ATA Holdings released settlement distribution details concerning its late February exit from Chapter 11 protection, which was confirmed orally by a US Bankruptcy Court judge Monday ( ATWOnline, Jan. 31) and was due to receive official approval yesterday. Unsecured creditors will receive distributions of new common stock representing 7% of the outstanding equity in the new holding company in addition to warrants to acquire 2% of the new common stock outstanding upon emergence.
ANA Group yesterday raised its profit outlook for the fiscal year ending March 31 to ¥17 billion ($144.8 million) as it reported consolidated net earnings of ¥10.18 billion for the third quarter ended Dec. 31--its 10th consecutive profitable quarter. In the year-ago period, ANA earned ¥5.2 billion. It originally forecast that it would earn ¥10 billion in FY06.
Emirates will launch thrice-weekly service to Addis Ababa from March 27 aboard A330-200s, increasing to daily on Dec. 1. The airline also said its 777-200 fleet refurbishment is near completion. The project includes new seats in first and business classes, economy class enhancements, in-seat laptop power and personal entertainment and information systems. Remaining work on two of Emirates' nine 777-200s will be completed by January 2007.
US Export-Import Bank is seeking cash offers for the 737-400 it seized last month from Air Nauru ( ATWOnline, Dec. 22). It was the carrier's only aircraft and is being stored by Qantas at Melbourne International Airport. The bank said neither Air Nauru nor the government of Nauru is in negotiations to purchase the aircraft, which will be sold on an "as-is, where-is" basis.
United Airlines said it aims to shave average turn times by 8 min., freeing up "at least 10 aircraft in 2006." It plans to "reduce and reallocate block time" and said it already has achieved "more than a one-minute reduction in taxi-out time."
Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, parent of Atlas Air and Polar Air Cargo, announced yesterday the upcoming retirement of President and CEO Jeffrey Erickson, who steered the company out of bankruptcy in 2004.
ATA Airlines received approval yesterday to emerge from bankruptcy. "I don't see any indication we won't be dealing with a solvent entity in April," Judge Basil H. Lorch III said, according to the Associated Press. ATA is expected to announce details of its emergence today.
Air New Zealand, which had been prepared to outsource its widebody heavy airframe maintenance, repair and overhaul activities, said it accepted a counterproposal from union negotiators "that could see [the work] remain in-house through a combination of redundancies and comprehensive labor reform" ( ATWOnline, Dec. 20). ANZ had set a target of achieving $32 million in savings from widebody airframe MRO over five years.
Continental Airlines flight attendants, represented by the International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, ratified the four-year labor agreement reached last month, according to the airline ( ATWOnline, Dec. 12). The union is expected to release the voting results and a statement today.
ANA's new cargo airline joint venture with Japan Post will operate as ANA & JP Express or AJV, with flights scheduled to begin in August with three 767Fs ( ATWOnline, Oct. 25, 2005).
Northwest Airlines pilots, represented by the Air Line Pilots Assn., remain adamantly opposed to the carrier's plan to create a separate airline subsidiary to operate large regional jets or to relaxing their scope agreement to permit Northwest's Regional partners to fly RJs seating up to 76. In a message to pilots, ALPA said, "NWA management needs to realize that NewCo or 'NewCo-like' is unacceptable to the NWA pilot group." NWA has filed a Section 1113 request with the bankruptcy court for authority to impose an agreement ( ATWOnline, Jan.
JetBlue Airways is looking into interline or codeshare agreements with one or more international carriers, CEO David Neeleman told ATWOnline. "There are a lot of people interested in our network," said Neeleman, who spoke at the Raymond James Growth Airline Conference in New York last week. "We could have something by the end of 2006."
US National Transportation Safety Board issued an "urgent safety recommendation" to FAA requesting that the agency "prohibit airlines from using credit for the use of thrust reversers when calculating stopping distances on contaminated runways." The recommendation comes out of the Board's continuing investigation into the Dec. 8 Southwest Airlines runway overrun accident at Chicago Midway ( ATWOnline, Dec. 16). According to NTSB, FAA does not allow the use of the reverse thrust credit when determining dispatch landing distances.
