UPS said yesterday it ordered 27 767-300ERFs for delivery from 2009 to 2012. The aircraft, valued at more than $3.8 billion, are necessary to keep pace with international traffic demand and for fleet renewal, the company said. UPS was the launch customer for the first 767 freighter in 1995. The -300ERF can carry 24 containers on its upper deck and seven in the lower cargo compartments, according to the airline. It has a maximum payload of 132,200 lb. and a range of 3,000 nm.
British Midland, parent of bmi, announced Friday that it acquired control of London Heathrow-based British Mediterranean, a BA franchise partner since 1997, subscribing to approximately £30 million ($59 million) of new shares in BMED. "Bringing BMED into the bmi group creates a business with a turnover in excess of £1 billion with substantial growth opportunities. The acquisition enables the bmi group to accelerate its strategy of expansion into medium-haul markets," group CEO Nigel Turner said.
American Airlines flew 10.9 billion system RPMs in January, a 1.2% decline from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 1.3% to 14.49 billion ASMs and load factor dipped 0.1 point to 75.2%. Domestic RPMs were down 2.7% to 7 billion against a 2.3% fall in capacity to 9.27 billion ASMs, dropping load factor 0.3 point to 75.5%.
British Airways reported a £107 million ($210.3 million) net profit for the third fiscal quarter ended Dec. 31, a 13.7% drop from the £124 million earned in the year-ago quarter thanks to a "raft of external factors" that cost the carrier an estimated £40 million in revenue, CEO Willie Walsh said Friday.
Fraport appointed Matthias Zieschang CFO. He succeeds Stefan Schulte, who was appointed vice chairman effective April 1. Zieschang comes from DB Netz, a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn.
SkyTeam announced that it signed agreements with Air Europa, Copa Airlines and Kenya Airways "indicating the carriers are on track for official Associate Airline status." Signing ceremonies were held in the capital of each airline's home country. The trio will add 25 destinations to SkyTeam's network.
Pinnacle Airlines, which operates 127 CRJs as a Northwest Airlink partner, is in the market for large turboprops that may be placed with Colgan Air, which Pinnacle acquired last month for $20 million in cash and stock ( ATWOnline, Jan. 19). Pinnacle CFO Peter Hunt said the company is looking at both ATR 42s/72s and Q400s and a decision on an order for 20-25 70-seat aircraft could be placed within weeks.
Oneworld confirmed yesterday that Royal Jordanian, Japan Airlines and Malev Hungarian Airlines will join the alliance as full members on April 1. Five additional subsidiaries of JAL Group will join the same day as affiliates: JALways, Japan Asia Airways, JAL Express, J-AIR and Japan Transocean Air. At the same time, Aer Lingus will withdraw from the alliance ( ATWOnline, May 31, 2006). Three other airlines are lining up to join as affiliates in 2007: Dragonair, LAN Argentina and LAN Ecuador.
LAN Airlines is providing $17.1 million in financing to VRG Linhas Aereas, the "new" Varig. The loans may be converted into shares of the new airline, LAN said, which would make it a minority owner.
European Commission's proposal to include non-EU airlines in its Emissions Trading Scheme is "unlawful and unworkable," US State Dept. Deputy Assistant Secretary for Transportation Affairs John Byerly said at Thursday's American Bar Assn. forum in Washington.
AirTran Holdings said yesterday that it has extended the deadline on its exchange offer for shares in Midwest Air Group to March 8 from Feb. 8 "so that Midwest's shareholders can receive all the information they need." AirTran filed suit in the New York Supreme Court last week to force Midwest to release shareholder names ( ATWOnline, Jan.
Allegiant Air parent Allegiant Travel Co. reported a 19.9% rise in full-year net income to $8.7 million as the rapidly expanding company continued to build its leisure travel business. Allegiant increased its MD-80 fleet to 24 from 17 during 2006 and added 19 destinations including a new base at St. Petersburg-Clearwater and 29 new routes. Revenue soared 83.7% to $243.3 million against a 78.1% climb in expenses to $220.8 million, nearly tripling operating profit to $22.6 million from the $8.5 million earned in 2005.
