While Turkish Airlines' network and bottom line continue to grow, CEO Temel Kotil admitted to ATWOnline that more is needed to fulfill his ambition to make the carrier a global player--"I'm not satisfied with our image," he said. Speaking to this website in Istanbul, Kotil said THY still has work to do in establishing and increasing the public's confidence in its brand. "We have to show the people that TK is already offering a top product. So far, the [lack of] awareness of our brand is a big problem." He said he is considering increasing the advertising budget.
Qantas said it will post a pre-tax profit of A$50-A$150 million ($44.5-$133.5 million) for the fiscal first half ending Dec. 31. The company reported a A$216 million net profit in the year-ago period but suffered a pre-tax loss of A$107 million in the six months ended June 30. "Operating conditions have improved when compared to the second half of 2008-09, with passenger volumes and yield improving," QF said yesterday.
The 3.1% decline in 2009 passenger traffic (RPKs) is the industry's "largest on record," according to ICAO, which is predicting a "moderate" increase of 3.3% next year and "full recovery" of 5.5% in 2011.
UK Competition Appeal Tribunal released a ruling yesterday agreeing with BAA's claim regarding apparent bias in the Competition Commission ruling forcing it to sell London Gatwick and Stansted ( ATWOnline, May 19).
GECAS announced the sale of 15 aircraft valued at some $830 million and currently on lease with various airlines to China Development Bank subsidiary CDB Leasing. CDB President Wang Chong said the transaction "will greatly expand our international presence." It signed a financing deal with Embraer this month ( ATWOnline, Dec. 14).
TAM announced the acquisition of Pantanal Linhas Aereas, a small regional that operates ATR 42s out of Sao Paulo Congonhas. TAM said it paid BRL13 million ($7.3 million) for the shares.
Rwandair plans to buy two single-aisle aircraft from either Airbus or Boeing for delivery in 2011 and will lease two planes in the interim, Head of Marketing and Corporate Communications Michael Peter Otieno told Reuters, adding that the carrier plans to acquire "about six aircraft" over the next five years. It bought two CRJ200s from Lufthansa that it plans to add before year end ( ATWOnline, Dec. 8).
The US Dept. of Transportation yesterday announced a final ruling forcing US airlines to deplane passengers after a 3-hr. delay under most circumstances, among other consumer-friendly provisions, which the Air Transport Assn. said would lead to unfavorable "unintended consequences."
IATA welcomed the Copenhagen Accord reached at the UN Climate Change Conference last week as "an important step in the right direction," and said the fact that aviation emissions were not addressed specifically was "a reflection of the proactive measures the industry has taken to set challenging targets for itself, together with an aggressive strategy to achieve them" ( ATWOnline, Dec. 16).
Jet Airways received approval to lease out three 777-300ERs to Royal Brunei Airlines. Jet also announced the launch of a daily Delhi-Doha flight on Jan. 21 aboard a 737-800.
US Air Transport Assn., American Airlines, Continental Airlines and United Airlines last week initiated a legal challenge in the UK High Court of Justice against aviation's inclusion in the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme, arguing that it violates the Chicago Convention (ratified in the UK in March 1947), the Kyoto Protocol, the US-EU open skies agreement and is "contrary to the customary international law principle that each state has complete and exclusive sovereignty over the airspace above its territory." The lawsuit was filed against the UK Secretary of State for Energy and Climate C
Qatar Airways announced new routes from Doha to Bangalore (daily beginning in February), Ankara (four-times-weekly in April) and Tokyo Narita (daily via Osaka Kansai from the end of April). Flights to Incheon currently operated via KIX will become nonstop from Doha at the end of March. WestJet announced the following new routes: Vancouver to Waterloo (daily from June 27) and San Francisco (daily from June 28); Edmonton to Kamloops and San Francisco (each thrice-weekly from May 2); weekly Toronto-Puerto Vallarta beginning May 7.
Tiger Airways filed preliminary paperwork seeking a listing on the Singapore Exchange, although investors Singapore Airlines (49%) and Temasek Holdings subsidiary Dahlia Investments (11%) will not sell their shares as part of the planned IPO, according to the filing. Reuters reported that Indigo Partners (24%) will divest some of its stake and RyanAsia will reduce its share if an overallotment option is triggered.
Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China chose CFM International's LEAP-X1C to power the 150-seat C919, the country's large commercial aircraft scheduled to enter service in 2016.
UTair Aviation of Russia launched a Ukrainian subsidiary, UTair-Ukraine, which is operating from Moscow Vnukovo to Luhansk, Kharkov and Nikolaev with ATR 42s. UTair transported 3.2 million passengers in the first 11 months of 2009, up 6.1% year-over-year. Load factor was up 0.8 point to 71.3%.
ATR opened a logistics support center at Kuala Lumpur International to be managed by DHL Supply Chain. It said there are nearly 90 ATR aircraft operating in Southeast Asia. ATR also has centers in Paris, Miami, Auckland and Singapore.
SAS Group airlines flew 1.86 billion RPKs in November, down 11.3% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 13.5% to 2.77 billion ASKs, lifting load factor 1.7 points to 67.2%. SAS Scandinavian Airlines flew 1.72 billion RPKs, down 12%, against a 14% fall in ASKs to 2.53 billion. Load factor rose 1.5 points to 67.9%. Air Berlin said November unit revenue rose 1.7% year-over-year to €5.24 cents (7.55 cents). Passenger numbers fell 0.1% to 2.2 million and load factor was down 0.8 point to 71.9% on a 1.1% rise in capacity.
Ryanair will outline plans to reduce growth and capital expenditures "significantly" in the first quarter of the new year after negotiations with Boeing for an order of up to 200 new 737-800s formally broke down, although it still plans to take 112 previously ordered -800s (including 48 next year) to sustain growth over the medium term.
China's airlines earned a collective profit of CNY7.35 billion ($1.07 billion) through the first 11 months of 2009, almost triple the CNY2.53 billion reported in the year-ago period, according to CAAC.
EU last week finalized and implemented an open skies accord with Canada, signed an air services pact with the West African Economic and Monetary Union and reached agreement with Iceland and Norway to allow those nations to become part of the EU-US open skies deal. The Canada agreement, first announced in May, allows airlines from each side to operate freely without any restrictions on the number of carriers or flights between any airport in the EU and any in Canada ( ATWOnline, May 8).
