On the occasion of its 10th anniversary, celebrated this week in Copenhagen, Star Alliance endeavored to take some control over the increasingly volatile discussion concerning commercial aviation's impact on the environment, announcing a transport and marketing partnership with leading conservation organizations while acknowledging that more forceful and unified communication is needed to defend the industry's position.
Sabre Airline Solutions said Aerolitoral became the fourth airline to sign an agreement to use the Ramco MRO System provided by Sabre to maintain and engineer its fleet.
Embraer's first-quarter profit, dragged down by ongoing problems with its supply chain and production capabilities, fell 60% to $26.2 million from $65.3 million in the year-ago quarter. The company delivered 25 aircraft in the quarter, slightly down from 27 in the same period last year. Revenue was up 4.3% to $843.4 million. Backlog reached a record $15 billion.
Italy's Treasury Dept. yesterday cleared all three bidders for Alitalia to remain in the running. They will have access to Alitalia's financial books on May 24 and be able to submit binding bids at the end of June for the troubled airline. Remaining bidders are a consortium led by Texas Pacific Group and MatlinPatterson, a partnership between Air One parent AP Holding and Intesa Sanpaolo, and a recently formed tie-up between Aeroflot and UniCredit
Skybus Airlines received FAA certification last week and plans to begin service on May 22. "FAA certification is the final hurdle and having cleared it we are ready to begin serving passengers," President and COO Ken Gile said. The LCC startup will be based in Columbus and have an initial network of seven cities, with Oakland to be added as an eighth destination on June 12 ( ATWOnline, April 25).
AirAsia said it will introduce a new service dubbed Xpress Boarding that offers passengers the first choice of seats on its aircraft. Cost is RM20 ($6.50) one way. The carrier, which practices a free-seating policy, will extend the Xpress Boarding service to all airports within its network including those serviced by its sister companies Thai AirAsia and Indonesia AirAsia.
China's airlines reported a collective first-quarter net loss of CNY820 million ($106.7 million), narrowed from a CNY2.14 billion deficit in the year-ago quarter, according to figures released by CAAC. Operating revenue rose 19.9% to CNY40.5 billion while costs increased 16.5% to CNY41.2 billion. Chinese analysts credited "drop of fuel price" and "strong market demand" for the improved performance. The government slashed the price of jet fuel by CNY180 per ton at the beginning of the year, according to the official state Xinhua News Agency.
American Airlines' business class upgrade for its 767-300s is progressing as planned, the carrier said last week in Brussels during a tour to present the new cabin. By summer, all 767-300s operating on Europe-New York JFK routes will be refurbished with the "next-generation" business class and at year end the process should be completed on its entire fleet of 58 -300s, which in addition to transatlantic services are operated on select routes within the US and to Latin America.
Northwest Airlines and China Airlines signed a cooperation agreement, to be implemented Aug. 1, that will include reciprocal frequent-flier benefits and lounge access as well as "one-stop check-in" for connecting passengers.
Jet Airways appointed Emmanuel Menu GM-Continental Europe. He replaces Abraham Joseph, who is relocating to Toronto to lead the airline's expansion into Canada.
Singapore Technologies Aerospace's SAS Component subsidiary was selected by Martinair to continue its support of the airline's six 767s under its material supply program for another three years in a deal valued at €18 million ($24.3 million). AJ Walter said Bulgarian charter carrier Air Via signed a power-by-the-hour contract covering an A320.
Anchored by Airbus's negative EBIT of €69 million ($93.4 million), parent EADS reported a €10 million net loss in the first quarter, reversed from a profit of €522 million in the year-ago period.
Air Transport Assn. is seeking the assistance of the White House in a dispute with the Dept. of Homeland Security over the collection of biometric information on non-US citizens. Currently, DHS requires foreign visitors to submit to fingerprinting when they arrive in the US. Now it intends to mandate fingerprinting when visitors leave the country as well. However, in a decision Air Transport Assn.
