Aer Lingus said Chairman Colm Barrington will assume temporarily the duties of CEO Dermot Mannion, who resigned. Aeroflot named Vitaly Savelyev CEO. Air Canada appointed Calin Rovinescu president & CEO, replacing Montie Brewer, who resigned, and promoted Duncan Dee to executive VP & COO. Airline Services Group chose Dan Hepworth as group dir.-sales & marketing. Air Mauritius tapped Andre Viljoen as CFO & CIO. AirTran Airways named Christopher White dir.-PR. A J Walter Aviation selected John Avery as dir,-supply chain services.
Airbus announced the finalists in its global "Fly Your Ideas" challenge to develop creative ideas that could help shape the future of aviation and deliver further reductions in the industry's impact on the environment. The aerospace giant received entries from 2,350 students representing 225 teams from 82 countries that entered the competition launched in October, from which 86 teams were selected for the second round. The five finalists are:
LESS THAN 20 MINUTES BY RAIL OR CAR from the heart of downtown London sits a tiny jewel of an airport with a single runway jutting out into a channel that once was surrounded by crumbling warehouses and vacant docks. London City may have sprung from humble origins, but today it shines when it comes to providing point-to-point service to some of Europe's most important business capitals such as Paris, Amsterdam and Frankfurt.
US airport privatization appears to be another casualty of the worldwide recession as investors back away from facilities with falling traffic and revenue. Collapse of the deal to sell a 99-year lease on Chicago Midway for an up-front payment of $2.52 billion leaves US FAA's pilot privatization program without a major airport.
British consumers believe more airlines are taking the threat of climate change seriously, but a majority thinks carriers need to do more, reports a recent UK survey conducted by Good Business for Times Online. According to the survey, 60% of consumers do not think the industry takes the environmental impact of flying seriously and 37% believe that airlines are responsible for addressing the environmental impact of flying, ahead of government at 20% and aircraft makers at 19%.
FEW AIRLINE EXECUTIVES WILL disagree that the outlook for air cargo is grim. Following eight consecutive months of contraction in international scheduled RTKs, including a 22.6% drop in December and a 23.2% year-on-year collapse in January, IATA DG and CEO Giovanni Bisignani in February warned that "alarm bells" were ringing everywhere. Yet Volga-Dnepr Group refrains from such dramatic declarations, preferring to take a more positive outlook.
To truly transform our economy, protect our security and save our planet from the ravages of climate change, we need to ultimately make clean, renewable energy the profitable kind of energy. So I ask this Congress to send me legislation that places a market-based cap on carbon pollution . . ."
The airline industry and President Barack Obama's administration scrambled yesterday to allay public fears raised by Vice President Joe Biden's comments about a link between swine flu and commercial air travel on NBC's Today show.
ANA Group blamed an "unprecedented fall in demand for domestic and international air travel--in particular high-yield business travel," for its first full-year net loss in six years, a ¥4.2 billion ($43.4 million) deficit in the fiscal year ended March 31 that compared to a ¥64.1 billion net profit in 2007-08. Executive VP-Finance Tomohiro Hidema said 2008-09 "was a disastrous year for business in general, with airlines around the world hit by the lack of consumer confidence and commercial activity, and ANA was no exception."
Embraer posted a first-quarter net loss of $23.4 million, reversed from an $85 million profit in the year-ago period, as commercial aircraft deliveries dropped 15.8% to 32. Commercial aircraft sales slid 6.4% to $870.4 million and the Brazilian manufacturer conceded that it had incurred an undisclosed number of "deferrals of deliveries scheduled for the commercial aviation segment." It revised down its delivery guidance for all aircraft in 2009 to 242 from 270 previously, with 115 commercial aircraft to be delivered.
Emirates A340-500 tail strike at Melbourne on March 20 was caused by an apparent computer input error, according to Australian Transport Safety Bureau investigators ( ATWOnline, April 14). The preliminary factual report on the incident, issued yesterday in Canberra, found that despite five levels of cross-checking (as recommended by Airbus), an incorrect takeoff weight for the A340 with 257 passengers and 14 crew aboard was entered into the computers that calculate the takeoff speed and thrust.
