Lufthansa Systems, NavAero and Virgin Atlantic signed a contract to equip the carrier's entire fleet with a full-service Class 2 electronic flight bag solution. NavAero will provide its tBagC2² EFB computer and display hardware and LHS will supply its SkyBook EFB solution. Project work is already well underway and the first Virgin Atlantic flight with the SkyBook/tBagC2² EFB onboard is scheduled to take off in December.
Swiss International Air Lines must seek out further cost-cutting opportunities in view of today's sky-high fuel prices, CEO Christoph Franz told ATWOnline during the Star Alliance meeting in Johannesburg. Labor costs in particular must come down. "We require much concessions from our employees. Now it is the turn of our Airbus pilots," he said. Negotiations with pilots are underway. Franz declined to provide specific savings targets, but said in a clear statement, "less money, more flying." Swiss already has implemented higher productivity on its A320 fleet.
Lufthansa flew 24.04 billion RPKs in the first quarter ended March 31, a 1% increase over the year-ago quarter. Capacity rose 3.1% to 33.49 billion ASKs and load factor dipped 1.5 points to 71.8%.
Air Berlin suffered a net loss of €115.9 million ($140.3 million) in 2005, up from €2.9 million in 2004, largely owing to €100 million in one-time charges stemming from debt revaluation and deferred taxes, according to Reuters. The airline flew 13.5 million passengers last year, up 12.5%. CEO Joachim Hunold, who owns 5% of the carrier, told reporters late Monday that AB is pressing ahead with its IPO ( ATWOnline, March 13) and hopes to launch it prior to the start of soccer's quadrennial World Cup, which will kick off in Germany on June 9.
South African Airways will launch a low-cost carrier by year end, President and CEO Khaya Ngqula revealed during a ceremony in Johannesburg Monday that saw SAA become a full Star Alliance member ( ATWOnline, April 11). "There is a clear demand for low-cost travel in the country," Ngqula said, noting that LCCs represent 20%-25% of the market. "The market for domestic travel has increased by 50% over the past five years [since the first LCC, kulula.com, commenced operations], and we have only captured 5% to 10% of this. We need to take a bit of this back."
Latin American Airline Assn. member traffic increased 2.1% in February to 9.14 billion RPKs as capacity grew 4% to 13.23 billion ASKs and load factor dropped 1.3 points to 69.1%.
SkyWest Inc., parent of SkyWest Airlines and Atlantic Southeast Airlines, priced a public offering of 4 million shares yesterday at $26.05, according to the Associated Press. The company expects to use about $99.3 million in net proceeds, excluding overallotments, to repay short-term debt, reduce amounts outstanding under a revolving credit facility and for other purposes.
Symbol Technologies and partner Peak Technologies were chosen by Virgin Atlantic Airways to supply RFID technology as part of a pilot project to track "high value" aircraft spare and replacement parts moving through its logistics supply chain at London Heathrow. According to Symbol, Virgin is the first UK airline to use RFID technology to track parts onsite.
Deutsche Lufthansa is planning a euro-benchmark medium- to long-term bond issue at the end of April on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Value was not disclosed. Joint bookrunners for the transaction are Deutsche Bank, Helaba, Morgan Stanley and UBS.
Mesa Air Group is eyeing China as fertile ground for new growth, Chairman and CEO Jonathan Ornstein said Friday at a meeting for financial analysts in Los Cabos, Mexico.
Triumph Group of Pennsylvania announced it completed an agreement to purchase the assets of Excel Manufacturing, which makes aircraft structural components.
South African Airways became the first African carrier to join an alliance when it officially was inducted into Star Alliance at ceremonies in Johannesburg yesterday. It is the alliance's 18th member (Swiss International Air Lines joined April 7) and increases the Star network to more than 15,500 daily flights serving 842 destinations in 152 countries. SAA offers access to 21 destinations in Africa and transatlantic service to South Africa. "Membership of this alliance places us amongst the top airlines in the world," CEO Khaya Ngqula said.
The factions within Airbus that are pushing for a redesign of the A350 gained another ally in Singapore Airlines CEO Chew Choon Seng. Last month, ILFC Chairman and CEO Steven Udvar-Hazy, whose company ordered 12 A350s in November, stunned the aviation world when he called on Airbus to abandon its A350 design ( ATWOnline, March 30), based in large part on the A330, and build an all-new aircraft with a new fuselage and wing to compete with the clean-sheet 787.
