SkyEurope Airlines said Bank of Scotland will provide pre-delivery payments and long-term loan financing on the four new 737-700s scheduled for delivery in the second half of 2007. The airline last year placed an order for 16 firm aircraft and 16 options ( ATWOnline, May 11, 2005) and already has taken delivery of four. Twelve dash 700s, including those four, are to be financed under operating leases from GECAS. The aircraft financed with Bank of Scotland will be SkyEurope's first owned airplanes.
Kuwait Airways reported a loss of KWD23.8 million ($82 million) for the year ended March 31, narrowed more than 40% from a KWD39.9 million loss in the 2004-05 financial year, the state Kuwait News Agency reported.
TAP Portugal is searching for solutions to improve services at its overcrowded Lisbon Portela base but said the situation will remain problematic until 2009, when a new terminal extension is scheduled to open. "There is no space for us in Lisbon available [for further expansion], so we have to divert traffic to Porto," VP-External Relations & Alliances Jose Guedes Dias told ATWOnline last week in Tokyo. In so doing, TAP will take advantage of the recently renovated infrastructure at Porto, which could be developed into a minihub.
Ferrovial Group continues to push BAA shareholders to accept its hostile takeover bid and reportedly made a push Friday for a minority stake in the airports operator ahead of today's final bid deadline. Citing sources in Spain, Reuters reported that Ferrovial adviser Citigroup was purchasing BAA shares and hoped to acquire a 15% stake. Today is the deadline for the Spanish firm to make a final offer. Goldman Sachs reportedly is considering a rival bid.
Air Finland, in its third year of operation, said it earned a €1.1 million ($1.4 million) profit and carried 404,000 passengers in 2005, numbers that "exceeded all its targets." Revenues were "slightly over" €51 million. It said it expects to carry more than 500,000 passengers in 2006 and its financial result "is expected to be better than the year before."
Iberia will reduce its operations at Barcelona International drastically, Chairman Fernando Conte told the carrier's AGM earlier this week. He said most of the routes it operates from El Prat are unprofitable. In April, Iberia confirmed plans to participate in an LCC that will operate point-to-point routes ( ATWOnline, April 28), largely to counter increasing competition at BCN from no-frills operators like Vueling and easyJet. Ryanair has a base at nearby Girona-Costa Brava.
Australian airport operators led by Melbourne and Brisbane attacked the government, claiming it is protecting Qantas at the expense of the country's tourist industry. Speaking to The Australian, Melbourne Airport CEO Chris Barlow claimed the government "has been putting money into promoting the 'Where the bloody hell are you?' global TV campaign, which is really successful," while knocking back airlines such as Emirates, which wants to double its services to Australia.
Air Pacific posted a 40% decline in net profit to $14.9 million for the financial year ended March 31 as fuel prices soared. That cost increase was reflected in a 5.7% rise in expenditure to $428.9 million while revenue was up only 2% to $449.4 million. Fuel climbed from 27% to 34% of total expenditure.
Air France this month will start deploying 777-300ERs on its routes from Paris Orly to the French Overseas Departments except French Guiana. Seven dash 300ERs in three-class configuration will gradually replace 747s, and by 2007 Fort-de-France, Pointe-a-Pitre and Saint Denis will have a dedicated fleet of 777s equipped with in-seat digital IFE. In the high season, AF operates up to 14 weekly flights between France and the French Caribbean and nine to Reunion. Some 1.4 million passengers travel on this network annually.
Air Berlin reported a first-quarter net loss of €31 million ($39.9 million), narrowed from a net loss of €39 million in the year-ago quarter, and CEO Joachim Hunold predicted a "positive net profit for the full year 2006." Revenues for a quarter that the carrier described as "seasonally weak" were €224 million, up from €216 million last year.
Alitalia said it posted a "good performance" in April that reflected a recovery after last January's strikes, particularly in the leisure segment. Traffic increased 6% on the year-ago month to 3.25 billion RPKs on a 3.3% capacity reduction to 4.3 billion ASKs. Load factor gained 6.6 points to 75.6%. Passenger boardings were up 5.1% to 2.08 million.
US Airways Group yesterday announced that Eastshore Aviation will sell 3.05 million shares of the group's common stock in an underwritten secondary offering. None of the proceeds of the offering, underwritten by Goldman, Sachs & Co., will go to US. Separately, the carrier launched a daily Philadelphia-Portland, Ore., service yesterday aboard an America West Airlines A320 and a daily Phoenix-Kalispell, Mont., flight aboard a Mesa Airlines CRJ200. From July 1 until Aug. 19 the route will be operated by a US A319.
