Turkish Airlines won the tender to acquire a 49% stake in B&H Airlines ( ATWOnline, Sept. 5), a Bosnian government official told Reuters in Sarajevo. "After the evaluation of all bids, we found the offer of Turkish Airlines by far the best," the unnamed official told the news service. Comintel Corp. of Malyasia and a Jordanian consortium including Royal Jordanian were among THY's competitors.
Singapore Changi is to be taken over on July 1, 2009, by Temasek Holdings, the state-owned investment company with a portfolio valued at S$185 billion ($126.29 billion) as of March 31, 2008. The corporatization will see the airport's current operator, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore, hived off into a separate aviation regulatory and safety authority handling air traffic services, safety and economic regulation and aeropolitical negotiations.
Delta Air Lines flew 9.71 billion system RPMs in September, down 0.8% year-over-year. Capacity fell 3.7% to 12.14 billion ASMs and load factor rose 2.4 points to 80%. Etihad Airways transported 4.4 million passengers through the first nine months of 2008, up 33.3% year-over-year. Overall load factor rose 7 points to 75% while business class loads climbed at the same rate to 63%. It launched routes to four new destinations this year and will add two more, Moscow Domodedovo and Almaty, in December. It said it is "set to exceed" its full-year target of 6 million passengers.
SAS Group yesterday said that a decline in bookings related to the August Spanair MD-82 crash at Madrid will impact its result by SEK500 million ($69.4 million). "Forward bookings in Spanair have, as expected, been affected by the tragic accident. . .The initial effect was significant, but the bookings are gradually improving and [are] now almost in line with normal levels," SAS said ( ATWOnline, Sept. 5).
Alaska Air Group expects to suffer a "significant" third-quarter loss on a GAAP basis resulting from a $220 million mark-to-market loss on the value of its fuel hedges and other special items, it said in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. It will announce its third-quarter results on Oct. 23. It said it expects third-quarter passenger RASM to increase 3%-4% year-over-year and it recorded a one-time gain of $42 million related to a change in its loyalty program's mile expiration policy.
Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary told reporters yesterday in London that "if aircraft fleet prices collapse," he would be interested in spearheading an effort to launch a long-haul LCC, Reuters reported. "There may be the opportunity to buy a fleet of long-haul aircraft cheaply next year," he said. He provided few details, but revealed his interest in the long-haul "no frills" transatlantic carrier concept more than a year ago ( ATWOnline, April 13, 2007). He said the potential airline would be independent from Ryanair.
Qantas A330-300 on its way from Singapore to Perth yesterday afternoon experienced severe turbulence and diverted to Learmonth, about 700 mi. north of its destination, with dozens injured. At least 10 were hospitalized in Exmouth, with QF confirming that both passengers and crew suffered "fractures and lacerations. . .following a sudden change in altitude." There were 303 passengers and 10 crew onboard, and local media were reporting that up to 50 were hurt. Qantas dispatched two 717s from Perth to pick up passengers as the A330 was grounded for inspections.
Air France KLM flew 17.99 billion RPKs in September, a 0.5% increase on the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 2.2% to 22.25 billion ASKs and load factor fell 1.4 points to 80.9%. Gol flew 1.73 billion consolidated RPKs in September, down 3.1% year-over-year. Capacity rose 4.1% to 3.03 billion ASKs, dropping load factor 4.2 points to 57%.
Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China yesterday launched the Shanghai Aircraft Customer Service Co., which will be the first domestic enterprise of its kind for civil aircraft and marks an important part of China's large commercial aircraft manufacturing strategy.
Star Alliance returned to Latin America yesterday, formally inviting Brazil's TAM to be its 24th member, and said it will look to increase its presence further in the region next year.
Virgin America is introducing a Main Cabin Select fare for flights starting Nov. 3. The service class will offer passengers 38-in. seat pitch, "a more streamlined boarding process" and complimentary food and cocktails inflight. "In short, this is for the traveler who wants an upscale experience for far less than what they would pay for business class on someone else," President and CEO David Cush said.
