UK airports operator BAA said yesterday it is spending an additional £40 million ($78.5 million) to hire 1,400 extra security guards and open 22 new security lanes across its seven airports in order to reduce lines to 5 min. or less "95% of the time." It also said it is planning a "multibillion-pound investment program" that will "add vital new facilities, improve existing terminals and add significantly to the UK's overall airport capacity" by 2012.
Hawaiian Airlines told the US Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday that it expects first-quarter yield to fall 11%-12% from the 11.66 cents reported in the first quarter of 2006 owing to "intensified price competition" on services to the US mainland and the "continuing impact of increased industry capacity" on inter-island routes since Mesa Air Group's go! launched service last June ( ATW, December 2006). First-quarter capacity will rise 13.8% and load factor is expected to fall 0.6 point to 87%.
US Airways Group yesterday completed a $1.6 billion, seven-year debt refinancing transaction arranged by Citigroup Global Markets and Morgan Stanley Senior Funding that it said will improve "liquidity over the next seven years by reducing principal payments and lowering near-term interest expense." Upon finalization of the refinancing, US extinguished a $1.25 billion senior secured credit facility and a $325 million unsecured debt facility.
Flyglobespan earned a pre-tax profit of £4.7 million in the fiscal year ended Oct. 31, down 24.2% from a £6.2 million pre-tax profit in the prior year, according to the Scottish LCC's annual report cited yesterday by The Herald. The drop largely was the result of a £2.7 million charge related to aircraft acquisition. The airline intends to operate 13 737s, three 757s and five 767s by year end, Chairman Tom Dalrymple said. FY revenue rose 27% to £208 million and operating profit fell 5.7% to £5.2 million. Passenger boardings grew 25.4% to 1.8 million.
Lufthansa Technik is investing up to $500 million in preparing for the A380, Chairman August Hennigsen told ATWOnline during last week's proving flight from Frankfurt to New York JFK ( ATWOnline, March 20). "We intend to offer complete MRO support for the aircraft," he said, noting that LHT acquired expertise as its engineers were involved in the A380 specification. LHT also was involved closely in defining Lufthansa's cabin and IFE configuration.
Northwest Airlines' disclosure statement was approved by a US Bankruptcy Court yesterday, clearing the way for the company to seek approval from creditors for its plan to emerge from Chapter 11 by the end of the second quarter with an anticipated equity value of $6.5-$7.7 billion.
Days after the release of an Indonesian Directorate General of Civil Aviation report that found that none of the country's 20 major airlines meets all safety standards and just three weeks after it suffered a fatal 737-400 accident in Yogyakarta, Garuda Indonesia appears to be planning for the future with a significant 737NG order and a return to profitability.
Airbus and Lufthansa continued the A380 route-proving program through yesterday, flying the aircraft between Germany and Hong Kong and then to the US for a demonstration flight over Washington. ATWOnline was a guest on both flights.
GECAS and Lynxs Holdings of Texas have formed a 50/50 joint venture, Lynxs Group, to develop, finance and manage new air cargo facilities. GE holds an option to expand its stake over the next five years. The companies did not announce potential sites.
Assn. of European Airlines named Athar Husain Khan, formerly of KLM, as GM-infrastructure. Boeing named 787 program CFO Craig Saddler as president of Boeing Australia.
China Southern Air Holding Co., parent of China Southern Airlines, announced its intention to launch a reform next month of the company's split-share structure, which comprises noncirculating and publicly traded shares. But it must overcome significant hurdles if it is to match Air China and China Eastern Airlines, which completed similar reforms at the end of 2006. The intention is to turn the state-owned noncirculating shares into circulating shares. China Southern said its A shares suspended trading Friday and it plans to release further details to shareholders on April 9.
Marek Mazur is out as CEO of LOT Polish Airlines after just 38 days, according to press reports from Warsaw. His replacement, when named, will be the airline's fourth CEO since last fall ( ATWOnline, Feb. 15). Mazur told Polish television he did not know why he was let go, according to the Associated Press, but several reports indicated that the Ministry of the Treasury was against the appointment from the start and ousted Mazur once it secured the backing of "bankruptcy officers" on LOT's board.
European transport ministers, in addition to approving the EU-US open skies agreement last week, established an "equalization mechanism" or fund to ensure airlines launching new services over Siberia do not gain competitive advantage over those currently paying overflight charges. Last fall Russia agreed to phase out the charges by 2013 and said carriers starting new services before that date would be exempt ( ATWOnline, Nov. 28, 2006). The regulation will apply from Sept.
