MTU Maintenance signed an open-ended contract with Cathay Pacific Airways for MRO on 15 CF6-50E2s powering 747-200Fs. Work will be performed at Hannover Langenhagen. Separately MTU Hannover named Uwe Blocker president and CEO, effective March 1.
Australian Treasurer Peter Costello assured the public that the A$11.1 billion ($8.7 billion) bid for Qantas by Airline Partners Australia will undergo intense scrutiny to ensure it falls within the national interest. Costello promised media last week that "scrutiny will be very vigorous" and the government intends to enforce the Qantas Sale Act, which prevents the airline from being majority foreign-owned.
Air France is increasing its presence at London City Airport and will launch eight new routes on March 26, bringing to 10 the number of destinations it serves from LCY. New services operated by AF subsidiary CityJet will be to Geneva, Madrid, Milan Linate, Nice and Zurich. The Dublin-based carrier already operates six daily flights to Paris Orly and five to DUB under a franchise agreement with AF. In codeshare with ScotAirways it will launch flights from LCY to Belfast City, Dundee and Edinburgh. With the additions, AF will have up to 70 daily flights from LCY.
EasyJet opened its 17th base yesterday at Madrid Barajas, where it will keep four new A319s that will operate three domestic, 13 European and two North African routes ( ATWOnline, Aug. 25, 2006). It expects to carry 2 million passengers through the airport this year. The LCC's MRO supplier, SR Technics, opened a line maintenance station at Barajas. New twice-daily services launched yesterday were to La Coruna and Asturias.
US Airways said its largest shareholder, PAR Investment Partners, sold 6.5 million shares "as part of its portfolio diversification strategy." PAR still holds 7 million shares and will retain its seat on the board.
Air Mauritania 737 was hijacked yesterday en route from Nouakchott to Nouadhibou. The armed hijacker reportedly demanded passage to France but the aircraft flew to Las Palmas, where he was arrested, according to press reports. Spanish officials said there were 71 passengers and eight crew onboard. Some reports indicated several passengers may have been injured.
LAN Airlines finished 2006 $241.3 million in the black, a 64.6% improvement over the $146.6 million earned in 2005, and said its performance "provides a solid base for long-term growth and profitability" that will include a 19%-21% capacity increase in 2007. Full-year revenues rose 21.1% to $3.03 billion against a 15.5% lift in expenses to $2.73 billion, more than doubling operating profit to $302.6 million from the $141.6 million earned a year earlier.
British Airways flew 8.87 billion RPKs in January, down 2.8% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 1.5% to 12.76 billion ASKs, dropping load factor 3 points to 69.5%.
Estonian Air flew 689,800 passengers in 2006, a 7.3% increase over 2005. Load factor rose 1 point to 62%. Chairman Olev Schults said the airline suffered a net loss for the year, "caused mainly by the considerably lower than expected market growth, a series of technical problems and consequent extraordinary costs." The company will publish its results in April.
Northwest Airlines plans to emerge from bankruptcy by the end of the second quarter with an anticipated equity value of $6.5-$7.7 billion, according to its disclosure statement filed yesterday with a US Bankruptcy Court.
TAM reported full-year unit revenues of BRL0.21 ($0.10), a 2.5% improvement over its 2005 performance. Yields fell 1.9% to BRL0.29 and load factor rose 3.3 points to 73.9%. Unit cost dropped 4.3% to BRL0.18, or 5.9% to BRL0.12 excluding fuel. The airline said it exceeded its 2006 guidance in all categories save CASK, which it forecast cutting by 5%. It said the 6.7% year-over-year rise in fuel costs was the cause. Fourth-quarter RASK decreased 6.3% to BRL0.19 against a 9.8% decline in CASK to BRL0.17, or 6.5% to BRL0.11 excluding fuel.
Republic Airways reported $79.5 million in net income for 2006, a 31.1% increase over the $60.7 million earned in 2005, as revenues grew 26.3% to $1.14 billion and operating income surged 33.9% to $212.6 million. Expenses climbed 24.7% to $930.5 million, primarily due to increases in maintenance and landing fees as well as "transition costs" associated with new flying for Continental Airlines and US Airways.
