Southwest Airlines will add several new flights from Chicago Midway this summer. Beginning May 4, the carrier will launch one more daily nonstop flight to San Jose and one additional daily nonstop to Tampa Bay for a total of seven. Also, it will begin a daily nonstop flight to Austin and New Orleans May 31. On the same day, it will launch two additional flights to Philadelphia for a total of seven and a second daily nonstop to Albuquerque.
Northwest Airlines, which last week cut its domestic capacity forecast from an increase of 2%-3% to flat year-over-year owing to high fuel prices, overcapacity and fare restructuring by other carriers ( ATWOnline, March 15), said it plans to remove 30 aircraft from its fleet and cut up to 930 jobs this year. According to the Air Line Pilots Assn., NWA will remove 24 DC-9s from service in addition to the six DC-9s it previously said it would park.
SAS said the Borgarting Court of Appeal confirmed a ruling by Asker and Baerum District Court that exonerates SAS/SAS Ground Services, which had been named in a lawsuit brought by the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions and the Norwegian Confederation of Vocational Unions following the takeover of Braathens' ground handling operations by SAS/SGS in autumn 2002. In its ruling, the Court of Appeal found that there were no unfair redundancies and the takeover was not deemed a transfer of ownership of a business, which supports SAS's own assessment and actions.
Continental Airlines late last week warned in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission that it expects to post a loss in the first quarter and a "significant loss" for full-year 2005.
Although its employees have accepted significant pay and benefit cuts as part of UAL Corp.'s restructuring, top executives at the bankrupt United Airlines parent received bonuses totaling roughly $1.3 million in 2004. According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Chairman, President and CEO Glenn Tilton received a bonus of $366,393, and also received a salary of $756,832 last year. However, he has agreed to several salary reductions recently and this year he will receive an annual salary of just $605,625.
Japan Airlines Corp. announced resignations and demotions effective immediately related to a series of incidents involving Japan Airlines International. Taking ultimate responsibility for several events that have drawn reprimands from the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, highly respected JAL Group Chairman and CEO Isao Kaneko will step down and assume the post of chairman of the company's executive committee from April 1. He also will resign as chairman of JAL International.
Jetstar Asia, the Qantas low-cost joint venture, has decelerated its fleet growth plans as it continues to struggle to secure traffic rights on key routes out of Singapore. According to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald, Jetstar Asia asked ILFC to find another operator to take its fifth A320, which was due to enter service by May. It also is considering arrangements to lease out some of three additional A320s ordered from ILFC if its plans to expand to new destinations in Indonesia and China are frustrated.
Lufthansa aims to announce the planned takeover of Swiss International Air Lines by next Wednesday, according to media reports. The reports said the large shareholders of the Swiss carrier have agreed in principle to a takeover by Lufthansa and an announcement is due either Tuesday or Wednesday. LH is scheduled to report its financial results for 2004 next week.
Boosted by revenue from FedEx Kinko's which the company acquired in February 2004, FedEx Corp. reported a $317 million net profit for the fiscal third quarter ended Feb. 28, up 53% over a $217 million net profit in the prior-year period, which included $14 million in business realignment expenses associated with voluntary early retirement and severance programs. For the nine months ended Feb. 28, the company posted net income of $1 billion, up significantly over net income of $426 million in the year-ago period.
DBA, which will take over aircraft and routes from Germania Express ( ATWOnline, Feb. 21), on Wednesday also exchanged financial capital with Gexx. Germania Express Gmbh will take 64% of dba Luftverkehrsgesellschaft Gmbh. Hans Rudolf Woehrl, who currently holds 80% of DBA, will keep 28.8% of the airline and take a stake in Germania Express Gmbh. Financial terms of the deal were not released. By the end of March, DBA will operate 27 aircraft on 16 domestic German and 18 international routes. By autumn it plans to operate 30 aircraft.
Swire Pacific, parent of Cathay Pacific, yesterday responded to media reports that it is nearing a deal to sell its stake in Cathay to Air China in return for a stake in the latter by saying that it plans to remain as the principal shareholder in Cathay.
Northwest Airlines, citing high fuel costs, fare restructuring by other airlines and general overcapacity in the domestic marketplace, trimmed its domestic capacity forecast for 2005. In January it forecast a 2%-3% increase in domestic capacity versus 2004. However, in February it said it was studying a reduction in 2005 domestic capacity and now it believes its domestic capacity will be flat year-over-year.
