Qantas reportedly will spin off its loyalty program in the mold of Air Canada's Aeroplan, which will become part owner of the Australian carrier's Frequent Flyer program, according to newspaper reports in both countries. Neither Qantas nor Aeroplan is commenting, but major media outlets in both countries reported that QF, while keeping a controlling stake in Frequent Flyer, will list it publicly on the Australian Securities Exchange in less than a year and is negotiating with Aeroplan to take a stake. The program is estimated to be worth A$3 billion ($2.5 billion).
American Airlines flew 12.92 billion system RPMs in July, down 2.9% from the year-ago month, as domestic traffic fell 2.3% and international dropped 4%. Capacity declined 3.7% to 14.7 billion ASMs on a 3.5% domestic drop and a 4.1% international decrease. System load factor was up 0.8 point to 87.9%. Domestic rose 1.1 point to 89.4% and international was up 0.2 point to 85.2%. United Airlines flew 10.92 billion RPMs in July, a 1.4% decrease from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 1% to 12.5 billion ASMs and load factor was down 0.4 point to 87.3%.
CAE signed an agreement to acquire Flightscape for approximately C$18 million ($17.1 million). Flightscape is an Ottawa-based safety company providing expertise in flight data analysis and flight sciences, CAE said.
Icelandair Group, while admitting that "increased network capacity has not led to the passenger revenue growth we had hoped for," yesterday reported a ISK205 million ($3.1 million) second-quarter profit that represented a plunge from pro forma earnings of ISK1.25 billion in the year-ago quarter.
Frontier Airlines named Air Canada Executive VP-Commercial Strategy Sean Menke president and CEO replacing Jeff Potter, who will resign Sept. 6 to become CEO of luxury vacation home provider Exclusive Resorts. Menke previously worked for Frontier from January 1999 to June 2005, when he left his post as senior VP and COO to become Air Canada's CCO. Potter, who announced earlier this month that he was leaving the Denver-based airline ( ATWOnline, Aug. 6), will remain on Frontier's board.
Air New Zealand's ongoing battle with local airports continued yesterday with the airline forced turn to the courts, this time to protest increased landing charges at Wellington. ANZ is seeking a Judicial Review of recent charges imposed by Wellington International Airport Ltd. and had filed proceedings with the High Court in the capital. Last month it filed for a Judicial Review of charges imposed by Auckland International Airport Ltd. ANZ Counsel John Blair claimed that the airline's costs will increase by 34% over the next four years.
Midwest Air Group closed the door on an acquisition by eager AirTran Holdings, opting instead to pursue an unexpected all-cash deal offered by private equity investment firm TPG Capital, which is partnering with Midwest neighbor Northwest Airlines. TPG Capital, which has been involved in recent bids for Qantas, Alitalia and Iberia, could finalize a "definitive" merger agreement with Midwest as early as Aug. 15, both TPG and Midwest said.
AirTran Airways parent AirTran Holdings said an error related to passenger revenue accounting required a restatement of its first-quarter earnings. Net profit for the three months ended March 31 was reduced to $2.2 million from the $2.4 million it reported in April ( ATWOnline, April 13), compared to an $8.9 million loss in the year-ago quarter. First-quarter operating income was $12.9 million rather than the originally stated $13.4 million.
Rwanda government selected Brussels Airlines and Meridiana Africa Airlines for the privatization of Rwandair Express, l'Echo reported, citing Rwandair President Manzi Kayihura as saying that the company with the best strategy would win the tender rather than the one with the highest bid. Rwandair is seeking to place 40% of its capital with an industrial investor and 40% with private investors, leaving the state with 20%. The airline currently operates one 37-seat Dash 8 and one 142-seat MD-82.
Lufthansa flew 11.03 billion RPKs in July, up 5.7% on the year-ago month, against a 3.6% increase in ASKs to 13.71 billion. Load factor was up 1.6 points to 80.4%. Iberia flew 4.97 billion RPKs in July, a 7.1% increase from the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 3.1% to 5.76 billion ASKs and load factor rose 3.2 points to 86.3%. Copa Airlines flew 466.8 million RPMs in July, a 25.2% increase from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 22.2% to 548.9 million ASMs, lifting load factor 2 points to 85%.
