Chinese airlines earned a collective profit of CNY7.4 billion ($1.08 billion) in 2009, a big turnaround from the CNY31.8 billion net loss suffered in 2008, CAAC Vice Minister Wang Changshun revealed yesterday at the regulator's annual conference.
Airbus Executive VP-Programs Tom Williams told ATWOnline in Seville this week that the A320 final assembly line in Tianjin is performing "within our expectations." It delivered 11 A320 family aircraft last year. "We expect to deliver two A320s per month by the end of this year," he said, adding that all aircraft assembled there have been ordered by Chinese carriers.
Marshall Aviation Services of Cambridge, UK, has formed a partnership with Aerospace Resources of Surrey, UK, to provide a range of consultancy and management solutions to airport owners and operators, and air traffic management organisations.
Qatar Airways, Qatar Science & Technology Park and Qatar Petroleum announced establishment of the Qatar Advanced Biofuel Platform, which, with the support of Airbus, will carry out engineering and economic analysis into the development of a sustainable biofuel and "will also look into ways for production and supply," QR said. QABP will focus on creating a detailed engineering/implementation plan for sustainable production, a biofuel investments strategy, an advanced technology development program and market and strategic analyses.
Air France KLM said December unit revenues "continued their recovery thanks to a more marked improvement in long-haul premium traffic" but still were down from year-ago levels. The group flew 16.07 billion RPKs last month, a 4.6% decrease year-over-year, against a 5.5% cut in capacity to 20.16 billion ASKs. Load factor rose 0.8 point to 79.7%. British Airways flew 8.81 billion RPKs in December, a 4% decrease from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 4.2% to 11.48 billion ASKs and load factor rose 0.1 point to 76.8%.
United Airlines announced the pricing of two debt offerings worth a combined $700 million, comprising $500 million in aggregate principal amount of 9.875% senior secured notes due 2013 and $200 million of 12% senior second lien notes due 2013. Offerings are expected to close Friday and proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes.
Delta Air Lines and Continental Airlines raised their fees for first and second checked bags on North American flights to $25 and $35 respectively, matching US Airways' fee levels imposed in the second half of last year. United Airlines and American Airlines currently charge $20 and $30 respectively. DL said it now is charging $23 for a first checked bag and $32 for a second checked bag if the passenger checks in online, believed to be the highest fees among US carriers for online check-in. Premium passengers and military personnel are exempt from the new DL and CO charges.
Airbus yesterday announced a full-year delivery record of 498 aircraft in 2009 (up from 483 in 2008) including 402 from the A320 family, and a gross order intake of 310 aircraft, while admitting that its "biggest disappointment" in the past year was a slowdown in the A380 delivery schedule.
PASSUR Aerospace announced that US Airways contracted for its RightETA arrival management system. Kale Consultants said Jet Airways selected Zero Octa, Kale's audit subsidiary, to audit passenger accounting results. Mobiqa announced that Olympic Air is offering its mobile barcoded boarding pass delivery system for flights departing Athens. Mobiqa also is providing its mobile boarding pass solution to Malaysia Airlines as part of MAS's flymas.mobi suite of applications developed by SITA.
The US Dept. of Transportation issued a proposed rule mandating changes in the way lithium batteries and cells are transported in passenger and cargo aircraft, stating that "they could pose a hazard when transported" by air.
US National Transportation Safety Board and FAA are investigating Sunday's emergency landing by a United Airlines A319 at Newark after its right landing gear failed to deploy. The aircraft, en route from Chicago O'Hare, reportedly abandoned its initial landing attempt at EWR owing to the landing gear problem. The pilots said that it would not deploy and decided to land the aircraft on a second attempt with just the nose and left main gear deployed. There were no injuries among the 53 passengers and crew.
Aeronautical Engineers Inc. of Miami was selected by Cargo Air, a Bulgarian charter carrier, to perform a 737-300SF passenger-to-freighter conversion. Aircraft was built in 1987 and is scheduled for redelivery in April. It is the second -300SF AEI has converted for Cargo Air.
