Copa Holdings, parent of Copa Airlines and AeroRepublica, said it posted record net income of $134.2 million in 2006, up 61.7% from $83 million the prior year, on a 39.9% jump in revenue to $851.2 million. "We continue to see solid economic growth in the region and we continue to see solid passenger growth," CFO Victor Vial said. Fourth-quarter net income was $41.8 million, more than double the $17.7 million earned in the year-ago quarter. Full-year operating income jumped 51.8% to $166.9 million from $109.2 million in 2005.
LAN Airlines' board approved a capital increase of 22.1 million ordinary shares this week, replacing the increase of 7.5 million shares approved in January ( ATWOnline, Jan. 4). Proceeds will help finance LAN's fleet expansion, comprising five unidentified long-haul aircraft, four freighters and 15 A320 family aircraft scheduled for delivery through 2011.
Cathay Pacific Airways continued to consolidate its position in Asia last year by purchasing low-cost rival Dragonair, firming up its relationship with Air China and posting a profit attributable to shareholders of HK$4.09 billion ($523.4 million), an increase of 24% over earnings of HK$3.3 billion in 2005. The airline said it was able to limit the impact of a 29.7% increase in fuel costs with a 19.4% rise in revenue to HK$60.78 billion, fuel surcharges, a slight lift in yield and a 1.3% drop in cost per ATK excluding fuel to HK$1.53 (excluding Dragonair).
Bmi is reconfiguring and expanding its regional and medium-haul operations following its acquisition of British Airways franchise partner BMED and BA's sale of BA Connect to Flybe, which was finalized Monday. Tuesday bmi unveiled its plans for BMED, in which it acquired a 99% stake last month through a £30 million ($57.8 million) share subscription ( ATWOnline, Feb. 5). "To achieve this kind of growth without the acquisition and integration of BMED could take years to achieve," bmi CEO Nigel Turner said.
Air France KLM flew 14.41 billion RPKs in February, up 3.5% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 1.9% to 18.28 billion ASKs, lifting load factor 1.2 points to 78.9%. US Airways Group flew 4.51 billion RPMs in February, up 1.9% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 0.9% to 5.92 billion ASMs and load factor improved 0.7 point to 76.3%.
Singapore Technologies Aerospace and Boeing announced that ST Aero's ST Aviation Services Co. was selected to perform "certain passenger-to-freighter conversions" under the 767-300 Boeing Converted Freighter program, with ANA as its first customer. ANA launched the 767-300BCF program in 2005. SASCO will perform conversions on five firm aircraft with two options. The initial ANA commitment was for three firm and four options. SASCO is the second conversion center chosen by Boeing for the 767-300 after Aeronavali of Italy.
Garuda Indonesia 737-400 en route from Jakarta caught fire upon landing in Yogyakarta late yesterday. A local official told Reuters that "it happened when it overshot beyond the runway and burst into flames." There reportedly were 133 passengers and seven crew onboard. Indonesian Transport Minister Hatta Rajasa told local television that 76 people were rescued, according to Bloomberg News. Witnesses reported fatalities. An airport official told local radio that he "saw many bodies, dozens of bodies badly burnt near the exit," according to Fox News in Australia.
South African National Assembly voted last week to take direct control of South African Airways, removing the carrier from the Transnet group of companies, as a step toward eventual privatization, the South African Press Assn. reported. "It makes it possible for SAA to rely on its own balance sheet to raise funds for its operations, instead of always relying on the government," Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin said.
Emirates will lease five 777-300ERs from GECAS to bridge the gap created by the A380 delay. Delivery is scheduled for the second half of next year. EK operates 23 of the type and has firm commitments for 36, including this week's order.
Air Canada will begin taking delivery next month of eight 777s coming this year and plans to use them to launch daily Vancouver-Sydney flights on Dec. 14, the first nonstop service between Canada and Australia. Air New Zealand will codeshare. A 270-seat 777-200LR will replace the -300ER from Feb 1. AC said it suspended plans to fly to Australia via Los Angeles. It will introduce the 777 on its Toronto-London Heathrow service in April. Subsequent introductions will be on YYZ-Frankfurt and YYZ-Tokyo Narita in June, YVR-NRT in July and YYZ-Hong Kong in August. It has 18 777s on order.
