Gol yesterday detailed its fleet plan for Varig in conjunction with its first-quarter earnings release (see story above). It said the Varig fleet, which will continue to operate independently of the new parent company, will comprise 14 737-300s and two 767-300ERs at the end of the current quarter. By year end Varig will operate nine 737-300s, five 737-800s and eight 767-300ERs. The 737-300s will be phased out by 2009, when Varig is scheduled to fly eight 737-700s, nine 737-800s and 16 767-300ERs. By 2012 it will operate 14, 15 and 22 of the respective types.
Northwest Airlines announced that Chairman Gary Wilson will step down from the board when the company emerges from bankruptcy later this spring, ending an 18-year association with the airline that began when Wilson and former Co-chairman Al Checchi led an investment group that carried out a leveraged buyout of NWA in 1989. Wilson had served as sole chairman since 1997. He will be succeeded by Roy Bostock, a board member since 2005.
Aeroflot transported 604,500 passengers in March, up 23.4% from the year-ago month. Traffic grew 20.5% to 1.86 billion RPKs and load factor was 67.2%. Alitalia flew 3.04 billion RPKs in March, up 6.5% from the year-ago month. Capacity was static at 4.36 billion ASKs, lifting load factor 4.5 points to 69.8%. Mesa Air Group airlines flew 630.2 million RPMs in March, up 3.4% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 2.3% to 801.3 million ASMs and load factor climbed 0.9 point to 78.7%.
Japan Transocean Air, part of JAL Group, ordered 10 firm CFM56-3 Advanced Upgrade kits valued at approximately $15 million, plus 20 options. JTA currently operates five engines equipped with the Advanced Upgrade. CFM said the new order with the options, which began delivery in the first quarter, will enable the airline to upgrade the majority of its CFM56-3s by 2010.
Aloha Airlines is disputing Mesa Air Group Chairman and CEO Jonathan Ornstein's claim that the 10%-11% increase in go! traffic has come at Aloha's expense. "We didn't lose 10 points," Senior VP-Sales and Marketing Thom Nulty told ATWOnline. "He was certainly misinformed." Ornstein made the statement last week at an analyst conference in Mexico ( ATWOnline, April 17). Aloha and Hawaiian Airlines each are engaged in ongoing legal battles with Mesa.
Boeing Commercial Aviation Services said Air Pacific is the launch customer for its 737NG "landing gear overhaul and exchange program." The touch work will be done by members of the Boeing Service Center Repair Network. Boeing said it will allocate "a number" of 737NG landing gear shipsets to support future customers. Separately, BCAS said it signed Spirit AeroSystems, the former Boeing Wichita, to repair and overhaul nacelles for 777s and 737NGs as part of the Boeing Component Repair and Leasing Services Network Service Center program,
Japan Airlines repainted a 777-200ER in oneworld livery and began flying the aircraft this week on routes to Europe. It will unveil a 777-300 in oneworld livery for domestic routes on April 30. JAL joined the alliance this month ( ATWOnline, April 3).
International Registry of Mobile Assets, an outgrowth of the Cape Town Convention and Protocol, said it registered 18,000 objects (airframes, engines and helicopters) in its first year of existence through Feb. 28. Some 39,600 interests were registered against those objects. The Registry, which is "an essential part of the Cape Town architecture," is expected to grow as more countries ratify the Convention. To date, 16 nations have signed the treaty, which is intended to provide creditors involved in international financial transactions with greater security.
Continental Airlines reported first-quarter net income of $22 million, reversed from a net loss of $66 million in the year-ago quarter, on a 7.9% lift in revenue to $3.18 billion. Excluding special items such as the sale of its remaining investment in ExpressJet and unusual charges, CO posted a $26 million profit for the quarter, an improvement over a $46 million net loss for the prior-year period on a similar basis.
American Eagle named Dave Campbell senior VP-technical operations and Cathy Jacobs VP-people dept. Campbell was VP-base maintenance at AA's Alliance Fort Worth and Kansas City bases and Jacobs was VP-employee relations.
Sixteen years worth of profitable quarters have raised standards and expectations at Southwest Airlines, which yesterday reported a 52.5% increase in first-quarter net profit to $93 million from $61 million in the year-ago quarter but called the result "disappointing" thanks to drops in both operating and non-GAAP earnings.