Hainan Airlines posted a net loss of CNY1.42 billion ($208.3 million) in 2008, a big reversal from the CNY626.9 million profit reported in 2007, on a 19% lift in operating revenue to CNY13.55 billion. Operating expenses climbed 18.2% to CNY12.52 billion. The Haikou-based carrier blamed "the global financial crisis, domestic natural disasters, declining market demand and soaring fuel prices" for the result.
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission announced it has instituted proceedings in federal court against Cathay Pacific Airways "for alleged price-fixing of air freight." CX is the eighth airline targeted by Australian authorities ( ATWOnline, Feb.
Lufthansa was not immune to the global economic downturn, reporting a first-quarter net loss of €256 million ($333.8 million) that represented a reversal from the €44 million profit reported in the first three months of 2008. It cited "weak demand" as the principal reason for the result, which also included a €44 million operating loss that compared to a €172 million operating profit in the year-ago period. Revenue fell 10.7% to €5 billion.
China Eastern Airlines posted a CNY40.1 million ($5.9 million) net profit in the first quarter, down 81% from the CNY210.8 million earned in the year-ago period, on a 15.6% decrease in operating revenue to CNY8.95 billion. Operating expenses dropped 12.8% to CNY 8.42 billion. The Shanghai-based carrier credited CNY422 million in earnings on its fuel hedges and the return of CNY500 million in aviation construction funds for the result.
Frontier Airlines and Lynx Aviation parent Frontier Airlines Holdings, which is operating under bankruptcy protection, reported a $161 million net loss in the quarter ended March 31 and an $18.9 million profit excluding reorganization expenses. Year-ago figures were not provided. Consolidating operating profit was $20.7 million. At the Frontier mainline, unit revenue fell 3.4% to 9.5 cents and unit cost was down 19.8% to 8.32 cents, or down 7.3% to 6.08 cents excluding fuel. Capacity was cut 20.3% year-over-year.
A $57.9 million loss on its fuel hedges was the key driver in a 34.7% year-over-year drop in LAN Airlines' first-quarter profit, a $65 million surplus that compared to the $99.6 million reported in the first three months of 2008. First-quarter operating revenue dropped 14.5% year-over-year to $882.2 million against a 13.4% decline in costs to $764.1 million. Operating profit fell 21% to $118.1 million from $149.5 million in the year-ago quarter.
Hawaiian Airlines parent Hawaiian Holdings earned a $23.5 million profit in the first quarter, reversed from a $19.9 million loss in the year-ago period when it still faced competition from defunct Aloha Airlines and ATA Airlines. "The benefits of a significant decline in the price of fuel more than offset the consequences of weaker demand for Hawaii vacations, while several years of diligent cost control in areas of expense that we influence added to the overall results," President and CEO Mark Dunkerley said.
IATA reported that industrywide international RPKs fell 11.1% in March on a 4.4% year-over-year decline in capacity, resulting in a 5.4-point drop in load factor to 72.1%. "Airlines cannot adjust capacity to match demand," DG and CEO Giovanni Bisignani said, warning that monthly revenue may fall as much as 20%.
AirAsia carried 3.1 million passengers in the first quarter, up 21% year-over-year, according to figures published by the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation. Traffic measured in RPKs rose 17% against a 19% increase in capacity, lowering load factor 2.4 points to 69.7%. SAS Group airlines flew 2.08 billion RPKs in March, down 16.9% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 3.9% to 3.22 billion ASKs, lowering load factor 10.2 points to 64.5%. At SAS Scandinavian Airlines, yield climbed 2.6% year-over-year as RPKs dropped 17.9% to 1.92 billion.
Garuda Indonesia reported a IDR669 billion ($61.3 million) profit in 2008, a massive increase from the IDR60 billion earned in 2007, the Antara national news agency reported.
CAE signed a technical training and courseware agreement with Jazz Air under which the regional will license maintenance training programs to CAE, expanding the company's commercial type training program portfolio.