Air Canada introduced subscription flight passes in the US allowing customers unlimited air travel for a flat monthly rate for three or six months or a predetermined number of flights during a 12-month period. Passes can be bought for specific zones in the US or the whole country and prices include airport fees, charges and taxes and feature AC's various fare/benefit levels ( ATWOnline, Oct.
Airline Partners Australia's A$11.1 billion ($8.96 billion) bid for Qantas hit considerable turbulence Friday when Balanced Equity Management, which holds approximately 4% of the carrier, informed the Australian Stock Exchange that it would not accept the offer.
Lufthansa flew 7.94 billion RPKs in February, up 8.5% on the year-ago month. Capacity grew 5% to 10.92 billion ASKs and load factor rose 2.3 points to 72.7%. Singapore Airlines flew 6.86 billion RPKs in February, a 6.9% climb from the year-ago month. Capacity was up 2.1% to 8.6 billion ASKs and load factor rose 3.6 points to 79.8%. Iberia flew 3.98 billion RPKs in February, a 7.5% increase from the year-ago month. Capacity was up 2.3% to 4.98 billion ASKs, lifting load factor 3.9 points to 80%.
A year "marked by increasingly complex and serious problems" ended with a stunning €405.2 million ($541.7 million) pre-tax loss for Alitalia, which nevertheless promised that it possesses sufficient cash to cover operational and financial costs "for a period well in excess of 12 months."
US District Court in Hawaii denied a request by Mesa Air Group to dismiss a complaint filed by its inter-island competitor, Aloha Airlines, which accused Mesa of predatory pricing and fraud ( ATWOnline, Oct. 17, 2006). Aloha and rival Hawaiian Airlines each allege that Mesa illegally used proprietary information acquired when considering acquiring or investing in the bankrupt island carriers for last summer's launch of its low-cost go! subsidiary.
Virgin Nigeria this week launched thrice-daily Lagos-Port Harcourt service aboard F50s. It also increased twice-weekly flights to Sokoto from Lagos and Abuja to thrice-weekly. Separately, it named Head of Planning Adeola Bali finance director.
Delta Air Lines flew 7.94 billion system RPMs in February, a 2.6% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity rose 2.8% to 10.71 billion ASMs and load factor dipped 0.2 point to 74.1%. Domestic RPMs fell 5% to 5.65 billion against a 5% decline in ASMs to 7.46 billion, leaving load factor at 75.8%. International traffic rose 27.7% to 2.89 billion RPMs, capacity grew 27% to 3.26 billion ASMs and load factor was up 0.4 point to 70.3%. Ryanair transported 3.2 million passengers in February, up 24% from the year-ago month. Load factor fell 1 point to 77%.
El Al lost $44.4 million in 2006 owing to capacity increases driven by heightened competition and the war in Lebanon, Israeli business daily Globes reported. Sales rose 3% to $1.66 billion but the number of available seats climbed 21%.
US legacy airlines do not plan to ramp up capacity this year despite posting their best full-year financial results since 2000. "I think you'll continue to see very modest capacity growth, particularly domestically," Continental Airlines Chairman and CEO Larry Kellner told the JP Morgan Aviation and Transportation Conference, available via webcast, this week. The 11 largest US carriers (including America West Airlines, part of US Airways Group) reported a 1% decrease in domestic capacity in 2006.
Aeroflot yesterday followed up on its verbal commitment to the A350 XWB by signing an MOU with Airbus for the purchase of 22 of the model. CEO Valery Okulov promised reporters at a news conference last week that the carrier was close to a deal ( ATWOnline, March 16). Neither Airbus nor Aeroflot specified the type(s) of A350s ordered. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in 2015, SU said.
LAN Airlines yesterday converted 15 options for A320 family aircraft into firm orders. The options were part of the carrier's 2005 order for 25 firm A318s and A319s ( ATWOnline, July 1, 2005). LAN and its affiliates currently operate 15 A319s and 15 A320s, Airbus said.
American Airlines will make an announcement regarding fleet renewal "in short order," according to Chairman and CEO Gerard Arpey, who conceded that the carrier's more than 300 MD-80s burn too much fuel. He said 737NGs may be a viable replacement.
