China Southern Airlines intends to expand its international network as it faces potentially damaging competition from the expansion of high-speed rail within China. "Most of China's big cities and secondary cities will be connected by high-speed rail by 2020, which will have a big impact on domestic carriers," CZ Chairman Si Xianmin was quoted as saying. The Guangzhou-based airline is expected to be hit hardest by the rail expansion, as domestic routes account for 80% of its total.
Pakistan International Airlines lost PKR5.38 billion ($64.5 million) in the third quarter, narrowed from a PKR20.4 billion loss in the year-ago period, according to a stock exchange filing cited by Bloomberg News. Revenue dropped 3.5% to PKR22 billion. PIA said the rupee's improved standing against the US dollar buffeted its bottom line. Nine-month loss of PKR10.8 billion compared to a deficit of PKR38.4 billion last year.
IATA reported that September international passenger traffic rose 0.3% year-over-year while cargo traffic fell 5.4%, but warned that the apparent improvement after months of declining passenger traffic and a steep drop in cargo demand is "misleading" because the economic downturn is starting to lap itself.
European Commission adopted a proposal establishing new rules that aim to improve accident investigation coordination, asserting that the current 15-year-old system "functions below optimum efficiency." The new regulation also strengthens victims' rights and increases access to information and the right to assistance. The EC opted not to establish a European Civil Aviation Safety Board, the option preferred by the industry (especially OEMs) but one that was "controversial" among member states that insisted on maintaining their oversight over accident investigation.
Ryanair transported 6.1 million passengers in September, up 17% from the year-ago month. Load factor rose 1 point to 85%. EasyJet transported 4.4 million passengers in September, up 5.3% year-over-year, while load factor rose 1.2 points to 88.1%. Finnair flew 1.6 billion RPKs in September, down 13.7% year-over-year, against a 12.2% cut in capacity to 2.09 billion ASKs. Load factor slipped 1.3 points to 76.6%.
Hawaiian Airlines flew 647.5 million RPMs in September, an 8.1% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity rose 3.1% to 772.5 million ASMs, lifting load factor 3.8 points to 83.8%. Frontier Airlines flew 709.4 million RPMs in September, down 0.4% year-over-year. Capacity slipped 0.2% to 858.2 million ASMs and load factor was 0.1 point lower at 82.7%. Allegiant Air flew 264.7 million scheduled RPMs in September, a 59.6% increase year-over-year. Capacity rose 63.2% to 294.7 million ASMs and load factor fell 2 points to 89.8%.
Boeing yesterday announced that it will place a second 787 final assembly line in North Charleston, S.C., rather than near Seattle, which Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and CEO Jim Albaugh said would allow the manufacturer "to continue building on the synergies we have established in South Carolina with Boeing Charleston and Global Aeronautica," adding in a not-so-veiled jab at the International Assn.
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission yesterday launched legal proceedings against Thai Airways, alleging that the carrier engaged in price-fixing on cargo carriage over a five-year period. Thai is the 11th airline targeted by ACCC in its ongoing investigation of antitrust irregularities in air cargo pricing. Six have paid penalties totaling A$41 million ($37.6 million) and four cases are pending ( ATWOnline, Sept. 4).
Singapore Airlines CEO Chew Choon Seng believes the traffic downturn largely has bottomed out. Speaking to ATWOnline at this week's Star Alliance event in Newark, Chew cited "signs. . .that market demand has stabilized," adding that SIA has observed that some corporations are easing their travel policies.
American Airlines will close its Kansas City Maintenance Base next September as part of a downsizing of its maintenance and engineering "footprint" that will result in up to 700 management and union job losses.
