US Airways flew 3.81 billion RPMs in March, up 9.6% over the year-ago period. Capacity increased 5.2% to 4.72 billion ASMs and load factor was up 3.2 points to 80.7%. For the three months ended March 31, RPMs climbed 5.8% to 9.65 billion, ASMs grew 1.5% to 13.19 billion and load factor rose 2.9 points to 73.2%.
United Airlines flew 9.81 billion RPMs in March, up 2.4% over the year-ago period. Capacity dipped 1.3% to 11.81 billion ASMs and load factor gained 3 points to 83.1%. For the three months ended March 31, RPMs rose 1.9% to 26.53 billion, ASMs declined 2% to 33.94 billion and load factor jumped 3 points to 78.2%.
Emirates has begun construction of a Dhs1.3 billion ($353.9 million) engineering center on a 136-acre site on the north side of Dubai International Airport. The airline will use the facility to perform maintenance on its fleet, which is expected to double from the current 74 aircraft over the next seven years, and for third-party maintenance.
Goodrich Corp. yesterday unveiled the world's largest landing gear test facility, which was built to accommodate the A380 main gear. The facility at Goodrich's site in Oakville, Ontario, encompasses 2,100 sq. m. (22,604 sq. ft.) of floor space. It houses a Super Rig for structural testing that includes strength and fatigue testing of the A380 body and wing landing gears. The test rig rests in a cavity 55 m. long and stands approximately 8 m. high. In addition to the Super Rig, the facility accommodates rigs for endurance testing.
In an about-face for an airline that has shunned travel search engines, American Airlines formed a partnership with San Mateo, Calif.-based Mobissimo, one of the new meta search companies. An American spokesman would not provide details of the agreement but said American had determined that Mobissimos business model represents a low-cost form of distribution.
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In an about-face for an airline that has shunned travel search engines, American Airlines formed a "partnership" with San Mateo, Calif.-based Mobissimo, one of the new meta search companies. An American spokesman would not provide details of the agreement but said American had determined that Mobissimo's business model represents "a low-cost form of distribution."
Patrick Corp. has reinforced its move to control Virgin Blue by lifting its holding to more than 62% despite the continuing refusal of founder Richard Branson and CEO Brett Godfrey to sell their shares. Following the close of Patrick's A$1.90 ($1.48) a share bid last Friday, the diversified transport group said it has garnered acceptances from most of the independent shareholders in Virgin Blue. However, Branson's Virgin Group and Godfrey, with 25.6% and 2.7% respectively, have held tight to their stakes. Patrick Corp.
United Airlines reached agreements with SkyWest and GoJet, a new subsidiary of Trans States Holdings, to replace some of the services currently provided by Air Wisconsin in its United Express codeshare operation. The two carriers will operate a total of 30 70-seat CRJ700s under yesterday's accord. Subsequent to the announcement, SkyWest ordered 20 additional CRJ700s in a deal valued at $637 million. Air Wisconsin currently flies 70 aircraft in the United Express network, but last fall United issued an RFP to replace that service ( ATWOnline, Nov. 12).
Aloha Airgroup and subsidiary Aloha Airlines finalized a $65 million debtor-in-possession financing facility with Ableco Finance, an affiliate of Cerberus Capital Management, and Goldman Sachs Credit Partners. Aloha said it used some of the funds to pay off the last portion of its Air Transportation Stabilization Board federal loan guarantee and certain local bank term loans.
The world's airlines will lose $5.5 billion in 2005 if oil prices average $43 per barrel for the full year, IATA DG and CEO Giovanni Bisignani stated yesterday in New York (on April 1, the price of the May crude-oil contract hit a record $57.70 a barrel on the NY Mercantile Exchange, the Wall Street Journal reported).
Continental Airlines last week recalled the last of the 637 pilots that were furloughed following 9/11. Separately, Continental said it flew 6.92 billion RPMs in March, up 14.8% over the year-ago period. Capacity climbed 7% to 8.6 billion ASMs and load factor jumped 5.6 points to 80.5%. In March, the carrier said consolidated passenger RASM is believed to have increased 4%-5% compared to March 2004, while mainline passenger RASM is estimated to have climbed 4.5%-5.5%. For February, consolidated passenger RASM rose 2.1% over February 2004 and mainline passenger RASM grew 3%.
