Sequa Corp., which manufactures, repairs and remanufactures engine blades, vanes and other engine components, agreed to be acquired by Carlyle Group in a transaction valued at $2.7 billion.
Bmi Group is buying five A330s and five A321s to support its "strategy of developing new mid-haul and long-haul routes from London Heathrow," the carrier announced yesterday. The five A330s are worth approximately $500 million, bmi said, and will join three already in service with the carrier. First delivery is scheduled for next spring. The A321s, valued at $250 million, will feature on a short-/medium-haul network boosted by the February acquisition of British Mediterranean. No engine choice was announced.
Bristol International Airport announced it is switching to SITA's AirportConnect CUTE Open IT platform, including self-service check-in kiosks, to handle predicted growth from 6 million to 9 million passengers.
US Airways Group said passenger RASM "has gotten progressively better during the second quarter" and June figures were "up slightly" over the year-ago month. "We see an encouraging revenue environment moving into the third quarter due, in part, to stronger year-over-year bookings and improving yield trends," President Scott Kirby said. The group flew 5.89 billion consolidated RPMs in June, up 0.4% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 1.4% to 6.91 billion ASMs and load factor rose 1.6 points to 85.3%, the highest for any month in the company's history.
Lufthansa flew 10.57 billion RPKs in June, up 7.6% on the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 4.9% to 13.22 billion ASKs and load factor rose 2 points to 80%. Royal Jordanian transported 204,000 passengers in June, a 14% increase on the year-ago month. Load factor rose 4.8 points to 72.2%. LAN Airlines flew 1.78 billion RPKs in June, a 29.7% increase from the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 22.5% to 2.45 billion ASKs and load factor rose 4 points to 72.6%.
Dubai International Capital said it purchased a 3.12% stake in Airbus parent EADS through its Global Strategic Equities Fund. Reuters reported that the stake is worth more than $830 million and makes the fund EADS' fifth-largest shareholder. DIC, which is wholly owned by the Dubai government, said in a statement that it is confident in the eventual success of Airbus's "comprehensive restructuring program."
Rolls-Royce announced that ILFC chose the Trent 1000 to power 40 of the 74 787s it has an order ( ATWOnline, June 20). The deal is worth $1.3 billion at list prices and supersedes a previous contract covering 10 aircraft that was announced last summer. Rolls said the order represents the largest single purchase it has received from the lessor and that it now has orders and options for more than 500 Trent 1000s from 15 customers.
Northwest Airlines flew 6.96 billion consolidated RPMs in June, down 0.7% from the year-ago month, as domestic traffic fell 2.1% and international rose 1.2%. Capacity was up 0.3% on a 2.7% domestic decline and 5.2% international lift. Load factor dropped 1 point to 88% as domestic rose 0.5 point to 87.9% and international declined 3.5 points to 89.6%. SAS Group airlines flew 3.99 billion RPKs in June, up 6.6% from the year-ago month, against a 6.7% rise in capacity to 5.22 billion ASKs. Load factor slipped 0.1 point to 76.4%.
Air Berlin yesterday said the order for 25 787s placed during the weekend's festivities in Seattle ( ATWOnline, July 9) included options and purchase rights for a further 25, making it the largest Dreamliner order from a European airline.
Touting the success of last year's €400 million ($544.6 million) IPO, Aer Lingus said it remains on track for "mid-teen operating profit growth" for full-year 2007. Operating profit in 2006 was €76 million, reduced from €81.4 million the year before.
Iberia confirmed Friday that it brought forward its next board meeting, originally planned for July 26, to this Thursday but did not confirm speculation that the board will discuss opening its books to a potential bid consortium including TPG Capital and British Airways ( ATWOnline, May 28). IB will open its books only to offers above €4 ($5.45) per share, Cinco Dias reported, citing shareholder sources. TPG's March approach valued IB at €3.4 billion, or €3.60 per share.
Gol said Friday that it will slow its growth owing to sluggish traffic in the Brazilian market, which has been beset by air traffic control problems ( ATWOnline, June 26). The carrier projects just 12% capacity growth in the domestic market for 2007 and 2008. As recently as March, its monthly domestic capacity increased 46.8%. While all Brazilian airlines have been hurt by ATC problems, the disruptions have hit the LCC, which counts on high aircraft utilization and fast turnarounds, especially hard.
