Continental Airlines confirmed last week that it reached an agreement earlier this month to sell 10 737-500s to Transaero for delivery later this year and in 2008. It also said it is in discussions with another airline regarding the sale of five more -500s. The sales are in line with the carrier's decision to slow 2008 capacity growth to 3%-4% from the 5%-7% ASM growth rate originally planned, with most of the slowdown coming on domestic services. "It's also necessary to keep turning over the fleet to keep it young," a spokesperson said. "We want to phase out some of our older planes."
Aviapartner Handling won several new contracts in France. In Lyon, it secured contracts with Aer Lingus, Austrian Airlines, bmi, British Airways, British Regional Airlines, City Airlines, Spanair and Thomas Cook. In Marseille, it added BA and Lufthansa to its portfolio. BA also contracted the group to handle its flights in Nice and Toulouse. Separately, Aviapartner announced the reorganization of its Handling Services Business Line around regions rather than individual countries.
Southwest Airlines and Boeing reached an agreement last week under which the LCC deferred delivery of five 737-700s slated to arrive in 2008-13 and exercised options for 25 additional -700s for delivery in 2013 and 2014.
Airbus said Friday that "final preparations" are underway for the October delivery of the first A380 to Singapore Airlines. The manufacturer said the aircraft returned to Toulouse after undergoing cabin interior installation in Hamburg.
AVIC I plans to partner with a strategic investor and launch a new regional airline by year end, MD Lin Zuoming announced yesterday. "We will maintain controlling stake in the new regional entity while opening the door to airlines or an international investment bank as our strategic investor," he said, noting that AVIC I already has discussed its plans with CAAC. At last year's Zhuhai Air Show, Vice MD Gu Huizhong revealed that the new carrier will have registered capital of more than CNY80 million with total capital reaching several hundred million yuan.
Alitalia flew 3.47 billion RPKs in June, up 1.5% on the year-ago month, against a 0.9% climb in ASKs to 4.44 billion. Load factor rose 0.5 point to 78.2%.
Virgin America began selling tickets yesterday on its website and through a toll-free phone number for flights to San Francisco, New York JFK, Los Angeles, Washington Dulles and Las Vegas.
WestJet said yesterday that it has discontinued negotiations with Travelport on installing aiRES and will incur a noncash pre-tax writedown of C$31.9 million ($30.6 million) as a consequence of the failure to implement the reservation system to replace its aging OpenSkies platform.
Italian government is scheduled to discuss today the fate of its national carrier following the withdrawal of all previously committed and potential bidders from the privatization process ( ATWOnline, July 19). Liquidation is among the options, Economy and Finance Minister Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa told Corriere della Sera.
Continental Airlines posted second-quarter net income of $228 million, up 15.2% over a profit of $198 million in the year-ago quarter, on a 5.8% lift in revenue to $3.71 billion.
3m FKI Logistex won a contract from Australian air Express for two cross-belt sortation systems. The two S-3000CB sorters will be installed in June 2008 in AaE's purpose-built domestic freight processing centers in Melbourne and Sydney.
China Eastern Airlines may post a net profit as high as CNY40 million ($5.3 million) for the first half of 2007, a source told ATWOnline. The carrier expects to release its financial results next month and, as a listed company, was unable to confirm the figure. China Eastern Group President Li Fenghua said this month that CEA is targeting the black following a net loss of CNY2.78 billion last year ( ATWOnline, July 4).
One day after reporting a 16.5% decline in second-quarter earnings and promising that the company will take a more cautious approach to growth, Southwest Airlines announced that Executive Chairman Herb Kelleher and President Colleen Barrett, the faces of the carrier that irrevocably altered US commercial aviation, will step down from their positions in 2008 at the conclusion of their contracts and leave the company five years later.
UPS yesterday took delivery of its first CF6-80C2B5F-powered 747-400F, which it plans to deploy on international services to the Asia/Pacific. The company will take delivery of two more -400Fs this year and five in 2008. In addition, it will acquire five of the type from other carriers by 2010, bringing its total -400F fleet to 13. The -400F has a payload of 273,300 lb. with a range of 4,400 nm. It has 30 load positions on its main deck and can carry 32 smaller containers on the lower deck. It will be the first freighter in the UPS fleet with a hinged nose.
The pilot of the TAM A320 that crashed late Tuesday at Sao Paulo Conganhas apparently tried to abort the landing and pull up as he contacted the rain-slickened, 6,365-ft. runway at Brazil's busiest airport.
Admitting it was unable to keep pace with rising fuel costs, Southwest Airlines yesterday reported a second-quarter net profit of $278 million that represented a 16.5% drop from earnings of $333 million in the second quarter of 2006.
World Air Holdings said yesterday that its stockholders "overwhelmingly indicated their support" for a merger agreement that would see WAH, parent of World Airways and North American Airlines, acquired by ATA Airlines parent Global Aero Logistics ( ATWOnline, July 13). Stockholders voted by a 98% to 2% margin to approve the transaction and WAH said it anticipated the deal will close by the end of the current quarter.
Alitalia's privatization as currently envisioned by the Italian government appears to be history following the withdrawal of Air One parent AP Holding ( ATWOnline, July 18), although reports varied on the level of interest maintained by US private equity fund MatlinPatterson. Late yesterday, Reuters reported that MP would consider a bid if sale conditions were altered, contradicting earlier statements that it had withdrawn completely.
Astar Air Cargo yesterday extended the deadline for a response from ABX Air to its "indication of interest" to acquire its fellow DHL subservice carrier for more than $450 million in cash to July 27, noting it has been assured that ABX's board will meet with legal and financial advisers on June 20 to consider the proposal and formulate a response ( ATWOnline, July 2).
Delta Air Lines reported net income of $1.77 billion for the second quarter, a striking turnaround from a $2.21 billion loss in the year-ago period, as it emerged from bankruptcy on April 30 and benefited from one-time reorganization gains in the June quarter. Excluding reorganization items, which included noncash adjustments to its revalued assets and liabilities that "significantly impacted" its balance sheet, DL posted net income of $274 million for the quarter.
Qantas board met yesterday to consider a range of issues related to the future structure of the airline following the failed Airline Partners Australia buyout. On the agenda was the appointment of a new chairman to replace the highly respected Margaret Jackson, who was forced out by ill health and the fallout from the failed bid ( ATWOnline, May 18). CEO Geoff Dixon and CFO Peter Gregg still want to move forward with a number of initiatives suggested by APA.
Unisys Corp. was selected by the US Cargo Sales Joint Venture to provide "a broad range of IT outsourcing support services" for the organization. USJV is an alliance of Delta Air Lines, Air France and Korean Air offering cargo-related services in the US. Under the terms of the contract, Unisys will provide USJV with outsourced data center, security, network and desktop management services over a three-year period.
Despite weather-related delays and cancellations and higher-than-expected fuel prices, American Airlines parent AMR Corp. posted net income of $317 million in the second quarter, up 8.9% over a $291 million profit in the year-ago period and its fifth consecutive quarter in the black following years of steep losses.