UAL Corp.'s announcement Friday of a $16.9 billion fourth-quarter loss and a full-year loss of $21.18 billion overshadowed significant operational improvements at United Airlines as it approaches its exit from bankruptcy next month. And executives are confident the carrier is on the right course, as the staggering on-paper loss will be wiped out upon emergence as unsecured claims are settled "for a minor fraction of the amount of the claims recorded," leaving it expecting a "substantial gain" in the first quarter of 2006.
Bankrupt Delta Air Lines announced a deal with Merrill Lynch providing the carrier with a letter of credit giving it access to up to $300 million in cash held in reserve by its Visa/MasterCard processor, which is entitled to hold back $450 million-$850 million under the terms of an agreement lasting through October 2007. "Even with this vote of support from the financial community for our business plan, we expect 2006 to be a very challenging year," Delta Executive VP and CFO Ed Bastian said.
Frontier Airlines reversed course in its fiscal third quarter ended Dec. 31, posting a loss of $10.3 million for the period after a profitable September quarter in which it earned $6.9 million. At that time, however, the Denver-based carrier warned that it would lose money in the fall period ( ATWOnline, Oct. 31, 2005). The deficit was slightly improved from a year-ago loss of $11.1 million.
Macau Asia Express, a new budget carrier formed and funded by Air Macau (51%) and ST-CNAC (49%), a joint venture between China National Aviation Co. (36%) and Shun Tak Holdings (64%), was established last week. Initial funding is $30 million for the airline, which will adopt "a highly competitive cost model" and launch service in the fourth quarter of this year on routes to the Chinese mainland and Asia.
Embraer officials said there will not be any delays in aircraft production after strong winds ripped roofs off two warehouses at its facility in San Jose dos Campos last week. Wind gusts hit the company's headquarters Jan. 24, injuring 17 employees and damaging hangars where parts are manufactured and ERJ-145s are assembled. One employee remained hospitalized Friday.
Airbus said All Nippon Airways ordered three A320s last year. The Airbus website showed orders for three A320s from an unidentified customer received on Dec. 1. The airframer also said ANA will lease two A320s. All aircraft will be powered by CFM56-5B4/Ps and will support expansion to destinations in China.
Air Canada intends to challenge Qantas between Los Angeles and Sydney next year, operating fifth freedom services as part of a daily Toronto-Sydney service that will commence during the first half of 2007 when its new 777-300ERs and dash 200LRs begin arriving. Air Canada said it will use authority contained in the recent open skies agreement between the US and Canada and will apply to Canadian and Australian authorities for permission to operate the route.
Assn. of Asia Pacific Airlines members carried 128 million passengers in 2005, an increase of 5% over the previous year. Passenger traffic rose 5.1%, capacity expanded 4.6% and load factor gained 0.4 point to 73.3%. International freight traffic grew 3.3% while capacity rose 4.9%, resulting in a 1-point decline in load factor to 66.4%.
Korean Air concluded a challenging FY05 with net earnings of KRW202.3 billion ($205.6 million), a 61.1% plunge from its 2004 profit of KRW519.5 billion.
Alaska Air Group Chairman and CEO Bill Ayer credited "sacrifices by our employees, strong revenue performance and the benefits of our fuel hedging program" for the company's improved performance in 2005, which saw the parent of Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air narrow its net loss 61.4% to $5.9 million from a 2004 deficit of $15.3 million.
Midwest Air Group, parent of Midwest Airlines and its Regional affiliate Skyway Airlines, reported a loss of $64.9 million for 2005, widened from $43.1 million in 2004 on special items and higher fuel expense, but said its loss for fourth quarter narrowed to $13.9 million from $19.4 million last year. "The competitive environment and high fuel prices continued to challenge us in the fourth quarter, as they have throughout a difficult year," Chairman and CEO Timothy Hoeksema stated. Annual operating revenues rose 25.9% to $523 million with passenger revenue up 29.8% to $459.7 million.
