Qatar Airways secured $500 million in financing for the purchase of three 777-300ERs. Twelve-year arrangement is with Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, Standard Chartered Bank (facility agent and security trustee) and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. Europe.
Pinnacle Airlines and Colgan Air parent Pinnacle Airlines Corp. reported a $7.7 million third-quarter profit, down 29.2% from the $10.9 million earned in the year-ago period, on a 7.8% rise in operating revenue to $221.8 million. Expenses grew 5.8% year-over-year to $201.8 million and operating income climbed 33.3% to $20 million from $15 million in the 2007 third quarter. Pinnacle Airlines' income was $12 million, down 24.5% year-over-year, while Colgan's operating result swung to an $8 million profit from a $900,000 loss in the year-ago quarter.
Lufthansa Technik reached a 15-year deal with Norwegian to provide MRO on more than 100 CFM56-7Bs. Agreement is LHT's biggest engine service contract in Scandinavia to date, covering engines on 53 737NGs as well as seven spares. Work will take place at LHT's Hamburg shop, which is under construction.
Spanish travel and tourism company Grupo Marsans and Uzbekistan Airways firmed aircraft orders last Friday, the former a significant 61-plane commitment, demonstrating some confidence in future growth despite the industry downturn. Marsans signed a contract for four A380s, 10 A350-900s, five A330-200s, five A321s, 25 A320s and 12 A319s, firming an MOU reached 13 months ago ( ATWOnline, Oct. 12, 2007), Airbus announced.
Air Wisconsin, which operates 70 CRJ200s as US Airways Express, said it provided a $35 million, 12-month loan to US. Another Express operator, Republic Airways Holdings, provided a similar loan as part of a $950 million liquidity package that US announced last month ( ATWOnline, Oct. 24). Air Wisconsin said the loan includes optional monthly extensions totaling an additional 12 months.
Thai Airways reported a THB426.2 million ($12.1 million) profit in the third quarter, reversed from a THB971.1 million deficit in the year-ago period, according to a company statement cited by Reuters. A foreign exchange gain of THB4.73 billion was the difference and compared to a THB3.36 billion forex loss in the third quarter of 2007. Operating result swung to a THB3.2 billion loss from a THB2.43 billion profit as passenger revenue rose 10% year-over-year to THB43 billion while fuel costs soared 68.2%.
ANA announced 787 spare parts support deals with Hamilton Sundstrand and Rockwell Collins under which part and repair equipment ownerships will remain with the manufacturers and ANA will pay only for time in the air. It said it was the "first program of its kind" for the 787. Separately, RC said ANA selected its dispatch program to provide avionics support for 787s under a 10-year, fixed-price-per-flight-hr. deal.
British Airways reported a consolidated net loss of £49 million in its fiscal first half ended Sept. 30, which implied a steep second-quarter deficit of £76 million, a reversal from earnings of £333 million in the three months ended Sept. 30, 2007.
Air Canada posted a third-quarter net loss of C$132 million ($112.4 million), reversed from a C$273 million profit in the year-ago period, saying its results were hurt by high fuel costs and noncash losses on fuel hedging and currency items.
Frontier Airlines officially cancelled plans to build a $25 million heavy maintenance base in Colorado Springs. It announced the project last year before entering bankruptcy ( ATWOnline, Nov. 5, 2007). "As part of the bankruptcy process, we've had to look at every project in the organization," a spokesperson told the Rocky Mountain News. "We've canceled those projects that don't make sense.
Ryanair opened a base at Reus Friday and launched service to Santander (daily), Seville (twice-daily), Santiago de Compostela (daily) and Paris Beauvais (daily). Daily flights to Palma de Mallorca begin Dec. 19. Allegiant Air will transfer its twice-weekly Bellingham-San Francisco service to Oakland on Feb. 2. Cayman Airways will launch twice-weekly Washington Dulles-Grand Cayman on Dec. 13 and re-launch twice-weekly Chicago O'Hare-GCM on Dec. 17 aboard 737-300s. AirTran Airways re-launched seasonal daily Akron/Canton-Fort Myers.
Japan Airlines parent JAL Group reported net income for its fiscal first half ended Sept. 30 of ¥36.6 billion ($373.4 million), a more than fivefold increase from ¥7.3 billion in the year-ago period, crediting aircraft downsizing, route restructuring, cost cutting and new premium product strategies on international routes.
JetBlue Airways flew an E-190 being used by Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign from Anchorage to Buffalo last Thursday, a 2,694-nm. repositioning flight the carrier claimed was a record for the aircraft type, according to a message to employees cited by USA Today. Flight took 6 hr. 11 min. Its longest regularly scheduled 190 flight is a 1,476-nm. Boston-Austin. JetBlue flew 1.88 billion RPMs in October, down 5.4% from the year-ago month. Capacity dropped 11.1% to 2.33 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 4.8 points to 80.7%.
