Gol said its 2006 net income increased 10.9% year-over-year to BRL569.1 million ($266.2 million) on revenue of BRL3.8 billion. Net income for the fourth quarter was BRL92.7 million despite an estimated BRL150 million in lost revenue from "external effects," specifically the ATC disruptions that "negatively impacted load factors and yields." Fourth-quarter operating income was BRL112.3 million as traffic jumped 43.7% to 4.12 RPKs on a 56% lift in capacity to 6.07 billion ASKs. CASK decreased 11.1% in the quarter to BRL14.82 cents while nonfuel CASK lowered 5.7% to BRL9.36 cents.
Eleven private investor groups submitted expressions of interest to buy Alitalia, the Italian Economy Ministry announced late Monday. Among the interested parties, not including Air France KLM ( ATWOnline, Jan. 30), are Carlo De Benedetti's private equity fund Management & Capitali, Texas Pacific Group, AP Holding (led by Air One Chairman Carlo Toto), private equity fund MatlinPatterson Global Advisers, Italian banking group UniCredit SpA and Italian investor Paolo Alazraki.
Slovak Airlines ceased scheduled operations Tuesday after Austrian Airlines Group, which holds 62% of the carrier, took possession of its fleet, citing the Slovakian government's failure to honor a legal agreement. "One Fokker 100 and one Boeing 737-300 are the property of AAG and we have decided to immediately return the aircraft in order to guarantee that Group property is secure," an AAG spokesperson told ATWOnline, adding that one 737-200 will be left with Slovak for charter flights.
Alitalia flew 2.86 billion RPKs in December, down 2.3% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 2% to 4.14 billion ASKs and load factor dropped 0.2 point to 69%.
Delta Air Lines secured $2.5 billion in exit financing from six financial institutions as it plans to emerge from bankruptcy as a standalone carrier in the second quarter. JPMorgan, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, UBS and Barclays Capital each pledged financing, DL said. The funds will be used to repay the carrier's $2.1 billion debtor-in-possession credit facilities, make payments required upon exit and increase its cash balance.
In 2005 a disastrous fourth quarter dragged JetBlue Airways to its first full-year loss, while in 2006 a fourth-quarter turnaround saved the airline from what could have been another ugly 12-month result. JetBlue posted a $17 million profit in the final three months of 2006, a reversal from the $42 million hit that it took in the year-ago quarter, leaving it with a full-year deficit of just $1 million compared to 2005's $20.3 million loss.
US Airways Group reported 2006 net income of $303 million, reversed from a pro forma net loss of $335 million in 2005, results that Chairman and CEO Doug Parker said put the carrier in such a strong position that "we're not going to keep chasing" a merger with Delta Air Lines if DL's creditors' committee doesn't meet US's Feb. 1 deadline.
Alitalia Group expects to post a consolidated operating loss of about €380 million ($490.7 million) in 2006 on revenue of €4.33 billion, the company said in a statement Sunday following a request from the country's securities regulator. AZ's operating loss up to Nov. 30 was €197 million instead of the €364 million profit it had projected.
Sky Express, which is billing itself as Russia's first LCC, launched operations yesterday at Moscow Domodedovo. The startup is leasing two 737-300s and said it plans to add six more by June. According to its website, it will fly to Sochi, Murmansk, Rostov-on-Don and Tyumen. Yesterday's maiden flight was to Sochi, according to Russian press reports. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development reportedly contributed $10 million to Sky's $48 million initial capitalization, the Associated Press reported.
British Airways was able to avert a potentially damaging two-day cabin crew strike called for today and Wednesday, plus two further 72-hr. walkouts next month, by forging a last-minute agreement with the Transport & General Workers Union after negotiating through the weekend over sick leave, pay, staffing and pensions.
Japan Airlines flew 6.94 billion RPKs in December, down 8.4% from the year-ago month. Capacity decreased 5.1% to 10.9 billion ASKs, dropping load factor 2.3 points to 63.9%.
With its $10.2 billion offer to acquire Delta Air Lines set to expire Thursday, US Airways reportedly is willing to raise the cash portion of its bid to $6 billion from $5 billion if DL's creditors committee agrees to pressure the carrier's executives to allow due diligence to begin and to postpone a key bankruptcy hearing scheduled for next week. US yesterday neither confirmed nor denied the report, published in the The Wall Street Journal Monday.
