Thai Airways released details of its fiscal first quarter performance Friday, confirming it earned a net profit of THB3.81 billion ($96.7 million) in the three months ended Dec. 31 ( ATWOnline, Feb. 15), a 33.4% decrease from the THB5.72 billion earned in the year-ago quarter.
Star Alliance member carriers at Paris CDG Terminal 1 have begun moving into new check-in Hall 4, the alliance announced last week. Thai Airways and bmi already are using the new Star Alliance facilities and Adria Airways, ANA, Croatia Airlines, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa and SAS Scandinavian Airlines will relocate by the end of the month. There are 24 check-in desks currently available. Singapore Airlines, United Airlines, US Airways and Varig will start making use of the new facilities in 2008 once additional areas of the terminal are refurbished.
Lufthansa Technik signed a contract to deliver its Total Component Support service for seven CRJ200s operated by Danish Regional Cimber Air over a two-year time period and also signed a TCS deal covering a CRJ900 for Spain's Air Nostrum.
SkyEurope Airlines denied forcefully last week any assertion that it is decreasing its service to the Polish market, announcing it will base four of the six new 737-700s it will add this year at Krakow Balice. Rival Wizz Air said it would offer free tickets to SkyEurope passengers left "stranded" by the Slovakian carrier's decision to cancel service from Warsaw to London Stansted and Bratislava and to postpone two additional flights from Poland ( ATWOnline, Feb.
Airbus confirmed that an A380 suffered wing damage during a stress test last week, according to press reports. The rupture between two engines occurred when the aircraft was going from 1.45 to 1.5 times its limit load. The airframer said it still expects to deliver the first A380 on schedule at the end of 2006.
Gulf Air announced that approximately $900 million in funding for the "first phase of its fleet upgrade" is scheduled to be in place by May. The carrier's shareholders, the Kingdom of Bahrain and the Sultanate of Oman, agreed to a recapitalization at a board meeting in Oman earlier this month ( ATWOnline, Feb. 8).
DBA, days after announcing that it doubled its capital through the sale of a 25.1% stake to investor Lutz Helmig ( ATWOnline, Feb. 14), acquired a 60% share of charter carrier LTU Friday through majority owner Hans Rudolf Woehrl's Intro Verwaltungs investment group, creating a low-cost alliance it hopes can compete with Lufthansa.
Iberia flew 3.9 billion RPKs in January, up 3.1% over the year-ago month, on a 0.4% rise in capacity to 5.4 billion ASKs. Load factor improved 1.9 points to 73.2%. Number of passengers grew 3.6% to 1.96 million, of which 1.05 million flew on the domestic network. Norwegian reported a 101% increase in January traffic to 226 million RPKs. Capacity climbed 76% to 313 million ASKs and load factor rose 8 points to 72%. The carrier expected a yield of NOK0.72 (10.7 cents), a decrease of 8% from the year-ago month.
Kenya Airways unveiled its new website, which features a state-of-the-art online booking engine developed by E-Travel. The carrier is offering a 10% discount on tickets purchased on the site. It said it carried more than 2 million passengers in 2005 and recorded turnover in excess of KES42 billion ($583.5 million). It plans to launch service to Paris and Freetown "in the near future."
Air France-KLM announced the signing of a protocol agreement finalizing implementation of a European Works Council to "inform and consult workers about all matters concerning the Group as well as issues of a transnational character." The joint body, established to conform with European law, will supersede those of the individual airlines but will not replace staff representative bodies from each company and in each country. The council will comprise 37 members appointed or elected for a period of four years.
China Eastern Airlines contracted EADS EFW for the conversion of three A300-600 passenger aircraft to freighters. The first is expected to enter EADS EFW's Dresden facility in December. The remaining conversions will take place during 2007.
Rising fuel costs and "aggressive competitor capacity increases" contributed to a 9.6% decline in Qantas's half-year profits to A$352.6 million ($261.3 million) in the six months ended Dec. 31 from A$390.2 million in the year-ago period. The airline expects those difficult conditions to continue through the current semester, saying, "While further reforms in the business are underway, and coupled with the high fuel price, we do not expect to achieve the same levels of profitability in the current financial year."