European Regions Airline Assn. reported a 7.1% increase in traffic for its member airlines in 2004. Capacity climbed 6.9% year-over-year and load factor rose almost 1 point to 60.3% for the year. Passenger growth averaged 4.1% with the largest increases seen in the Baltic states. Ireland and Finland also saw significant growth in passenger numbers by ERA members based in these countries.
B/E Aerospace was selected by Air France to provide business class seating for two of the carrier's widebody fleets in programs valued at up to $40 million. Under the agreements, B/E will manufacture and deliver versions of its MiniPod lie-flat business class seats for AF's A380s and part of its 777 fleet.
Virgin Group chief Richard Branson has floated plans to establish a second Australian flag carrier in partnership with local investors that will focus on routes to China, Japan and the US by the end of 2005. In a move that is sure to antagonize Singapore Airlines, Branson said the Australian government should give precedence to the proposed new venture in allocating rights to service the US West Coast. SIA, a 49% shareholder in Virgin Atlantic, is seeking to gain rights to begin Sydney-Los Angeles flights in the middle of next year.
Austrian Airlines Group is deemphasizing previously discussed plans to invest in airlines in the Balkans and Eastern Europe as part of its broader strategy to build its network in the region, CEO Vagn Soerensen told ATWOnline. As these states join or move closer to membership in the EU, "it make less sense for us to invest in [them], because one of the advantages--to get better traffic rights--is gone," he said.
Lufthansa Flight Training and Austrian Airlines will establish a simulator training center in Vienna. The companies will hold a joint press conference April 14 to discuss the program.
US Dept. of Transportation gave final clearance to several passenger and cargo airlines that tentatively were granted rights in February to launch services to China ( ATWOnline, Feb. 23). As a result, American Airlines officially can start marketing its new Chicago-Shanghai flights that will begin next year. In addition, Federal Express, Northwest Airlines, Polar Air Cargo and UPS will be able to boost their cargo service to China in 2006 by adding three weekly flights each.
In what it described as a further step in its "commitment to intra-European travel," easyJet announced that it will establish a new base at EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg this summer and launch five new routes from the airport.
Avianca reported a net income of $116 million for 2004, a complete turnaround compared to the $108 million net loss the carrier posted in 2003. The airline said the improvement was primarily the result of benefits generated by its financial and operating restructuring carried out under bankruptcy and also reflected a $119 million equity enhancement. Operating revenues increased 20% to $652 million while direct operating costs rose 12.1% to $387.4 million on an 18.4% jump in fuel costs.
Gulf Air and Lufthansa Technik tomorrow are scheduled to reveal at the Aircraft Interiors 2005 conference in Hamburg the details of what LHT terms a "far-reaching" MRO contract to be signed by Gulf Air President and CEO James Hogan and Lufthansa Technik Executive Board Chairman August Henningsen.
Hit hard by $129.5 million in reorganization expenses as well as rising fuel prices and increased competition, bankrupt Hawaiian Airlines posted a $75.4 million net loss for 2004 compared to a net loss of $49.5 million in 2003. The airline said the reorganization expenses primarily consisted of $110.6 million in one-time noncash claims to settle leases with Boeing Capital Corp. for three 767-300s and 11 717-200s, and with Ansett for a 767-300 rejected by Hawaiian in 2003. Results also included an income tax provision of $16.8 million.
ACE Aviation Holdings, parent of Air Canada, entered into agreements with a group of underwriters to sell an aggregate of roughly 11.4 million Class A and B shares at a price of C$37 ($30) per share for proceeds of C$420 million. ACE also will sell C$300 million of 4.25% convertible senior notes due 2035. The notes will be convertible into shares at an initial conversion price of C$48 per share. ACE said both offerings were increased following strong investor demand.
