Sabre Airline Solutions and Penauille Servisair signed an agreement under which the ground handling company will implement the Sabre Streamline Resource Management Suite. It initially will cover passenger and ramp handling services throughout Penauille Servisair's network.
Strengthened by huge fourth-quarter profit gains, a short-haul operation that is making money for the first time in a decade and rising load factors and yields, British Airways Friday reported a £467 million ($880.7 million) profit for the financial year ended March 31, a 19.1% increase over year-ago net earnings of £392 million. BA's fourth-quarter profit of £83 million was nearly 14 times greater than the £6 million earned in the year-ago period.
Qantas warned staff it will lay off 20%, or approximately 1,000, of its management and administrative personnel in order to slash costs as fuel prices continue to rise. The carrier's fuel bill has increased by A$2 billion ($1.53 billion) to A$3.8 billion in the past two years and is expected to grow by a further A$1 billion during the 2006-07 financial year. It warned at its half-year results announcement in February that job losses were on the agenda ( ATWOnline, Feb.
Air China officially will be invited to join Star Alliance Monday, Lufthansa confirmed to German newspaper Handelsblatt, which reported that Chancellor Angela Merkel will attend the signing ceremony in Beijing. The world's largest airline alliance extended a formal invitation to Shanghai Airlines last week ( ATWOnline, May 11). Air China is 10% owned by oneworld's Cathay Pacific and there had been speculation earlier this year that it might join Star's rival.
Japan Airlines and Florida West International Airways, an all-cargo carrier, will launch a partnership June 3 that will enable JAL to add freight service to Dallas/Ft. Worth and Miami. Under the agreement, JAL will transfer cargo from Tokyo Narita and Nagoya to Florida West aircraft in Atlanta for carriage onward to DFW or Miami. JAL operates 747F service from Narita and Nagoya to Atlanta and plans to block 80 tons of space per week for the new service, which it is calling Southern Flash.
Air France-KLM Group reported net income of €913 million ($1.17 billion) for the financial year ended March 31, a 29.3% increase over the €706 million earned in 2004-05. Last year's results were restated to account for pension fund surpluses at KLM. "The year 2005-06 was marked by two features: Strong world economic growth leading to extremely dynamic levels of activity in our sector, and a significant rise in oil prices. In this environment, we have confirmed the success of the Air France-KLM merger," Chairman and CEO Jean-Cyril Spinetta noted.
Triumph Group announced the acquisition of the assets of Air Excellence International, which will operate as Triumph Interiors as part of the Triumph Aftermarket Services Group and is expected to add approximately $13 million in revenue in FY07. Air Excellence employs about 95 people, provides aircraft interior repair and refurbishment services and manufactures approved plastic and metal components.
Irish government is targeting September or October for the sale of part of its stake in Aer Lingus, according to press reports. No schedule was announced when it agreed last month to the IPO ( ATWOnline, April 6), which will see it reduce its stake from 85.1% to 25.1%. Aer Lingus management had been pushing for a flotation in June.
FL Group, the investment firm that owns Icelandair, Sterling Airlines and other air transport and tourism companies, reported a first-quarter net profit of ISK5.84 billion ($82.9 million), a result that compared to a profit of ISK25 million in the year-ago quarter and "highlight[s] FL Group's focus as an investment company specializing in strategic and private equity projects as well as hedge fund activity."
Pinnacle Airlines flew 356.2 million RPMs in April, a 7.6% rise over the year-ago month. Capacity dropped 5.2% to 452.1 million ASMs, boosting load factor 9.4 points to 78.8%.
Ryanair was ordered by a Paris court of commerce to pay €250,000 ($321,000) to Air France-KLM over misleading and disparaging advertising. Ryanair claimed in an ad to be "391% cheaper" than AF-KLM, which the court concluded was unjust. It also ruled that the corruption of AF-KLM's slogan "Making the sky the most beautiful place on earth" to "Making the sky the cheapest place on earth" was unacceptable. The court provisionally enforced the fine regardless of whether the Irish carrier lodges an appeal.
An A380 touched down on London Heathrow's Southern Runway yesterday and parked at Terminal 3, Pier 6, a new purpose-built, £105 million ($198.4 million), three-story pier that can accommodate up to four A380s simultaneously. The new Terminal 5, scheduled to open in 2008, also will accommodate the aircraft. Singapore Airlines will begin flying the A380 into LHR in November.
