Qantas executives may be taking a second look at buying into Indonesia's Adam Air ( ATWOnline, Feb. 7) after one of Adam's 737-300s was flown for 4 hr. without any navigation and communications Saturday. According to the Jakarta Post, the aircraft lost the systems about 20 min. after takeoff on a domestic flight and the pilot continued over the island of Java before landing on Sumba on an 1,800-m. runway. The 737 was on a flight from Jakarta to Makassar on South Sulawesi. None of the 145 passengers was injured.
Champ Cargosystems, a subsidiary of SITA and GF-X (Global Freight Exchange), reached agreement on offering a turnkey GF-X solution to Champ customers. "The cost for a Champ customer joining GF-X will be based on their predicted traffic volumes and the benefits they receive through GF-X," the companies said.
AMR Corp., parent of American Airlines, announced that Senior VP and CFO James Beer will leave to take a job with California software firm Symantec. Beer became CFO in December 2003 after 15 years at AA. He will remain with the company through the filing and certification of its annual report. "While it is always disappointing to unexpectedly lose an executive of James' exceptional capabilities and leadership, American continues to have one of the strongest management teams in the industry, including a very strong finance department.
Bombardier, which shut down production of its 50-seat CRJ200 in October, said it will restart production "primarily to meet present and anticipated demand" for the Challenger 805 business jet. Work will begin in April at the company's Dorval facility and 50 workers will be recalled. "The flexible platform will permit us to offer three different aircraft--the CRJ200, a corporate shuttle or the Challenger 805," spokesperson Marc Duchesne told ATWOnline.
Delta Air Lines likely will seek to terminate its pilot pension plan during its bankruptcy reorganization, a top member of the Air Line Pilots Assn. said on Thursday as he repeated a warning that the union will go on strike if the carrier attempts to cancel the existing labor contract and impose a new one. In a letter to members posted on the ALPA website, Delta MEC Chairman Lee Moak said, "Management has not funded our plan in bankruptcy and now acknowledges that due to their actions, our pension plan will likely be terminated."
Ryanair was granted an injunction Friday from the TAR Lazio court stopping the diversion of flights to Rome from its base at Ciampino to Fiumicino. Seven Ryanair flights arriving after midnight have been diverted to FCO in the past six weeks, affecting more than 1,000 onboard passengers with a further 1,000 delayed the following morning at CIA as aircraft arrived from FCO. Ryanair bases five aircraft at CIA. "Ryanair is committed to using its new quieter aircraft to minimize noise generation at Rome Ciampino.
Lufthansa flew 8 billion RPKs in January, up 0.8% over January 2004 on a 2.6% rise in capacity to 11.13 billion ASKs. Load factor fell 1.3 points to 72%. The number of passengers rose 3.1% to 3.64 million. European traffic grew 5.8% on 7.1% capacity growth attributable to new connections to Eastern Europe and the BetterFly low-fare offers from Hamburg and Dusseldorf ( ATWOnline, Feb. 8).
ACE Aviation Holdings, parent of Air Canada, announced it will lay off 600 management and salaried employees, representing 20% of the nonunion workforce, as it reported a fourth-quarter net loss of C$103 million ($89.7 million), largely attributed to a C$146 million increase in fuel expense during the seasonally weak fall quarter although other costs rose as well. ACE reported a slender profit of C$15 million in the 2004 fourth quarter owing to foreign exchange gains.
FL Group announced Friday that it intends to spin off Icelandair Group into an independent subsidiary through a listing on the Iceland Stock Exchange as the parent "has undergone considerable changes recently and is now an investment company." Kaupthing Bank and Islandsbanki will manage the process, which is scheduled to be completed by mid-year. Further details will be available in the spring. FL Group also has opted to sell Reykjavik Excursions and Icelandair Car Rental, which are part of FL Travel Group, whose remaining companies will be brought into Icelandair Group.
Boeing said last week that it will close its Melbourne, Ark., facility during the second quarter. "This decision reflects the unfortunate business realities facing the Melbourne operations," said Joy Romero, director of the Boeing Commercial Airplanes Salt Lake City facility, which will absorb Melbourne's remaining work. The facility served as an MRO station for MD and dash 700 series doors and flight controls.
Assn. of European Airlines members' punctuality fell in 2005 for the second consecutive year as 80.7% of short- and medium-haul flights departed within 15 min. of schedule compared with 82.7% in 2004 and 70.8% of long-haul flights took off within 15 min. of schedule, down from 72.6% in 2004. The 27 AEA member carriers that provided punctuality data operated some 3.64 million short- and medium-haul flights at a 98.5% completion rate. Regularity of long-haul flights stood at 99.4%, with a total of 274,003 flights operated by 21 AEA members.
