US Airways received bankruptcy court approval to sell four of its 767s and one spare engine to Mountain Capital Partners LLC, an affiliate of Goldman Sachs, as part of a sale/leaseback agreement. The deal will provide the carrier with $30.8 million initially and another $10 million after recurrent maintenance checks through 2009. US Airways said it has been operating under a month-to-month agreement with Mountain Capital enabling it to return planes and the spare engine as it takes delivery of new aircraft.
China Airlines revised its financial forecast for the 2005 year, telling the markets that it is increasing its operating revenue prediction by 5.8% to TWD$111.69 billion ($3.48 billion) but downgrading its profit forecast from TWD$4.4 billion to TWD$3.08 billion. The airline recorded a 17% growth in passenger revenue and a 12% lift in cargo for the first six months.
Lufthansa Systems said Mexicana will use its ProfitLine/Price module to support its pricing analysis and decision-making. Mexicana will be using LHS as an ASP. LAN Airlines recently signed an agreement with Teradata, a division of NCR Corp., to expand its data warehouse to 4 terabytes. In addition, the agreement includes training on the latest Teradata enterprise data warehouse platform.
Northwest Airlines appeared to come through the first day of a strike by its 4,400 mechanics and aircraft cleaners with flying colors, operating most of its flights on Saturday and achieving a 57.8% ontime departure rate and 97.9% outbound completion factor through 5:15 p.m. EDT, according to an analysis by JP Morgan analyst Jamie Baker. To ease the burden on the mix of replacement workers and third-party providers who are filling in, the airline began flying its fall schedule Friday, operating around 300 fewer daily flights than during the peak summer season.
Garber Travel became the first travel agency to deploy ITA Software's alternative distribution system. The Chestnut Hill, Mass.-based agency, one of the top 25 in the U.S. (its 2003 sales totaled $334 million) is funneling about "10 or 20" United Airlines bookings a week through the system, executive vice president Joan Kaplan said. "We hope to get it up to 50 or 100," she said.
China appears to be pulling out all stops to assist Taiwan's airlines, which are seeking overflight rights to cut fuel costs. CAAC told China Daily that it "will handle the applications as soon as possible." The Taiwan government announced in early August that it would allow the country's airlines apply for the rights.
British Airways said it will resume serving hot meals to customers departing London Heathrow on long-haul flights today, while hot meals will be offered to long-haul inbound passengers beginning Wednesday. Customers in the first class and Club World cabins will have three hot meal choices and a deli box option, while World Traveler and World Traveler Plus customers may select from two hot meal options and a deli bag offering. A limited bar service is being offered as well.
Latin America Airline Assn. said its 22 members flew 9.57 billion RPKs in June, up 11.2% compared to the year-ago period, on a 9.2% rise in capacity to 13.91 billion ASKs. Load factor gained 1.2 points to 68.8%. The airlines carried 6.1 million passengers, up 13.8% over June 2004. Growth was fueled by the traffic increase on intra-Latin America routes, where 1.1 million passengers were carried, up 26.7%. Domestic and North American traffic rose 10.9% and 9.3% respectively.
Singapore Airlines' traffic continues to grow, with the carrier recording a 6.9% lift in passengers and a 9.7% increase in cargo for July. Traffic rose 7.2% while capacity grew 6.8% for an overall load factor lift of 0.3 point to 69.1%. Strongest passenger load factor was to the Americas at 88.1%, while Europe had the highest cargo load factor at 69.5%. During the month, SIA introduced passenger flights to Ahmedabad and Amritsar and cargo flights to Johannesburg.
Northwest Airlines said it received and rejected a contract proposal from the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Assn. Wednesday evening. It said the offer "appears to fall short of the $176 million in annual cost savings that the company needs from its AMFA-represented employees." NWA valued the proposal at $100 million annually "and only for a two-year period." AMFA employees will be free to strike the airline upon expiration of a federally mandated 30-day cooling-off period at 12:01 a.m. Aug. 20.
Estonian Air , which is 49% owned by SAS, reported a profit of EEK17.7 million ($1.39 million) in the first half of 2005 compared to a loss of EEK1.1 million in the year-ago period. First-half operating revenue grew 13% to EEK494.1 million on a 20.2% rise in passengers to 293,700. Load factor improved 3.4 points to 61.9%. Despite a 68% jump in fuel price, the carrier slashed its cost per ASK by 12.3% compared to 2004.
