Frontier Airlines chose Republic Airlines to operate 17 76-seat E-170s starting in March. Scheduling and marketing of the new service will be done by Frontier, which will pay for capacity at a pre-determined rate. The last of the aircraft will be flying by December 2008. Last September, Frontier ended its codeshare agreement with Horizon Air, which operated nine CRJ700s for the Denver-based carrier ( ATWOnline, Sept. 21, 2006). "While we enjoyed a great relationship with. .
Lufthansa flew 8.28 billion RPKs in December, a 7.4% rise from the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 5.3% to 11.4 billion ASKs and load factor rose 1.4 points to 72.6%.
Midwest Air Group will grow capacity by 15% this year and look to boost revenue as part of a new strategy unveiled yesterday that the Midwest Airlines parent hopes will increase shareholder value and fend off AirTran Airways. In a presentation filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Midwest said it rejected AirTran's proposal ( ATWOnline, Dec. 15, 2006) because it undervalued the company and "did not reflect the long-term opportunity inherent in [Midwest's] strategic growth plan."
Bmi regional is taking delivery of a further four E-145s in the coming months, raising its fleet to 20 aircraft. The additional capacity will support three new routes: Edinburgh-Zurich, Aberdeen-Kristiansand and Leeds Bradford-Copenhagen. The bmi subsidiary also will increase frequencies on existing services for the summer schedule, including additional flights from EDI to MAN and LBA.
Mexican LCC Interjet converted 10 A320 options into firm orders, which Airbus has tacked onto its 2006 order book. The options were part of an order placed at the 2005 Paris Air Show ( ATWOnline, Nov. 8, 2005). The Toluca-based airline celebrated its one-year anniversary in December and carried more than 1 million passengers in its first 12 months of operation.
Brussels Airlines signed a letter of intent with AerCap to add a fourth A330-300 to its long-haul fleet. The aircraft belonged to Air Madrid, which suspended operations last month. Brussels' network "will not necessarily include new African destinations but possibly some destinations on the North American continent," VP-Communications Geert Sciot told ATWOnline. It is expected that the carrier will operate Brussels-Toronto flights, which it currently offers in codeshare with Etihad Airways.
Royal Jordanian said it finalized interline agreements with British Airways, American Airlines, Iberia, LAN and Finnair in preparation for joining oneworld.
US Airways yesterday raised its takeover offer for bankrupt Delta Air Lines to $10.2 billion, promising DL's unsecured creditors $5 billion in cash and 89.5 million shares of US stock, but the Delta board quickly gave a thumbs-down to the proposal, stating that "it does not address significant concerns. . .raised about the initial US Airways proposal and, in fact, would increase the debt burden of the combined company by yet another $1 billion."
Air China reportedly is planning to set up a Shanghai-based cargo joint venture with Cathay Pacific Airways. "We are now preparing for the joint venture program and hope to realize practical progress in the cargo business partnership with Cathay in the first half of 2007," VP Fan Cheng told China Daily. "How to significantly improve our cargo transport capabilities is an important task for Air China in 2007," he added. He said long-running attempts to reach a similar agreement with China Eastern Airlines had failed.
Japan Airlines is mulling a plan to lay off 3,000 employees, 6% of its workforce, over the next three years to help cut losses, according press reports. The cuts are due to be unveiled in JAL's mid-year business plan due out next month. It posted a loss of ¥47 billion ($394.8 million) for the fiscal year to March 2006 as fuel prices hit the bottom line and ANA grabbed market share. According to Mainichi Daily, JAL also is considering a restructuring of the group's related businesses with a possible of sale of some units.
Monarch Airlines promoted Tim Jeans to MD and a place on the company's board. Former easyJet Director-Business Development Liz Savage will succeed Jeans as MD of the scheduled service division as well as taking over as MD of flymonarch.com.
AirAsia said in a regulatory filing yesterday that it plans to take an initial 20% stake in FlyAsianExpress, the small Malaysian domestic airline 50% owned by AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes that will launch long-haul, low-cost service in July under the brand name AirAsia X ( ATWOnline, Jan. 8). FAX won authority last week to operate long-haul routes not served by Malaysia Airlines, and Fernandes said initial flights would be to a UK city, Guangzhou and Tianjin.
Air France KLM flew 16.12 billion RPKs in December, a 3.3% rise from the year-ago month. Capacity was up 3.8% to 20.29 billion ASKs, dropping load factor 0.4 point to 79.4%.
