Australian Prime Minister John Howard hinted yesterday that the government's approval of Aviation Partners Australia's A$11.1 billion ($8.58 billion) bid for Qantas will not be unconditional.
China Southern Airlines told the Shanghai Stock Exchange it will return to profitability in 2006 following a CNY1.79 billion ($229.9 million) loss in 2005, according to press reports. It will release its results in April. It said on its website that it will report CNY46.54 billion in revenue for 2006, of which more than 30% came from online sales.
Japan Airlines Group took a hatchet to its 165-route domestic network in its biggest overhaul since 9/11. Changes announced yesterday include introduction of one new route (a daily Kobe-Ishigaki service starting in July), a frequency increase on four, reductions on five and suspension of 10 regional domestic services. Key drivers of the change are the availability of more slots at Tokyo airports in FY09, a focus on yield and competitive pressures from ANA.
AirTran Airways parent AirTran Holdings posted 2006 net income of $15.5 million, nearly double the $8.1 million it earned in 2005, despite a fourth-quarter net loss of $3.3 million, reversed from a $369,000 profit in the year-ago quarter. "The year 2006 was very challenging with our average fuel prices again rising over 20% for the third year in a row," Chairman and CEO Joe Leonard said. Speaking of the fourth-quarter loss, President and COO Bob Fornaro added, "While we were profitable in November and December, these profits were insufficient to offset our losses in October."
Two Air Nostrum aircraft were forced to make emergency landings at Barcelona last week with landing gear problems. Two of 40 passengers aboard a CRJ200 were injured while arriving from Valladolid, the Iberia Regional franchise partner said. A Q300 with 23 passengers coming from Pamplona also made an emergency landing after having problems with its nose gear.
Emirates and Boeing are working to try and reduce the weight of the 747-8 Intercontinental so the airline can operate Dubai-Los Angeles with 400 passengers (a 50-ton payload) year round. "We need another 500 miles and we are not there yet," EK President Tim Clark said, indicating he wants more capacity than is available aboard the 777-200LR. "We think we can fill 400 seats a day."
Mesa Air Group's first fiscal quarter earnings fell 38% year-over-year to $8 million on a 7.4% increase in operating revenue to $347.6 million. Operating expenses were up nearly 10% from the year-ago quarter to $328.4 million owing to adverse weather, fuel and maintenance. Operating income was down 30% to $19 million. Mesa Chairman and CEO Jonathan Ornstein said he expects to see "steady improvements, quarter by quarter.
Air France KLM is actively pursuing its co-location strategy, opening a joint office last week in Brussels from where a single management team will oversee operations in Belgium and Luxembourg. A joint office is scheduled to open this week in Israel while the possibility of implementing a similar structure in Germany and Great Britain is being studied. "We are committed to move ahead with this co-location/joint management strategy unless there are some legal and practical restraints," KLM Senior VP and Area Manager-Benelux Bram Graber told ATWOnline.
Air Deccan parent Deccan Aviation reported a INR96.4 million ($2.2 million) net profit in the three months ended Dec. 31, its first profit since going public last summer, Reuters reported. The company lost INR429.4 million in the September quarter and INR3.4 billion in the 15 months ended June 2006, the news agency said. Last quarter's revenues of INR6.37 billion were boosted by the $100 million October sale of delivery rights to 60 A320s ( ATWOnline, Oct. 16, 2006) and a 4% rise in yields.
CAE said Shanghai Eastern Flight Training Co. ordered an A320 full flight simulator while an unidentified airline ordered a 737-800 FFS and an A330/A340 FFS and another unidentified carrier ordered two 777 FFSs. CAE valued the orders including additional flight training devices and buyer-furnished equipment at C$75 million.
Midwest Air Group can attempt to fend off AirTran Airways' hostile takeover bid from a position of perceived strength following last week's announcement that it returned to the black, posting a 2006 net profit of $5.4 million after losing $64.9 million in 2005.
Aer Lingus carried 8.6 million passengers in 2006, up 7.3% year-over-year, as it added new routes and 11.6% more seats. Passenger numbers grew 9.3% on short-haul flights and fell 4.4% on long-haul flights. Load factor dropped 3.8 points to 77.6%, including a 5.8-point decline on long-haul services.
