TAP Portugal and Espirito Santo International signed the contract for TAP's acquisition of 99.81% of PGA Portugalia Airlines. Purchase price was "some €140 million," according to a statement, and thus higher than the price indicated by TAP CEO Fernando Pinto last week ( ATWOnline, Oct. 1). TAP also is purchasing PGA's 6% holding in the Groundforce handling company for €4 million.
SN Brussels Airlines and Virgin Express announced that Brussels Airlines will be the name of the merged company, a "new-generation" carrier that will meet "the real needs of...both business and low-cost travelers: Flexibility, service and timesaving for the former, and the lowest fare guarantee for the latter."
Airbus announced a 12-year agreement with Skybus Airlines of Ohio for a Total Support Package covering the 65 A319s that the startup LCC purchased last month ( ATWOnline, Oct. 27). Airbus said the deal "is the most comprehensive selection ever of Airbus fleet maintenance solutions built on the Air+ by Airbus services." The manufacturer selected MRO network partner Singapore Technologies Aerospace and Messier Bugatti to provide the support. Skybus expects to launch service next spring.
Finnair reported a third-quarter net profit of €10.3 million ($13.1 million), narrowed 61% from net income of €26.4 million in the year-ago quarter, and said it will cut jobs and outsource "some operations" in an effort to lower operating expenses.
Continental Airlines estimated a 4.5%-5.5% year-over-year rise in October consolidated RASM and a 5%-6% increase in mainline RASM and said September consolidated and mainline RASM each gained 4.8% over the year-ago month. CO flew 7.26 billion consolidated RPMs in October, up 9.5% over October 2005, against a 6.8% rise in ASMs to 9.16 billion. Load factor rose 2 points to 79.3%. Domestic traffic climbed 8% to 3.58 billion RPMs, capacity increased 4.4% to 4.32 billion ASMs and load factor was up 2.9 points to 83.1%.
MAIR Holdings, parent company of Mesaba Airlines and Big Sky Airlines, narrowed its second fiscal quarter net loss to $2.5 million from the $25.5 million deficit posted in the three months ended Sept. 30, 2005, which was attributable in large part to the bankruptcy filing of Northwest Airlines. MAIR officials attributed the loss primarily to expenses related to Mesaba's Chapter 11 reorganization. The Northwest Airlink carrier, which currently operates 49 Saabs, had its fleet reduced over the past year by 40 aircraft by NWA.
Ryanair outperformed market expectations as it reported a 23.7% increase in second fiscal quarter net profit to €213.4 million ($271.3 million) from €172.5 million in the year-ago period and raised its profit guidance for the year to next March 31 by 16% to €350 million, up around 11% from its previous guidance of €335 million.
Aeroflot's board said last week that production of the Sukhoi Superjet 100, for which the Russian flag carrier became the launch customer with an order for 30 ( ATWOnline, June 1), "is being realized in conformity with the schedule and working plan." The RRJ is scheduled to be certified and delivered in 2008.
Lufthansa will wait until after Airbus firmly commits to the A350 XWB before making a decision on buying a 250-seat long-haul aircraft, VP-Americas Jens Bischof told reporters in Washington last week. The carrier will compare the revamped A350 with the 787. "We'll see who has the better product once the A350 redesign is done," he said.
Emirates reported a $323 million net profit for the first half of its fiscal year, widened from $251 million in the year-ago period, on a 30% jump in revenues to $3.67 billion, marking the highest first-half profit in its history. "The results reflect a strong revenue performance driven by robust passenger and cargo demand, and better yields, which softened the impact of high fuel prices on operating costs," the airline said in a statement.
TNT yesterday officially completed the sale of its logistics unit to Apollo Management for $1.9 billion ( ATWOnline, May 5). The Dutch express delivery company last week also signaled its intention to sell off its Freight Management freight forwarding business. Both sales are part of its effort to divest itself of high-revenue, low-margin units and concentrate on growing its "core" mail and express delivery business, CEO Peter Bakker said.