Kingfisher Airlines suffered a INR4.19 billion ($88.8 million) loss in the fiscal second quarter ended Sept. 30, a 13.3% improvement from the INR4.83 billion deficit suffered in the year-ago period, according to a filing with the Bombay Stock Exchange cited by numerous press reports from India. Revenue dropped 13.7% to INR11.42 billion
Air China, China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines enjoyed a financial turnaround in the third quarter owing to a strong recovery in the domestic market and gains on their fuel hedges. CA earned net income of CNY885.3 million ($129.5 million) in the quarter, a significant reversal from the CNY1.94 billion loss suffered in the year-ago period, on a 1.3% lift in operating revenue to CNY14.05 billion. Expenses dropped 10.6% to CNY13.45 billion and the Beijing-based airline reported a CNY554 million profit on its fuel hedges for the period.
Turkish Airlines flew 29.22 billion RPKs through the first nine months of 2009, up 14.2% from the year-ago period. Capacity rose 20.6% to 41.21 billion ASKs, dropping load factor 4 points to 70.9%. Iberia flew 4.07 billion RPKs in September, down 8.1% year-over-year, against a 6.3% cut in capacity to 5.16 billion ASKs. Load factor slipped 1.6 points to 79%. Transaero Airlines flew 2 billion RPKs in September, a 12.2% increase year-over-year, while passenger numbers climbed 4% to 595,000.
Oneworld airlines operating to/from London Heathrow will be concentrated in Terminal 3 and Terminal 5 on Thursday, finalizing the alliance's biggest co-location project to date. T3 is the closest existing terminal to T5. T3 is nearing completion of an upgrade designed to bring customer facilities up to a similar standard to those offered at T5. The eight oneworld carriers operated from five different terminals in the past.
KLM cityhopper reduced the number of seats on the five F100s that will remain in its fleet to 100 from 103 or 108, allowing it to operate the aircraft with two flight attendants instead of three, a spokesperson confirmed to ATWOnline. The carrier's new E-190LRs are equipped with 100 seats as well. It will take delivery of its eighth E-190 this week and an additional nine by July 2010. It holds 11 options. The Embraer aircraft gradually are replacing the Fokker fleet. Cityhopper's F50s are set to be phased out during the winter schedule.
US FAA yesterday revoked the licenses of the two Northwest Airlines pilots who flew 150 mi. past their destination on an Oct. 21 flight from San Diego to Minneapolis-St. Paul ( ATWOnline, Oct. 27). ATC and airline officials were unable to make contact with the pilots for more than 1 hr. and the crew later told the National Transportation Safety Board that they had been using their laptop computers and were distracted.
Copa Airlines expects to make a decision whether to follow Continental Airlines into Star Alliance fairly soon, CEO Pedro Heilbron told ATWOnline on the sidelines of yesterday's Star Alliance-Continental Airlines joining event at Newark. Copa has a very close partnership with CO, a former investor in the Panamanian airline, so much so that it also left SkyTeam on Oct. 24. Heilbron said Copa has two choices: "To remain independent or join Star." Oneworld is not an option owing to the need to remain in partnership with Continental.
IATA reported that airlines experienced "further weakness in financial and market conditions during the third quarter," but noted that "the rate of deterioration did appear to stabilize." In its latest Airline Business Confidence Index released this week, the organization said an October survey of airline CFOs worldwide revealed that "confidence. . .that conditions will improve during the next 12 months rose markedly" compared to the last survey in July. "The gain. .
Assn. of Asia Pacific Airlines' 17 members transported 10.8 million international passengers in September, a figure "effectively matching" the year-ago month for the first time in more than a year, the group said. International RPKs fell 0.9% but capacity was cut 6.1%, boosting load factor 4.1 points to 76.4%. The 6.5% year-over-year decline in FTKs was the smallest this year, AAPA said. Freight capacity was down 11.2% and load factor climbed 3.4 points to 68.7%.
Airbus said EASA certified brake-to-vacate and runway overrun warning and protection systems for the A380. BTV and ROW/ROP were trialed on the aircraft for the first time in May 2008 and will be added to the first A380s delivered to Air France and Lufthansa.