UPS yesterday unveiled a $1 billion-plus investment in expansion of its air hub at Louisville International Airport, the global headquarters of the company's express package delivery airline operations.
Delta Air Lines and Galileo International yesterday announced a seven-year, full-content agreement. Delta and CheapTickets, a subsidiary of Galileo parent Cendant Corp., also executed a marketing agreement.
Sabre Airline Solutions said it signed 15 contracts in the first quarter with airport operators around the world. The deals are with Macquarie Airports, Turin International Airport, Singapore Changi and 12 French and Swiss properties. Sabre also reached agreement with Caribbean Star Airlines and Caribbean Sun Airlines to create customized "user-friendly front-end access" to the sister carriers' reservations and airport check-in applications using Sabre's Qik Business Processing Solutions and Qik Developer Tool.
American Airlines is "looking under every rock" for additional cost savings and has launched initiatives "that we believe will save us $700 million year-over-year," AMR Corp. Chairman and CEO Gerard Arpey said at yesterday's annual shareholders' meeting. Citing rising fuel prices, employee medical costs and facility charges, he stated, "Just to keep costs flat with last year we would need more than $1 billion in savings" ( ATWOnline, May 11).
SAS Flight Academy is moving into larger facilities in Copenhagen and adding two full flight simulators, a 737NG and an MD-80. The training center also signed a contract with Sterling Airlines to be the exclusive training provider for its pilots and cabin personnel through 2010. Separately, SAS Flight Academy and AirBaltic signed a five-year agreement covering pilot and cabin crew training on 737s and F50s. The 737 training eventually will take place at a new center under construction at Riga International Airport.
Singapore Airlines flew 7.06 billion RPKs in April, an 11% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity rose 4.1% to 9.26 billion ASKs, lifting load factor 4.8 points to 76.3%. SAS Group reported a 6.4% year-on-year increase in April system traffic to 3.23 billion RPKs. Capacity slipped 2.7% to 4.4 billion ASKs, lifting load factor 6.3 points to 73.4%. SAS Scandinavian Airlines traffic fell 1.3% to 2.31 billion RPKs against a 9% decrease in capacity to 3.04 billion ASKs, sending load factor up 6 points to 76.1%.
Set to benefit from expected downsizing at Varig, Gol said it will take delivery of an additional two 737-700s this year and an additional eight in 2007 along with two dash 300s.
Copa Holdings, parent of Panama's Copa Airlines and Colombia's AeroRepublica, reported first-quarter net income of $32.2 million, a 42.9% increase over the $22.6 million earned in the year-ago quarter and a record quarterly result for the company. "We continue to execute both operationally and financially," CEO Pedro Heilbron told analysts in a conference call.
Northwest Airlines flight attendants union expressed anger this week over a May 12 letter from Suzanne Boda, the airline's VP-inflight services, that promised the carrier was through bargaining and warned of potential ramifications if Professional Flight Attendants Assn. members reject the tentative labor agreement reached in March that provides $195 million in annual savings to NWA ( ATWOnline, March 2).
AirBaltic will launch twice-weekly Riga-Tel Aviv service aboard 737-500s from June 5, becoming the only carrier in the Baltics or Scandinavia to offer direct service to Tel Aviv. AirBaltic carried 113,723 passengers in April, 44% more than in the year-ago month. Load factor rose 12 points to 62%.
Jet Airways named Dale Moss COO. He most recently was director-worldwide sales and marketing-worldwide cargo for British Airways. Southwest Airlines named Jeff Lamb VP-people and leadership development. He joined Southwest in 2004.
Allegiant Travel Co., parent of Allegiant Air, filed a registration statement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed IPO of its common stock. The carrier, which provides both scheduled and charter services for leisure travelers, operates a fleet of 21 MD-80s and employs 670 people. The number of shares and price range have not been determined. According to analysts from Raymond James & Assoc., Allegiant's revenue for 2005 was $153 million, a 51% increase over the previous year.
SAS Group President and CEO Jorgen Lindegaard, who kept the airline aloft through the most challenging period in its history, announced yesterday that he will resign this fall, saying in a statement, "I feel that the time is right for a new CEO to take over."
