Alaska Air Group said yesterday in a filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission that it expects a 38% year-over-year jump in third-quarter unit costs at Alaska Airlines and a 21% increase in CASM at Horizon Air due to rising fuel costs and special items.
Ryanair will base three new 737-800s at Madrid Barajas and open 14 routes from the airport beginning Nov. 22, making it its second Spanish and 18th European base. The LCC will fly daily to Dublin, Eindhoven, Faro, Porto, Marseille and Paris Beauvais. It will fly thrice-weekly to Bournemouth, Gothenburg, Malmo and Shannon and four-times-weekly to Billund, Brussels Charleroi, Nottingham East Midlands and Oslo Sandefjord. Approximately 1 million passengers will travel each year on the new routes, Ryanair said.
Transaero will introduce SITA's PassengerWeb Check-in application next month. Initial deployment will be available from the airline's home base at Moscow Domodedovo, first within Russia and then abroad. From Russian and English, the service gradually will be made available in Chinese, French and Spanish. Transaero also intends to work with SITA on introduction of check-in kiosks in the near future.
Greece's Air Accident Investigation and Aviation Safety Board said yesterday that the August 2005 Helios Airlines 737-300 crash was caused primarily by the pilots' "nonrecognition" that the cabin pressurization mode selector was switched to "manual" and their subsequent misreading of warning signs.
Italian Premier Romano Prodi yesterday told union leaders that the situation at Alitalia is "completely out of control" and that the government will come up with a plan by Jan. 31 to save the ailing flag carrier, likely through some sort of international alliance or merger, according to press reports.
Ryanair's surprise bid for newly listed Aer Lingus ( ATWOnline, Oct. 6) prompted its pilots to lodge a pay claim with Ireland's Labor Relations Commission to bring their salaries closer to those of their counterparts at EI. "Ryanair's bid to take over Aer Lingus substantially strengthens the union's claim for a closer alignment of pilots' remuneration and working conditions," the Impact union said. According to Impact, Ryanair management rejected a similar claim last month.
Tarom may be partially privatized soon, according to Romanian media reports indicating that the government is planning to float 49% of the carrier. But the government said the move is not a high priority and that it is taking care to avoid the fate that befell Bulgaria Air, whose privatization process faced several delays Tarom operates a fleet of five 737-300s, four 737-700s and seven ATR 42s and has grounded two A310-300s.
Etihad Airways named former Gulf Air President and CEO James Hogan as its new CEO effective immediately, replacing Robert Strodel, who stepped down in May after less than a year on the job. Hogan announced his resignation from Gulf Air in July and concluded his four-year tenure on Sept. 30 ( ATWOnline, July 11).
MAIR Holdings last week asked the US Bankruptcy Court in Minnesota to issue a declaratory judgment that $122.2 million in dividends and fees paid by bankrupt subsidiary Mesaba Aviation from 2002 through 2005 "were wholly proper and appropriate under law" and should be shielded from Mesaba employees and creditors. The suit is in response to a ruling last week that authorized Mesaba creditors to pursue claims against the parent company.
American Airlines flew 10.6 billion system RPMs in September, a 1.4% dip from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 0.5% to 14.03 billion ASMs and load factor was down 0.7 point to 75.5%. Domestic RPMs declined 3.8% to 6.74 billion, capacity fell 2.4% to 8.88 billion ASMs and load factor dropped 1.2 points to 75.8%. International traffic rose 3.1% to 3.85 billion RPMs against a 3% capacity increase to 5.15 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 0.1 point to 74.8%.
Northwest Airlines yesterday announced a tentative agreement with its striking mechanics, represented by the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Assn., which will conduct a ratification vote during the next month. NWA said the deal offers one week of layoff pay per year of service up to five weeks, or up to 10 weeks of separation pay for those leaving the company. Employees accepting layoff would remain on furlough status for two years and may apply for open positions, NWA said.
