Middle East Airlines announced that it earned a net profit of $39 million in 2006 despite the hardships it faced when Beirut Rafik Hariri International was closed for 36 days that summer during hostilities between Lebanon and Israel. The result was down 36.5% from the $61.4 million earned in 2005. Chairman Mohammed Hout said the carrier partially offset a $32.5 million revenue decline with the leasing out of its aircraft, which netted $13.3 million. He said MEA will float a 25% stake "when the time is ripe."
ANA yesterday confirmed a report in The Wall Street Journal that it will take a one-time charge of ¥66 billion this fiscal year owing to a change in accounting related to aircraft and equipment depreciation, although it has not changed its full-year guidance of ¥64 billion in net earnings ( ATWOnline, Aug. 1). Qantas yesterday said it is "looking at restructuring opportunities" for Qantas Holidays, its wholesale holidays business.
Frontier Airlines is relying on regional partners to bridge the gap until its new Lynx Aviation subsidiary receives FAA certification. Some of the flying scheduled for Lynx currently is being operated under contracts with Horizon Air, ExpressJet Airlines and Republic Airways. The company does not know when it will receive FAA approval, a Frontier spokesperson told ATWOnline. Initially, Lynx was scheduled to begin flying Oct. 1 with two Q400s. It eventually will operate 10 of the turboprops. Tickets were booked and routes scheduled but Lynx was never certificated.
IATA briefed the US Dept. of Transportation yesterday on possible congestion management solutions for New York JFK, arguing ahead of next week's meeting of airlines in Washington that a "peak pricing" system will not work.
Austrian Airlines Group will reconfigure four A320s with a fixed business class cabin to operate on longer routes to the Middle East and Central Asia, a source close to the airline told ATWOnline. No further details were provided, and CEO Alfred Oetsch said news would be released in due course.
BAE Systems Regional Aircraft announced the following deals: Blue1 signed long-term lease extensions on four RJ85s. It currently operates a fleet of nine Avros along with three MD-90s. CityFlyer, a wholly owned subsidiary of British Airways that operates a fleet of 10 RJ100s, signed a lease for two RJ85s. Spanish charter carrier Orion Air signed a long-term lease for a BAe 146-200.
KLM Engineering and Maintenance signed a five-year component maintenance and availability contract covering BRA Transportes Aereos' eight 737s. Iberia Maintenance won a one-year contract from Pluna to conduct A-type inspections of a 767. Under a separate agreement, IB's maintenance division will maintain and overhaul the RB211-535E4s on one of the Uruguayan carrier's 757s.
Alaska Airlines launched the first phase of an $18 million check-in facility dubbed the Airport of the Future at Seattle-Tacoma International. The system, shared with Horizon Air, replaces traditional ticket counters with a series of kiosks and bag check stations designed to reduce customer wait times. The first of three check-in "islands" features 11 kiosks and 16 bag check stations. Remaining islands will enter service by mid-2008.
ACTS Aero Technical Support & Services reached a 10-year, C$70 million ($71.5 million) deal with SkyWest Airlines to provide maintenance support on a "significant number" of airframe and engine components including line replaceable units for the airline's fleet of 121 CRJ200s and 70 CRJ700s.
Air Tahiti selected IER to install a common use self-service application. IER will provide the French Polynesian airline with five IER 918 CUSS kiosks and supply the IER CUSS platform, the IER self-service check-in application and also a Web check-in application. IER will support deployment of the complete application through project management.
Banamex and the Saba family continued their bidding war for AeroMexico yesterday, with both upping their bids to at least MXN2 billion ($185 million). The Mexican government indicated it was leaning toward accepting the bid of Banamex, the Mexican arm of Citigroup, unless the Sabas had outbid their rival clearly by the close of business yesterday. Moises Saba Masri vowed to win the bidding, saying in a radio interview that "If we have to make a higher counteroffer, then we'll do it.