Ryanair flew 3.7 million passengers in October, a 23.4% rise over the year-ago month. Load factor fell 2 points to 83%. JetBlue Airways flew 1,86 billion RPMs in October, a 16.3% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 15.7% to 2.36 billion ASMs and load factor rose 0.4 point to 78.8%. Royal Jordanian transported 145,000 passengers in October, a 19% increase over the year-ago month. It operated 2,077 flights during the month compared to 1,570 in October 2005.
Copa Holdings, parent of Copa Airlines and AeroRepublica, announced last week that it secured a $240 million loan from DVB Bank, Natexis Transport Finance and NORD/LB to finance the acquisition of 10 Embraer 190s due for delivery through next year.
Third annual FAA International Aviation Safety Forum took place last week in Washington and some 500 aviation professionals from 50 countries shared their concerns about the challenges in maintaining safety standards in increasingly crowded skies. "Right now, the commercial fatal accident rate in the US is about two fatal accidents for every 10 million takeoffs," FAA Administrator Marion Blakey said.
Air France Industries and KLM Engineering & Maintenance are looking into uniting under one brand, KLM E&M VP-Marketing, Sales & Customer Services Rob Pruim told ATWOnline at MRO Europe in Amsterdam. "We haven't taken any decision," he stressed, "but we have appointed consultants to see what the possibilities are.
ATR is opening a new office in Sydney to serve customers in Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific islands. Since January 2005 it has booked orders for 86 turboprops from Asia/Pacific carriers.
Turkish Technic, a wholly owned subsidiary of Turkish Airlines founded last May as a profit center, is moving ahead with a new heavy maintenance facility, dubbed HABOM, at Sabiha Gokcen International Airport in Istanbul.
Lufthansa generates half of its transatlantic sales from US-based customers, new VP-Americas Jens Bischof told reporters in Washington Friday, a fact that makes the airline particularly supportive of an EU-US open skies treaty. The negotiations are "a very long and tough process," he said. "But it has to happen--better sooner than later. The strong airlines will benefit and the weaker will struggle. The weakest will not survive, which is needed to get rid of excess capacity.
LAN Argentina and LAN Ecuador will join oneworld, the alliance announced last week. LAN Airlines of Chile became a full member in June 2000 along with LAN Express and LAN Peru. LAN Argentina and LAN Ecuador will become affiliate members "as soon as the necessary joining technicalities can be completed," which the alliance said would be "as early as possible" next year. Japan Airlines, Malev Hungarian Airlines and Royal Jordanian also will join in 2007.
Hit hard by the August terrorist scare and subsequent security measures, British Airways took a slight step backward after three consecutive quarters of rising profits, posting net earnings of £168 million ($320.5 million) in the fiscal second quarter ended Sept. 30, down 1.8% from a £171 million profit in the year-ago quarter.
Aer Lingus board on Friday strongly advised shareholders to take no action on Ryanair's hostile takeover offer of €2.80 ($3.53) per share, dismissing it as "ill-conceived, contradictory and anticompetitive." In a circular, the board told shareholders that the Ryanair offer "significantly undervalues Aer Lingus [and] ignores Aer Lingus' excellent prospects as an independent company." At its current offer price, Ryanair would be buying EI "at a significant discount," the board concluded.
Bulgaria Air will be sold to Balkan Hemus Group, the Bulgarian government announced Thursday. Hemus, which outbid Air One for the flag carrier ( ATWOnline, Oct. 19), will buy a 99.99% stake. It plans to invest €62 million ($79.1 million) over the next two years and €82.1 million in the next five, launching service to 36 new destinations.
AerCap Holdings, the Netherlands-based aircraft lessor, yesterday submitted a filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed US initial public offering of 26.1 million ordinary shares. It said the shares will be offered at $22-$24 each. "The securities to be offered in the proposed IPO will include shares to be issued and sold by AerCap as well as shares to be sold by shareholders of AerCap," the company said in statement, adding that the shares are expected to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AER.
In a significant departure from the LCC one-plane-fits-all strategy, Australia's Virgin Blue yesterday ordered three Embraer 170s and 11 190s plus six options. The aircraft will replace 737-800s on some thinner routes while adding frequency at off-peak times on others. The carrier said they will be used to expand domestic and regional markets. The airline, which currently operates a fleet of 53 737s, is Embraer's first customer in Australia.
