Hawaiian Airlines parent Hawaiian Holdings reported a second-quarter net loss of $26.4 million, widened from a net loss of $1.67 million in the year-ago quarter. President and CEO Mark Dunkerley said the carrier's earnings were affected negatively by rising fuel costs and an "increase in competitor capacity" on both inter-island flights and transpacific routes. He acknowledged that Hawaiian's "progress in this quarter has lagged that of several of our competitors." The airline faced new competition during the quarter when Mesa Air Group launched its go! subsidiary on June 9.
Southwest Airlines named Executive VP-Aircraft Operations Mike Van de Ven chief of operations effective Sept. 1. Van de Ven joined the carrier in 1993. Also, Southwest promoted VP-Inflight Daryl Krause to senior VP-inflight and provisioning and Senior Director-Provisioning Scott Halfmann to VP-provisioning. National Air Traffic Controllers Assn. elected Pat Forrey president and Paul Rinaldi executive VP.
US Dept. of Transportation reached a $50,000 settlement with British Airways, which denied boarding to four mobility-impaired passengers on flights leaving the US. BA was sanctioned for not attempting to determine if the passengers were able to assist in their own evacuation if necessary and will be allowed to credit $45,000 of the penalty toward new training programs for US-based employees.
Finnair's second-quarter net profit plunged to an "unsatisfactory" €900,000 ($1.2 million) from the €26.4 million earned in the year-ago period as falling unit revenues and one-time charges weighed on the carrier's bottom line.
Spirit Airlines will launch daily Fort Lauderdale-Las Vegas flights on Nov. 15, supplementing its current service via Detroit Metro. Separately, Spirit flew 423.6 million RPMs in July, a 5.6% drop from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 4.3% to 511 million ASMs and laod factor declined 1.2 points to 82.9%.
Air France-KLM flew 18.49 billion RPKs in July, up 4.9% over the year-ago month. Capacity increased 5% to 21.7 billion ASKs and load factor slipped 0.1 point to 85.2%. Delta Air Lines flew 11.76 billion system RPMs in July, a drop of 0.6% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 2.1% to 13.77 billion ASMs and load factor rose 1.3 points to 85.4%. Domestic RPMs declined 10.6% to 8.03 billion against a 12.6% decrease in ASMs to 9.38 billion. Load factor rose 2 points to 85.7%.
Northwest Airlines reported a second-quarter net loss of $285 million, widened from $234 million in the year-ago period, but insisted it is making "steady progress" as it works toward emerging from bankruptcy protection. Excluding reorganization-related items, the carrier said it earned $179 million in the period, improved from a net loss of $288 million excluding unusual items last year.
Assn. of European Airlines said yesterday that competition issues in Italy and Austria have highlighted the need for European regulators to take a closer look at fuel companies' relationships with airlines. AEA said Italian authorities fined fuel suppliers €315 million ($405.4 million) in June for anticompetitive practices and that Austrian Airlines has asked national authorities to investigate OMV, the state-owned company that supplies both the airline and fuel companies operating in the country.
Japan Airlines Group appears to have made significant progress in its restructuring with a fiscal first-quarter loss of ¥26.7 billion ($233.2 million) set against sharply increased fuel costs, an improvement over the year-ago period's ¥38.3 billion loss.
MAIR Holdings, parent of Mesaba Airlines and Big Sky Airlines, reported a net loss of $2.5 million for its first fiscal quarter ended June 30 compared to a profit of $1.2 million in the same quarter a year ago. "The company's financial result in the first quarter of fiscal 2007 was primarily the result of additional expenses the company associated with Mesaba's bankruptcy," MAIR President and CEO Paul Foley said.
Aviareto named GECAS MD and Senior VP-Business Development Niall Greene as MD and Rob Cowan, formerly of the Irish Aviation Authority, as its new head of operations.
Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas of Spain agreed to acquire Aeroporti di Roma Handling through its Flightcare subsidiary for €72.5 million ($93.3 million) subject to the approval of competition authorities. FCC said Flightcare will become the leading independent handling company at Fiumicino and Ciampino and "will be well placed to expand to the rest of Italy."
EasyJet yesterday released abbreviated operating results for its third fiscal quarter ended June 30 and said it expects full-year unit revenue and unit costs to be "slightly higher" than originally forecast as capacity now is expected to rise approximately 13% over the previous fiscal year. Pre-tax profit still is expected to grow 40%-50% over the £59 million ($112.5 million) earned for the year ended Sept. 30, 2005 ( ATWOnline, July 10).
Turkish Airlines CEO Candan Karlitekin and GM Temel Kotil said at a Friday news conference that THY has chosen to join Star Alliance and will begin negotiations with the group within days. The carrier also was considering SkyTeam. The officials cited the scope of Star's global network and its "efficiency" in certain markets for the decision, according to press reports.