CFM International named Olivier Savin, VP of Snecma Services' component repair business unit, executive VP. He replaces Francois Planaud, who was named VP and GM of Snecma's Commercial Engine Division.
US Dept. of Transportation will include several foreign carriers in the meetings called for Oct. 23-24 to address congestion issues, specifically in the New York market ( ATWOnline, Oct. 15), Reuters reported, mentioning Air France KLM, British Airways, Lufthansa, Japan Airlines and Virgin Atlantic Airways.
American Airlines flew 10.85 billion RPMs in September, up 2.4% on the year-ago month. Capacity fell 1.4% to 13.83 billion ASMs and load factor rose 2.9 points to 78.4%. American Eagle Airlines flew 709.4 million RPMs, up 1.8%, against a 1% increase in ASMs to 1.01 billion. Load factor lifted 0.5 point to 70.2%. SkyWest Airlines and Atlantic Southeast Airlines flew a combined 1.44 billion RPMs in September, a 14% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity was up 12.9% to 1.9 billion ASMs and load factor rose 0.8 point to 76%.
Gate Gourmet will manage onboard retail across easyJet's network under a multiyear deal announced yesterday covering all beverages and food for onboard purchase, crew meals, duty free products and other provisioning.
Lufthansa is making inquiries about purchasing a 25% stake in LOT Polish Airlines from receivers of the old Swissair, Polish Deputy Treasury Minister Dawid Jackiewicz said in comments to reporters cited by Thomson Financial. "We would prefer that it not be a sector investor because any existing player could be opposed to the expansion and development of LOT. If it is Lufthansa, we will be every unhappy," he said.
Virgin Atlantic Airways plans to conduct a 747 biofuel test flight next year, parent Virgin Group Chairman Richard Branson said. At a recent appearance in Amsterdam and again yesterday during a speech in Boston, he said that Virgin will "early next year. . .fly one of our 747s without passengers with [an alternative fuel] we have developed." No other details were revealed. Virgin has said in the past that it is working with Boeing and GE to develop biofuels.
Aer Lingus CEO Dermot Mannion announced that the airline reached an agreement with pilots over issues concerning the opening of EI's Belfast base and that "the threat of disruption of services this week has been lifted." Mannion had threatened to suspend noncompliant pilots beginning today ( ATWOnline, Oct. 11). EI said the base will open on time with "staff employed on local terms and conditions" and that the agreement with the Irish Air Line Pilots Assn.
Kitty Hawk Inc., which operates air cargo and ground handling services, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company, which operates 727-200 and 737-300 freighters, said it would continue to pay employee wages and benefits while it attempts to reorganize and secure interim financing. Kitty Hawk officials said the move was taken in "the best long-term interests" of employees, vendors and customers.
Cathay Pacific Airways will start a second-daily Hong Kong-San Francisco flight Oct. 18 aboard a 777-300ER. CX and Dragonair flew a combined 6.57 billion RPKs in September, up 5.2% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 0.6% to 8.32 billion ASKs and load factor was ahead 3.4 points to 79%.
Ancra International said Cargo Aircraft Management placed an order for its 757-200 Cargo Loading System. Installation is scheduled to take place during the ongoing Precision Conversions passenger-to-freighter modification at Flightstar in Florida.
S7 Airlines said revenue through the year's first nine months rose 27% year-over-year to $845 million and full-year turnover will reach $1.17 billion compared to RUB24.97 billion ($1 billion) in 2006. The company expects full-year EBITDA of $57 million. Nine-month passenger numbers grew 10% year-over-year to 4.3 million, with RPKs up 5% to 10.42 billion and load factor ahead 3.6 points to 81.9%.
AerCap announced that subsidiary AeroTurbine promoted Senior VP-Materials Michael King to the newly created position of president reporting to AeroTurbine CEO Nicolas Finazzo.
Gol said it concluded a committed aircraft pre-delivery payment loan facility worth $310 million covering the 21 737-800s scheduled for delivery from July 2008 through 2009. It said the financing comprises eight banks and was led by Calyon and Citigroup.
