Lufthansa informed the European Commission formally of its plans to acquire Chairman Michael Bishop's 50%-plus-one-share stake in bmi, lifting its holding in the UK carrier to 80% ( ATWOnline, Jan. 14). The EC set a May 14 provisional deadline for its initial review. The regulator also is reviewing Lufthansa's planned takeover of SN Airholding, parent company of Brussels Airlines.
China Eastern Airlines reported a CNY13.93 billion ($2.04 billion) loss in 2008, according to domestic accounting standards, a reversal from a CNY604 million profit net profit reported in 2007. Its loss under international accounting standards reached CNY15.26 billion. Operating revenue fell 4% year-over-year to CNY41.84 billion (domestic accounting standards) while expenses climbed 14% to CNY43.08 billion, an increase attributable mainly to a 22.3% jump in fuel costs to CNY18.49 billion.
Air France KLM Group yesterday confirmed reports that it could cut up to 3,000 jobs in the current fiscal year that started April 1 and the 2010-11 fiscal year in response to falling demand.
Naverus signed an agreement with Sichuan Airlines to provide tailored Required Navigation Performance-based procedures at Lhasa. Naverus also will assist Sichuan in obtaining regulatory approval to fly the procedures with its fleet of A319s.
GE Aviation said US FAA certified the flight management system software Update 10.8 for 737NGs. The FMS 10.8 update is standard fit for all 737 production aircraft from February. According to GE, it provides improved operation and increased navigation data base size and supports the blended winglet installation on all 737s. It is compliant with RNP standards and provides output of aircraft 4-D trajectory.
Qantas CEO Alan Joyce called for an overhaul of Australia's 10-year depreciation policy, which puts the airline at a significant disadvantage compared to carriers like Singapore Airlines, which has a three-year schedule. "All we want is a level playing field," he told ATWOnline yesterday.
Alaska Airlines and the Air Line Pilots Assn. announced the finalization of a tentative agreement covering 1,455 pilots, concluding more than two years of negotiations. Four-year deal will be presented to ALPA members for ratification next month. Terms were not disclosed.
Sun Country Airlines soared to an $8.1 million net profit in the first quarter, reversed from an $8.3 million loss in the year-ago period, thanks to "significant year-over-year gains in charter and ancillary revenue" and an 8.3% rise in passenger unit revenue to 8.31 cents. It began charging for the first checked bag last October ( ATWOnline, Sept. 8, 2008). Its first-quarter operating profit of $9.8 million was a company record.
SkyWest Inc., parent of regionals SkyWest Airlines and Atlantic Southeast Airlines, said it will report a "lower than. . .previously anticipated" first-quarter profit of $4.5-$7.5 million. It earned $29.2 million in the first three months of 2008. The company said inclement weather in Atlanta and the maintenance-related grounding of 60 ASA CRJ200s resulted in the cancellation of some 750 flights, costing an estimated $7.6 million in pre-tax revenue.
American Airlines parent AMR Corp. posted a first-quarter net loss of $375 million, 10.1% worse than the net deficit of $341 million in the year-ago period, citing "declining revenues, fares and traffic."
Cathay Pacific Airways and Dragonair flew 7.58 billion RPKs in March, down 4.5% year-over-year. Capacity dropped 0.8% to 9.59 billion ASKs and load factor fell 3 points to 79.1%. WestJet flew 1.25 billion RPMs in March, up 0.6% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 6.3% to 1.52 billion ASMs and load factor fell 4.7 points to 81.9%. It said first-quarter RASM slid 10%-12% year-over-year.
ARINC said its Asia Pacific Division opened sales and service offices in Mumbai and New Delhi, bringing its representation in the region to 11 countries.
British Airways said that a series of concessions proposed by flight attendants represented by Unite "was welcome, [but] not enough," and a spokesperson told Dow Jones that negotiations will continue ( ATWOnline, April 13).
FedEx revealed in a regulatory filing this week that it will "permanently remove" 10 A310-200Fs and four MD-10Fs from service by May 31. "This decision reflects management's ongoing efforts to optimize the company's express network in light of continued excess aircraft capacity due to weak economic conditions and the expected delivery of newer, more fuel-efficient aircraft in fiscal year [2009-10]," it informed the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
China Southern Airlines yesterday reported its first full-year loss in three years, a CNY4.82 billion ($704.1 million) deficit that represented a reversal from the CNY1.84 billion profit reported in 2007
Turkish Airlines flew 7.5 billion RPKs in the first quarter, up 8.8% year-over-year, against a 14.9% rise in capacity to 11.4 billion ASKs. Load factor fell 3.7 points to 66.1% while passenger numbers rose 8.4% to 4.9 million. Gol flew 1.78 billion RPKs in March, down 16.1% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 12.8% to 3.25 billion ASKs and load factor slipped 2.2 points to 54.95. Copa Airlines flew 485.6 million RPMs in March, a 9.9% increase year-over-year, against a 15.7% rise in capacity to 627.2 million ASMs. Load factor dropped 4.1 points to 77.4%.
Thomson Airways took delivery of the second of two new CFM56-powered 737-800s yesterday. The first aircraft entered commercial service April 1. The 189-seat leased aircraft are the first new deliveries from Boeing since last year's merger of Thomsonfly and First Choice Airways and are part of a wider fleet renewal program that includes 12 787s.
Irish Airlines Superannuation Scheme, the pension fund for Aer Lingus and Dublin Airport Authority employees, is likely to suffer a €628 million ($830.8 million) shortfall, according to a SIPTU report cited by The Independent. The union called the shortfall "an extremely challenging vista that must the addressed" and called on EI and DAA to set aside funds from cash reserves to "secure the viability" of the scheme. EI's and DAA's combined net cash balance is nearly €1.4 billion, SIPTU said.
PASSUR Aerospace announced that JetBlue Airways contracted for its ATC Portal, a "next-generation traffic flow management solution that helps improve hub reliability through advanced 'health of the airport' analysis, trend predictions, and alerts capabilities," according to the company.
Pilots at ANA subsidiaries Air Nippon, Air Nippon Network, Air Next and Air Central conducted another 24-hr. strike yesterday, forcing cancellation of 149 flights, or 16.8% of ANA's schedule. Another 14 flights were delayed. The airline said the pilots intended to "express dissatisfaction with the management stance in their spring round of talks." The four unions staged a similar walkout last month ( ATWOnline, March 19).
Vietnam Airlines received government permission to move forward with the purchase of 10 A321-200s for delivery in the 2011-14 period and to join the SkyTeam alliance, according to press reports from Vietnam.
AIMS reached agreements with Maximus Air Cargo, Centurion Air Cargo and MTA for use of its airline crew management, operations control and commercial planning system software.
Embraer delivered 32 commercial aircraft (compared to 38 in the year-ago period) and 40 overall in the first quarter. Commercial deliveries comprised one ERJ-145, five E-170s, three E-175s, 17 E-190s and six E-195s. Its commercial backlog totals 393 aircraft.
Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism increased the number of landing slots at Tokyo Haneda as a temporary measure "to support Japan's airline industry during the current difficult economic environment," Japan Airlines said. JAL will use its allotment to operate an eighth daily flight to Hiroshima from May 8 to May 31 and a 20th daily flight to Fukuoka from June 1 to June 30. Additional flights in the July-October period have not been determined. JAL also said it will reduce its daily Tokyo Narita-Delhi service to four-times-weekly from June 1 to Oct. 24.
