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.
Competition regulators gave preliminary clearance to Qantas to establish an interlinked low-cost airline network in Asia through its Jetstar brand despite opposition from rival LCC Tiger Airways.
Kenya Airways posted a net profit of KES4.83 billion ($66.5 million) for the fiscal year ended March 31, a 24.4% increase over the KES3.88 billion earned in FY05. Revenues rose 25.1% to KES52.8 billion as the airline carried 2.4 million passengers during the year, an increase of 17%. It plans to take delivery of three new 737-800s this year and a fourth 777 in early 2007.
Aeroflot stockholders overwhelmingly approved the previously announced purchase of 30 new regional jets from Sukhoi Civil Aircraft. Sukhoi's 75/95-seat aircraft program has lined up an impressive list of partners including Honeywell, Parker, Thales and Goodrich, with Boeing serving in an advisory role. The company also is negotiating with Boeing for customer support, warehousing of spare parts and a joint-venture training facility based in Moscow. "Up until now it's been in the role of consultant," said Sukhoi representative Svetlana Issaeva at last week's Regional Airline Assn.
Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, parent of Atlas Air and Polar Air Cargo, received approval from Nasdaq for its common stock to begin trading on the exchange today under the symbol AAWW. President and CEO Jeffrey Erickson said trading on Nasdaq was "one of our most important post-reorganization business goals" after emerging from bankruptcy protection in July 2004.
WestJet and Air Canada settled their contentious dispute over alleged corporate spying and unauthorized data collection by WestJet executives, with the Calgary-based LCC agreeing to pay C$15.5 million ($14 million)--C$5.5 million covering AC's legal costs in the matter and C$10 million to charity--and Chairman and CEO Clive Beddoe apologizing to his primary rival for "misconduct."
Transavia.com, celebrating its 40th birthday this year, achieved its 28th consecutive annual profit with a net result of €11.1 million ($14.1 million) for the financial year ended March 31. This compares to a net profit of €13.6 million in FY05, the 18.4% decline owing to a switch to EU-IFRS accounting standards. Revenues rose 15% to €597.1 million and operating costs increased 16% to €573.5 million. Cost per seat grew 6%, driven largely by fuel. Operating profit at the low-cost and charter subsidiary of Air France-KLM was €18.1 million.
Ferrovial Group upped its BAA takeover bid but the UK airports operator said yesterday that the Spanish firm still is undervaluing the company and advised shareholders to reject the increased offer. Ferrovial modified its bid to £9.73 billion ($18.09 billion), or 900 pence per share, which still "falls well short" of the "more than 940 pence per share" value of the company, BAA said. The initial bid of £8.75 billion was dismissed by BAA Chairman Marcus Agius last week as "cheap" ( ATWOnline, May 29).
Aer Lingus and oneworld confirmed yesterday that Ireland's flag carrier is leaving the alliance. The decision was approved at the airline's board meeting last week, concluding a process that began when former Aer Lingus boss Willie Walsh toyed with leaving the partnership as he began the transformation of the state-owned carrier from a network operator into a point-to-point LCC.
Gol secured a R$75.7 million ($33.6 million) loan from the Brazilian National Economic and Social Development Bank Monday and plans to use the money to finance the building of an aircraft maintenance facility at Confins International Airport in Minas Gerais.
Delta Air Lines pilots union said last week it will "vigorously oppose" US Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.'s effort to overturn the concessions agreement it reached with management of the bankrupt airline. PBGC, the federal pension insurer that would assume much of the pension obligation abandoned by Delta, said last week in a bankruptcy court filing that the agreement between Delta and the Air Line Pilots Assn.
Frontier Airlines Holdings posted a $14 million net loss for its fiscal year ended March 31, a disappointing result but much improved over a net loss of $23.4 million in the previous fiscal year. "Although we made progress in all facets of our business, it was not enough to offset the many challenges that face the industry and our company," President and CEO Jeff Potter said.
SkyEurope Holding, parent of the Bratislava-based low-fare airline, reported that its net loss for the fiscal second quarter ended March 31 more than tripled to €21.7 million ($27.7 million) from €6.8 million in the year-ago period, bringing the fiscal first-half deficit to €33.8 million compared to a loss €18.9 million in the year-ago period.
Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore awarded a tender to a joint venture company to develop and manage "a luxury facility" for VIP travelers arriving or departing Changi on commercial or private aircraft. It is set to open in August. Members of the JV company are Worldwide Flight Services, Superior Travelers Services and Sembawang Kimtrans.
Thales will provide three additional 787 training suites including "full flight simulators, flat panel simulators and desktop simulation systems" to Alteon, Boeing's training subsidiary. Thales is supplying six suites under a previous agreement. Boeing said the additional simulator orders are owing to the strong sales success of the 787.
Comair President Fred Buttrell resigned last week and was replaced by CFO Don Bornhorst. The Delta Air Lines Regional affiliate said in a statement that Buttrell, who became Comair president in January 2005, had "weighed the needs of the company with those of his personal and family life and felt it was time to transition to new leadership." Bornhorst said his main focus is on Comair's emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. "More work lies ahead in our restructuring efforts, but the essence of our vision over the past 18 months is essentially unchanged," he said.
Vidient Systems said Finnish airport operator Finavia will deploy its SmartCatch video solution to monitor the length of passenger security lines at Helsinki Vantaa. SmartCatch "automatically reports queues exceeding a pre-defined length in the security check-in zone," alerting the airport that another line may need to be opened.
Alaska Airlines applied Friday to the US Dept. of Transportation for authority to operate Seattle-Cancun, Portland (Ore.)-Los Cabos and Portland-Puerto Vallarta flights. If approved, services will operate seasonally beginning this year from the end of October to the end of April. Seattle-Cancun and Portland-Los Cabos would be operated four-times-weekly while Portland-Puerto Vallarta service would be thrice-weekly. "This is part of our ongoing investment in our growing route system in Mexico," MD-Planning and Alliances John MacLeod said.
Moscow Domodedovo's passenger traffic increased 16.4% from January to April compared to the same period last year to 3.9 million passengers. Passenger traffic in April grew 14.6% over the year-ago month to 1.1 million.
Lufthansa named Jens Bischoff, who had been project manager for the integration of Swiss and Lufthansa, to the post of VP-the Americas. The position will be based in New York and take effect Sept. 1.
GE Commercial Aviation Training received approval from CAAC to conduct Airbus initial and conversion training on behalf of Chinese airlines. GECAT shortly will begin the first A320 initial/transition training and A320/A330/A340 transition/CCQ training at its Hong Kong Training Center.
Ryanair yesterday completed a five-year agreement with the Moroccan government to "develop low-cost air access and tourism to the country" from its bases in Europe.
Wizz Air, citing data from the Polish CAA, said it carried 15.5% of the total passenger traffic to and from Poland in the first quarter, up from 11.7% last year. It claims to be Poland's second-largest airline and the largest LCC serving the country.