Frontier Airlines was hit hard by last month's Denver snowstorms and suffered a $14.4 million net loss in its third fiscal quarter ended Dec. 31, widened from a $10.3 million loss in the year-ago period. The carrier cancelled 875 flights in December due to inclement weather estimated to have reduced revenue by some $12.2 million. President and CEO Jeff Potter admitted it was "the greatest challenge in our history" save for 9/11.
DHL said it will invest an additional $35 million in its Hong Kong operation to increase ground handling capabilities in the growing market, lifting its total investment in the city to $645 million, which includes a $400 million investment in Air Hong Kong made in conjunction with Cathay Pacific Airways.
Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air parent Alaska Air Group reported a full-year 2006 net loss of $52.6 million, widened from a loss of $5.9 million in 2005, citing charges stemming from Alaska's ongoing transition to an all-737 fleet and voluntary severance programs related to new labor contracts. Excluding the impact of special charges, 2006 net income would have been $137.7 million, more than double the $55 million earned the year before. The company reported a fourth-quarter net loss of $11.6 million, narrowed from $33 million in the year-ago quarter.
Silverjet, the London Luton-based all-business-class carrier ( ATWOnline, Oct. 6, 2006), launched operations yesterday with its maiden flight to Newark. It said sales "are comfortably ahead of management's expectations." It will start a second daily LTN-EWR flight in July and is "investigating further long-haul route opportunities."
Adam Air 737-400's flight data recorder was detected yesterday by USNS Mary Sears, an oceanographic survey ship assisting in the search for debris from the aircraft that disappeared off the coast of the Indonesian island of Sulawesi on Jan. 1 with 102 aboard ( ATWOnline, Jan. 12). The US embassy in Jakarta said the ship located signals "on the same frequency of the black boxes associated with the missing airplane."
Expressing "deep regret" that it has been unable to reach an agreement with cabin staff represented by the Transport & General Workers Union, British Airways yesterday said it has cancelled all passenger flights out of London Heathrow and all domestic and European flights out of Gatwick scheduled for next Tuesday and Wednesday, when T&G plans the first of three walkouts ( ATWOnline, Jan. 25).
ANA will launch a 36-seat, all-business-class 737-700ER on the Tokyo Narita-Mumbai route Sept. 1, a move that underscores a focus on premium traffic that is a highlight of the corporate plan unveiled yesterday in Tokyo. The plan focuses on frequency, yield, capacity decreases and more daily services to China, which will see ANA's first 737-700 BusinessJet enter Nagoya-Guangzhou service on March 1. That aircraft is configured with Club ANA and Premium Economy seats. A320s also are part of the China ramp-up with the introduction of 20 business class seats.
The Transport & General Workers Union agreed to cancel the first 24 hr. of next week's three-day British Airways cabin crew strike ( ATWOnline, Jan. 23) "as a goodwill gesture to allow more time for further negotiations" and "after the personal intervention" of BA CEO Willie Walsh. BA flight attendants still are prepared to walk off the job on Jan. 30 and Jan. 31 and for three-day periods beginning Feb. 5 and Feb. 12 unless a deal is reached.
ExpressJet Holdings, a regional partner of Continental Airlines, yesterday reported full-year net income of $92.5 million, a 5.5% drop from the $97.9 million earned in 2005. At the same time, ExpressJet President and CEO Jim Ream unveiled plans for the 69 Embraer RJs being released from its capacity purchase agreement with Continental.
American Airlines said it will price its public offering of 13 million newly issues shares ( ATWOnline, Jan. 23) at $38.70 per share. It said it expects issuance and delivery of the shares to take place Friday. Separately, AA named Denise Lynn VP-global human resources services, replacing the departed Debra Hunter Johnson.
Delta Air Lines CEO Gerald Grinstein slammed US Airways' $10.2 billion takeover proposal during testimony before the Senate Commerce and Transportation Committee in Washington yesterday, calling it "the poster child for the worst kind of merger" while also flatly denying that DL is in merger talks with Northwest Airlines.
Singapore Technologies Aerospace said its ST Aerospace Engines subsidiary will provide heavy maintenance and support for Xiamen Airlines' CFM56-7B22s under a maintenance-by-the-hour contract covering 11 737-700s for up to 15 years. The contract was valued at $160 million.