American Airlines Maintenance Services and the Transport Workers Union, which represents AA's 27,000 maintenance workers, said yesterday that $175 million in customer revenue in 2007 is an attainable goal following the generation of $95 million worth of third-party maintenance in 2006.
Gulf Air named former Crossair and Swiss International Air Lines CEO Andre Dose, 49, as its new CEO. He will take office on April 1. Omani Minister of Transport and Communication Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdullah Al Harthy took over as chairman on Jan. 1.
Airline merger talk in the US market is expected to cool following US Airways' withdrawal of its offer for Delta Air Lines, particularly with many carriers posting their best earnings since the late 1990s.
THE FINAL DAYS OF 2006 SHOULD HAVE BEEN A time of quiet celebration and reflection for the employees and management of Midwest Airlines and its Skyway regional affiliate. After five years of red ink culminating in a loss of $64.9 million in 2005, the company at last appeared to be on the road to recovery, posting breakeven earnings of $1.7 million for the third quarter ended Sept. 30, much improved over a deficit of $26.9 million in third quarter of 2005.
After more than two months of back-and-forth rhetoric that spurred speculation of widespread US airline industry consolidation, US Airways yesterday withdrew its $10.2 billion offer to acquire Delta Air Lines, saying it was "now clear" the official DL creditors' committee would not back the bid "in a timely or productive manner."
Airline industry is facing the daunting challenge of training 340,000 new pilots by 2024 to meet growth and account for retirements, according to Alteon President Sherry Carbary. Speaking to ATWOnline in Sydney, Carbary said Alteon is pioneering ICAO's Multi-Crew Pilot License concept, which aims to produce first officers in just 15 months. MPL is under review by regulators around the globe and Alteon has launched a beta training program for 16 pilots at its Brisbane facility.
Assn. of Asia Pacific Airlines' 17 members released preliminary traffic results for 2006 indicating a 4.5% year-over-year rise in passenger numbers to 134 million. RPKs grew 3.9% and load factor reached a new high of 75.6%, up from 73.4% in 2005.
Virgin America announced that former US Secretary of Transportation and White House Chief of Staff Samuel Skinner will be vice chairman, which CEO Fred Reid said should "continue to demonstrate our compliance with the Department [of Transportation]'s citizenship requirements" ( ATWOnline, Jan. 19). The carrier also said that pending DOT certification, it intends to serve New York JFK, Washington Dulles, Los Angeles, San Diego and Las Vegas within nine months of launch. It is based in San Francisco.
ANA Group cited more frequencies, increased business travel and a bullish Japanese economy for a record nine-month net profit of ¥42.6 billion ($349.8 million) and record nine-month revenues of ¥1.13 trillion announced yesterday in Tokyo. Earnings represent a 42.5% improvement over the ¥29.9 billion earned in the first nine months of the previous fiscal year, while turnover rose 9.3% year-over-year. Profit for the fiscal third quarter ended Dec. 31, 2006, slipped 8.5% to ¥9.3 billion.
In a potentially damaging twist to the Qantas takeover saga, the carrier's board and members of the Airline Partners Australia consortium are under investigation for possible breaches of the country's insider trading laws, according to ABC Radio's "The World Today."
UPS reported 2006 net income of $4.2 billion, an 8.6% increase over a $3.87 billion profit in the prior year, on an 11.7% rise in revenue to $47.55 billion. Expenses grew 12.3% to $40.91 billion, leading to an operating profit of $6.64 billion, up 8%. "We anticipate another good year in our global small package business [in 2007] despite a slowing US economy," Vice Chairman and CFO Scott Davis said. "We're encouraged by the opportunities we see for our company around the globe."
Boeing reported 2006 net income of $2.22 billion, narrowed from $2.57 billion in the prior year, but pointed to a doubling of fourth-quarter net income to $969 million and a 33.2% surge in annual revenue for its Commercial Airplanes unit to $28.47 billion as evidence of "a very good year" and reason to boost its earnings guidance for 2007 and 2008.
