Cathay Pacific Airways flew 6.02 billion RPKs in October, a 9.1% increase from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 4.8% to 7.58 billion ASKs, lifting load factor 3.1 points to 79.4%.
Kingfisher Airlines and Pratt & Whitney signed a $300 million agreement at a Washington ceremony yesterday covering 10 PW4000-100 engines to power the carrier's five ordered A330s as well as one spare engine, 10 options and an exclusive overhaul and repair program. The deal, first announced at Farnborough, will be worth $500 million if all options are exercised. The US Dept. of Commerce hosted the signing to highlight the growing trade relationship between the US and India and several dignitaries, including FAA Administrator Marion Blakey, were on hand.
Lufthansa Technik is offering an Oil Smell Detection Service to eliminate unconfirmed engine or APU removals following oil smells in the cabin. The tool, for which a patent is pending, allows rapid on-wing diagnosis and spares a carrier the associated costs of removing an intact engine. "Every engine dismantled costs the operator at least $350,000 in expenses for C check, transport, capital cost and minor shop visit.
WestJet will operate seasonal Halifax-Tampa service weekly from March 13 to May 1. It also will add frequencies from Toronto to Fort Lauderdale, Tampa and Nassau Jan. 8-April 28. WestJet flew 826.3 million RPMs in October, up 24% from the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 22% to 1.1 billion ASMs and load factor rose 1.4 points to 74.9%.
Norwegian is taking SAS Braathens back to court, this time in an attempt to secure financial damages, according to press reports. Braathens was acquitted in a September criminal trial of illegally accessing Norwegian's reservations system ( ATWOnline, June 14) but paid a NOK400,000 ($62,300) fine for misusing confidential business information. Norwegian now wants a civil court to award further damages.
Air Transport Assn. promoted Director-Government Affairs Marc Gonzales to VP-congressional affairs. President and CEO James May said Gonzales "has made great contributions in shaping public policy."
British Airways yielded to union concerns over its effort to raise the normal retirement age to 65 from 55 for aircrew and 60 for ground staff as part of a series of concessions required to tackle the £2.1 billion deficit in the New Airways Pension Scheme ( ATWOnline, Nov. 16). "The airline has now included the option of a normal retirement age of 60 in return for increased contribution rates," BA said.
Alitalia flew 3.4 billion RPKs in October, up 2.6% on the year-ago month. Capacity rose 1.7% to 4.51 billion ASKs and load factor improved 0.7 point 75.3%.
Vueling Airlines expects to lose €7.1 million ($9.1 million) this year but to post profits of €24.2 million in 2007 and €36.2 million in 2008, according to a regulatory filing and IPO prospectus cited by press reports.
Calling itself "a pro-consumer maverick," US Airways moved quickly Friday to head off an antitrust challenge to its proposed $8 billion takeover of Delta Air Lines, asserting in a government filing that the "New Delta" will offer "consumer-friendly fares" and will not stifle competition in a market in which LCCs play a significant role.
Air France KLM Group expects to decide on Wednesday whether it will launch a new carrier focusing on the medium-haul leisure market. The startup would be modeled on its Amsterdam-based transavia.com subsidiary, which offers a mixture of charter and scheduled low-fare flights, and would be based at Paris Orly South. It would operate a fleet of 186-seat 737-800s to a selection of popular tourist destinations such as Morocco, Tunisia and Spain.
Southwest Airlines yesterday unveiled 33 new nonstop flights across 26 city-pairs. From March 11 it will launch thrice-daily Baltimore/Washington-Pittsburgh, twice-daily Dallas Love Field-Birmingham, twice-daily San Diego-Reno/Tahoe and twice-daily Cleveland-Orlando service along with additional daily frequencies across 18 city-pairs. It also will add frequencies from Chicago Midway on March 17 and April 15. Separately, SWA's board authorized a new share repurchase program to acquire up to $400 million of the company's common stock, or approximately 25.1 million shares.
Regional Express Holdings, which operates as Rex, posted a A$5.7 million profit in the first fiscal quarter, up 46% from the year-ago period, and raised its FY forecast to a 20% year-over-year increase in net profit. First-quarter passenger numbers grew 20%, load factor rose 3 points to 68% and passenger revenue surged 22.3%. Costs climbed 8.5%.