Malaysia Airlines this week reported a MYR321 million ($88.4 million) loss for the three months ended March 31, a quarter it called "Q1 2006" even though its last reporting period, ended Dec. 31, 2005, was labeled the third quarter of its fiscal year ( ATWOnline, Feb. 28). The result, which compares to a MYR109.2 million profit earned in the quarter ended March 31, 2005, beat MAS's forecast loss of MYR349 million and was boosted by a "small" MYR7 million profit in March.
Cathay Pacific Airways exercised two of its 20 purchase rights for 777-300ERs for delivery in 2008. Late last year, Cathay ordered 16 777-300ERs plus the purchase rights ( ATWOnline, Dec. 2, 2005). The first aircraft will be delivered in September 2007. They will be powered by GE90-115Bs.
Delta Air Lines said yesterday that it lost $27 million in April, a significant improvement over a net loss of $163 million in the year-ago month. Net income excluding reorganization items was $22 million compared to a $163 million deficit in April 2005. The carrier has $3.4 billion in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments, $2.5 billion of which is unrestricted. Mainline unit costs increased just 1.6% to 10.29 cents in April, and fell 3.8% to 7.26 cents excluding fuel. Consolidated passenger RASM climbed 17.1% to 10.97 cents.
IATA reported a 9.9% rise in international RPKs in April compared to the year-ago month. Capacity increased 5.5% and load factor was 76.5%. Strongest traffic growth was in the Middle East, which showed a 22.1% rise in RPKs against a 16.2% climb in ASKs.
The international terminal at Istanbul Ataturk International Airport is a pleasant surprise: Luxurious without being overwhelming or tacky, with modern architecture, glass curtain walls, stainless steel and ceramic panel finishes, granite flooring, plenty of space and very, very cleaneven the toilets.
One thing that can be said about Mesa Air Group Chairman and CEO Jonathan Ornstein is that he loves a challenge. Whether on the basketball court or in the boardroom, his natural instinct is to play hard and play to win. His acumen as a corporate leader is demonstrated by the Phoenix-based carrier's track record of growth and profitability during a period of financial hardship for most of the commercial aviation industryincluding some of Mesa's Regional counterparts.
JetBlue Airways is "looking seriously" at GDS participation, according to David Neeleman, chairman and chief executive officer. At the Merrill Lynch Global Transportation Conference, Neeleman said the airline was missing out on business by not being in corporate travel departments' booking systems.
If US passenger airlines succeed in posting a cumulative operating profit for 2006after five years of negative EBITtwo dates will loom large in the story of their turnaround: Sept. 14, 2005, when Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines entered Chapter 11 and began dropping capacity like a cat sheds fur, and Jan. 5, 2006, when Independence Air closed down, bringing some semblance of sanity to East Coast pricing. Give some credit as well to a couple of furies named Katrina and Rita for driving oil prices so high that even the most logic-challenged carrier had to raise its fares.
Sweden's FlyMe yesterday reported a SEK63.2 million ($8.8 million) loss in the first quarter ended March 31, a period it called "one of the most demanding and exciting" in its two-year history. The loss was nearly three times heavier than the SEK23.9 million reported in the year-ago quarter and reflected the LCC's significant commitment to growing its business. Toward the end of the quarter it launched new services to 11 European cities, overhauled its aircraft and increased daily utilization from an average of 4 hr. to 11 hr.
A milestone quarter that featured the Malaysian government's decision to shift the bulk of domestic operations to AirAsia starting Aug. 1 and the opening of the low-cost terminal at Kuala Lumpur International Airport did not end with very good news on the LCC's bottom line, which showed a profit of MYR22.8 million ($6.3 million) for the fiscal third quarter ended March 31, narrowed from earnings of MYR40.7 million in the year-ago quarter.
ALAFCO Aviation Lease and Finance of Kuwait said it purchased five new 737-800s valued at $250 million that it plans to lease to Turkish Airlines for 12 years.
Boeing began final assembly yesterday on the first 737-900ER, which will undergo a five-month flight test program later this year and eventually be delivered to Indonesia's Lion Air.
Delta Air Lines pilots yesterday ratified a new labor agreement that includes $280 million in annual concessions the airline says are "crucial" to its effort to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
