ANA cited continued economic recovery in Japan and "strong demand for individual and international business travel" for a more than threefold growth in net profit in the first fiscal quarter ended June 30. The carrier earned ¥7.6 billion ($66.3 million) compared to ¥2.1 billion in the year-ago period. It said it will not change its full-year forecast of ¥27 billion in earnings on revenues of ¥1.42 trillion because of fuel costs, which it said rose ¥9.5 billion in the first quarter.
Iberia's efforts to return its Barcelona operations to normal following Friday's action by ground workers ( ATWOnline, July 31) included the transfer of more than 100 employees from other airports, two additional aircraft and the placement of extra staff on all shifts until Wednesday, it said yesterday, adding that the airport "is now operating normally" although the carrier is still working on shipping baggage.
Northwest Airlines flight attendants set up a showdown with the bankrupt carrier late yesterday, rejecting the tentative agreement reached two weeks ago in "around-the-clock negotiations" between NWA and the Assn. of Flight Attendants-CWA ( ATWOnline, July 18) by a vote of 3,266 to 2,637. "Our members have spoken. These drastic cuts to our pay, benefits and work rules are simply unacceptable," AFA-CWA Interim MEC President Mollie Reiley said.
Heavy losses on its startup international operations dragged Jet Airways to a INR450 million ($9.7 million) loss in the first fiscal quarter ended June 30 from a INR953 million profit in the year-ago period. And the carrier issued a warning on the domestic front as well, saying that it has concern for the industry "in view of irrational pricing by airlines simply seeking to gain market share."
AirTran Airways will launch daily Gulfport/Biloxi-Fort Lauderdale service on Aug. 29 Bmi regional will increase frequency on its Edinburgh-Manchester route to six daily weekday flights from Sept. 4. It also canceled its Leeds Bradford-Cork service. Flyglobespan will launch daily Liverpool-Newark service on May 25, 2007.
Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings said yesterday it will pay off approximately $141 million of principal under two aircraft financing facilities using cash from existing balances and will terminate an existing revolving credit facility with no borrowings outstanding.
DHL yesterday signed a multimillion-dollar, two-year agreement with Electrolux, a leading producer of powered appliances, to serve as the company's exclusive global air express services provider.
Avion Group announced the following changes to its Aviation Services division, which comprises Air Atlanta Icelandic, Avion Aircraft Trading, Avia Technical Services and Southair: VP-Finance and assisting CEO Hannes Hilmarsson is the new CEO of Air Atlanta, replacing Hafthor Hafsteinsson, who will be the carrier's chairman. AAI VP-Sales and Marketing David Masson is the new CEO of AAT, replacing Hafsteinsson, who will become executive chairman and remain CEO of Aviation Services. Johann Karason is AAI's new VP-sales and marketing.
WestJet announced the completion of a debt financing facility for C$191.1 million ($168.9 million) to support the purchase of five 737-600s and one dash 700. It took delivery of the first aircraft, a dash 600, last week and will take the remaining five this year. The facility was arranged by ING capital, is supported by guarantees from the US Export-Import Bank and includes ING Financial Holdings Corp. and Societe Generale as lenders. The loan will be drawn in separate installments with 12-year terms for each aircraft.
European Regions Airline Assn. said member carrier flew 8.4% more RPKs in the March quarter against a 7.3% increase in capacity. Load factor was a first-quarter record 57.9%, up 0.9 point on the year-ago quarter.
Malaysia Airlines MD Idris Jala told reporters yesterday that the airline will raise domestic economy fares 15% and business class fares 25% effective Aug. 15 in addition to a 25%-42% fuel surcharge increase on domestic routes beginning today, when the reconfiguration of Malaysia's domestic airline route network takes effect. MAS will operate 22 trunk routes and AirAsia will take the rest.
United Airlines parent UAL Corp. posted $119 million in net income for the period ended June 30, its first full quarter since emerging from bankruptcy and a vast improvement over the $1.4 billion it lost in the year-ago quarter. The results, marking the company's first profitable quarter since 2000, reaffirmed an earnings preview it released last week ( ATWOnline, July 25). Second-quarter revenues were $5.1 billion, up 15% from $4.4 billion generated by a restructuring UAL in the year-ago quarter.
