Qantas reported after-tax earnings for the fiscal year ended June 30 of A$763.6 million ($580.9 million), up 17.8% on prior-year earnings of A$648.4 million, but CEO Geoff Dixon warned that owing to the high price of fuel, savings "of up to at least A$1.5 billion would be required" for the 2007/08 fiscal years above and beyond the A$1.5 billion already targeted through FY06 from the Sustainable Future Program.
British Airways launched an investigation into last week's "outrageous" walkout by 1,000 baggage handlers, cargo workers and bus drivers at London Heathrow that caused the airline to cancel more than 700 flights and disrupted the travel plans of some 100,000 BA customers ( ATWOnline, Aug. 16).
CIT Group, the New York-based finance and leasing company, ordered five A350s and 24 A320s from Airbus valued at $2.2 billion at list prices, the companies announced yesterday. CIT said it also took options on an undisclosed number of additional aircraft.
SAS took a page out of the low-fare airline playbook yesterday as it announced that it will adopt so-called one-way pricing on all tickets sold to and from European destinations, eliminating roundtrip purchase and weekend stay requirements. Sales of the new European tickets will commence Sept. 1. German destinations will be available from January. Tickets can be purchased by telephone, through travel agencies or on the Internet, "where it will be easy to see what prices are available for each departure," the airline noted.
Low-fare airline Norwegian reported a second-quarter after-tax profit of NOK14.6 million ($2.26 million), reversing a loss of NOK27.4 million last year. "The result exceeds our expectations and we are delighted. . .We are on the right track, and believe that we will post a profit for the year as a whole," said President and CEO Bjorn Kjos. Total operating revenue jumped 70.8% to NOK531.3 million on a 69% rise in traffic to 730 million RPKs. Capacity increased 46% to 940 million ASKs and load factor soared 11 points to 78%.
Air Wisconsin began service for new partner US Airways with a flight from Philadelphia to Burlington. By the end of August, Air Wisconsin is scheduled to operate16 daily departures as US Airways Express. In September the schedule will expand to include a total of 25 markets with approximately 88 daily departures, primarily flown to and from Philadelphia. By February 2006 it will operate a fleet of 70 CRJs as US Airways Express.
ACE Aviation Holdings, parent of Air Canada, named former Aer Lingus CFO Brian Dunne executive VP and CFO reporting to ACE Chairman and CEO Robert Milton. Dunne replaces Rob Peterson, who will assume the position of executive VP-finance and CFO at Aeroplan LP, Air Canada's loyalty program that has been spun off into a separate subsidiary. Dunne was one of the top Aer Lingus managers credited with leading the airline's turnaround who resigned along with CEO Willie Walsh last year.
SAS Group reported that its second-quarter net profit more than tripled to SEK499 million ($66.2 million) from SEK147 million in the year-ago period and President and CEO Jorgen Lindegaard reiterated that the company expects to achieve a profit this year, "provided there are no important changes in the business environment or further significant increases in jet fuel prices."
IndiGo Airlines' order for 100 A320s announced at the Paris Air Show may have run into some turbulence. According to reports from some analysts and the Times of India, the Indian Ministry of Civil Aviation's Aircraft Acquisition Committee deferred a decision on IndiGo's ambitious fleet plans. Sources suggest the committee needs "more clarification of the airline's funding" and there are concerns about the impact of the aircraft on slot requirements.
UPS ordered eight 747-400Fs, Boeing said yesterday. The order is the first by UPS placed directly with Boeing for any 747 variant. First delivery is scheduled for June 2007 with two additional deliveries that year followed by the remaining five in 2008. UPS chose GE CF6-80C2-B1F engines to power the aircraft. Value of the order was not disclosed. Earlier this year, UPS signed up for 10 A380Fs plus 10 options
Gol, in a step that represents a departure from the low-fare airline template it has followed since startup, announced a marketing agreement with Copa under which the two carriers will codeshare between Brazil and Panama beginning Aug. 24. The first phase of the agreement will connect Gol flights from Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo with Copa flights to Panama. Additional phases will increase the number of Brazilian cities served by the codeshare and add beyond destinations from Panama.
