HNA subsidiary Grand China Express Airlines, formerly Grand Xinhua Express, plans to sell a stake to Hyundai Heavy Industries so as to improve its financial performance, an industry insider told ATWOnline last week. The Tianjin-based regional has signed a letter of intent for cooperation with Hyundai, which is conducting due diligence on the airline in order to determine the size of its investment. It is widely speculated that the Korean company will purchase a 20% stake with an investment of about CNY120 million ($17.5 million).
Tiger Airways reported a net profit of S$37.8 million ($27.3 million) for the year ended March 31, according to Reuters. The previous year the airline posted a loss of S$14.30 million. Revenue increased 56% year-over-year to $S271 million. Tiger, which launched in 2004 and also operates an Australian subsidiary based in Melbourne, said passenger numbers rose 73.7% during the fiscal first quarter ended June 30. It will base two A319s at Adelaide early next year.
US Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the Republican presidential candidate, last week called the proposed UPS takeover of DHL's North American air lift a "train wreck" and vowed to "do everything in my power to avert it," while two prominent senators raised antitrust concerns with the US Dept. of Justice.
Air Canada reported second-quarter net income of C$122 million ($116.4 million), down 21.3% from C$155 million in the year-ago period, blaming the earnings drop on a "difficult industry environment created by unrelenting high fuel prices."
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said last week that his government is in talks with a "large foreign company" about forming an alliance with Alitalia. "We are in talks with a big foreign company for an alliance on an international level, exactly the opposite of the hypothesis of the fire sale to Air France KLM, which the previous government wanted, which among other things, included 7,000 job cuts," Berlusconi said in a television interview. "We already have the industrial plan. We have the investors.
Ryanair is interested in launching a £2 billion ($3.9 billion) bid for London Stansted if the UK Competition Commission recommends a breakup of airports operator BAA, CEO Michael O'Leary told The Daily Telegraph.
Boeing won US FAA certification for carbon brakes from Messier-Bugatti for 737NGs. Brakes recently entered service on a 737-700 delivered to Delta Air Lines.
SkyWest Inc., parent of SkyWest Airlines and Atlantic Southeast Airlines reported second-quarter net income of $36.4 million, a 10.3% drop from the $40.6 million posted in the same period last year. Operating revenue rose 11.2% to $950.8 million thanks largely to increased cost reimbursements from SkyWest partners. Expenses were up 17.9% to $877.8 million on rising fuel and maintenance costs. Operating profit fell 14.6% to $72.9 million from $88.8 million. Traffic declined 3.5% to 4.49 billion RPMs against a 1.5% dip in capacity to 5.72 billion ASMs.
Austrian Airlines Group CCO Andreas Bierwirth told ATWOnline last week in Damascus that the carrier, which continues to pursue privatization, plans on increasing its focus on the Middle East. He said AAG is looking to be a "leading player" in the region.
Silver Air of Djibouti selected Jordan Aircraft Maintenance to conduct C checks on 737-200s and prepare aircraft for registration in the UAE. Work will take place at Queen Alia International and is slated for completion in September.
Airbus's gross orders climbed to 754 through July and 711 net of cancellations. It secured orders from nine customers last month. The A320 leads the 2008 order book with 460, followed by 291 A330s/A350s and three A380s. Orders for three A340-600s have been cancelled. Boeing's gross order book through Aug. 7 stood at 553 and it has had just two cancellations. Biggest seller is the 737 with 423, followed by the 787 with 80, the 777 with 46 and the 747 and 767 with two each.
Lufthansa continued to cancel flights throughout the weekend and planned to cancel 22 today and 20 on Tuesday resulting from a strike by CityLine pilots represented by Vereinigung Cockpit. The strike ended Friday.
Air Transat of Canada joined IATA last week, becoming the organizations 230th member. It operates a fleet of 17 A310s and A330s and carries nearly 3 million passengers per year to some 60 destinations.
Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, parent of Atlas Air and Polar Air Cargo, reported second-quarter net income of $1.5 million, down 96.5% from $43.2 million in the year-ago period. President and CEO William Flynn said that "aside from the impact of fuel prices. . .our performance remains on track." Fuel expenses leaped 69.5% to $207 million. Flynn added that fuel costs "will effectively be eliminated" when Polar becomes a DHL Express carrier in October ( ATWOnline, Feb.
United Airlines confirmed to Reuters and Bloomberg that it is "highly unlikely" to take delivery of 42 A319s/A320s it has on order. UA said it recorded a $91 million charge in the second quarter to cover a deposit to Airbus that it will have to forfeit if and when it officially cancels the order.
British Airways placed an order for two 777-300ERs valued at $529 million and agreed to lease four more from GECAS, Boeing said yesterday. Two of the four to be leased are new orders placed by the lessor, the manufacturer said, with the remaining two part of a 2007 order. Including the latest two, GECAS has ordered 25 777s (a combination of freighters and -300ERs) since 2006. BA also secured four 777-300ER options directly with Boeing, the manufacturer said yesterday.
EasyJet will commence thrice-weekly Gatwick-Salzburg service from Dec. 13. Turkish Airlines will launch Istanbul Ataturk-Birmingham flights from Dec. 15.
Boeing forecast that global annual air cargo traffic growth will average 5.8% over the next 20 years, a downgrade from the 6.1% average annual growth it previously predicted, but projected robust growth in the worldwide freighter aircraft fleet through 2027.
Mxi Technologies said it launched its Maintenix system on KLM's fleet of A330s. Software offers engineering, maintenance planning and heavy maintenance support.
Azerbaijan Airlines ordered two 737-900ERs and two 767-300ERs collectively valued at $449 million. One of the 767s is a substitution for a previously ordered 787, Boeing said. Azerbaijan now has a total of four 737-900ERs, two 787-8s and two 767-300ERs on firm order. "We look forward to operating the 787 and benefiting from its advanced performance features; however, the 767-300ER is the economical and logical choice to fulfill our interim capacity targets," President Jahangir Askerov said.