Tiger Airways is striving to raise S$273 million ($195.7 million) in an initial public offering that values its shares at S$1.35-S$1.65. The LCC plans to sell 165 million shares, approximately 30% of its final register, and the funds would be used to expand operations and pay off loans. Analysts have suggested the valuation is optimistic given that it is nearly 14 times the carrier's 2010-11 forecast earnings. It posted a net loss of S$51 million in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2009, and an S$8.3 million deficit in the fiscal semester ended Sept.
CIT Aerospace said it signed agreements for the current and future lease of 130 commercial aircraft last year and added 13 new customers. It delivered 54 aircraft.
Unite union will re-ballot British Airways cabin crew members for industrial action starting Jan. 22, according to a union letter cited in UK press reports. A strike could begin as early as March 1. The new ballot comes despite last week's statement from Unite that it had reached agreement with BA to "hold talks aimed at finding a negotiated settlement to their dispute over cabin crew terms and conditions under the auspices of the [Trades Union Congress]" ( ATWOnline, Jan. 7).
The European Commission claimed that "creation and evolution" of its public list of airlines banned from operating in the EU, updated 12 times since its March 2006 launch, has been a "success story from every angle."
Assn. of European Airlines admitted airBaltic, Aegean Airlines and Montenegro Airlines as members. It now comprises 36 carriers. AEA also announced that British Airways CEO Willie Walsh will serve as the organization's chairman in 2010, succeeding Croatia Airlines President and CEO Ivan Misetic.
Two Australian Qantas executives have been restricted from leaving Vietnam while the former CEO of Jetstar Pacific has been arrested over losses at the budget carrier, a joint venture between QF (27%) and the Vietnamese government and investors ( ATWOnline, May 26, 2008). COO Daniela Marsilli and CFO Tristan Freeman were not charged and are assisting authorities in investigating currency losses at the airline.
OnAir announced that Afriqiyah Airways selected its Mobile OnAir and Internet OnAir connectivity suite for the Libyan carrier's A330s and Mobile OnAir for its A320 family aircraft. The order marks the first time an airline has announced its intention to install connectivity on both its long- and short-range fleets, according to OnAir.
US airlines canceled 0.5% of their scheduled flights in November, improved from 0.8% in the year-ago month, while the ontime arrival rate of 88.6% set a record and was up 5.3 points year-over-year. The 19 reporting airlines also posted a record mishandled bag rate of 2.78 per 1,000 passengers compared to 3.75 in November 2008. JetBlue Airways and Hawaiian Airlines cancelled just 0.1% of their November 2009 flights, followed by Northwest Airlines' 0.2%. Mesa Airlines and Atlantic Southeast Airlines had the highest cancellation rate at 0.9%, followed by Alaska Airlines at 0.8%.
The US Dept. of Transportation issued a ruling last week that Virgin America "remains a US citizen and remains under the actual control of US citizens" after the San Francisco-based airline agreed to changes regarding investment and board composition.
UPS said Friday that it is "streamlining" its US domestic management structure, leading to elimination of 1,800 management and administrative jobs this year. The delivery giant said it is "leveraging technology" to simplify its domestic small package business, which uses both air and ground, by dividing the US into three regions from April instead of the current five.
Delta Air Lines flew 14.69 billion system RPMs in December, a 7.5% decrease from the year-ago month. Capacity dropped 8% to 18.08 billion ASMs, boosting load factor 0.4 point to 81.2%. Southwest Airlines said December passenger RASM rose an estimated 7% year-over-year. It flew 5.97 billion RPMs during the month, up 3%, against a 5.8% cut in capacity to 7.83 billion ASMs. Load factor rose 6.5 points to 76.2%.
Hahn Air announced an insurance agreement with Generali Versicherung under which passengers in possession of a Hahn e-ticket will get a full refund in the event of the operator's bankruptcy. The transaction will processed by the travel agency through which the passenger purchased the ticket.