British Airways Commercial Director and board member Martin George resigned yesterday after admitting that "inappropriate conversations" concerning the setting of fuel surcharges on long-haul tickets occurred in his department ( ATWOnline, June 26). BA Head of Communications Iain Burns also resigned. Both executives had been on leave since June, when the UK Office of Fair Trading and the US Dept.
Air Malta called the fiscal year ended March 31 "a very difficult one" and said its operating loss increased to MTL6.4 million ($18.6 million) from MTL5.7 million in the year-ago period. Revenues fell 2.6% to MTL99.2 million. The airline said its operating result "would have shown a marked improvement" if not for "significant" fuel cost increases. Passenger numbers decreased 2.4% to 1.9 million.
US Bankruptcy Court denied a preliminary injunction request by Hawaiian Airlines to restrain Mesa Air Group from entering the island market with its new carrier go!.
Alitalia Group acknowledged last week that its airline unit will not break even this year as it predicted in its business plan ( ATWOnline, Sept. 4 and admitted that survival will be difficult despite this year's state-guaranteed €1.3 billion ($1.7 billion) recapitalization. "In the current context, the national carrier cannot generate a profit even from capital already invested," AZ noted in a report obtained by Il Sole 24 Ore.
EasyJet raised its full-year profit guidance following a strong final month. The UK LCC now expects pre-tax profit growth for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30 to be slightly ahead of the forecasted 40%-50%, putting year-end earnings in the £115-£124 million ($216.6-$233.5 million) range, up from £82.6 million in the previous year. Full-year revenues rose 20.6% to £1.62 billion on an 11.5% lift in passengers to 32.9 million. EasyJet will announce preliminary full-year results on Nov. 14.
Southwest Airlines flew 5.2 billion RPMs in September, up 9.8% on the year-ago month. Capacity increased 10.1% to 7.73 billion ASMs, dropping load factor 0.2 point to 67.2%. JetBlue Airways flew 1.64 billion RPMs in September, an 8.2% rise over the year-ago month. Capacity increased 15.8% to 2.26 billion ASMs and load factor fell 5.1 points to 72.6%. AirTran Airways flew 949.9 million RPMs in September, an 11.6% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity surged 28.6% to 1.54 billion ASMs and load factor dropped 9.4 points to 61.8%.
Smiths Detection said it was awarded a $10 million contract to supply a comprehensive integrated security system for Thai Airways at the new Suvarnabhumi Airport. Smiths is partnering with EMC Group Public Co., a Thai electrical and mechanical engineering contractor.
Aer Lingus's life as a publicly traded company got off to a surprisingly rocky start with archrival Ryanair announcing yesterday the launch of a hostile €1.48 billion ($1.88 billion) bid for the Irish flag carrier. The LCC confirmed it already has acquired more than 16% of the issued share capital of Aer Lingus Group, which listed on the Dublin and London stock exchanges Monday at €2.20 per share. Ryanair will pay €2.80 per share in cash for the remaining shares if it is able to acquire at least a majority of them.
SR Technics reached a five-year deal with Cathay Pacific Airways for the remaining 18 CFM56-5Cs in CX's fleet. The companies already had a contract covering 49 engines of the same type powering A340-300s running until 2013. SRT will provide MRO on the engines out of its Zurich service center.
Northwest Airlines yesterday set the stage for post-bankruptcy operations and the launch of its Compass regional subsidiary with orders for 36 CRJ900s and 36 Embraer 175s, plus an undisclosed number of options, which the carrier said will allow it "to pursue growth opportunities in important markets, including in the Heartland of the US, and provide Northwest with improved aircraft economics."
Southwest Airlines launched its Washington Dulles service yesterday. The carrier will use two gates on the B Concourse and operate 12 daily flights to Chicago Midway (seven), Orlando International (two), Tampa (two) and Las Vegas (one). It will base 40 employees at IAD.
Rolls-Royce announced that Monarch Airlines selected the Trent 1000 to power its order for six firm 787s scheduled for delivery from 2010 ( ATWOnline, Aug. 21). The deal includes four purchase rights and a lifetime TotalCare service agreement and is worth $1 billion at list prices.