Finnair lost €2.9 million ($3.4 million) in the quarter ended Dec. 31 compared to a profit of €3.9 million in the final quarter of 2004, but still managed to end the year with an impressive bottom line as its annual profit more than doubled to €61.4 million from €25.6 million.
Caribbean Sun Airlines and Caribbean Star Airlines are working with Decision Strategies Inc. on a comprehensive "strategic business plan" for long-term growth and development, the companies said in a statement. The carriers are affiliated but operate as separate companies providing Regional service to 18 Caribbean destinations, although they now are considering expanding "to other areas of the region and beyond," according to CEO Skip Barnette.
Embraer 170 has been certified by Brazilian and European aviation authorities to perform CAT IIIa autoland operations. Aircraft also is certified for CAT I and CAT II operational conditions. Certification is expected soon from US FAA.
US Dept. of Transportation reported yesterday that domestic traffic in November grew 2.3% to 43.87 billion RPMs. Capacity fell 2.2% to 59.87 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 3.3 points to 73.3%. Southwest Airlines led with 7.4 million enplanements. Mountain Air Cargo of North Carolina carried 8.2 million lb. of freight in January.
Air France-KLM reported a sharp increase in net earnings in the third fiscal quarter ended Dec. 31 to €77 million ($91.7 million) from €23 million in the year-ago quarter thanks to "dynamic" passenger activity featuring record load factors and strong unit revenues plus an "encouraging recovery" of its cargo business.
Republic Airways, which operates Republic Airlines, Chautauqua Airlines and Shuttle America, reported a net income of $60.6 million for 2005 compared to a $38.8 million profit the prior year. Operating revenues jumped 40% to $905 million as expenses increased 34.5% to $746.3 million, leading to a 73.8% rise in operating profit to $158.7 million. Traffic grew 47.5% to 4.52 billion RPMs on a 42.1% capacity increase to 6.56 billion ASMs, sending load factor up 2.5 points to 68.8%. Republic lifted its operating fleet to 142 aircraft from 111 in 2004.
Northwest Airlines and its unions were given an extra week to reach an accord by a US Bankruptcy Court yesterday. Judge Allan Gropper originally was scheduled to rule Thursday whether the carrier could cancel agreements with its pilots and flight attendants, but after meeting with attorneys during the day he gave NWA and its unions until close of business on Feb. 24 to negotiate. "We will continue our efforts to reach a consensual agreement," Professional Flight Attendants Assn. President Guy Meek said.
SITA and Airservices Australia announced an alliance to offer ADS-B services across Australia's entire upper-level airspace by early 2007. The two also will support an Indonesian Directorate General for Air Communications ADS-B trial in Indonesia.
Jet Airways, fresh off its acquisition of Air Sahara, is considering ordering the A380 or 747-8, CEO Wolfgang Prock-Schauer told ATWOnline. He said delivery positions for either aircraft will not be available before the 2010-11 timeframe, "when we will need more capacity."
Airbus said it is studying two types of wingtip devices for the A320 family to improve aerodynamic performance and reduce fuel burn. The devices will be flight-tested on Airbus's A320 development aircraft in March. In addition, JetBlue Airways will provide an A320 for part of the test program. Winglet Technology LLC, located in Wichita, will supply one of the winglet designs for testing. Airbus said development of the devices is the result of "more sophisticated analysis techniques," in particular arising out of the A380 program.
Swedish LCC FlyMe has committed to acquiring Lithuanian Airlines. FlyMe will be issued a 33% stake in Lithuanian and gain control through the appointment of a new MD and the majority of the board. It will purchase the remaining shares over the next three years. FlyMe, headquartered in Gothenburg, launched two years ago and operates five 737s. Lithuanian, which was privatized last year, flies five 737-500s and two Saab 2000s and runs its own MRO operation.
