British Airways reported a 1.8% increase in March RPKs to 9.5 billion and a 2.5% rise in capacity to 12.63 billion ASKs. Load factor fell 0.5 point to 75.2%. Northwest Airlines flew 6.43 billion RPMs in March, a 6.1% decrease from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 8.8% to 7.38 billion ASMs and load factor rose 2.5 points to 87.1%. Domestic traffic dropped 9.5% to 3.77 billion RPMs against a 12.9% fall in capacity to 4.46 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 3.2 points to 84.5%.
World Air Holdings, parent of World Airways and North American Airlines, authorized the repurchase of up to 2 million shares of its common stock once it files its annual report, which has been delayed.
Southwest Airlines will appeal last week's verdict in a racial profiling case that concluded with a $27.5 million award to a California woman and Iran native who claimed false imprisonment and malicious prosecution following her 2003 arrest in El Paso, according to press reports.
Alaska Airlines will spend $3.5 million to upgrade its terminal at Nome. Work on renovating and expanding the passenger lobby by nearly 1,500 sq. ft. and upgrading the secured passenger area, cargo facility, ground service equipment area, parking lot and water and sewer line connections will begin in June and conclude in March 2007. The carrier operates three daily flights at the airport. Separately, Alaska flew 1.53 billion RPMs in March, a 4.2% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity rose 3.7% to 1.95 billion ASMs and load factor improved 0.3 point to 78.2%.
Etihad Crystal Cargo, the cargo division of Etihad Airways, said it had more than $15 million in sales last month and handled more than 10,000 shipments.
British Airways CEO Willie Walsh yesterday urged the European Commission to move forward with plans to bring EU airlines within the emissions trading scheme "as soon as the technical details can be resolved and political agreement reached." At the same time, he urged the EC to "go for simplicity." For example, the scheme should apply, "initially at least," to flights that start and end within the EU and not try to include non-EU flights, "which could delay implementation for years."
Embraer delivered 27 aircraft in the first quarter comprising four ERJ-145s, eight 170s, one 175, eight 190s and six business or defense aircraft. It expects to deliver 145 aircraft this year and 150 in 2007. During the quarter, Midwest Express confirmed the cancellation of a May 2001 order for 20 ERJ-140s and Embraer said the cancellation will not have an impact on the company's delivery forecast for the coming year. Some 60% of those deliveries are expected to occur in the second half. Firm order backlog of commercial and business aircraft is valued at $10.4 billion.
Wizz Air and Pegasus Aviation Finance announced the closing of a sale and leaseback transaction for four new IAE V2500-powered A320s scheduled for delivery in 2007. Lease term is 11 years.
FAA Administrator Marion Blakey told media in Washington yesterday she is confident that ATC personnel will continue to perform at a high level despite the current impasse over a new labor agreement and that a slowdown or an organized spate of early retirements is "not realistic." She said controllers are "very dedicated [and] take a tremendous amount of pride" in their work and would not act in a manner contrary to their professional or financial self-interest. FAA ended negotiations with the National Air Traffic Controllers Assn. last week and sent its final proposal to Congress.
World Airways signed leases for two MD-11s it had been subleasing from Delta Air Lines until the leases were rejected by DL in bankruptcy court in September. A third lease will be signed later this month. World had been operating the aircraft on an interim agreement. Leases with the new owner are on staggered terms through March 2008.
Air Greenland plans to open the first route between Greenland and the US in May 2007. No decision on a US destination has been made, but the leading candidate is a weekly route between Kangerlussuaq and Baltimore/Washington International Airport. The company's financial report for 2005 shows a profit after tax of DKK40.8 million ($6.6 million) on turnover of DKK869.7 million. Air Greenland operates one A330-200, one 757-200, six Dash 7s and several smaller aircraft and helicopters on its domestic network.
American Airlines and KLM are increasing their fuel surcharges. AA will add $10 each way on most transatlantic and transpacific routes, excluding Japan, effective immediately. KLM will add €5 per stretch on all long-haul segments effective April 15. Surcharge on intercontinental flights will rise to €45 but remain at €15 per segment on European routes.
TAM closed its preferred shares public offering ( ATWOnline, March 17) yesterday after distributing 37.1 million shares and raising BRL1.56 billion ($724.7 million). TAM said 54.7% of its capital now is held by TAM Empreendimentos e Participacoes SA and Aerosystem SA, with the remainder held by minority shareholders.
As expected, Australia's Qantas Group moved to rationalize its various airline brands, with leisure operator Australian Airlines being absorbed into the mainline from July and Jetstar International, the overseas arm of Qantas domestic LCC Jetstar, launching operations in November.
China Airlines reported an after-tax profit of TW$645 million ($19.9 million) in 2005 on record revenues of TW$108.6 billion, according to Taiwan's Government Information Office. Fuel accounted for 45% of the carrier's expenses compared to 27%-28% in recent years. It posted a fourth-quarter loss of TW$362 million but plans to continue expanding its network with the purchase of six aircraft in 2006, comprising four A330s and two freighters.
Continued rising fuel prices are undermining the "remarkable overall progress being made by the US airline industry to return to profitability," the US Air Transport Assn. said yesterday as it called for airspace modernization to mitigate the impact. "Record crude oil prices, which are expected to average nearly $70 per barrel this summer, will hamper the industry's widespread efforts to reverse the losses that have plagued the airlines in recent years," ATA VP and Chief Economist John Heimlich said in a statement yesterday.
SITA said it won a five-year, $5.6 million contract from the Moroccan National Office of Airports to install and maintain AirportConnect CUTE, "a state-of-the-art IT system for managing busy airport environments," at the country's main airports in Casablanca, Agadir and Marrakech.
Lufthansa Systems, NavAero and Virgin Atlantic signed a contract to equip the carrier's entire fleet with a full-service Class 2 electronic flight bag solution. NavAero will provide its tBagC2² EFB computer and display hardware and LHS will supply its SkyBook EFB solution. Project work is already well underway and the first Virgin Atlantic flight with the SkyBook/tBagC2² EFB onboard is scheduled to take off in December.
Swiss International Air Lines must seek out further cost-cutting opportunities in view of today's sky-high fuel prices, CEO Christoph Franz told ATWOnline during the Star Alliance meeting in Johannesburg. Labor costs in particular must come down. "We require much concessions from our employees. Now it is the turn of our Airbus pilots," he said. Negotiations with pilots are underway. Franz declined to provide specific savings targets, but said in a clear statement, "less money, more flying." Swiss already has implemented higher productivity on its A320 fleet.
Lufthansa flew 24.04 billion RPKs in the first quarter ended March 31, a 1% increase over the year-ago quarter. Capacity rose 3.1% to 33.49 billion ASKs and load factor dipped 1.5 points to 71.8%.
Latin American Airline Assn. member traffic increased 2.1% in February to 9.14 billion RPKs as capacity grew 4% to 13.23 billion ASKs and load factor dropped 1.3 points to 69.1%.
SkyWest Inc., parent of SkyWest Airlines and Atlantic Southeast Airlines, priced a public offering of 4 million shares yesterday at $26.05, according to the Associated Press. The company expects to use about $99.3 million in net proceeds, excluding overallotments, to repay short-term debt, reduce amounts outstanding under a revolving credit facility and for other purposes.
Symbol Technologies and partner Peak Technologies were chosen by Virgin Atlantic Airways to supply RFID technology as part of a pilot project to track "high value" aircraft spare and replacement parts moving through its logistics supply chain at London Heathrow. According to Symbol, Virgin is the first UK airline to use RFID technology to track parts onsite.