Consortium consisting mainly of Italian financial groups and entrepreneurs has emerged as a possible bidder for Alitalia, Reuters reported. The new group has more than five Italian and foreign members representing both financial and corporate interests, according to an attorney representing it who declined to identify members. Apparently none participated in the recently failed auction set up by the government ( ATWOnline, July 31).
Qantas has set aside $40 million "to cover a potential fine that may be imposed" by the US Dept. of Justice as part of the international investigation into price-fixing.
TAP Portugal narrowed its first-half loss to €30 million ($41.1 million) from €52 million in the first half of 2006 on an 11.4% year-over-year increase in revenue to €806 million. The airline said that while it considers a full-year net earnings target of €37.9 million to be a "great challenge," its board "is standing by its determination to do everything" to reach it.
ABX Air reported second-quarter net income of $4.5 million, down 30.8% from $6.5 million in the year-ago period, but touted a rise in non-DHL-related revenue as evidence of its overall strength. The cargo airline attributed the loss to a deferred noncash $2.8 million tax expense and said excluding taxes it earned $7.3 million, a 13% lift in pre-tax earnings. The Wilmington, Ohio-based DHL subservice carrier's revenue decreased 7.3% to $281.3 million as revenue from DHL operations declined 12.2%.
With costs growing at twice the rate of revenue, TAM reported a second-quarter net loss of BRL28.6 million ($15 million), reversed from a BRL97.1 million profit in the year-ago quarter. The carrier noted that costs and claims related to the July 17 A320 crash at Sao Paulo Congonhas ( ATWOnline, Aug. 7), which occurred after the June reporting period ended, are unknown as it does "not have sufficient information" on the cause and potential damages.
Air Moorea DHC-6-300 Twin Otter crashed Friday on initial climb from Moorea Temae Airport, where it departed for a 10-min. flight to Tahiti. Thirteen of 19 passengers onboard and the lone pilot were killed, the Flight Safety Foundation's Aviation Safety Network said in a preliminary report. The remaining six passengers had not been found, although some reports indicated that there were 16 confirmed fatalities. The carrier, which is affiliated with Air Tahiti, operates 20 roundtrip daily shuttles between Tahiti and Moorea.
Reporting as a standalone company following ACE Aviation Holdings' spinoffs of its various subsidiaries including Jazz, Air Canada--formerly Air Canada Services--reported a C$155 million ($147.3 million) profit in the second quarter, up 2% from the C$152 million ACS posted in the year-ago period.
Austrian Airlines Group CCO Josef Burger will resign effective Sept. 30 after six years in the role, the company announced. CEO Alfred Oetsch assumed Burger's duties last week on an interim basis. Burger cited "irreconcilable and different opinions concerning the way of cooperation within the Management Board" for his decision.
Fresh from his trip to the US for the launch of Virgin America, Richard Branson was in Kuala Lumpur Friday to announce that Virgin Group purchased a 20% share of Malaysia's FlyAsianExpress, which will operate low-cost, long-haul flights as AirAsia X.
Northwest Airlines flew 7.28 billion consolidated RPMs in July, down 0.5% from the year-ago month, as domestic traffic fell 3.9% and international rose 4.2%. Capacity inched up 0.1% to 8.3 billion ASMs on a 4.4% domestic decline and a 7.2% international lift. Consolidated load factor fell 0.4 point to 87.7%. Domestic rose 0.5 point to 88.1% and international dropped 2.6 points to 88.7%. Frontier Airlines flew 1 billion RPMs in July, up 18.5% on the year-ago month, as capacity increased 14.1% to 1.14 billion ASMs. Load factor climbed 3.3 points to 88.5%.
Vanuatu government will sell a minority stake in flag carrier Air Vanuatu, with World Bank Group member IFC advising. Air Vanuatu operates to Sydney, Auckland, Brisbane, Nadi and Noumea in addition to a number of domestic destinations, IFC said. According to the Ascend CASE database, the carrier operates one 737-300, one ATR 42 and two Twin Otters. It has a 737-800 and three Y-12s on order.