Air France launched a booking facility for children under 12 traveling alone. The mandatory form for all unaccompanied children will be filled out automatically according to details given at the time of reservation. Customers can then print the form and hand it in to AF ground staff. AF said it is the first airline to offer online reservations for under-12 passengers on all flights and those of its franchised carriers.
CTT Systems yesterday said it will supply Nord-Micro with its Cair System cabin humidifiers and Zonal Drying System designed for the A350 XWB. Nord-Micro will deliver the systems to Honeywell to offer as an option to Airbus and airlines.
Copenhagen Airports will construct a low-cost terminal designed to "provide new opportunities for growth for the airlines during these difficult times and more cheap fares to choose from for the passengers," CEO Brian Petersen said. Passenger charges for airlines using CPH SWIFT will be half those applied to carriers using Kastrup's main infrastructure. Airlines wanting to fly SWIFT will have to meet a number of efficiency requirements, including a 30-min. turnaround, while passengers will be expected to check in mainly via the Internet, a mobile phone or at self-service kiosks.
Etihad Airways expanded its codeshare agreement with Brussels Airlines and will place its code on SN flights from Brussels to Oslo Gardermoen, Stockholm Bromma, Gothenburg, Helsinki and Copenhagen effective Oct. 6.
Mesa Air Group said yesterday that it has reached a tentative agreement with the Air Line Pilots Assn. on a new contract of undisclosed duration. "This agreement, if ratified, will resolve many of the scheduling-related issues between Mesa and the pilot group," it said. The pilots' contract became amendable in September 2007. The sides entered into an "expedited negotiation process" and said yesterday the new contract includes "more days off. .
Pinnacle Airlines Corp., parent of Pinnacle Airlines and Colgan Air, plans to exercise up to 15 Q400 options before year end and shop the aircraft to its mainline partners, President and CEO Phil Trenary told ATWOnline yesterday.
US Airways expects fourth-quarter mainline unit costs excluding fuel, special items and transition expenses to increase 6%-8% year-over-year, it reported in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. It cited "higher engine maintenance expense" and costs associated with previously announced capacity cuts as the cause ( ATWOnline, July 23). It has hedged 56% of its fuel exposure for the fourth quarter and expects to lose $0.19 per gal. purchased as a result.
US Dept. of Transportation said the 19 reporting carriers cancelled 1.6% of their scheduled domestic flights in August, improved from 1.9% in the year-ago month and 1.7% in July. Comair (4.6%), ExpressJet Airlines (3.3%) and JetBlue Airways (3.2%) had the highest cancellation rates while Frontier Airlines (0.3%), Northwest Airlines (0.5%) and Southwest Airlines (0.6%) reported the lowest. Airlines posted an ontime arrival rate of 78.4%, up from 71.7% in the year-ago month and 75.7% in July.
Air France will consider deploying the A380 in India "when the airport infrastructure at the Mumbai and Delhi airports supports the aircraft," which also would require a renegotiation of AF's rights with the Indian government, Senior VP-International Jean-Louis Pinson told Indian media last week, the Business Standard reported. AF has 12 A380s on firm order and currently serves Bangalore, Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai.
Dalavia Far East Airways, based at Khabarovsk, had its traffic rights suspended by the Russian government due to rising debts, Itar-Tass reported. Aeroflot and Vladivostok Air have been transporting Dalavia passengers. The news service reported that Dalavia's debt to Khabarovsk Novy Airport exceeded RUB240 million ($9.2 million) last month and bank accounts were frozen in order to allow the airport to collect its money.
Orix Aviation of Dublin announced the following transactions: Purchase of two 737-700s from BOC Aviation on lease to WestJet and one A319 from RBS Aerospace on lease to South African Airways; sale of two A320-200s to Global Knafaim Leasing; lease of three 737-400s to Comair (South Africa) until 2013; lease extension of two US Airways 767-200ERs until 2010.