Cargolux yesterday reported a 2006 net profit of $82 million, up 6.5% over the previous year, on a 5% gain in revenue to $1.5 billion. Expenses rose 8.8% to $1.4 billion, driven by a 22% hike in fuel costs to $581.5 million. The all-cargo carrier said fuel now accounts for 40% of its costs. Production measured in FTKs fell 0.4% against a 3.2% decline in capacity, while tons sold rose 1% to 651,000. Load factor improved 2.1 points to 72.4%. Separately, last month Cargolux began operating twice-weekly Luxembourg-Atlanta flights via New York JFK and Chicago O'Hare using 747-400Fs.
CIT Aerospace ordered five 737-700s valued at approximately $295 million at list price, bringing its firm 737 backlog to 10. It also has five 787s on order. It previously has taken delivery of 31 737NGs.
ANA released a revised nonconsolidated forecast for its fiscal year ended March 31 reflecting last week's ¥281.3 billion ($2.37 billion) sale of its hotel assets to a fund managed by Morgan Stanley ( ATWOnline, April 16).
PT Bhakti Investama, an Indonesian investment firm, acquired a 50% stake in Adam Air parent Adam Skyconnection Airlines, the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation reported. Price was not disclosed.
Midwest Airlines and Midwest Connect flew 403.8 million RPMs in March, up 8.1% on the year-ago month. Capacity rose 6.3% to 494.1 million ASMs and load factor increased 1.4 points to 81.7%. Spanair flew 694 million RPKs in March, a 17.3% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 9.5% to 1.04 billion ASKs, lifting load factor 4.5 points to 66.6%. Pinnacle Airlines flew 386.8 million RPMs in March, up 8.5% on the year-ago month. Capacity rose 9.2% to 508.3 million ASMs and load factor fell 0.5 point to 76.1%.
CSA Czech Airlines carried 1.1 million passengers in the first three months of 2007, up 5.2% from the year-ago quarter. More than 90% of those passengers flew CSA's scheduled services with the most popular destinations being Paris Charles de Gaulle, Moscow Sheremetyevo, Amsterdam, Madrid and Dublin. It took delivery of eight A320 family aircraft during the quarter, a ninth last week and will take its final new aircraft of 2007, an A319, this week.
Delta TechOps yesterday announced major deals with Pratt & Whitney and regional partner Mesa Air Group, plus tentative agreements with engine suppliers and parts makers. The contract with Mesa is a 12-year deal worth approximately $300 million to support Mesa's CF34s. Delta said its TechOps division now manages Mesa's entire engine fleet and will provide on-site program management at its Phoenix base. Mesa MRO Services Director Gary Appling said TechOps will furnish MRO, on-wing planning, engineering, ECTM, and reliability and engine shop planning.
SAS Scandinavian Airlines announced the launch of SAS.mobi, a version of its website available on mobile phones that offers check-in, flight status, timetables, loyalty program access and other features. The site was created by Adimo of Sweden.
Delta Air Lines will launch daily New York JFK-Tel Aviv service on March 10, 2008, aboard a 767-300ER. It began flying to Tel Aviv from Atlanta last year with 777-200ERs and said it will be the only US airline serving Israel from two US cities.
American Airlines parent AMR Corp. reported first-quarter net income of $81 million, reversed from a net loss of $92 million in the year-ago period, marking its fourth consecutive profitable quarter and its first opening quarter in the black since 2000.
Aeroflot yesterday said it posted a RUB7.9 billion ($306.3 million) profit in 2006, which would mark a 31% increase over 2005 earnings of RUB6.03 billion and was the company's second revision of its full-year performance. In late February it said it earned RUB6.98 billion ( ATWOnline, March 1) and it claimed a RUB7.3 billion profit in an April 10 statement.
Australian Communications and Media Authority yesterday approved an inflight cellular communication trial on one Qantas aircraft for up to 12 months and said it will consider "the potential for permanent regulatory arrangements for the service" once it collects and analyzes results from the evaluation program ( ATWOnline, Aug. 29, 2006). "The granting of permissions for the evaluation service is the culmination of many months of work aimed at facilitating an industry need," ACMA Chairman Chris Chapman said.
Claiming it "is assuming again the leadership in fleet modernization," Lufthansa yesterday announced a commitment for 15 CRJ900s and took over commitments for 30 Embraer regional jets from Swiss International Air Lines, now an LH subsidiary.