International Federation of Air Line Pilots Assns. said it was "outraged" to learn Brazil's Polícia Federal recommended prosecution of Joseph Lepore and Jan Paladino, the pilots of the Embraer Legacy that collided with a Gol 737-800 last September ( ATWOnline, Feb. 21). Charges would be brought under section 261 of the Brazilian Penal Code "for placing a vessel or aircraft in jeopardy," according to IFALPA.
Lufthansa flew 9.6 billion RPKs in April, up 6.2% on the year-ago month. Capacity rose 5% to 12.72 billion ASKs and load factor improved 0.9 point to 75.5%.
KLM launched a trial on long-haul routes to Singapore, Manila and Curacao to charge passengers for seats with more legroom or on an exit row, Reuters reported. The charge is €50 ($67.71) per "extra," the airline said.
BAA announced the sale of Budapest Airport to a consortium led by Hochtief Airport for £1.31 billion ( ATWOnline, Oct. 23, 2006). The UK airports operator said the decision was driven by parent company Ferrovial's desire to focus on its seven home airports. The sale is expected to be complete at the end of this month. Leeds Bradford International Airport has been sold to Bridgepoint, a private equity firm, for £145.5 million ($289.9 million) following a decision by West Yorkshire officials.
Ryanair yesterday said that "from today, all of Ryanair's fares will be quoted inclusive of taxes" in conjunction with a seat sale that includes a promise to pay passengers double the difference between a Ryanair fare and a cheaper fare on the same route operated by a competing carrier. The LCC transported 4.1 million passengers in April, up 19% from the year-ago month. Load factor fell 2 points to 83%.
Libyan government said it will invest $1.2 billion to modernize the fleets of its two national carriers, Libyan Airlines and Afriqiyah Airways. According to the Arab Air Carriers Organization, Libyan officials plan to buy up to 12 Airbus aircraft and remain in negotiations with Boeing.
British Airways flew 9.46 billion RPKs in April, down 2.2% from the year-ago month. Capacity was up 0.5% to 12.3 billion ASKs, dropping load factor 2.1 points to 76.9%. Continental Airlines flew 7.85 billion consolidated RPMs in April, up 4.8% on the year-ago month. Capacity rose 5% to 9.54 billion ASMs, dropping load factor 0.2 point to 82.3%. Domestic traffic grew 5.2% against a 5.8% climb in capacity that cut load factor 0.4 point to 85.5%. International RPMs lifted 6.3%, capacity was up 6.1% and load factor rose 0.1 point to 79.6%.
China's new privately run LCCs are looking to strategic investors as a method of raising capital, as it is becoming increasingly difficult to access traditional sources of bank lending owing to the airlines' less-than-stellar financial performance. Juneyao Group announced that its Juneyao Airlines subsidiary is seeking a strategic investor to aid in the carrier's long-term development. The announcement was made after Juneyao said the airline was profitable in April and expects to post a full-year profit as well. Actual results were not disclosed.
Northwest Airlines labor unions registered strong protest to the carrier's plan of reorganization after it was revealed that top executives will receive 5% of the carrier's new stock when it emerges from bankruptcy, including shares and options reportedly valued at $26.5 million earmarked for President and CEO Doug Steenland. Pilots, represented by the Air Line Pilots Assn., said in a US Bankruptcy Court filing that employees believe "the principle of shared sacrifice is dead and buried" and that top executives are making an "incredible grab" for valuable stock despite the fact that
American Airlines is reserved on the effect open skies will have on its US-EU traffic. "There has been a lot of excitement over it over the past weeks, but it is too early to tell what will happen," MD-Sales and Marketing-Europe, Middle East and Africa Maria Sebastian told ATWOnline while in Brussels to present the carrier's upgraded 767-300 business class. "I suspect it will lead to a more competitive environment, certainly at London Heathrow.
