Cathay Pacific Airways announced the donation of its 64.7 million shares in China National Aviation Co. to 64 charities in Hong Kong, six in China and one pan-Asian organization under terms of the Hong Kong Takeovers Code that forbids the carrier from exercising its votes in CNAC's privatization ( ATWOnline, June 23). "During the transaction process we found ourselves facing a difficult regulatory problem which had a very agreeable solution," CX CEO Philip Chen said.
Arik Air of Nigeria announced on its website that it "temporarily delayed the commencement of all passenger flights." The startup had been scheduled to launch last week ( ATWOnline, Oct. 6). "Nonpassenger test flights will continue to run to ensure that your first and every flight are of the highest standard," Arik said, adding that it will start operations "soon."
Ryanair yesterday confirmed to the Dublin and London stock exchanges its takeover offer for Aer Lingus. In the offer document unveiled last week ( ATWOnline, Oct. 23), the LCC maintained its initial bid of €2.80 ($3.53) per share for the recently privatized national carrier. It secured almost 20% of the shares in the days prior to EI's public listing last month.
Willis Lease Finance of California announced the signing of an engine sharing agreement with American Airlines, Southwest Airlines and WestJet covering CFM56-7Bs used to power 737NGs. The pool initially will service more than 450 aircraft. "I believe engine sharing pools will ultimately change the way all engines are leased...Engines can literally be rented in a matter of minutes," WLFC President and CEO Charles Willis said. "We have worked with the management teams of these airlines for over five years to reach agreement on the details."
Delta Air Lines flew 9.08 billion system RPMs in September, a 3.4% decrease from the year-ago month. Capacity dropped 5.4% to 12.17 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 1.5 points to 74.6%. Domestic RPMs fell 12.2% to 6.1 billion against a 14.3% decline in capacity to 8.3 billion ASMs, sending load factor up 1.7 points to 73.5%. International traffic grew 21.6% to 2.97 billion RPMs as capacity climbed at the same rate to 3.87 billion ASMs, leaving load factor at 76.9%.
Swiss International Air Lines announced that an agreement has been reached with Aeropers, the union of the company's Airbus pilots. Union members have approved the three-year accord, which will enter into effect Nov. 1. Swiss said the deal acknowledged both the airline's ongoing restructuring and the increasingly competitive environment.
The board of Ryanair Holdings will publish and post its Offer Document to Aer Lingus shareholders today, maintaining its cash bid of €2.80 per share that values the Irish flag carrier at approximately €1.48 billion, a total the LCC said is "significantly higher" than the €1.16 billion IPO value.
Qantas officials told shareholders last week that it expects to exceed its 2005-06 net profit of A$480 million ($363.8 million) in the current fiscal year thanks to continued restructuring and falling fuel prices. The carrier also confirmed it would not cancel its order for 12 A380s, according to press reports.
Philippine Airlines will decide by year end whether to order eight widebodies from Boeing or Airbus, President Jaime Bautista told reporters last week ( ATWOnline, Sept. 7). He said PAL is considering the A340-600 and 777-300ER as part of an expansion plan that includes an order for 20 (15 firm plus five option) A320 family aircraft from both the manufacturer and GECAS. It took delivery of the first aircraft from that order, an A319-100, last week.
Alitalia on Friday acknowledged that there are some "major quantitative shifts" in certain key figures put forward in its budget as it reported consolidated revenue of €3.1 billion ($3.91 billion) for the January-August period, €82 million below its target. The group's consolidated profit for the period was "about €3.1 million." Comparative results were not provided.
Northwest Airlines will pay $23 million to JPMorgan Chase and other lenders as a resolution to a dispute over a $975 million loan, Reuters reported. The lenders had sought $55-$60 million but agreed to the settlement to avoid litigation.
Oasis Hong Kong Airlines said it received its AOC from the Hong Kong Civil Aviation Dept. Friday and is on schedule to operate its inaugural flight to London Gatwick Wednesday. It said it has sold more than 18,000 tickets on its four-times-weekly 747-400 service since early September.
TAM took back an A330 subleased to an unnamed Middle East airline last week and will use it on routes from Brazil to London Heathrow beginning this weekend. TAM now operates 10 A330s. Separately, TAM will launch a second daily Sao Paulo Guarulhos-New York JFK service on Dec. 15 aboard an A330.
SkyWest Airlines named Suzanne Stephenson director-people programs and recruitment, Ryan Quinlan director-employee relations, compensation and performance and Amber Hunter director-corporate communications, development and marketing.
Air France KLM flew 17.01 billion RPKs in September, a 5.9% increase from the year-ago month. Capacity was up 6.2% to 20.55 billion ASKs and load factor fell 0.3 point to 82.8%. Lufthansa flew 10.09 billion RPKs in September, a rise of 0.9% over the year-ago month. Capacity increased 0.6% to 12.82 billion ASKs and load factor rose 0.2 point to 78.7%. Traffic grew on European and Asia/Pacific routes but declined on American and Middle East/African routes.
Finnair said Friday that it was returning to normal flight schedules "step by step" following a two-day strike by its cabin staff ( ATWOnline, Oct. 20).
Rising yields, record load factors and a significant gain resulting from the sale of a portion of its stake in Panama's Copa Airlines helped Continental Airlines post a $237 million third-quarter profit, nearly four times the $61 million earned in the three months ended Sept. 30, 2005.
Lufthansa said it will recruit 500 flight attendants and 250 staff for check-in and other ground services in Munich. "We see at our Munich hub a higher growth rate than we expected in earlier plans. We need more staff for ground and air services urgently," Munich Hub Manager Karl Ulrich Garnadt said. The airline said that 2.2 million passengers used the hub in September, an increase of 10% over the year-ago month.
Lufthansa Flight Training opened a new simulator center in Vienna that initially will accommodate one CAE A320 FFS. A second simulator--either another A320, a 737 or a 767--will be introduced by next summer depending on demand, LFT said. Eventually, four simulators will be housed at Lufthansa Flight Training Vienna, which will be used mainly by Austrian Airlines pilots. Austrian is LFT's biggest customer after LH. Crews from Germanwings, Niki, S7 Airlines and others also are using the new facility.
Northwest Airlines yesterday announced the completion of restructured agreements with Boeing and Rolls-Royce that will allow the bankrupt carrier to begin taking delivery of its 787s in August 2008. NWA placed an order for 18 Trent 1000-powered 787s, with purchase rights for an additional 50, last year ( ATWOnline, May 6, 2005).
Air Line Pilots Assn. elected a new president, signaling that its members are "prepared to move into a new period of strong, concerted action to rebuild their profession," according to the union. John Prater, a 767 captain with Continental Airlines, narrowly defeated two-term, eight-year incumbent Duane Woerth. "After five years of concessionary bargaining, lost pensions and battered work rules, our pilots are primed to take offensive action," Prater said.
AeroRepublica signed a lease agreement with GECAS for an Embraer 190 to be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2007. The Colombian carrier will take eight 190s through 2007, three from GECAS and five from the manufacturer.
Qantas is set for a showdown with Australian unions after it announced it will outsource its IT applications support and maintenance to Indian global service providers Satyam Computer Services and Tata Consulting Services starting next month. CEO Geoff Dixon said in a statement that it would cost Qantas A$100 million ($75.4 million) to develop its own "in-house capability in this area to industry best practice standard--an investment it could not support given the extensive capital expenditure program already underway." The shift will take 15 months and cost 340 jobs.
