Lufthansa Group airlines flew 11.75 billion RPKs in March, down 5% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 0.6% to 15.65 billion ASKs, lowering load factor 4.4 points to 75%. Aer Lingus flew 1.23 billion RPKs in March, down 13.1% year-over-year, against a 13.5% fall in capacity to 1.63 billion ASKs. Load factor rose 0.3 point to 75.6%. Finnair said its first-quarter unit revenue fell more than 13% year-over-year. In March it flew 1.85 billion RPKs, down 8%, against a 3.7% fall in capacity to 2.54 billion ASKs. Load factor dropped 3.4 points to 72.9%.
Air New Zealand is doubling the number of premium economy seats on its 777-200ER fleet, with the first of eight aircraft reentering service this week after being refitted by the carrier's Technical Operations division in Auckland. Work on the 777s will be completed in mid-June, with the number of premium economy seats doubling to 36. The change will result in an additional 72,000 Pacific Premium Economy seats on its long-haul network annually.
Continental Airlines announced the contribution of an additional $50 million to its defined benefit pension plans, bringing year-to-date contributions to $100 million. CO expects to contribute $150 million this year.
British Airways and cabin staff represented by Unite sparred over the carrier's proposed cost-cutting measures last week, with the union proposing Friday a "major package of negotiated efficiencies, temporary cost savings and deferred payments worth millions over the next two years."
Canada and Japan announced an expanded air services agreement that will grant Canadian airlines unlimited access to cities outside Tokyo and offers access to Haneda "under certain conditions," Transport Canada said.
Asiana Airlines, Cargolux Airlines International and Nippon Cargo Airlines yesterday became the latest carriers to reach an agreement with the US Dept. of Justice to plead guilty to conspiring to fix air cargo prices and will pay criminal fines totaling $214 million. Asiana, which agreed to pay a $50 million fine, also will plead guilty to "carrying out [an] air passenger price-fixing conspiracy," according to DOJ. Cargolux will pay a $119 million fine and NCA will pay a $45 million penalty.
Swiss Aviation Training started training pilot crews from Air Dolomiti and Augsburg Airways on its E-190/195 full flight simulator at Lufthansa Flight Training's Munich facility that opened two weeks ago. The Swiss subsidiary said commissions to date ensure that the new simulator will be at least 80% utilized this year with crews from Dolomiti, Augsburg, Flybaboo and Alitalia its principal users.
TUIfly was hit by a wildcat strike yesterday at Hamburg, Hanover and Dusseldorf. Forty flights and 6,000 passengers suffered delays of up to 5 hr. as some 190 employees stopped working, although no flights were cancelled. The ver.di union called the strike and is seeking a 5% pay increase for its members. TUIfly staff has been concerned over job security since the announcement of the carrier's alliance with Air Berlin, which will begin operating 17 TUIfly 737s on scheduled routes ( ATWOnline, March 31).
US Dept. of Transportation said airlines cancelled 1.2% of their scheduled domestic flights in February, down from 3.6% in the year-ago month. American Airlines and ExpressJet Airlines had the highest rate of cancellations at 2.2%, while Hawaiian Airlines (0.1%), Frontier Airlines (0.2%) and Northwest Airlines (0.6%) had the lowest. The 19 reporting carriers had an ontime rate of 82.6% in February compared to the 68.6% reported in the year-ago month.
United Airlines said it will complete its transition to a cashless cabin on its North American flights, except for United Express operations, on April 20. It began accepting credit cards for onboard purchases on March 23.
An Aviastar BAe 146-300 en route to Wamena from Jayapura crashed into a mountainside on approach yesterday morning, killing all six aboard. The aircraft reportedly was ferrying food and supplies and was not transporting passengers. According to Flight Safety Foundation's Aviation Safety Network, those onboard comprised a captain, copilot, engineer, loadmaster and two flight attendants.
Owing to a strong rebound in the domestic market and the continuing decrease in domestic fuel prices, Chinese carriers are expected to report a collective first-quarter profit, according to CAAC Minister Li Jiaxiang. Li noted that "favorable policies" implemented in December were effective in combating declining domestic demand and stimulating growth. Among those initiatives were the decision to withhold approval for new entrants until 2010 and the call for airlines to cancel or delay aircraft orders, as well as fee reductions and infrastructure improvements.
Former LTU owner Hans Rudolf Woehrl said he is entertaining the idea of reacquiring the Air Berlin subsidiary, which AB CEO Joachim Hunold said last month is being considered for divestment ( ATWOnline, March 16). Speaking to Handelsblatt, Woerhl said airline acquisition "is part of our business, and we were always very successful there," Reuters reported.
Europe's principal airline associations (Assn. of European Airlines, European Low Fares Airline Assn., European Regions Airline Assn. and International Air Carriers Assn.) jointly submitted a package of recommended "relief" measures to the EC, including a ban on increases in ATM and airport charges above 2008 levels for two years, withdrawal of all taxes on aviation and shifting all security charges to national governments.
China Eastern Airlines' effort to reach financial breakeven by 2010 and a 2011 profit will include the forced retirement of 160 mid-level executives, who will be replaced by lower-salaried employees from both inside and outside the company.
ILFC, which last month admitted that it needed "additional support" owing to its lack of access to financing as a unit of American International Group, reportedly is close to reaching agreement with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to obtain a $5 billion line of credit that will help facilitate its sale.
China Southern Airlines yesterday became the first Chinese carrier to offer mobile check-in, another innovative step for the airline that sold the country's first e-ticket in 2000 and introduced the first common-use self-service kiosk in 2005 and the country's first online check-in option in 2006.
Air France KLM said it suffered a "significant deterioration" in March unit revenue. The group flew 16.02 billion RPKs during the month, down 9.4% year-over-year, against a 2.9% fall in capacity to 21.21 billion ASKs. Load factor dropped 5.5 points to 75.5%. United Airlines flew 9.58 consolidated RPMs in March, a 13.6% drop year-over-year. Capacity fell 9.9% to 12.18 billion ASMs and load factor was down 3.3 points to 78.7%.
European Commission yesterday released its updated "blacklist" of airlines banned from operating into the EU. Added to the list last released in November were Motor Sich Airlines of Ukraine, Thailand's One-Two-Go Airlines, six carriers from Kazakhstan and all airlines certified in Benin. Regarding carriers and countries already listed, it said a February visit to Indonesia "showed considerable improvements" and that there has been "good progress" regarding the "safety situation" in Angola ( ATWOnline, Nov.
TNT said its Express unit's international air volumes were down 23% year-over-year in the first quarter but overall international volumes "stabilized" as the quarter went on. Despite steep declines in the early part of the quarter, later leveling-out led the express giant to predict yesterday that it will report "positive" operating income when it releases its results on May 4.
SAS Group said its rights issue authorized last month ended up oversubscribed by 23.3%, ensuring that the company will receive some SEK6 billion ($734.8 million) in proceeds before transaction costs ( ATWOnline, March 17). "We are pleased that our shareholders, as well as new investors, have shown their confidence in and support for SAS and our new strategy, Core SAS," President and CEO Mats Jansson said ( ATWOnline, March 27).