Continental Airlines yesterday warned that if its unions do not ratify the new tentative agreements reached last month ( ATWOnline, March 1) by March 30, it will be forced to take a number of actions, including increasing the size of the pay and benefit reductions it is seeking, subleasing or selling some aircraft, furloughing a number of employees and canceling future aircraft orders.
Oneworld said its consumer fares and corporate sales products generated almost $600 million in revenue in 2004 for its eight partner carriers--American Airlines, British Airways, Qantas, Cathay Pacific, Iberia, LAN, Finnair and Aer Lingus--with roughly two-thirds of that total representing incremental revenue for its members that they would not have earned had it not been for the alliance. Interlining between oneworld carriers generated total revenue of more than $1.5 billion for members, including benefits from alliance fares and sales products.
For the second time in less than a month, US Airways received a financial boost from a Regional airline holding company, announcing late Monday that it reached an agreement for a $125 million equity investment from Republic Airways Holdings to help it emerge from bankruptcy.
Lufthansa, which is in talks to acquire Swiss International Air Lines, plans to reduce the latter's European network just a little bit to avoid overlaps between the carriers, a source close to the situation said. In addition, according to the source, more long-haul routes from Zurich can be expected.
Sterling European announced that it has been sold to Icelandic investment company Fons Eignarhaldsfelag for 400 million kroner ($71.5 million). Fons previously has been a large shareholder in Icelandair and is the current owner of low-cost carrier Iceland Express. The deal is expected to close in April.
SAS Scandinavian Airlines, which owns 47.2% of AirBaltic and 49% of Estonian Air, is continuing its plan to take over 100% of the two airlines. "The main reason for us not to establish Riga or Tallinn as a hub is we want to take advantage of the very low operational costs of these carriers," SAS CEO Jorgen Lindegaard told ATWOnline. SAS's strategy is to employ the two on secondary routes out of its hubs in Stockholm or Copenhagen to European destinations where operations with SAS mainline would be too expensive. But in order to do so, SAS needs 100% ownership.
Air Berlin announced that it is expecting 13.7 million passengers for 2005, up 14% over last year. Turnover should be eur1.27 billion ($1.69 billion), which would be a 20% increase versus 2004. The carrier this year will start taking delivery of the first two of 50 A320s it has on order, 10 of which are for its Austrian partner Niki.
TAP Air Portugal yesterday officially joined the Star Alliance as its 16th member. TAP, which was approved for membership last June ( ATWOnline, June 8), currently operates an average of 160-180 daily flights to 42 destinations using a fleet of 40 aircraft. "We at TAP are extremely happy that we have joined Star Alliance today, which coincides with our 60th anniversary," CEO Fernando Pinto said.
Blended Winglet-equipped 757-200 made its first flight last week. The aircraft, operated by Continental Airlines, flew from Everett, Wash., to Los Angeles with a brief stop at Boeing Field in Seattle. FAA certification of 757-200 winglets is expected in May with first customer installations beginning in July. Launch customers include Continental and Icelandair.
Swiss International Air Lines would be acquired by Lufthansa but retain its independence "to the extent possible" under a plan being discussed by the companies. In a joint statement issued Sunday confirming media reports in Germany last week ( ATWOnline, March 14), the two carriers said they are developing a business model that "aims at providing a concentration of the strengths of both airlines." The "cornerstones" of the acquisition include "maintaining the air traffic infrastructure within Switzerland" and "the Swiss brand."
SriLankan Airlines, which was impacted heavily by the Indian Ocean tsunami in late December, believes it is on the road to recovery. "The tsunami disaster will cost us around $30 million in revenue. I hope that we can finish the current business year, which will end March 31, with a breakeven result. Last year we made a profit of $50 million," CEO Peter Hill told ATWOnline.
SAS Group 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. The MFA is the agreement between Rezidor SAS and Carlson by which Rezidor manages the Carlson Hotel brands operated by Rezidor SAS under the brand names Radisson SAS, Park Inn and Regent throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Israel Aircraft Industries' commercial aircraft group received a multiyear contract valued at approximately $500 million from Vought Aircraft Industries to manufacture assemblies for the door surrounds and passenger and cargo floors for the 787.
