Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings filed its 10-K annual report for 2004 with the Securities and Exchange Commission, confirming its previously announced financial results for the year ( ATWOnline, May 24), which included a five-month period that ended Dec. 31, 2004, following its emergence from Chapter 11 protection, and a seven-month period ended July 27, 2004, that preceded it. For the five-month period, the company reported net income of $22.7 million. Revenue totaled $679.3 million and total expenses were $612.3 million, producing an operating income of $67 million.
OAG teamed with 15below, an aviation software applications specialist, to offer PASNGR, "a groundbreaking passenger communications system that interfaces to reservations and other data stores to allow airlines and travel agents to communicate practically any information to their customers on a worldwide basis." The system already is live with a number of airlines including Ryanair, Monarch, Virgin Express, AirAsia, TUI, MyTravel, First Choice and Jetstar. The companies said PASNGR also addresses EU regulatory requirements to notify passengers when service disruptions occur.
The merger of Sterling of Denmark and Maersk Air, the airline unit of the Danish A.P. Moeller-Maersk Group, if consummated, will create Europe's fourth-largest low-fare airline behind Ryanair, easyJet and Air Berlin. It also would lead to much-needed rationalization in Scandinavia's airline sector, which is home to several low-fare carriers including Norwegian, Fly Nordic and Snowflake. Currently, some 64 airlines serve Copenhagen in a home market of fewer than 10 million.
US Airways last week filed a disclosure statement and plan of reorganization based on its proposed merger with America West Group Holdings ( ATWOnline, May 20) that is expected to close in late September or early October. According to the airline, the bankruptcy court set a hearing on approval of the disclosure statement for Aug. 9. Under the proposed plan, creditors having claims of $50,000 or less will receive a cash payment of 10% of the amount of their claims. Other creditors holding unsecured claims will receive stock in the reorganized company.
Lufthansa in response to the "continuing dramatic increase in oil prices" is increasing its fuel surcharge. From July 8, the surcharge on intra-European routes will jump from €7 ($8.36) to €9 per flight leg. On long-haul routes, the surcharge will increase from €27 to €37 per leg.
CSA said it carried almost 1.8 million passengers in the first five months of 2005, up 16% compared to the year-ago period. May traffic rose more than 20% to 444,000 passengers.
Northwest Airlines mechanics and related workers, citing the carrier's "continuing refusal to take current contract negotiations seriously," will begin a strike vote, the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Assn. said Friday. The two sides have been negotiating since October 2004. In June, Northwest filed a request with the National Mediation Board to declare the talks at an impasse, but it was rejected and NMB told the parties to keep talking ( ATWOnline, June 13).
UAL Corp., parent of United Airlines, said Friday it has proposed a timeline that calls for the company to file a plan of reorganization and disclosure statement with the US Bankruptcy Court on or about Aug. 1 and to exit Chapter 11 this fall.
The carrier told its corporate clients that it will begin accepting credit card payments for the fares beginning Oct. 1. It said some clients had complained that its policy had made payment processing too complicated.
The move is a natural progression for JetBlue, which serves 11 U.S. cruise ports. The carrier is working with EzRez, the Honolulu-based software company that specializes in dynamic packaging. The booking engine will have a completely new interface and will use XML connections to pull in pertinent cruise data.
The party's in gear, everybody's invited, the music is playing and yet amid the mirth on the dance floor there are sad faces, going through the motions of having good times yet enjoying not a bit of it. And so it goes with the airline industry halfway through 2005, five years since the start of the downturn and almost four years since the attacks of 9/11 put an air-tight lid on the industry's fun and booted it down the stairs: Some are doing great and some are hating life.
AeroMexico appointed Jose Kuri Orvananos senior VP-US div. Airports Council International-North America selected Gregory O. Principato as its new president. Alaska Airlines welcomed Amanda Tobin as mgr.-media relations. Alteon Training named Keith Williams VP-Asia/Pacific region. Astar Air Cargo tapped Jeff Miller as dir.-human resources. ATA Holdings chose Francis J. Conway as interim CFO, Subodh Karnik as senior VP & chief commercial officer and Mark Suman as MD-market planning. Aviareps appointed Gulio Santoro GM.