ANA accelerated its fleet rationalization program ( ATWOnline, July 13, 2006) with an order for four more 777-300ERs announced yesterday and the sale of three 747-400s to Oasis Growth Income and Investments for operation by Oasis Hong Kong Airlines. The 777s are worth $1 billion at list prices. ANA operates eight 777-300ERs and the new order brings its commitment for the type to 17. It operates 23 747-400s. It sold six to Iceland's Avion Aircraft Trading last summer.
The A$11.1 billion ($8.61 billion) sale of Qantas to Airline Partners Australia took a giant stride forward yesterday when Australian Treasurer Peter Costello announced that the government has no objections to the sale ( ATWOnline, March 2) and that the Foreign Investment Review Board examined and approved the bid, which now is before QF shareholders.
Spirit Airlines launched a new fare structure yesterday that includes fees for all checked bags as part an approach it said "liberates customers from being forced into paying for services they do not desire or use."
NAV Canada and UK NATS are able to track more than 1,000 daily flights across the Atlantic through technology developed by NAV Canada, the North American ATM company announced. Flights are monitored along their entire route by the Gander Automated Air Traffic System in Newfoundland and the Shanwick AATS in Prestwick. The software provides controllers with a "moving picture" of air traffic in areas without radar, while both systems allow text-based satellite communications between controllers and pilots.
United Airlines flew 8.19 billion RPMs in February, a 0.6% drop from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 1.5% to 10.56 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 0.6 point to 77.5%. Southwest Airlines flew 4.85 billion RPMs in February, up 3.3% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 6% to 7.26 billion ASMs and load factor dipped 1.7 points to 66.8%.
British Airways yesterday completed the sale of its money-losing regional subsidiary BA Connect to Flybe, which said the acquisition and the planned launch of 11 new routes will make it Europe's largest regional carrier. Flybe will take over 20 routes previously operated by BA Connect and this spring will launch 11 new ones: Manchester to Guernsey, Bergerac, Limoges and La Rochelle; Southampton to Paris Charles de Gaulle, Isle of Man and Frankfurt; London Gatwick to Bergerac; Cardiff to CDG; Edinburgh to Rennes, and Guernsey to Norwich.
Gol flew 1.57 billion RPKs in February, up 66.4% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 61.4% to 2.17 billion ASKs and load factor climbed 2.2 points to 72.3%.
IBM announced a 7.5-year, $217 million business transformation outsourcing agreement with American Airlines covering its human resources functions. IBM will provide support for standardized HR resources processes, IT and call center support. Mercer HR Services will deliver compensation and benefits administration and consulting.
Comair pilots represented by the Air Line Pilots Assn. ratified a four-year contract after months of wrangling with management over pay and benefit concessions ( ATWOnline, Feb. 14). The new contract is expected to save the airline $40 million and will cut pilot salaries 7.75%-13%. Some 68% voted in favor of the deal, which also included an $82.5 million bankruptcy claim the pilots recently sold. J.C.
Gryphyn Works of Utah said Horizon Air has become the first airline in the world to conduct paperless ground support equipment maintenance operations by using Gryphyn's Web-based GSE Maintenance application.
IATA reported a 6.1% year-over-year rise in industry RPKs in January and a 5.6% increase in capacity. Load factor was 74.9%. All regions posted traffic growth save Latin America, with the Middle East the highest at 18.9% and Africa next at 7.9%. Load factor was highest in North America at 77.3%.
Boeing named Integrated Defense Systems VP-Europe Ian Thomas as VP-Boeing International and president of Boeing India succeeding Anil Shrikhande, who is moving to IDS.
VLM Airlines said yesterday it will introduce a BAe 146-300 into its previously all-F50 fleet from April 16 and use the jet on four of its 10 weekday Rotterdam-London City flights. "Increasing numbers of business travelers are utilizing our network and, in particular, our London City-to-Rotterdam service, and this larger, faster aircraft is essential to meet this growing demand," MD Johan Vanneste said. The new aircraft will "release some Fokker 50 capacity" for increased frequencies on unidentified routes.
Oneworld is discussing membership with China Eastern Airlines, alliance Managing Partner John McCulloch announced in a briefing with reporters cited by Reuters. Oneworld has yet to recruit a member from mainline China, while SkyTeam is preparing to welcome China Southern Airlines and Star Alliance will admit Air China and Shanghai Airlines.