Finnair appointed Anssi Komulainen senior VP-human resources, Kristina Inkilainen senior VP-catering and Sami Sarelius VP and general counsel. British Airways promoted BA World Cargo MD Gareth Kirkwood to director of operations for the airline, effective April 2. Steve Gunning, currently BWAC's finance head, will succeed Kirkwood.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard hinted yesterday that the government's approval of Aviation Partners Australia's A$11.1 billion ($8.58 billion) bid for Qantas will not be unconditional.
China Southern Airlines told the Shanghai Stock Exchange it will return to profitability in 2006 following a CNY1.79 billion ($229.9 million) loss in 2005, according to press reports. It will release its results in April. It said on its website that it will report CNY46.54 billion in revenue for 2006, of which more than 30% came from online sales.
Japan Airlines Group took a hatchet to its 165-route domestic network in its biggest overhaul since 9/11. Changes announced yesterday include introduction of one new route (a daily Kobe-Ishigaki service starting in July), a frequency increase on four, reductions on five and suspension of 10 regional domestic services. Key drivers of the change are the availability of more slots at Tokyo airports in FY09, a focus on yield and competitive pressures from ANA.
AirTran Airways parent AirTran Holdings posted 2006 net income of $15.5 million, nearly double the $8.1 million it earned in 2005, despite a fourth-quarter net loss of $3.3 million, reversed from a $369,000 profit in the year-ago quarter. "The year 2006 was very challenging with our average fuel prices again rising over 20% for the third year in a row," Chairman and CEO Joe Leonard said. Speaking of the fourth-quarter loss, President and COO Bob Fornaro added, "While we were profitable in November and December, these profits were insufficient to offset our losses in October."
Two Air Nostrum aircraft were forced to make emergency landings at Barcelona last week with landing gear problems. Two of 40 passengers aboard a CRJ200 were injured while arriving from Valladolid, the Iberia Regional franchise partner said. A Q300 with 23 passengers coming from Pamplona also made an emergency landing after having problems with its nose gear.
Emirates and Boeing are working to try and reduce the weight of the 747-8 Intercontinental so the airline can operate Dubai-Los Angeles with 400 passengers (a 50-ton payload) year round. "We need another 500 miles and we are not there yet," EK President Tim Clark said, indicating he wants more capacity than is available aboard the 777-200LR. "We think we can fill 400 seats a day."
Mesa Air Group's first fiscal quarter earnings fell 38% year-over-year to $8 million on a 7.4% increase in operating revenue to $347.6 million. Operating expenses were up nearly 10% from the year-ago quarter to $328.4 million owing to adverse weather, fuel and maintenance. Operating income was down 30% to $19 million. Mesa Chairman and CEO Jonathan Ornstein said he expects to see "steady improvements, quarter by quarter.
Air France KLM is actively pursuing its co-location strategy, opening a joint office last week in Brussels from where a single management team will oversee operations in Belgium and Luxembourg. A joint office is scheduled to open this week in Israel while the possibility of implementing a similar structure in Germany and Great Britain is being studied. "We are committed to move ahead with this co-location/joint management strategy unless there are some legal and practical restraints," KLM Senior VP and Area Manager-Benelux Bram Graber told ATWOnline.
Air Deccan parent Deccan Aviation reported a INR96.4 million ($2.2 million) net profit in the three months ended Dec. 31, its first profit since going public last summer, Reuters reported. The company lost INR429.4 million in the September quarter and INR3.4 billion in the 15 months ended June 2006, the news agency said. Last quarter's revenues of INR6.37 billion were boosted by the $100 million October sale of delivery rights to 60 A320s ( ATWOnline, Oct. 16, 2006) and a 4% rise in yields.
CAE said Shanghai Eastern Flight Training Co. ordered an A320 full flight simulator while an unidentified airline ordered a 737-800 FFS and an A330/A340 FFS and another unidentified carrier ordered two 777 FFSs. CAE valued the orders including additional flight training devices and buyer-furnished equipment at C$75 million.
