Airbus conducted A318 airport compatibility tests at London City on May 13 and said the type offers twice the range of aircraft currently serving LCY. The A318 was granted steep approach certification in March, paving the way for Saturday's compatibility tests.
Luxair reported a net profit of €5.5 million ($7.1 million) in 2005, down from earnings of €13.4 million in 2004, ending its "year of transition." Its airline unit lost €11.7 million, a deficit that was made up by its "booming" tour operation business and handling services unit. Luxembourg's flag carrier said the earnings decline largely was due to €15 million "taken as a provision to finance the social aspect of the ongoing restructuring program," dubbed Building a New Airline, which aims to return the airline segment to profitability by 2008.
Northwest Airlines and Farelogix signed a distribution agreement under which users of the Farelogix FLX Platform will gain direct access to NWA's full content. "Our strategy is to offer travel agents and corporate accounts access to our products through the most economical channels, using a variety of distribution technologies," NWA VP-Distribution and E-commerce Al Lenza said.
US National Transportation Safety Board will hold a two-day public hearing into the Southwest Airlines runway overrun accident at Chicago Midway last December ( ATWOnline, Jan. 30) beginning June 20 in Washington.
News from Travel Technology Update: The latest skirmish in the distribution wars turns the spotlight on whether traditional GDSs can accommodate new types of airline product differentiation. On May 4, Air Canada withdrew its Tango fare for travel within Canada and between Canada and Florida from the GDSs and from its own dedicated travel agency Web site, aircanada.com/agents.
WestJet flew 763.8 million RPMs in April, a 30.4% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 14.4% to 973.4 million ASMs, lifting load factor 9.7 points to 78.5%. Mesaba Aviation flew 129.8 million RPMs in April, a 19.5% decline from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 28.1% to 182.3 million ASMs and load factor rose 7.6 points to 71.2%. Finnair reported a 5.3% increase in April traffic to 1.35 billion RPKs against a 5.2% decline in capacity to 1.8 billion ASKs. Load factor climbed 7.6 points to an April record 75.3%.
Bankrupt Delta Air Lines reported a first-quarter net loss of $2.1 billion, widened from a net loss of $1.1 billion in the year-ago quarter on special charges, as it continued to navigate Chapter 11 reorganization. Excluding $1.7 billion in reorganization costs, accounting adjustments and special items, the company lost $356 million, narrowed from $684 million. "While continued losses are clearly unacceptable, Delta's financial performance for the quarter was in line with expectations, especially in light of fast-rising fuel prices," CEO Gerald Grinstein said.
JetBlue Airways named John Harvey executive VP and CFO effective immediately. He replaces John Owen, who served in the position since the airline's formation in 1998. Owen will assume the newly created post of executive VP-supply chain and information technology. Harvey, who will join the JetBlue board, had been serving as senior VP-corporate finance and treasurer. He joined the carrier in 1999 as VP and treasurer but left in 2003 to join SkyWorks Capital, an aircraft finance company. He returned to JetBlue in 2004.
Iberia Group reported a consolidated net loss of €45 million ($57.4 million) for the three months ended March 31, a sharp increase from the €16.1 million deficit posted in the year-ago quarter. The carrier said the principal reason for the red ink was the steep rise in the price of aviation fuel, on which it spent €257.6 million, an increase of 45.3%. Fuel accounted for 20.3% of its operating costs last quarter.
Singapore Aircraft Leasing Enterprise reported a profit of $34.7 million for the financial year ended March 31, "a sixfold increase from the previous year" when it earned $5.2 million. Revenues rose 29% to $255.1 million.
Eleven US Major passenger airlines in aggregate earned $19.31 billion in the first quarter ended March 31 compared to a loss of $3.3 billion in the year-ago period. Bottom-line results for the group were distorted heavily by large bankruptcy-related items at Delta Air Lines, Northwest Airlines and United Airlines. United, for example, booked a $22.9 billion noncash gain owing to the adoption of "fresh-start" accounting upon exiting bankruptcy Feb. 1.
American Airlines flew 11.94 billion system RPMs in April, a 5.5% rise over the year-ago month. Capacity remained flat at 14.61 billion ASMs and load factor climbed 4.3 points to 81.7%. Domestic traffic grew 3.3% to 7.83 billion RPMs against a 2.3% decline in capacity to 9.33 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 4.6 points to 83.9%. Internationally, traffic was up 10.1% to 4.1 billion RPMs, capacity increased 4.4% to 5.27 billion ASMs and load factor improved 4 points to 77.7%.
