Philippine Airlines said an "absence of major one-time gains" was responsible for a swing in financial fortunes that resulted in an $11.3 million loss in the fiscal third quarter ended Dec. 31, reversed from a $79.5 million profit in the year-ago quarter. Operating income, however, improved to $15.3 million from $13.2 million in the year-ago period, PAL claimed. Revenue slipped 5% to $371.8 million while expenses climbed 23% to $383 million. It did not explain how it achieved an operating profit.
UTair reported a RUB270 million ($11 million) profit in 2007, up 2.3% from the year-ago figure, according to press reports from Russia. It expects net earnings of RUB320 million this year on revenue of RUB33.3 billion. AK&M reported that UTair intends to add 10 737-500s by year end and 10 more by the close of 2009. Bloomberg News reported that it will lease half of those aircraft from Continental Airlines. Separately, UTair transported 205,398 passengers in January, up 122.7% from the year-ago month.
Rockwell Collins signed a 10-year Dispatch 100 deal with Pinnacle Airlines to support 16 new CRJ900s. Contract covers spares ownership, logistics management, maintenance repair and on-site technical support under a single per-flight-hr. price and single point of contact. Pinnacle will fly the aircraft for Delta Air Lines.
Alaska Airlines flew 1.41 billion RPMs in January, a 9.9% rise from the year-ago month, against a 6.2% increase in ASKs to 2.05 billion. Load factor was up 2.4 points to 68.9%. Austrian Airlines Group flew 1.32 billion RPKs in January, down 19.9% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 15.9% to 1.9 billion ASKs and load factor declined 3.5 points to 69.6%.
CAE won Level D certification from UK CAA for its first 5000 Series A320 FFS developed to address training requirements for high-volume narrowbodies. The simulator will be used for A320 training at CAE's Burgess Hill facility.
Airlines likely will face higher insurance renewals this year compared to 2007, according to Aon Corp.'s "Airline Industry Market Review." The culprit is higher hull and liability claims last year even as premiums were falling. Aon stated that insurers incurred $1.72 billion in claims for hull, liability and estimated "attritional losses" in 2007 while taking in just $1.51 billion in premiums, down 11% compared to 2006 and the lowest figure since 2000.
US Airways said yesterday that it will charge economy passengers $25 for a second checked bag on all flights within the US and to/from Canada, Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe for travel from May 5 on tickets purchased after Feb. 26. The carrier follows United Airlines, though UA's policy is only for North America ( ATWOnline, Feb. 5). As with UA, the fee will be waived for loyalty program members.
Germanwings and TUIfly are not expected to conclude negotiations to merge their LCC operations by the time the boards of Germanwings parent Lufthansa and travel conglomerate TUI meet in mid-March, delaying the prospective combination ( ATWOnline, Jan. 30). German magazine Focus reported that the talks will not conclude before summer and that antitrust approval could take an additional four months.
Ryanair's website came back online yesterday, one day ahead of schedule, after closing down for the weekend to update the system and bring it in line with UK Office of Fair Trading regulations requiring that airline websites include fixed, nonoptional taxes, fees and charges in advertised prices on both their homepages and during the booking process ( ATWOnline, Feb. 14). Ryanair said its new website offers enhancements such as the possibility to change flights up to 4 hr.
MNG Technic reached agreement with Estonian Air to provide line maintenance and technical support for four 737-500s and two 737-300s at Istanbul Ataturk and Antalya.
BOC Aviation signed agreements with Qantas for the lease of eight A320s. Aircraft will be delivered from Airbus between the third quarter of 2010 and first quarter of 2011 and will be operated by low-cost subsidiary Jetstar Airways.
Frontier Airlines reported a 0.3% year-over-year increase in January yield to 10.28 cents while RASM climbed 11.7% to 7.46 cents. It flew 753.7 million RPMs last month, up 18.3% over the year-ago month. Capacity rose 6.4% to 1.04 billion ASMs, boosting load factor 7.3 points to 72.5%. Copa Airlines flew 484.7 million RPMs last month, up 16.4% over the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 17.4% to 592.1 million ASMs and load factor slipped 0.7 point to 81.9%.
IATA DG and CEO Giovanni Bisignani yesterday cautioned Asian aviation officials not to repeat the "mistakes" made in Europe regarding environmental politics and pushed the region to take a regulatory stance on aircraft emissions more sensible than the EU's "single-minded" agenda.
Virgin Atlantic Airways on Sunday operated a 747 demonstration flight from London Heathrow to Amsterdam partially powered by biofuel. Boeing, GE Aviation and Imperium Renewables partnered on the test, which came three weeks after Airbus conducted an A380 flight test using a liquid fuel processed from gas ( ATWOnline, Feb. 4). The Virgin test used biofuel composed of babassu oil and coconut oil. "These oils are environmentally and socially sustainable," the airline said.
Allied Pilots Assn., which represents American Airlines pilots, said it met with airline CEO Gerard Arpey and CFO Tom Horton along with the Assn. of Professional Flight Attendants and the Transport Workers Union "to discuss the airline industry's current drive toward consolidation." APA said management "spoke in general terms" about consolidation and the union "clearly communicated our concern about the effect that mergers have on employees."
GE Aviation announced a $30 million project to expand GEASO, its engine repair facility in Singapore, to 76,200 sq. m. The expansion is projected to more than double last year's $250 million revenue by 2013. Construction will begin in April and is slated for completion next year.
Singapore Aero Engine Services signed a $20 million deal with Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies covering MRO module services on four Trent 700s from a Middle East operator's fleet. SAESL also will handle engine MRO on 12 aircraft covered by a Rolls-Royce TotalCare agreement.
British Air Line Pilots Assn. will take its dispute with British Airways over the new OpenSkies subsidiary to mediation, scheduled to begin this week. The union last week voted 86% in support of a work stoppage ( ATWOnline, Feb. 22). "BALPA will not squander the resolve of its BA pilot membership but wants to make every effort to find a negotiated settlement," it said. "Should conciliation not progress in a timely and positive fashion, BALPA will be able to serve notice of action."
Search teams on Friday discovered the wreckage of a Santa Barbara Airlines ATR 42-300 that had lost contact with air traffic control following takeoff from Merida the day before.
Airways New Zealand, Airservices Australia and US FAA signed a trilateral agreement to accelerate development of air traffic control procedures among the three countries that will reduce aviation's environmental footprint. Dubbed ASPIRE--Asia and South Pacific Initiative to Reduce Emissions--the accord aims to provide a regional platform for a host of technologies pioneered by the trio.
Qantas will hire 900 new long-haul flight attendants by year end in the first phase of what it calls "its largest ever cabin crew recruitment drive." CEO Geoff Dixon said QF will continue to build its full-time cabin staff numbers through 2010, at which point it expects to have approximately 2,000 new flight attendants working on its A380s, 747s and A330s.
Singapore Technologies Engineering said Flybe awarded ST Aerospace Solutions a $160 million component maintenance support and management deal for Dash 8 aircraft. Agreement includes additional aircraft and a contract extension until 2016.
KVH Industries said it reached a $20.1 million multiyear deal with an inflight entertainment supplier to design and manufacture DirecTV-compatible satellite TV antennas for narrowbody US commercial aircraft.