United Airlines canceled a planned 100% increase on the one-way fee for a second checked bag on domestic flights (it will remain $25) and said it will offer a 20% discount on the $15 first-bag fee if paid on UA's website between Nov. 10 and Jan. 31. Customers also will be able to purchase premium economy seats with 5-in. extra legroom and a $9 loyalty point program "accelerator" on the website beginning Nov. 10.
Delta Air Lines flew 9.93 billion system RPMs in October, down 2.2% from the year-ago month. Capacity dropped 4.7% to 12.17 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 2 points to 81.6%. Northwest Airlines flew 6.38 billion system RPMs in October, a 1.4% decrease from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 2% to 7.57 billion ASMs and load factor was up 0.5 point to 84.3%. SkyEurope Airlines transported 304,669 passengers in October, down 10.1% year-over-year. Load factor declined 6.8 points to 68%.
Cathay Pacific Airways issued a stock market alert warning that its full-year result will be "disappointing" despite falling fuel prices. CX said in its statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that "weakness in revenue and losses on certain fuel hedging contracts" would "affect the year's results adversely." It lost HK$663 million ($85.5 million) in the first half of 2008 ( ATWOnline, Aug. 7) after reporting a HK$7.02 billion profit last year.
AerCap Holdings, the Amsterdam-based operating lessor, has "suspended all future Capex other than existing contracted Capex with Airbus" and is reducing headcount by around 15% as it seeks to adjust to the impact of the ongoing credit crunch and airline traffic downturn. The company also is "in active discussions" to sell minority stakes in parts of its portfolio.
Greek Ministry of Transport and Communications announced the companies interested in bidding for some or all of Olympic Airlines, which the government intends to split and sell by year end. Interested in Olympic's flight operations are Athens Airways, Kuwait's Fouad El Ghanim Group, Italy's MyAir, Qatar Airways, SkyEurope Airlines and US charter services Chrysler Aviation and SkyOne. Interested in OA's ground handling division are Athens Airways, Greek construction firm Ellaktor, Fouad El Ghanim, Goldair, Hellenic Cargo Group and Swissport.
Ameco Beijing, the joint venture between Air China (60%) and Lufthansa (40%), announced deals with Jet2.com and Astraeus Airlines to provide MRO on RB211-535E4 engines (two for Astraeus and one for Jet2).
Embraer moved to clarify remarks made earlier this week by CFO Antonio Luiz Pizarro Manso that it is "studying the development of a larger plane" and could potentially form a "partnership" with another manufacturer to build the aircraft. Subsequently, Embraer issued a statement saying, "At the present time it is not seeking to associate with any other aircraft manufacturer in the world, neither does it have a project for developing large airplanes." Separately, it announced that the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau certified the E-170, which will be operated by Japan Airlines.
Delta Air Lines announced a series of initiatives to align its travel policies with those of Northwest Airlines, including fees of $15 for the first piece of checked luggage and $25 for the second piece on domestic flights from Dec. 5. First and business class customers and certain premium members of DL or NWA loyalty programs will be able to check up to three bags of 70 lb. each for free. Full-fare coach and international passengers will be able to check up to two 50 lb. bags for free. DL was the only major US network carrier not charging for the first checked bag.
Boeing predicted this week that world air cargo traffic will grow 5.8% annually over the next 20 years, down slightly from the 6.1% rate it projected in previous forecasts. Its newly released "2008/2009 World Cargo Forecast" said worldwide airfreight traffic will triple by 2027 and that "current near-term market weakness and worldwide economic uncertainty" won't significantly affect long-term demand. "The industry has shown strong recoveries from previous economic downturns such as the Asian economic crisis, the 9/11 attacks and the SARS outbreak," it said.
Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, parent of Atlas Air and Polar Air Cargo, posted third-quarter net income of $5.2 million, down 84% from $32.4 million in the year ago period. It blamed the drop on fuel costs and "soft demand." President and CEO William Flynn noted that Polar becoming a DHL contract carrier last month will lead to "significant earnings improvement" in 2009 by "de-risking our business model."
Compagnia Aerea Italia's binding offer for Alitalia is worth €1 billion ($1.29 billion), the airline said in a statement to the country's stock market regulator, and comprises €900 million for AZ's flight operation, assets and contracts, €57 million for Alitalia Servizi, €7 million for Alitalia Airport, €19 million for Alitalia Express and €17 million for low-cost subsidiary Volare. The €900 million for AZ comprises €275 million cash and €625 million to assume the carrier's debts.