Embraer launched a Chinese version of its corporate website as part of its ongoing effort to gain a foothold in the burgeoning Asian market. It has an ERJ-145 assembly plant in Harbin, but thus far only a dozen aircraft have been delivered into the Chinese market. The Brazilian manufacturer, which is forecasting demand for some 600 RJs in China over the next 20 years, also has a commercial office in Beijing.
In a first quarter it called "sturdy" and "in line with our expectations," Lufthansa Group reported a net loss of €98 million for the three months ended March 31, narrowed from a €116 million deficit in the year-ago quarter. Changes in the group's composition that included the integration of Swiss International Air Lines and Eurowings affected the bottom line. It said its operating loss of €75 million, nearly triple its loss of €26 million in 2005, would have been €47 million if not for the additions.
Largely driven by proceeds from the partial sale of Regional subsidiary Jazz, Air Canada parent ACE Aviation Holdings posted first-quarter net income of C$118 million ($107.3 million), a figure that represented a vast improvement over a C$77 million loss in the year-ago quarter and overshadowed a C$29 million operating loss. "During the quarter we made substantial progress in creating shareholder value through the successful monetization of our Regional carrier Jazz," Chairman, President and CEO Robert Milton said.
Cathay Pacific flew 5.86 billion RPKs in April, a 16.3% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity rose 11.5% to 7.26 billion ASKs, lifting load factor 3.3 points to 80.7%.
Thai Airways reported a 78% rise in its fiscal second-quarter profit to THB6.2 billion ($164.7 million) from THB3.49 billion in the year-ago quarter, according to a filing submitted to the Thai Stock Exchange cited by press reports. Key to the earnings increase was a 19% rise in sales to THB46.1 billion and a strengthened baht, which resulted in a THB3.86 billion foreign exchange gain. Expenses advanced 20% to THB40.5 billion and load factor climbed 6.1 points to 76.7% as Thai added four aircraft during the quarter. Additional passenger data were not released.
British Midland Chairman Michael Bishop tightened his control on the UK airline group by buying out his long-term sleeping partners in the BBW Partnership, which holds the controlling majority stake in the group. John Wolfe and Stuart Balmforth each owned stakes of 24.9% in BBW with Bishop holding the remainder. The group confirmed the transaction in a short statement.
Singapore Airlines appointed Senior VP-Finance Goh Choon Phong as president of SIA Cargo effective June 1. He replaces Hwang Teng Aun, who will become senior VP-marketing (special projects). Divisional VP-Finance Chan Hon Chew will replace Goh.
ExpressJet Holdings, Regional partner of Continental Airlines, reported first-quarter net income of $23.8 million, 2% above earnings of $23.3 million in the year-ago quarter. ExpressJet cited rising demand as a key factor behind its 20th consecutive profitable quarter. The Houston-based carrier reported a 7.7% rise in revenues to $404.2 million while operating expenses increased 9% to $366.8 million, producing operating income of $37.3 million, down 3.9% from the year-ago quarter.
Virgin Blue's unhedged exposure to escalating jet fuel prices undermined its net earnings for the first half of the financial year, with the carrier reporting an 8.5% fall in profit to A$68.2 million ($52.4 million), reflecting a 33.7% rise in the cost of fuel over the six-month period to March 31. CEO Brett Godfrey said the A$49 million in additional fuel expense was offset partially by the benefits of Virgin Blue's new corporate business strategy and improved productivity, which contributed to a 6.1% increase in revenue to A$935.9 million.
Ryanair said it filed a complaint to the European Commission claiming Air France received some €1 billion ($1.28 billion) in illegal state aid "over the past number of years."
Condor Airlines, the German leisure carrier jointly owned by Lufthansa and tour operator Karstadt/Quelle, denied rumors that it will take over certain long-haul services on behalf of Lufthansa in markets where yields are too low for LH to operate profitably. "We can operate flights for Lufthansa as we did in the past. But so far there are no discussions about that," MD Ralf Teckentrup told ATWOnline. Condor made a profit of €20.5 million ($26.2 million) in 2005 compared to a loss of €39 million the year before.
Japan Airlines Group blamed sluggish traffic growth caused by "safety-related occurrences" and anti-Japanese sentiment in China for its inability to overcome rising fuel costs, resulting in a drastic reversal in financial fortunes and a loss of ¥47.2 billion ($423.2 million) in the fiscal year ended March 31 compared to earnings of ¥30 billion in FY05.
Bankruptcy-related charges totaling $975 million propelled Northwest Airlines to a net loss of $1.1 billion for the first quarter of 2006 from a loss of $537 million in the year-ago period. NWA filed for Chapter 11 protection last September. Excluding reorganization and unusual items, the carrier trimmed its first-quarter deficit to $129 million from $450 million in 2005, largely on the strength of improved cost performance.