TAM reported second-quarter net income of BRL97.1 million ($44.4 million), a strong improvement over a net loss of BRL24.7 million in the year-ago quarter, on a 38.9% increase in revenues to BRL1.73 billion. The carrier said its leading domestic market share averaged 45.9% in the quarter, including 47.6% in June, as it continued to boost operational performance. Fleet utilization rose to 12 block hr. per day, up from 10.7 hr. in the year-ago quarter.
British Airways continued its resurgence through the first quarter of its fiscal year as record load factors and a "better cabin mix" helped boost its profit for the three months ended June 30 to £154 million ($289.5 million), a 71.1% increase over net earnings of £90 million in the year-ago quarter. Turnover rose 12.5% to £2.32 billion and operating expenses climbed 11.8% to £2.11 billion, lifting operating profit 19.9% to £211 million from £176 million in the June 2005 quarter. Fuel costs surged 44.2% to £512 million.
Delta Air Lines on Friday filed for final US Bankruptcy Court clearance to terminate its pilots' pension plan effective Sept. 2. The move, which the pilots union has agreed not to oppose, would affect 13,000 active and retired workers and is part of the carrier's effort to cut costs in order to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Defined retirement programs for 91,000 active and retired flight attendants and ground employees will not be terminated, the airline said.
US Dept. of Transportation said the 20 US carriers reporting ontime performance posted a 72.8% ontime arrival rate in June, down 2.4 points from the year-ago month. They canceled 1.7% of scheduled domestic flights, up 0.1 point. The mishandled baggage rate of 6.28 reports per 1,000 passengers fell from 6.32 in June 2005. Hawaiian Airlines posted the best ontime arrival rate of 94.6% while Atlantic Southeast Airlines' 63.5% was the worst. Mesa Airlines canceled 5% of its flights and JetBlue Airways and Frontier Airlines canceled just 0.1% each.
Slovak Airlines ownership faces an uncertain future. Austrian Airlines Group, which holds 62% of the Slovakian carrier, is evaluating its relationship with the subsidiary, which it took over in 2005. "We rescued Slovak Airlines and in doing so, we did the government a favor. But with that deal, there were commitments from the government, which so far have not been met," Austrian CEO Alfred Oetsch told ATWOnline. The deal included a commitment from the Ministry of Transport, which promised to assume debts when Austrian bought in.
Hainan Airlines parent HNA Group took a 45% stake in Hong Kong Express Airways following receipt of approval from the Hong Kong Economic Development and Labour Bureau. The expected move ( ATWOnline, Aug. 4) will see the balance of the airline remain with the original shareholders.
Gol flew 1.46 billion RPKs in July, a 52.3% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity rose 44.8% to 1.74 billion ASKs and load factor went up 4.2 points to 84.1%. Kenya Airways flew 1.65 billion RPKs during the first fiscal quarter ended June 30, a 19% rise over the year-ago quarter. Capacity grew 20% to 2.34 billion ASKs and load factor fell 0.4 point to 70.4%.
European Commission is formally investigating the restrictions placed on flights between Sardinia and mainland Italy by the Italian Transport Ministry and Civil Aviation Authority, which have designated the routes PSO protected and therefore unavailable to non-Italian carriers. Airlines such as Ryanair and easyJet have complained about the restrictions ( ATWOnline, May 15), which they claim violate EU rules that grant EU-based carriers liberal route access.
Air Traset An-28 crashed in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo Thursday, killing all 14 passengers and three crew, according to press reports. The aircraft was attempting to land in Bukavu when it clipped a mountain and went down in a forest 9 mi. short of the runway. DRC was one of five countries subjected to a total ban on the most recent EU airline safety blacklist ( ATWOnline, June 21).
Embraer announced Friday that Frederico Fleury Curado has been appointed by the company's board to succeed retiring President and CEO Mauricio Botelho when he retires in April. Curado, a 45-year-old aeronautical engineer, has been with Embraer since 1984 serving in a variety of positions. For the past eight years he has been executive VP-airline marketing. After he retires, Botelho will continue to serve as chairman. The manufacturer said it made the succession announcement nine months in advance to ensure a "smooth and harmonious transition process."
US Cargo Sales Joint Venture, which handles US cargo sales and marketing for SkyTeam Cargo carriers Air France, Delta Air Lines and Korean Air, yesterday named Chang-Hoon Kang as its new CEO. Kang, previously managing VP-cargo network and revenue management for Korean Air Cargo, replaces J.D. Cha, who was reassigned to Korean Air Cargo's Seoul headquarters.