Air France-KLM Group restated its results for the fiscal year ended March 31 in accordance with IAS/IFRS. As a result, net income rose to €770 million ($929.7 million) under IFRS against €351 million under French GAAP after the writeback of negative goodwill in respect of the KLM acquisition. Turnover remained unchanged at €19.08 billion but operating income before other nonrecurring income and expenses jumped to €534 million under IFRS from €489 million under French GAAP.
SAS Group and Carlson Hotels Worldwide completed a previously announced agreement under which SAS sold a 25% shareholding in its Rezidor SAS hotels company to Carlson Hotels Worldwide in exchange for which Rezidor SAS Hospitality Group achieves improved commercial terms and extension options until 2052 of its Master Franchise Agreements ( ATWOnline, March 15). The agreement is expected to improve Rezidor SAS profitability by €6 million ($7.3 million) in the second half of 2005 and €11 million on an annual basis.
Qantas's ambitions to establish a low-cost beachhead in Asia appear to be hanging in the balance after its Jetstar Asia joint venture confirmed it is in alliance talks with another Singapore-based LCC, Valuair.
Skybus Airlines, a proposed low-cost carrier to be based in Columbus, Ohio, named as its CEO Bill Diffenderffer, former CEO of SystemOne Corp. and its successor SystemOne Amadeus. Most recently, Diffenderffer served as a partner in IBM's Global Travel and Transportation consulting practice and from 1998 until 2001 he was chairman and CEO of XTRA On-line, a developer and provider of Internet-based travel planning and reservation software.
Japan Airlines has thrown the 767 program a lifeline to bridge production until a possible USAF tanker order is finalized, placing an order for six 767-300ERs consisting of three freighters and three passenger models. The order will take JAL's fleet of 767s to 46, of which nine are on order. They will be powered by CF6-80C2s and will be delivered in 2007-08.
American Airlines Cargo will increase its fuel surcharge from $0.40/kg. to $0.45/kg. for most US-origin international shipments and from $0.16/lb. to $0.18/lb. for US domestic shipments from July 12. The fuel surcharge also will be adjusted in local currency for most non-US-origin shipments unless the adjustment is not allowed for regulatory reasons.
Assn. of Asia Pacific Airlines May figures show a 7.3% hike in passengers to 10.1 million while RPKs rose 5.9% on a slightly higher capacity increase of 7.2%, resulting in a 0.8-point decline in passenger load factor to 67.6%. FTKs dipped 1.9% during the month on a capacity increase of 3.9%, producing a 3.8-point drop in freight load factor to 64.4%.
Icelandair parent FL Group reported a first-quarter profit of 25 million kronur ($382,021), a significant improvement over the 855 million kronur net loss (as calculated by this website) in the prior-year period. The company said first-quarter results were characterized by "large profits from investment activities," which were the basis for its earnings improvement. Turnover rose 7.4% to 7.8 billion kronur while operating costs climbed 10.6% to 9.4 billion kronur primarily owing to increased wages and fuel costs, which were up 28% year-over-year.
Swiss International Air Lines will raise its fuel surcharge again on July 1. The surcharge will jump to CHF53 ($41.40) from CHF48 per leg on long-haul flights and to CHF20 from CHF18 for European flights.
US Airways posted a $37.9 million net loss and an operating loss of $10.4 million in May, the carrier said in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Total operating revenue for the month was $625.3 million and total operating expenses came in at $635.7 million. According to the filing, the company actually spent more on fuel ($141.4 million) than on personnel costs ($140.1 million) during the month.
International airline traffic (RPKs) rose 8.8% in May compared to the same month last year, according to IATA. With capacity (ASKs) up 7.3%, passenger load factor improved to 71.9%. However, May freight traffic (FTKs) declined 1.6% year-on-year on a 6.9% increase in capacity. "As a leading economic indicator, the slowdown in cargo traffic demonstrates that the high price of oil is slowing the global economy faster than expected," said IATA DG and CEO Giovanni Bisignani.
Rockwell Collins issued a Service Information Letter certifying that Blue Sky Network's Iridium satellite phone system is a qualified data channel for its Airshow 4000 moving map and inflight information system. The Blue Sky Network system is also certified for the current fleets of Airshow Network (Genesys) customers.
Although its previous attempts have failed, Northwest Airlines again is boosting fares to try to offset rising fuel prices. According to a recorded message to employees, effective Tuesday the carrier raised its fares that match low-cost competitors by $5 each way, raised business fares that have been capped at $499 by $50 each way and expanded the minimum stay for fares not specifically matching an LCC from one to two nights.
