Astar Air Cargo yesterday withdrew its "indication of interest" in acquiring fellow DHL subservice carrier ABX Air for more than $450 million in cash. The move came a day after ABX President and CEO Joe Hete informed Astar Chairman, President and CEO John Dasburg that the proposed acquisition had been "unanimously rejected" by ABX's board ( ATWOnline, July 25).
Lufthansa Technik signed Total Component Support and Total Engine Support deals with Aegean Airlines covering up to 27 A320 family aircraft and the IAE V2500s being phased into the Greek carrier's fleet. The eight-year deal is worth approximately $100 million, LHT said.
Boosted by hefty nonoperating gains from asset sales and its investment in Swiss International Air Lines, Lufthansa reported a net profit of €992 million ($1.37 billion) in the first six months of 2007, up from €85 million in the year-ago semester and representing a record high for the company. The result implies a second-quarter profit of €438 million as calculated by ATWOnline, which compares to a €138 million profit in the second three months of 2006.
V Australia is the name chosen for Virgin Blue's new long-haul airline that will commence transpacific services to the US late next year with a 777-300ER ( ATWOnline, July 11). Virgin Blue cannot use the Virgin name outside Australia as part of an agreement reached when Singapore Airlines took a 49% stake in Virgin Atlantic Airways in 1999. The new name was chosen from among nearly 6,000 entries solicited in a contest.
Asiana Airlines earned a profit of KRW38 billion ($41.5 million) in the second quarter, up from a KRW15 billion profit in the year-ago period, thanks to investment gains and the appreciation of the won, according to a regulatory filing cited by the Antara news agency. Revenue rose 2.1% year-over-year to KRW861 billion but operating profit dropped 7.2% to KRW20 billion. Separately, Asiana increased to daily its four-times-weekly Incheon-Frankfurt service.
Gulf Air COO Bjorn Naf yesterday was named acting president and CEO, replacing Andre Dose, who resigned suddenly Monday ( ATWOnline, July 24). The carrier said the search for a permanent replacement "has begun."
Qantas unveiled a radical overhaul of its international long-haul inflight product ahead of the delivery of its first A380 in August 2008. A new premium economy class ( ATWOnline, July 24) featuring 42-in. pitch, a new Panasonic IFE system, enhanced connectivity in all cabins and upgraded lie-flat business class beds are the main features of a makeover that will be offered on the A380s and QF's 747-400s starting in February.
Djibouti Airlines An-26 crashed Monday near Shinile, Ethiopia, killing one passenger. There were 13 passengers and six crew onboard the cargo flight, which departed Dire Dawa, Ethiopia, and was on its way to Djibouti City, according to the Flight Safety Foundation's Aviation Safety Network. The aircraft reportedly suffered engine problems and was attempting an emergency landing when it crashed.
JetBlue Airways' recovery from its operational meltdown in February and its overly aggressive expansion continued with a $21 million second-quarter profit that represented a 50% increase over the $14 million earned in the year-ago quarter and supported CEO Dave Barger's claim that "slowing capacity growth will allow us to strengthen our balance sheet and facilitate earnings growth."
United Airlines reported second-quarter net income of $274 million, more than double the $119 million earned in the year-ago period, on a 2% rise in revenue to $5.21 billion. "Our fundamental performance this quarter was quite strong," Executive VP and CFO Jake Brace said. He cited "good cost control" and "excellent" capacity management as keys to the positive result.
WestJet Chairman and CEO Clive Beddoe, the charismatic founder of the Calgary-based LCC, will relinquish the CEO role to President Sean Durfy on Sept. 4. "I will continue to play a key role within WestJet as the company's executive chairman by establishing and supporting the strategic direction of the company," Beddoe said.
Canada and Iceland signed an open skies agreement that replaced an MOU signed in 1995 and will allow Icelandair, which currently serves Halifax, to launch a Toronto service next spring. It said flights will operate 5-7 times per week. The carrier said additional Canadian destinations "are under consideration for future development."
UTair Airlines reported a 40% year-over-year increase in revenue to RUB9 billion ($354.3 million) for the first half of 2007, Russia's AK&M reported. Passenger numbers climbed 21% to 1.3 million and traffic was up 25% to 1.93 billion RPKs.
ABX Air yesterday "unanimously rejected" Astar Air Cargo's proposal to acquire it for more than $450 million in cash. ABX and Astar are DHL's primary subservice carriers in the US and the latter late last month issued an "indication of interest" to purchase the former and merge their air operations, which both are based at DHL's Wilmington, Ohio, hub ( ATWOnline, July 2).
Gulf Air's board of directors yesterday accepted the resignation of CEO Andre Dose, effective immediately, ending the former Crossair and Swiss International Air Lines CEO's tenure less than four months after he joined the Bahrain-based carrier and unveiled a major restructuring program.
SITA and CarTrawler agreed to integrate CarTrawler's car rental distribution platform within the SITA Horizon portfolio of passenger management solutions, allowing SITA to offer it to its airline customers and enabling the customers to increase ancillary revenue through car rental sales, according to SITA.
Continental Airlines, Northwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines yesterday jointly launched SkyCorp Direct, an online travel management tool designed to provide companies with a "one-stop solution" for corporate travel needs. "The site allows employees to easily book their own flights, hotels and rental cars while providing corporations with the ability to track and manage employee travel costs," said John Slater, Continental MD-distribution planning and e-commerce.
China Eastern Airlines said it sealed a deal to buy 10 A320s valued at $613 million. The carrier said in a statement that relevant government authorities have approved the transaction and the 10 aircraft are set to be delivered between March 2011 and June 2012. They will be used to meet increasing domestic demand for short/medium-haul flights.
Lufthansa and TAP Portugal are analyzing the possibility of launching an offer for Spanair and have requested financial information from the airline, according to several reports in Spanish media outlets.
United Airlines parent UAL Corp. promoted VP-Financial Planning and Analysis Kathryn Mikells to VP-investor relations and named Robert Sahadevan as MD-Mileage Plus. BAA announced that Divisional Director and CEO-London Heathrow Tony Douglas is leaving the company to join Laing O'Rourke Group as COO.
Qatar Airways launched daily service to Washington Dulles last week and also announced a new codeshare agreement with United Airlines that will strengthen the Middle Eastern carrier's presence in the US market.
Norwegian is expanding profitably, reporting second-quarter net earnings of NOK44.7 million ($7.8 million), more than double the NOK18 million earned in the second three months of 2006. Operating revenue climbed 33.3% to NOK1.02 billion against a 25.2% rise in costs to NOK857.3 million. Operating profit doubled to NOK161.5 million from 79.6 million.
Oasis Hong Kong Airlines asked the US Dept. of Transportation to amend its exemption and allow it to "exercise the full authority granted to Hong Kong carriers" under the countries' bilateral agreement. Its current exemption allows it to serve Oakland and Chicago, but it "wishes to have this authority in place so that future US services can be planned and implemented without delay."