Air France-KLM flew 15.94 billion RPKs in March, a 6.6% rise over the year-ago month. Capacity increased 7.5% to 20.06 billion ASKs, dropping load factor 0.7 point to 79.4%. Delta Air Lines' system traffic fell 6.1% last month to 10.07 billion RPMs. Capacity dropped 6.7% to 12.51 billion ASMs and load factor rose 0.5 point to 80.5%. Domestic traffic decreased 10.7% to 7.52 billion RPMs against a 12.4% fall in capacity to 9.28 billion ASMs as load factor rose 1.5 points to 81.1%.
Avient Solutions said its Avient Gate Agent entered operation at London Heathrow and is used by British Airways, SAS, Virgin Atlantic Airways and United Airlines. Gate Agent is part of Avient's Passenger Management solution that includes FIDS and Check-in Agent.
Munich Airport claimed that IATA used partial and misleading data to buttress its claim that Munich is among Europe's costliest airports in its call for tougher regulation of airport charges issued Friday ( ATWOnline, April 10).
Avion Group said its subsidiary company, Excel Airways Group, reached agreement to acquire 100% of the share capital of tour operator Kosmar Villa Holidays dba Kosmar Holidays effective May 2. Price was not disclosed. Avion said the purchase "will strengthen the Tour Operating Division of Excel Airways Group plc, which includes Excel Holidays, Freedom Flights, Travel City Direct, Aspire Holidays and the online portal XL.com." For the fiscal year ended Oct. 31, 2005, Kosmar Holidays had turnover of £80.7 million ($140.6 million).
China Eastern Airlines posted a loss of CNY467.3 million ($58.3 million) in 2005, a reversal from the CNY320.7 million profit reported in 2004, according to press reports. Revenues rose 28.3% to CNY27.45 billion. EVA Airways earned TWD1.33 billion ($41.1 million) last year, a 59% plunge from a TWD3.24 billion profit in 2004, according to a company statement cited by press reports. Pre-tax earnings fell 69% to TWD1.14 billion.
A joint statement released yesterday by Cathay Pacific Airways and Air China and investors Swire Pacific, China National Aviation Co. and CITIC Pacific confirmed reports that "discussions are taking place about operational cooperation" between CX and Air China and "realignment of shareholdings" in the two airlines and Dragonair, the Hong Kong carrier owned jointly by CNAC (43.3%), CITIC (28.5%), Cathay (17.8%) and Swire (7.7%).
IATA and the Chinese government agreed to open an additional route, Y-1, between China and Europe, designed to reduce flight time by 30 min. The route is expected to open to commercial traffic Thursday and initially could benefit up to 110 weekly flights, saving airlines $30 million in fuel costs, according to IATA DG and CEO Giovanni Bisignani. It also is expected to conserve 27,000 tonnes of fuel and eliminate 84,800 tonnes of CO2 emissions.
Swiss International Air Lines was formally inducted into the Star Alliance in ceremonies in Zurich Friday as the 17th member. "With Swiss, our alliance has gained a high-quality airline with a strong brand. We now provide more choice to our customers, especially on key European and intercontinental business routes," said Star CEO Jaan Albrecht. Swiss CEO Christoph Franz called joining Star "a major milestone. .
Avexus announced that Kitty Hawk Aircargo will implement its Asset Management & Operations and Maintenance, Repair & Overhaul hosted solutions for fleet MRO management and planning.
Interest in airlines in Indonesia appears to be building. Last month, Qantas flagged interest in Adam Air and yesterday Bisnis was quoting Garuda Indonesia President Director Emirsyah Satar as stating that Emirates is interested in forging an alliance. "Emirates Airlines is one party interested in us, but there are still no concrete plans," he told the Indonesian newspaper. Previously, Lufthansa was inked to the financing of a rescue of Garuda.
American Airlines' traffic increased just 0.2% in March as it flew 12.1 billion RPMs. Capacity dropped 0.9% year-over-year to 14.9 billion ASMs, nudging up load factor 0.9 point to 81.1%. Domestic RPMs fell 0.8% to 8.05 billion, capacity decreased 3.2% to 9.65 billion and load factor rose 2 points to 83.3%. Internationally, traffic grew 2.5% to 4.05 billion RPMs, ASMs increased 3.6% to 5.25 billion and load factor dipped 0.9 point to 77.1%.
