United Airlines parent UAL Corp. said it achieved an operating profit of $113 million in July, more than double the $51 million earned in July 2004, in spite of a 46% rise in fuel price between the periods that added $127 million to operating expenses. Mainline unit cost rose 5% on a 5% decline in ASMs, but actually fell 5% if fuel expense is excluded. Passenger unit revenue jumped 9%.
Volga-Dnepr Airlines said it will acquire five new An-124-100M-150 freighters from Aviastar-SP. The freighter is an improved version of the An-124 outsize and heavyweight cargo aircraft and has a capacity of up to 150 tonnes. Deliveries are set to begin in 2008. The announcement came a day after Volga-Dnepr Group reached agreement with Russia's Vnesheconombank regarding financing arrangements for the resumption of An-124-100 production and the IL-76 freighter modernization program ( ATWOnline, Aug. 23).
Estonian Air will raise its fuel surcharge from €8 to €12 from Sept. 1. The carrier said it has been able to keep the surcharge at the April 2004 level until now despite a price hike of 68% during the period.
Qantas again raised its ticket surcharge for international and domestic passengers as it faces a A$1.25 billion increase in fuel costs this year. From Sept. 2, the domestic one-way fuel surcharge will lift from A$20 ($15) to A$26, international from A$60 to A$75 and transtasman from A$40 to A$46. Chief Executive Geoff Dixon said the decision was made "reluctantly" and noted that "the volatility of current and future oil and jet fuel prices is a serious issue for all airlines." Qantas is 90% hedged at about $49 a barrel until December.
Embraer installed Europe's first flight simulator dedicated to training crews of the 170/190. The CAE simulator is based at Swiss Aviation Training in Zurich.
FKI Logistex announced the launch of its CrisBag baggage handling system in North America. CrisBag uses RFID-tagged baggage totes to offer "complete sort-and-trace capability," the company said.
British Airways said it reached a new deal with its Heathrow catering supplier Gate Gourmet that "paves the way for a return to full catering onboard all British Airways flights at Heathrow." According to the airline, the accord "improves and extends the commercial arrangement" between the companies that has been at the center of a labor dispute involving Gate Gourmet and its own employees and that spread to BA with disastrous effects earlier this month. The caterer had warned of an imminent bankruptcy filing absent a new contract.
Airline traffic (passengers) will grow at a rate of 4.1% per year over the next 15 years, resulting in a doubling in the number of passengers to 7.4 billion by 2020 compared to today and overwhelming the available airport and airspace infrastructure, according to a study by Geneva-based Airports Council International.
Air New Zealand and Qantas eventually will forge an equity tie-up, according to outgoing ANZ MD and CEO Ralph Norris. Speaking with ATWOnline, Norris said there "is a good chance that the deal will go through. It makes common sense." Last year the Australian Competition Tribunal, which was able to consider new evidence, overturned the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's rejection of Qantas's proposed purchase of a 25% stake in ANZ. The NZ High Court, which was not permitted to consider new evidence, upheld the NZ Consumer Commission's rejection of the deal.
TeamSAI and Cavok Group announced a collaborative marketing agreement. Cavok offers FAA certification support solutions for startup airlines and those transitioning to ATOS or FAR 121 certification. It also provides custom inspection programs and reliability engineering to airlines, OEMs and MROs. TeamSAI's aviation consulting practice includes strategic business planning solutions, financial and operational performance optimization, fleet acquisition support, planning, technical and implementation services and executive recruiting and support.
AirAsia launched what it claims is the world's first online booking service linking its Internet booking system with mobile phones and wireless devices. Developed by eSpherical.com, the offering allows mobile phone and PDA users with any GPRS, 3G, EDGE or wireless facilities to view the airline's Web pages directly. The service provides AirAsia customers the ability to search for flights, book, use a credit card to pay and receive flight confirmation and itinerary details from anywhere in the world 24 hr. a day.
Virgin Blue is at the center of a hostile takeover bid involving its major shareholder that could see Richard Branson's Virgin Group re-emerge as the controlling influence in the low-fare airline. Transport conglomerate Toll Holdings has launched a A$4.6 billion ($3.5 billion) offer for Patrick Corp, holder of a majority 62.4% stake in Virgin Blue. If Tolls succeeds, Patrick's shareholding will be cut to 27% with Virgin Group agreeing to lift its own holding from 25% to 40.6%.