TAP Maintenance & Engineering is working to become a significant third-party player in South America following its acquisition of VEM-Varig Engineering and Maintenance earlier this year ( ATWOnline, Oct. 4). TAP, which led the consortium that purchased the Brazilian company, invested €20 million in the recently renamed VEM Maintenance & Engineering, in which it holds a 51.1% stake.
Net income for the 17 member airlines of the Assn. of Asia Pacific Airlines plummeted 69% to $1.2 billion for the 2005-06 fiscal year against an increase of 11.3%, 2.3 points above the global average, in operating revenue to $68.1 billion. Meanwhile, operating costs surged 15.9%, 7 points above the global average. The main culprit was fuel costs, which jumped 43% to $18.8 billion.
TAM, already the largest Airbus operator in Latin America, signed a contract for 12 A319s, 16 A320s, three A321s and six A330s that brings the number of A320 family aircraft on firm order to 56. It also took 12 options. The deal finalizes an MOU signed in June ( ATWOnline, June 29). TAM currently operates 14 A319s, 48 A320s and 10 A330-200s.
US Airways' bid to acquire bankrupt Delta Air Lines raises questions about the future of the regional airlines that have service agreements with the mainline carriers and compete on a number of routes.
US Airways and America West Airlines pilot groups, represented by the Air Line Pilots Assn., conducted informational picketing yesterday in Charlotte and Phoenix, upset that the company is looking to acquire Delta Air Lines even though it "has yet to complete the integration of the pilot groups that is required" by terms of last year's US/AWA merger. "So far, the company's empty promises have failed to capture all the synergies that just the US Airways/America West merger can provide," US Airways ALPA MEC Chairman Jack Stephan said.
The US airline industry is taking stock of US Airways Group's $8 billion takeover bid for bankrupt Delta Air Lines ( ATWOnline, Nov. 16), a deal that would reshape the landscape of the world's largest commercial aviation market but must overcome significant hurdles before coming to fruition.
Iberia flew 4.65 billion RPKs in October, a 4.4% rise from the year-ago month. ASKs climbed 1.4% to 5.63 billion, lifting load factor 2.3 points to an October-record 82.6%.
US Airways Group continued its one-airline assault on the US airline market structure with an $8 billion bid to merge with Delta Air Lines as part of that carrier's bankruptcy restructuring. The bid comes as US and America West Airlines continue their own integration into a single airline after America West acquired US Airways Group out of bankruptcy in 2005.
SAS Group airlines flew 3.57 billion RPKs in October, a 5.1% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity was up 6.7% to 4.96 billion ASKs, dropping load factor 1.1 points to 71.9%. SAS Scandinavian Airlines flew 2.54 billion RPKs, a 2.2% decline, against a 0.3% increase in ASKs to 3.42 billion. Load factor fell 1.9 points to 74.3%. Spanair flew 683 million RPKs in October, up 23.9% from the year-ago month. ASKs rose 19.3% to 987 million and load factor climbed 2.6 points to 69.2%.
Copa Holdings, parent of Panama's Copa Airlines and Colombia's AeroRepublica, posted third-quarter net income of $37.2 million, widened 34.6% from a $27.7 million profit in the year-ago quarter, on a 29.6% jump in revenues to $230.6 million. The growing company said the quarter was its best ever in terms of earnings. Copa Airlines added five new destinations in the quarter and plans to launch Panama City-Rio de Janeiro service next month. It will take delivery of two Embraer 190s before year end, bringing its fleet to 30 aircraft.
AirTran Airways and Frontier Airlines have linked their loyalty programs and created a phone/Web-based referral system that will make both networks available to customers of either airline, a move the pair called a "landmark marketing partnership between low-cost carriers."
Fons Eignarhaldsfelag investment firm of Iceland, which owns Iceland Express, has acquired a 51% stake in the UK's Astraeus for £5 million. Astraeus operates four 757s and two 737-700s and is based at London Gatwick and Manchester International. Its board will be restructured, with a supervisory board comprising two representatives from Fons, one from Astraeus management and one from minority shareholder Aberdeen Asset Management. Fons said Astraeus's revenue for the fiscal year ended Oct.