US Navy ship is expected to join the search today for the missing Adam Air 737-400 off the coast of Indonesia's Sulawesi Island, where the vessel will deploy high-tech equipment to help determine whether or not metal found on the ocean floor is from the 737's wreckage ( ATWOnline, Jan. 9). Flight 574 disappeared from radar during a heavy rainstorm on Jan. 1 and all 102 aboard are feared dead.
Alitalia is attracting the interest of Rothschild investment bank, which is forming a consortium of Italian and international investors to present a bid for the stake being sold by the Italian government, according to several press reports. The consortium will include privately held Italian carriers Air One and Meridiana and two US private-equity funds. Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo also is involved.
US passenger and cargo airlines should earn $4 billion this year excluding bankruptcy restructuring and reorganization gains, up from an estimated $2-$3 billion in net income in 2006, according to ATA's annual economic outlook released yesterday.
LTU German Airlines wants to take over certain Latin American routes belonging to Air Madrid, which shut down operations Dec. 15 ( ATWOnline, Dec. 18, 2006), but an LTU spokesperson told ATWOnline that the airline does not plan to take over the bankrupt Spanish carrier despite rumors to the contrary. Spanish transport authorities reportedly said that LTU also plans to absorb 568 Air Madrid employees, some 52% of the total, as part of its plan to create a subsidiary named LTU Espana within six months.
Caribbean Sun Airlines will shut down on Jan. 31, according to company officials, and close its operational hub at Luis Munoz Marin International Airport in San Juan. Sister carrier Caribbean Star Airlines was granted permission by US FAA in October to expand service to US destinations. "When Caribbean Star was launched in 2000 it could not serve San Juan and other US destinations, which of course hindered growth," Star and Sun President and CEO Skip Barnette explained.
US Airways named Morgan Stanley as joint lead arranger, joining Citigroup, to underwrite the carrier's $7.2 billion in debt financing for its proposed merger with Delta Air Lines.
MAIR Holdings minority shareholder Riley Investment Management, which reportedly holds 5.2% of the Mesaba Airlines parent, said last weekend that Northwest Airlines' offer to acquire Mesaba ( ATWOnline, Jan. 8) is "grossly inadequate" and that it will attempt to block or change the deal. Riley said NWA deliberately "destroyed value for MAIR shareholders" and is now trying to buy the bankrupt regional below fair market value.
Gol is lowering its full-year earnings per share and revenue forecasts following a plunge in December load factor. The Brazilian LCC now predicts revenues of BRL3.85 billion ($1.79 billion) rather than BRL3.9 billion and EPS of BRL3.15-3.30 rather than BRL3.40-3.65. It flew 1.53 billion RPKs in December, up 48.4% from the year-ago month, but capacity soared 65.4% to 2.26 billion ASKs, dropping load factor 7.8 points to 67.4%.
United Airlines expects to post a "modest operating loss" in the fourth quarter after it was hit hard by blizzards at its Chicago and Denver hubs. United and United Express canceled about 3,900 flights last month, resulting in a $40 million drop in anticipated revenue. December traffic fell 0.8% year-over-year to 9.38 billion RPMs against a 1.5% decline in ASMs to 11.77 billion. Load factor dipped 0.4 point to 79.6% and passenger numbers were down 2.5% to 5.4 million.
British Airways appeared to take an important step toward resolving its pension deficit ( ATWOnline, Nov. 20, 2006) last week after the British Airways Forum, which represents the airline's four unions, agreed to recommend BA's latest proposals to union members. "We have come a long way with our staff, trustees and trade unions on this issue," BA CEO Willie Walsh said. "We can now move forward on our plans for fleet renewal and replacement."
Assn. of Asia Pacific Airlines' 17 members reported a 6.2% year-over-year increase in November passenger numbers to 11.2 million. RPKs rose 3.3% to 44.72 billion against a 0.2% fall in capacity to 59.46 billion ASKs, lifting load factor 2.5 points to 75.2%. Cargo jumped 6.2% to 4.89 billion FTKs, capacity grew 5.7% to 7.1 billion ATKs and load factor was up 0.4% to 68.9%. Northwest Airlines flew 6.38 billion RPMs in December, up 1.1% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 0.1% to 7.9 billion ASMs and load factor went up 0.7 point to 80.7%.
Indonesian officials were attempting to determine late yesterday whether metal detected on the ocean floor off the coast of Sulawesi Island could be the wreckage of the missing Adam Air 737-400 that disappeared Jan. 1 in a heavy rainstorm ( ATWOnline, Jan. 5). More than 100 passengers and crew aboard flight 574 are feared dead.