SkyWest Airlines plans to maintain Atlantic Southeast Airlines as a standalone operation upon completion of its purchase of the Delta Air Lines Regional subsidiary for $425 million, a deal announced late Monday ( ATWOnline, Aug. 16).
LAN Airlines threw a lifeline to Pratt & Whitney's PW6000 as it placed a launch order for the engine to power 15 firm A318s ordered in late June ( ATWOnline, July 1) with options on a further 25 shipsets and spares. The firm order covers 34 engines including four spares, while the options cover 50 installed and six spare engines. A long-term maintenance agreement is part of the deal. Previous orders for the PW6000 were cancelled after the engine experienced extended design delays.
Asiana Airlines will offer free domestic flights Thursday when services are expected to return to normal after a lengthy pilots' strike. International schedules, however, are not expected to be back to normal until the end of August. The free flight offer applies to nine destinations and there will be a 30% discount on the same routes until Sunday. The offer does not include the holiday island of Jeju.
Finnair Group reported a strong second quarter as profit after tax for the three months ended June 30 more than doubled to €26.4 million ($32.7 million) from €11.5 million in the year-ago period on a 15.6% rise in turnover to €471.9 million.
American Airlines increased surcharges on fares to/from most of its international destinations as well as from/to Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Airlines in response to the continuing rise in fuel prices. The increase is $10 one way and $20 roundtrip effective immediately.
Goodrich Corp. appointed Marc Duvall president of its Engine Control Systems business, reporting to Cindy Egnotovich, segment president, Engine Systems. Duvall most recently served as VP and GM for Honeywell Process Solutions-Americas. He began his career with Garrett Engine Turbine Co. and served in a variety of engineering and management roles with AlliedSignal. He succeeds Ron Hodges, who intends to retire in March.
Shanghai Airlines blamed soaring fuel prices for a profit slump in the first half. Net profit of just 13.35 million yuan ($1.7 million) was 91% down on last year's 145.3 million yuan.
In the third fatal airline accident this month, a West Caribbean Airways MD-82 crashed in western Venezuela early Tuesday morning, killing all eight crewmembers and 152 passengers onboard.
British Airways said that operations at London Heathrow were almost back to normal after the disruptions of last week, caused when 1,000 baggage loaders and ramp workers walked off their jobs Thursday to protest the firing of several hundred employees at Gate Gourmet ( ATWOnline, Aug. 15). Both the fired workers and the BA employees belong to the same union.
Delta Air Lines announced yesterday that it entered into a definitive agreement to sell its wholly owned Regional airline subsidiary Atlantic Southeast Airlines to SkyWest for $425 million in cash. As part of the deal, ASA will continue to operate in the Delta Connection network under a new 15-year agreement. The payout includes $350 million payable at closing representing $330 million of the purchase price and $20 million relating to certain aircraft financing deposits.
United Airlines yesterday announced "a brand promise" to operate larger aircraft on longer stage lengths out of Chicago O'Hare and said Embraer 170s and Bombardier CRJ700s flown by United Express partners at ORD will offer both first and Premium Economy sections under the new "explus" brand name. "Scheduled flights out of O'Hare longer than two-and-a-half hours--as well as select other flights--will be served by United mainline, Ted, or explus," United said. "Premium snack boxes" will be served to first class passengers on explus flights longer than 150 min.
American Airlines will install Recaro lie-flat seatbeds, larger overhead bins and "enhanced" inflight entertainment systems in the business class cabins of its 767-300s and 777s and will add its Flagship Suite first class cabin to its remaining 20 777s, the carrier said yesterday.
Star Alliance opened a dedicated flight connection center at Munich, its sixth such center. Employees in the center monitor arrival and departure times of member carriers' flights so that potential misconnections can be flagged at the earliest possible stage and corrective action taken. On average, 1,500 passengers per day transfer between two Star carriers at Munich, where the airlines are co-located in the same terminal.
Last week's "suspension" of Thai Airways President Kanok Abhiradee from day-to-day responsibility for managing the airline ( ATWOnline, June 12), as suspected, was linked to the carrier's heavy June quarter loss.