WestJet earned C$114.7 million ($97.8 million) for 2006, widened from net earnings of C$24 million in the prior year and the highest profit in the Calgary-based LCC's 10-year history.
Thai Airways announced that it will buy eight A330-200s to cover a shortfall in capacity resulting from the A380 delays. Thai President Apinan Sumanaseni made the announcement in Bangkok. The airline will receive its A380s in 2011 instead of 2009. Last year, Airbus leased 19 A330s to Singapore Airlines ( ATWOnline, July 24, 2006) and sold four A330s to Qantas ( ATWOnline, Dec.
Hard hit by heavy Chapter 11-related restructuring costs, Delta Air Lines yesterday reported a $6.2 billion net loss for 2006, widened from $3.8 billion in red ink in the prior year and bringing its net loss for the two-year period to $10 billion. Excluding reorganization and special items, however, its full-year net loss was just $406 million, greatly improved compared to a $2.21 billion loss on a similar basis in 2005.
Qantas yesterday said the termination of its transtasman agreement with Air New Zealand ( ATWOnline, Nov. 16, 2006) resulted in the convertible notes issued by ANZ to QF in 2002 being converted into 44.2 million new ordinary shares. As a result, Qantas will own approximately 4.2% of ANZ's ordinary shares.
SunExpress, the Lufthansa-Turkish Airlines joint venture, said it will order two more 737-800s, bringing its fleet to 11 -800s and four 757-200s. The new aircraft will be delivered in April and May. "It is the first time that we have bought aircraft and not leased them," MD Paul Schwaiger said at a news conference in Istanbul. He said SunExpress transported around 2.35 million passengers in 2006, up 34% from 2005, with a load factor of 79.4%. Turnover rose 24% to €244 million ($316.9 million).
S7 Airlines flew 4.9 million passengers in 2006, a 16.4% increase over the prior year. Traffic rose 14.2% to 12.5 billion RPKs, of which 60% was domestic and 40% international. The carrier added six A319s, four A310s, two 737-400s and two 737-500s last year, bringing its foreign-built fleet to 25. It also operates 27 Tu-154Ms and nine Il-86s. It became the second Russian airline to pass the IATA Operational Safety Audit. Last week it announced the issue of 2.3 million bonds worth RUB1,000 ($38.05) each.
Citing "dynamic" passenger activity, "buoyant unit revenues" and a "favorable economic backdrop" that included a drop in oil prices to year-ago levels, Air France KLM Group reported that its net profit tripled to €229 million ($297.4 million) for the fiscal third quarter ended Dec. 31 from €77 million in the year-ago period.
LOT Polish Airlines named Marek Mazur chairman and CEO, according to press reports. He comes from outside the company and replaces Tomasz Dembski, who took over in November for the fired Krzysztof Kapis.
Midwest Airlines flew 302.4 million RPMs in January, a 15% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 8.5% to 448.6 million ASMs and load factor rose 3.8 points to 67.4%. It estimated a 0.3% increase in yield to 12.1 cents and a 6.2% rise in passenger RASM to 8.16 cents.
Continental Airlines said it will distribute $111 million in profit-sharing to employees today. It marks the carrier's first profit-sharing payment since 2001 and is the highest in its history. CO reported a 2006 net profit of $343 million.
Lufthansa yesterday revealed details of its plan to take the A380 on a series of route-proving tests next month that will include the jumbo jet's first landing in the US.
BCI Aircraft Leasing of Chicago announced the sale and leaseback of two Alitalia A321-100s. It was BCI's first deal with AZ. Other recently concluded deals include the purchase of an A330-300 leased by LTU from Alex Leasing and two A340-300s on lease to Air Namibia from a consortium of European banks. Aircraft were the first Airbus widebodies acquired by BCI.
Germanwings said its 2006 revenues rose 39% year-over-year to €560 million ($727.4 million) and passenger numbers climbed 31% to 7.1 million. It currently operates 24 aircraft and plans to add five A319s this year.