Northwest Airlines is seeking to lower its annual fleet ownership costs by $400 million as part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy restructuring. Senior VP-Finance Dave Davis told reporters in a conference call that the airline faces greater challenges than other bankrupt carriers regarding its aircraft costs because "pre-filing [for bankruptcy] we predominately owned our fleet" whereas others have a larger percentage of leased aircraft. "There's a wide disparity among airlines in how fleets are owned and operated," he explained.
Rolls-Royce said last week that it posted £1.78 billion ($3.3 billion) in underlying sales in civil aerospace engines and aftermarket services in the first half of 2006, up 6% from £1.68 billion for the first half of 2005. Civil aerospace profits rose 23% to £246 million in the year's first six months but engine unit deliveries dropped 6.6% to 412 "as a result of the anticipated slowdown in demand for 50-seat regional aircraft," according to Rolls ( ATWOnline, May 31).
TAP Portugal flew 1.4 billion RPKs in June, a 17% increase over the year-ago month. Passenger numbers rose 9% to 586,015. The airline did not provide capacity or load factor.
United Airlines on Friday agreed to sell its route authority between New York and London to Delta Air Lines, stating in a memo to staff that the route, which was acquired from Pan Am many years ago, "has become unprofitable" and that the cost of operating it no longer can be justified. Simultaneously, United announced a series of route additions and adjustments aimed at building its Asia network, including the transfer of its JFK-Tokyo Narita service to its Washington Dulles hub (see item below).
Iberia canceled all flights to and from Barcelona International on Friday and Saturday morning after some 2,000 ground workers blocked one of the airport's three runways. The action reportedly was in protest of the airline's loss of a ground-handling license at BCN. It still holds 21 of 27 licenses at the airport, according to AFX News, but earlier last week AENA awarded a concession to a Spanish construction and services company and to subsidiaries of Spanair and Air Europa.
Frontier Airlines posted net income of $4 million for its fiscal first quarter ended June 30, a solid improvement over a net loss of $2.7 million in the year-ago quarter. President and CEO Jeff Potter said the carrier was profitable despite "intensified competition" at its Denver hub--where Southwest Airlines launched flights this year--and high fuel costs, but warned that long-term profitability is still a challenge. "It doesn't end with one good quarter," he said.
Lufthansa offered an expanded version of its second-quarter and half-year results Friday, confirming last week's announcement that it posted a profit of €183 million ($232.8 million) in the three-month period ended June 30, up 57.8% from the year-ago quarter, and a six-month profit of €85 million compared to last year's breakeven result ( ATWOnline, July 27).
VivaAeroBus, a Mexican LCC startup formed by Mexican bus group IAMSA and Ryanair-backed RyanMex, said its first base will be Monterrey. It will start operations in September with two 737-300s.
IATA reported a 6.5% year-over-year increase in worldwide international RPKs in June and a 4.4% rise in ASKs, resulting in a 1.5-point gain in load factor to 78.3%. Highest regional load factor was North America's 85.3%, where RPKs rose 6.8% and capacity climbed 5.1%. Global freight traffic increased 4.1% against a 4.6% hike in ATKs. Air China flew 4.99 billion RPKs in June, a 19% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity rose 15.8% to 6.6 billion ASKs and load factor climbed 2 points to 75.6%. Mountain Air Cargo carried 11.2 million lb. of freight in June.
The records piled up for AirTran Airways in the second quarter, with net income of $32 million--nearly triple the year-ago quarter's $11.4 million profit--the highest in any three-month period in its 13-year history. All-time quarterly records also were set for RPMs, capacity, enplaned passengers and load factor, figures that "speak clearly of the customers' demand for our product," according to Chairman and CEO Joe Leonard.
Air Deccan said its 21.2% market share in June made it India's second-largest airline, passing Indian Airlines, which held a 20.8% share, according to Deccan. The LCC operates 14 A320s and 21 ATR turboprops on 265 daily flights to 55 domestic destinations.
Midwest Air Group, parent of Midwest Airlines and Skyway Airlines, reported second-quarter net income of $8.8 million, compared to a loss of $8.2 million in the year-ago quarter, on a 34.4% jump in revenues to $176.9 million. "A strong increase in passengers and an improved fare environment helped offset soaring fuel costs in the quarter," Chairman and CEO Timothy Hoeksema said. The company posted operating income of $7.5 million, an improvement over an operating loss of $8.2 million last year. Expenses rose 21.2% to $169.3 million as fuel costs surged 49.4% to $60.6 million.