Oman Air will begin serving Tehran and Damascus from Muscat in September and will launch its long-haul expansion in November with flights to London and Bangkok, the Arab Air Carriers Organization announced. AACO said Oman Air will be "operating its widebody aircraft" on the latter two routes.
GA Telesis announced that Aldebaran Leasing, its joint venture with EB-Erste Bank Internationale Beteiligungen, acquired two A340-200s on long-term lease to Royal Jordanian from GIE Lizad. Transaction represents GAT's first A340 acquisition and first Middle East lessee.
US Airways said last week in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission that it expects second-quarter nonfuel CASM to be higher than previously forecast, primarily due to maintenance costs related to returning eight leased aircraft throughout the year, the timing of engine MRO expenses and "additional spending to improve our operation." CASM is expected to rise in the third and fourth quarters as well due to an approximate 2% mainline and regional capacity reduction implemented through decreased utilization and "as a result of industry conditions."
Italian government again pushed back the deadline for submitting binding bids for its stake in Alitalia, this time to July 23, Reuters reported. Deadline had been set for July 12 ( ATWOnline, June 22).
AirTran Airways issued revised second-quarter guidance last week forecasting a 5%-5.5% decline in unit revenue, steeper than the 3%-5% fall predicted last month ( ATWOnline, June 18). It reported RASM of 10.75 cents in the second quarter of 2006. Nonfuel CASM is expected to fall 5.25%-5.75%, similar to last month's projection of a 5%-6% slide.
Air France KLM flew 17.75 billion RPKs in June, up 4.9% from the year-ago month, against a 4.5% lift in ASKs to 21.45 billion. Load factor was up 0.3 point to 82.7%. Delta Air Lines flew 11.67 billion system RPMs in June, up 5% from the year-ago month, on a 1.5% lift in domestic traffic and a 12.7% surge internationally. Capacity rose 3.3% to 13.59 billion ASMs as domestic fell 2.2% and international climbed 15%. System load factor gained 1.4 points to 85.9%--domestic rose 3.2 points to 87.3% and international fell 1.7 points to 83.4%.
Qantas yesterday said the level of foreign shareholding in the company has fallen to 44.5% from "just below" 50% ( ATWOnline, May 31). "Foreign shareholding is trending down and we are confident that our share register is in compliance with the Qantas Sale Act," CEO Geoff Dixon said.
CIT Aerospace yesterday announced an order for five additional 787s worth approximately $810 million at list prices. The lessor already had five 787s on order. Delivery schedule was not announced.
Okay Airways of Tianjin, as part of its accelerated preparation to launch a regional carrier, is nearing an order for 30 Xian MA60 turboprops. Negotiations with AVIC I are expected to conclude soon, Okay President Liu Jieyin announced yesterday. The airline signed an LOI at last year's Zhuhai Air Show for the aircraft, which are worth approximately CNY1.8 billion ($236.7 million).
World Air Holdings, parent of World Airways and North American Airlines, reported a net loss of $2.3 million for 2006, down from net income of $31.6 million the prior year, on a 4.9% rise in revenue to $825.7 million.
American Airlines announced the following changes to its London service: One of its two daily Dallas/Fort Worth-Gatwick flights and its daily Raleigh/Durham-LGW service, both aboard 777s, will switch to Heathrow on March 29. A new daily New York JFK-Stansted flight begins Oct. 28 aboard a 221-seat 767-300, with a second daily frequency added next spring. Separately, AA flew 12.22 billion system RPMs in June, down 3.5% from the year-ago month, as domestic traffic declined 3% and international fell 4.3%.
American Eagle Airlines flew 806 million RPMs in June, down 2.4% from June 2006, against a 2.2% fall in ASMs to 1 billion. Load factor was off 0.2 point to 80.3%. Ryanair transported 4.3 million passengers in June, up 18% from the year-ago month. Load factor dropped 2 points to 85%. AirTran Airways flew 1.63 billion RPMs in June, up 26% from the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 21.3% to 1.97 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 3.1 points to 82.9%.
