International Aero Engines won a deal with Lufthansa to provide its V2500 SelectOne engine to power 20 firm A321s plus options. Contract is valued at $850 million if all options are exercised. Deliveries are scheduled to begin this year. Pratt & Whitney, a partner in IAE, valued its share of the order at more than $283 million if all options are exercised.
Delta Air Lines reported a full-year 2008 net loss of $8.9 billion, a result that represented a major reversal from net income of $1.61 billion in 2007, attributing the huge deficit mostly to noncash charges related to goodwill impairment ($7.3 billion) and its acquisition of Northwest Airlines ($970 million).
Unfettered by a fuel hedge program that it ended 18 months ago, Allegiant Air parent Allegiant Travel Co. took advantage of falling oil prices and finished both the fourth quarter and full year in the black, the latter a $35.4 million profit, up 12.4% from $31.5 million earned in 2007.
Air Dolomiti took delivery of its first of six E-195s yesterday in Brazil. Aircraft is part of an order for 30 E-Jets placed by parent Lufthansa in June 2007 ( ATWOnline, Jan. 23). Air Dolomiti aircraft will be configured with 116 seats in a single class with a moveable partition and will be used to link its Italian network to Munich.
Goodrich Corp. reached a five-year flight-hr. agreement with Airbus to provide MRO and asset management services as part of an Airbus Total Support Package for Singapore Airlines' 19 leased A330s. Contract covers Goodrich evacuation, lighting, actuation, sensors, deicing and power products.
Schiphol Group, which operates Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, announced plans to cut 10%-25% of its workforce, currently numbering 2,200, by year end through a combination of natural attrition, outsourcing and layoffs. It cited a "strong decline in traffic and increasing international competition" as the reason and said it agreed to work with trade unions on a short-term redundancy program.
UAE General Civil Aviation Commission will increase the number of routes to/from the country to 35 from the current 27 by year end, the Arab Air Carriers Org. reported. It also promised to "enhance air traffic management and navigation services" in the UAE, including a AED300 million ($81.6 million) investment in the Zayed Center for ATM in Abu Dhabi.
EasyJet announced the cancellation of 12 flights to/from Athens scheduled for today and 16 flights to/from Paris Charles de Gaulle and Orly because of scheduled strikes.
US House and Senate members reintroduced passenger rights legislation in the wake of President Barack Obama's election. Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Olympia Snow (R-Maine) and Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) introduced bills to their respective chambers that would force airlines to provide passengers with basic necessities during a ground delay, offer the option to deplane every 3 hr. and create a complaint hotline administered by the Dept. of Transportation.
Malev Hungarian Airlines shareholders meeting that began yesterday was suspended until Feb. 10, with the airline citing "the requirement to reach properly grounded decisions," including a possible reduction in the value of its shares. It confirmed that Russia's Vneshekonombank will be its "indirect owner" and that its operation will be "conducted in partnership with Aeroflot" ( ATWOnline, Jan. 27).
Australian Consumer and Competition Commission announced a final rejection of plans by Air New Zealand and Air Canada's transpacific codeshare operation that included AC's Vancouver-Sydney service ( ATWOnline, Nov. 24, 2008). "The outcome is in stark contrast to trends in Europe, US and Asia where airlines are increasingly consolidating in response to toughening economic conditions dramatically affecting the industry," ANZ said.
News from Travel Technology Update: Technology standards for airlines that want to unbundle fares, collect ancillary revenues or employ other merchandising techniques are close at hand, according to the Air Tariff Publishing Co. The company, best known for its role in the collection and distribution of fares and fare-related data, said it will roll out a set of standards in conjunction with two other companies that serve the airline industry in the first half of 2009.
Assn. of European Airlines announced that Croatia Airlines President and CEO Ivan Misetic will chair the organization this year, succeeding KLM President and CEO Peter Hartman. US Airways promoted Senior VP and CFO Derek Kerr to executive VP (he will remain CFO) and named Sabre Holdings Senior VP-Air Services Brad Jensen as senior VP and CIO.
The Metropolitan Airports Commission, which manages Minneapolis-St. Paul International, yesterday voted to approve an agreement with Delta Air Lines under which MSP will become the "Delta North" headquarters and the airline will retain many of the financial benefits that subsidiary Northwest Airlines enjoyed by basing its headquarters there.
Pinnacle Airlines flew 407.3 million RPMs in December, up 11.9% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose at the same rate to 537.3 million ASMs, leaving load factor at 75.8%.
British Airways warned yesterday that it expects to report an operating loss of "around" £50 million ($69 million) in its third fiscal quarter ended Dec. 31 and a £150 million operating loss for the full year, largely owing to foreign exchange losses.
France's government is set to lend French banks €5 billion ($6.49 billion) with the understanding that the funds will be used to finance aircraft purchases, a measure aimed at preventing airlines from cancelling orders with Airbus, according to widespread reports in Europe. The government apparently is seeking a way to assist Airbus without directly subsidizing the manufacturer, which has warned that 2009 will be "a very challenging year" ( ATWOnline, Jan. 16).
Finnair pilots represented by the Finnish Airline Pilots Assn. will stop working overtime hours and have called strikes for Feb. 11, 13, 16, 18 and 20, the airline announced. Finnair and the union reached a six-month labor agreement last summer providing for a one-time 3.9% wage increase on top of the annual 4.5% bump. The carrier said pilots now want an additional 4% raise and changes in pension arrangements, fleet deployment policy and rest days that Finnair said would boost costs by an additional 7% per year.
Initial financial reporting for full-year 2008 indicates that the steep drop in fuel prices in the second half of the year was a double-edged sword for airlines around the world, many of which suffered significant losses on hedging programs. Some have serious hedging liabilities going forward if per-barrel crude oil prices remain low; programs that often paid off in the past now are biting back.
Iran Air will operate a fourth-weekly Tehran-London Heathrow flight from March 29 to Oct. 24 and announced it will now operate the route with a 747. Wataniya Airways launched its first route, a Kuwait City-Dubai A320 service, on Jan. 24. Flights to Bahrain and Beirut are scheduled to begin by April. Emirates and Jet Airways announced a partnership under which they will link their loyalty programs and EK will codeshare on Jet's daily flights to Dubai from Mumbai and New Delhi.
Malev Hungarian Airlines will be taken over by Russia's state-owned Vneshekonombank owing to the "previous owner's weak management and the global financial crisis," Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov said at a Budapest news conference.
ANA said it will extend implementation of Line Operations Safety Audit technology to all six airlines within ANA Group in an effort to enhance flight safety. More than 30 airlines have implemented LOSA. Implementation at ANA is expected to be complete by June.
Kuwait Airways will receive $300 million from the Iraqi government in compensation for damage incurred during the 1990 invasion. A government spokesperson told the Associated Press that the cabinet "approved a final and comprehensive settlement," although a KU spokesperson said the carrier is claiming $1.3 billion plus interest ( ATWOnline, Sept. 4, 2008).