Iberia introduced online check-in for passengers flying from London Heathrow. It said it is the first of 29 carriers at LHR's Terminal 2 to offer the service.
American Airlines and the Transport Workers Union representing its mechanics reached agreement on a goal "to obtain $150 million in value creation" at its Kansas City Maintenance & Engineering Base and to make the base a profit center by the end of 2007 through developing third-party business and implementing Continuous Improvement. The base, acquired in AA's purchase of TWA in 2000, employs 900 people. The goal was set by a joint team of base management and labor leaders who met recently under the carrier's Working Together initiative.
Norwegian reported a reversal of financial fortune yesterday as the LCC posted an annual profit of NOK26.8 million ($4 million) compared to a NOK109.8 million loss in 2004. Fourth-quarter earnings of NOK2.3 million reversed a NOK31.2 million deficit in the year-ago quarter. It marked the carrier's first yearly profit since launching its low-cost operation in 2002. Operating revenues in 2005 rose 63% to NOK1.97 billion while expenses increased 44.1% to NOK1.79 billion, driving operating result from a NOK32.7 million loss in 2004 to a NOK181 million profit.
SAS Group returned to profit in 2005 after four years of red ink, reporting net income of SEK255 million ($32.9 million) compared to a SEK1.77 billion loss in 2004. The group was profitable on an operating basis for the first time since 2002. CEO Jorgen Lindegaard attributed the positive results to "the biggest change in the group's history, Turnaround 2005," which has led to savings of SEK14 billion since 2002.
Thales signed a deal with LAN Airlines for retrofit and line-fit installations of its TopSeries i-4000 video and audio on-demand system for 18 767s and four A340s, with options for three additional 767s. Delivery will begin next month.
MAIR Holdings, parent of Mesaba and Big Sky Airlines, reported a net loss of $4.5 million for the third quarter ended Dec. 31 compared to net earnings of $1.5 million for the same period a year earlier. Mesaba, which operates as a Northwest Airlink partner, declared bankruptcy in October. Total operating revenues for the third quarter were $21.2 million and operating expenses were $28.3 million.
SkyWest Airlines reported a 2005 net income of $112.3 million, a 37% increase over 2004, owing to a 70% jump in operating revenue to $2 billion that was attributable in large part to the $426 million acquisition of Atlantic Southeast Airlines from Delta Air Lines last fall ( ATWOnline, Sept. 9, 2005). Operating income rose from $144.7 million in 2004 to $220.4 million in 2005. SkyWest operates as a Regional partner of Delta and United Airlines. For the fourth quarter ended Dec.
United Airlines is adding ramp and customer service employees at its Chicago O'Hare hub as well as better IT tools to improve operational performance at the airport, according to Senior VP-Airport Operations Larry DeShon, who spoke to employees in a weekly taped message. United has allocated close to $1 million for radios, scanners, new computers for the Station Operations Control center and other tools. It also is expanding training on the ramp so more guidance people are available to receive and dispatch aircraft.
Avion Group, parent of wet-lease specialist Air Atlanta Icelandic, announced yesterday that it has acquired the entire issued share capital of French charter carrier Star Airlines. Purchase price was not disclosed, but the Icelandic transportation solutions group said it is financing the acquisition through equity and debt. Star was owned by Franco-Egyptian businessman Raymond Lakah.
Calgary-based WestJet returned to the black for the fourth quarter and full year 2005, earning C$1 million ($0.87 million) and C$24 million respectively against losses of C$46.3 million and C$17.2 million in the comparable 2004 periods. "WestJet achieved a significant turnaround during the last quarter. . .even though net income remained disappointing," President and CEO Clive Beddoe said during a webcast. "We remained profitable during a period when jet fuel prices escalated to unprecedented levels following one of the most violent hurricane seasons in history."
Jet Airways is expected to issue a secondary stock offering in both the Indian and international markets to fund its $500 million acquisition of Sahara Airlines ( ATWOnline, Jan. 20) and aircraft purchases. Jet advised Indian authorities it will hold an extraordinary general meeting Feb. 28 to address the issue.
Luxair SA said its scheduled airline is in a "fragile situation" and is expected to lose approximately €12 million ($14.4 million) in 2005. The company began reducing the carrier's schedule in October and has pared the number of annual flights by 1.7%. During the year the number of scheduled passengers dropped 1.6% to 808,863 and load factor climbed 0.7 point to 51.5%. Its Luxair Tour Operating and Cargo Handling subsidiaries are expected to turn a profit for 2005.