KLM Engineering & Maintenance will perform D checks on 10 Cargolux 747s. KLM is able to perform a D check in 28 days including strip and paint. The two also signed a three-year extension of a current agreement covering C checks, engineering services and Maintenance & Pool on the GE CF6 engines and engine components that power the Cargolux fleet.
British Airways launched an investigation into last week's "outrageous" walkout by 1,000 baggage handlers, cargo workers and bus drivers at London Heathrow that caused the airline to cancel more than 700 flights and disrupted the travel plans of some 100,000 BA customers ( ATWOnline , Aug. 16).
A small number of Korean Air pilots have flagged that they will join their colleagues at Asiana in taking strike action today. The Asiana pilots are back at work after a 25-day strike, but the industrial situation is far from settled ( ATWOnline , Aug. 17). At the center of the Korean Air dispute is an extension of rest periods after international flights, with the pilots arguing for a 30-hr. break, up from the current 22 hr. The Asiana dispute is in mediation with an agreement deadline of Aug. 24.
AirTran Holdings filed a shelf registration with the US Securities and Exchange Commission covering the sale of up to $225 million of its debt securities, preferred stock, common stock or warrants to purchase any of these securities.
Aviapartner will provide catering in Brussels to Continental Airlines for its daily 767-400 service under a five-year contract that begins Jan. 1. Aviapartner valued the deal at €2.2 million ($2.7 million) annually.
Air Wisconsin began service for new partner US Airways with a flight from Philadelphia to Burlington. By the end of August, Air Wisconsin is scheduled to operate16 daily departures as US Airways Express. In September the schedule will expand to include a total of 25 markets with approximately 88 daily departures, primarily flown to and from Philadelphia. By February 2006 it will operate a fleet of 70 CRJs as US Airways Express.
ACE Aviation Holdings , parent of Air Canada, named former Aer Lingus CFO Brian Dunne executive VP and CFO reporting to ACE Chairman and CEO Robert Milton. Dunne replaces Rob Peterson, who will assume the position of executive VP-finance and CFO at Aeroplan LP, Air Canada's loyalty program that has been spun off into a separate subsidiary. Dunne was one of the top Aer Lingus managers credited with leading the airline's turnaround who resigned along with CEO Willie Walsh last year.
Lufthansa Technik won Pulkovo Airlines as a new Total Technical Support client. A five-year contract includes support for Pulkovo's 737-500 fleet and engines. LHT also extended its cooperation with Siberia Airlines to provide Total Component Support for Sibair's eight A310s for the next five years.
Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, parent of Atlas Air and Polar Air Cargo, suspended plans to merge the carriers in the face of a possible strike next month by Polar's pilots. Polar and the Air Line Pilots Assn. were released from negotiations by the National Mediation Board, starting a 30-day cooling-off period after which the pilots will be free to strike and Polar can impose a contract on the union. The cooling-off period is set to expire at 12:01 a.m. EDT Sept. 16.
Australian government will review the bid by Singapore Airlines for access to routes between Australia and the US, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer told Australian reporters. Qantas has put up fierce opposition to the route application, but most analysts agree it is only a matter of time before SIA gains access, which would be in line with the ongoing liberalization between Australia and Singapore. Just three months ago the Australian government shut the door on SIA and in July Prime Minister John Howard flagged a merger of SIA and Qantas, which surprised both carriers.
IndiGo Airlines' order for 100 A320s announced at the Paris Air Show may have run into some turbulence. According to reports from some analysts and the Times of India , the Indian Ministry of Civil Aviation's Aircraft Acquisition Committee deferred a decision on IndiGo's ambitious fleet plans. Sources suggest the committee needs "more clarification of the airline's funding" and there are concerns about the impact of the aircraft on slot requirements.
Midwest Airlines launched a new program, Best Care Business, providing incentives and awards for businesses and corporations that spend $100,000 or less annually on travel with the Milwaukee-based carrier.
Gol , in a step that represents a departure from the low-fare airline template it has followed since startup, announced a marketing agreement with Copa under which the two carriers will codeshare between Brazil and Panama beginning Aug. 24. The first phase of the agreement will connect Gol flights from Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo with Copa flights to Panama. Additional phases will increase the number of Brazilian cities served by the codeshare and add beyond destinations from Panama.
