely driven by a fare decrease of 22% which could not be completely offset by improvement in all other fundamental magnitudes that drive the profit and loss account," the LCC said.
Allegiant Air parent Allegiant Travel Co. promoted MD-Planning Andrew Levy to CFO. Scott Sheldon was named principal accounting officer. Finnair named MD-11 fleet captain Veikko Sievanen senior VP-flight operations division. SR Technics announced that Chairman and CEO Hans Lerch will relinquish the latter title effective Jan. 1. New CEO will be Bernd Kessler, who has been president and CEO-commercial maintenance at MTU Aero Engines since 2004. He will leave the company this month.
Eos Airlines said it will acquire its seventh and eighth 757s thanks to the $50 million injection received during the summer and launch Newark-London Stansted and New York JFK-Paris (airport unidentified) service next spring and fall respectively. Eos said further details will be announced "in the coming months."
Hainan Airlines began construction of a new base at its Urumqi hub that will feature a hangar, warehouses, catering facility, flight crew and office building and a maintenance facility. First phase of construction on the 153-acre site is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2008. Hainan operates 13 routes within and from the Xinjiang region in northwest China. The carrier said it intends to operate routes to Central Asia and Eastern Europe from the airport. Separately, Hainan launched four-times-weekly Tianjin-Ningbo service aboard 737s.
ILFC is planning an imminent announcement of an order for 20 A350 XWBs valued at about $4 billion, Les Echos and Bloomberg News reported Friday. While there was no official confirmation, Airbus COO-Customers John Leahy last week said he was in talks with the lessor regarding the revamped aircraft, while Airbus North America Chairman Allan McArtor said ILFC was "very comfortable" with the redesigned aircraft and the manufacturer would be "thrilled" with an order from the lessor.
Chalk's Ocean Airways, which suffered a fatal crash of a Grumman Turbo Mallard in December 2005 ( ATWOnline, May 31), lost its operating license and has not operated since early last month, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported. Chalk's had been leasing aircraft from Big Sky Airlines but failed to secure FAA re-approval for its own aircraft or acquire new ones, the paper said, so it lost its license.
Air India Chairman V. Thulasidas said Friday that the carrier remains in negotiations with Star Alliance but has not reached a final decision to join, The Economic Times reported. "We can announce our alliance only after a formal agreement is reached," he told the paper.
The European Commission is seeking comments from interested parties on commitments proposed by SkyTeam members hoping to obtain antitrust immunity, including the ceding of slots at certain EU airports to competitors.
Middle East Airlines announced that it earned a net profit of $39 million in 2006 despite the hardships it faced when Beirut Rafik Hariri International was closed for 36 days that summer during hostilities between Lebanon and Israel. The result was down 36.5% from the $61.4 million earned in 2005. Chairman Mohammed Hout said the carrier partially offset a $32.5 million revenue decline with the leasing out of its aircraft, which netted $13.3 million. He said MEA will float a 25% stake "when the time is ripe."
Consolidation appears to be the development trend in China's airline industry, but Hainan Airlines Group President Chen Feng said that the "super carrier" idea promoted by some officials will not work. Chen was speaking yesterday after attending the Communist Party of China's national congress in Beijing. He noted that Air China, China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines and Hainan have controlled 90% of the domestic market since 2002 despite the increase in new entrants. "I don't think there is a possibility that these four bigger airlines will merge," he said.
ANA yesterday confirmed a report in The Wall Street Journal that it will take a one-time charge of ¥66 billion this fiscal year owing to a change in accounting related to aircraft and equipment depreciation, although it has not changed its full-year guidance of ¥64 billion in net earnings ( ATWOnline, Aug. 1). Qantas yesterday said it is "looking at restructuring opportunities" for Qantas Holidays, its wholesale holidays business.
Southwest Airlines reported a third-quarter profit of $162 million, more than triple than the $48 million earned in the year-ago period, even as operating income fell slightly. Special gains more than made up the difference, and CEO Gary Kelly promised that barring an economic slowdown, revenue and schedule initiatives will bear fruit in the fourth quarter.
BAE Systems Regional Aircraft announced the following deals: Blue1 signed long-term lease extensions on four RJ85s. It currently operates a fleet of nine Avros along with three MD-90s. CityFlyer, a wholly owned subsidiary of British Airways that operates a fleet of 10 RJ100s, signed a lease for two RJ85s. Spanish charter carrier Orion Air signed a long-term lease for a BAe 146-200.