General Electric said Singapore Airlines signed a 10-year OnPoint Solutions service agreement for maintenance, overhaul and repair of the GE90-115Bs that will power 19 777-300ERs entering service in 2006. The OnPoint Solutions agreement is the first for the GE90.
Korean Air moved to take a stake in China's first private low-cost airline Okay Airways, which leases 737-900s from Korean. Okay commenced operations in March from Tianjin just south of Beijing. The maximum foreign equity allowed is 49% with a cap of 25% from any one foreign company.
Japan Airlines Group said international passenger boardings for the 31-day Japanese summer vacation period July 22-Aug. 21 slipped 0.9% compared to the year-ago period to 684,956. Load factor was 73.4%. Demand on transpacific, Korean and Oceania routes was strong but traffic to resort destinations in Southeast Asia was below last year, "reflecting the slow recovery of Japanese traffic" since the tsunami. Traffic to China also was down on 2004 "owing to the lingering effect of anti-Japanese demonstrations" last April.
SkyTeam introduced a corporate travel program under which customers who contract with the alliance will receive discounts for increased business with alliance carriers. Individual travelers will earn miles on the member airline of their choice redeemable on other partners. Corporate travel buyers will have the ability to work with one key airline contact to manage the agreement on behalf of the alliance.
Thai Airways International said it will slash loss-making routes and restructure its foreign operations in a bid to turn its fortunes around. Low-cost subsidiary Nok Air is set to be the big winner by picking up a number of domestic routes. The announcement came less than two weeks after President Kanok Abhiradee was suspended from day-to-day responsibility for managing the airline in the wake of a 7 billion baht ($171 million) loss for the June quarter ( ATWOnline, Aug. 15).
State-owned Garuda Indonesia and domestic operator Merpati are to be merged and bailed out by the Indonesian government, it appears. Garuda has debts of $830 million and lost $85 million in 2004. A proposal is being worked up to be presented to the government shortly.
Berlin's International Aerospace Exhibition ILA and Russian air show MAKS announced an MOU outlining future cooperation to promote each other's events. The agreement between the German Aerospace Industries Assn. and the Russian Federation's Federal Agency for Industry was signed at last week's Moscow air show. ILA2006 will take place May 16-21, 2006.
Malaysia Airlines MD Ahmad Fuaad Dahlan announced his retirement after a 32-year career with the carrier as MAS reported a loss of MYR280.7 million ($74.5 million) for the three months ended June 30 compared with income MYR26.6 million in the year-ago period. He was named MD in April 2004.
British Airways said it will resume serving hot meals to customers departing London Heathrow on long-haul flights today, while hot meals will be offered to long-haul inbound passengers beginning Wednesday. Customers in the first class and Club World cabins will have three hot meal choices and a deli box option, while World Traveler and World Traveler Plus customers may select from two hot meal options and a deli bag offering. A limited bar service is being offered as well.
Latin America Airline Assn. said its 22 members flew 9.57 billion RPKs in June, up 11.2% compared to the year-ago period, on a 9.2% rise in capacity to 13.91 billion ASKs. Load factor gained 1.2 points to 68.8%. The airlines carried 6.1 million passengers, up 13.8% over June 2004. Growth was fueled by the traffic increase on intra-Latin America routes, where 1.1 million passengers were carried, up 26.7%. Domestic and North American traffic rose 10.9% and 9.3% respectively.
Jetstar, the Qantas low-fare airline, had an operating profit of A$44.1 million ($33.2 million) in the fiscal year to last June 30 compared to negative EBIT of A$23.4 million in FY04, when it "was largely in startup mode," and achieved lower costs than low-fare rival Virgin Blue, according to Qantas CEO Geoff Dixon.
Singapore Airlines' traffic continues to grow, with the carrier recording a 6.9% lift in passengers and a 9.7% increase in cargo for July. Traffic rose 7.2% while capacity grew 6.8% for an overall load factor lift of 0.3 point to 69.1%. Strongest passenger load factor was to the Americas at 88.1%, while Europe had the highest cargo load factor at 69.5%. During the month, SIA introduced passenger flights to Ahmedabad and Amritsar and cargo flights to Johannesburg.
