Driven by strong domestic demand and yuan appreciation, China Southern Airlines increased its full-year earnings nearly tenfold in 2007, reporting a CNY1.871 billion ($267.1 million) profit compared to CNY188 million the previous year.
Eos Airlines said it agreed to a term sheet outlining terms on which the all-business-class carrier will secure an additional $50 million in capital from an unidentified current investor. Transaction is expected to close May 1. "When we closed on our last round of financing, we were clear that we would need to raise additional capital. Our success, in the face of this extremely challenging economic and credit environment, shows that investors continue to be enthusiastic about our business model," President and CEO Jack Williams said.
In a rare development, Airbus and Pratt & Whitney yesterday announced an agreement to flight test Pratt's Geared Turbofan engine on Airbus's A340 testbed, although the engine does not have an application on an Airbus airframe.
Lufthansa Technik won a significant contract from Qantas for technical support of GE and CFM56-7 engines powering the carrier's 737, 767, 747 and A330 aircraft.
Reno-based AeroTech Services announced the availability of its wing modification for the 737 Classic family, which it claims "reduces fuel consumption by up to 4%" by increasing lift-to-drag ratio. The modification "relocates the aft segments of the trailing edge flaps aft and below their standard locations when the flaps are retracted [resulting] in increased wing area, increased airfoil camber and a lengthened wing chord." The device also has multiple flat droop settings "to optimize results for each carrier's individual operating needs." It takes approximately 300 man hr.
Ethiopian Airlines will launch a twice-weekly routing from Addis Ababa through Kuwait City and Riyadh on June 2. It currently operates 35 weekly flights to six Middle East destinations. CSA Czech Airlines launched service from Prague to Tbilisi (thrice-weekly) and Rostov-on-Don (weekly) aboard A319s. Next month it will start flying to Damascus, Almaty and Heraklion. Airberlin will launch weekend flights to Sylt from Dortmund and Hanover on May 1 aboard a Do-228.
FlightSafety International announced construction of an 80,000-sq.-ft. learning center for regional carriers in St. Louis that is expected to open in December. It will accommodate up to nine full flight simulators and offer classrooms, customer service and support areas. FSI already maintains a 40,000-sq.-ft. facility in St. Louis and together the pair will offer up to 18 simulators for BAe, Bombardier, Embraer, Fairchild, Saab and Sabreliner aircraft. It also announced that its sixth Q400 FFS and its fourth E-170 FFS have been qualified to Level D by US FAA.
Amadeus said TAP Portugal selected its Star Alliance Common IT Platform featuring reservations, inventory, ticketing and check-in capabilities. Migration is expected to be completed by 2010.
Airbus last week announced completion of an inflight demonstration involving its own A340 and an SAS A330 during which the former performed several altitude changes in relation to the latter in oceanic airspace using a new ADS-B system that includes an Aviation Communication & Surveillance Systems Traffic Computer. Airbus said the A340 pilot was able to receive on his navigation display all flight identification and positioning information relating to surrounding aircraft.
Pacific LifeCorp. subsidiary Aviation Capital Group placed an order yesterday for 17 additional 737NGs valued at more than $1 billion, Boeing announced. No delivery date was announced for the order, which previously was attributed by the manufacturer to an unidentified customer. The aircraft will be equipped with blended winglets and lift ACG's Boeing commitment to 76 737s and five 787s. Its portfolio currently contains 129 Boeing aircraft.
AirBridgeCargo will be represented in Vietnam by Indo-Trans Logistics Aviation Services and in South Korea by Eurussia Air Cargo under a GSA agreement announced yesterday.
Pratt & Whitney Canada will open a 49,987-sq.-m. flight test operations center at Montreal Mirabel. Facility will feature two bays for test aircraft and development engines and is expected to employ more than 75, including test engineers and specialized technicians. "Establishing this single, state-of-the-art facility will improve our competitiveness and support flight testing for the complete range of Pratt & Whitney engines, from turboprops to turbofans up to 90,000 lb. of thrust," Senior VP-Service Centers & Operations Benoit Brossoit said.
Aeroflot signed a cooperation agreement with MIAT Mongolian Airlines that will begin with an interline agreement and by October include codeshare flights between Moscow Sheremetyevo and Ulan Bator, a special prorate agreement, luggage check-through and interline e-ticketing. Loyalty program linkup and cooperation on freight and promotion will come later. SU flew 2.13 billion RPKs in March, up 14.4% on the year-ago month, as passenger numbers rose 19.7% to 723,700. Load factor was 68.8%.
US Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said Friday that she will move quickly to determine why it was necessary for American Airlines to cancel 3,300 flights two weeks ago to conduct safety inspections and announced a series of steps she said will improve FAA's safety oversight system.
Sabre Travel Network reached a multiyear distribution deal with V Australia extending the carrier's fares and inventory to Sabre-connected travel agents worldwide.
Analysts agree that the proposed merger between Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines could lead to a consolidation of hubs and elimination of overlapping routes, but it is uncertain how this would affect regional airline partners that operate under contract with the carriers.
Oasis Hong Kong Airlines liquidator KPMG said Friday that the deadline to find a new buyer or investor had passed despite "substantive negotiations with several interested parties" and that there now was "no alternative but to reduce costs substantially." Jobs of all pilots, cabin crew and office staff were terminated, with a "small number" kept on to assist the liquidators, KPMG announced. Reuters reported that about 700 lost their jobs. Oasis ceased operations on April 9 ( ATWOnline, April 10).
Newly elected Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi kept his promise and focused on Alitalia's future during his first week in office, inviting Aeroflot to negotiate a possible buy-in. However, the European Commission ended discussion of further state aid, saying the Italian government could not inject further funds until 2011. "The situation is open.
Russia's S7 Airlines reported an 80% jump in full-year profit to RUB109.7 million ($4.7 million) according to Russian accounting standards as 2007 revenue increased 25% to RUB31.12 billion. "Last year the airline demonstrated a stable increase in all the financial indicators," GD Vladislav Filev said, citing a 16% growth in passengers to 5.7 million as the primary driver. "In addition, the increase in the company's efficiency is directly associated with the renewal of the company's fleet, namely, the commissioning of 10 [A319s]."
China Eastern Airlines said it will "take the lesson seriously" as it apologized for the March 31-April 1 flight returns that resulted in CAAC sanctions last week ( ATWOnline, April 18). "We would like to express our deep regret for any negative impact and inconvenience caused by this incident," CEA said in a statement. It admitted that the incident, in which 21 flights returned to Kunming shortly after takeoff, exposed management problems at its Yunnan Branch Co.
Cargolux Airlines International reported a consolidated net loss of $47.1 million compared to a profit of $82.6 million in 2006 as it decided to provision its 2007 accounts with a $155 million charge to cover potential exposure to the antitrust proceedings initiated by the European Commission in February 2006.
Bombardier Aerospace named former automotive executive Guy Hachey president and COO succeeding Pierre Beaudoin, who will become president and CEO of Bombardier Inc. on June 4. Beaudoin's promotion was announced last fall ( ATWOnline, Nov. 29, 2007). Hachey will take over on May 12. In addition, President-New Commercial Aircraft Program Aircraft Services Gary Scott, who led the CSeries program, will become president of the new Bombardier Commercial Aircraft unit that will combine its Regional and NCA programs.
British Airways will launch daily London Gatwick-New York JFK on Oct. 27 aboard a four-class 777 that will be moved from Heathrow. It will suspend its daily Manchester-JFK and shift the 767 that operates that service to LHR. It will commence daily flights from LGW to Oporto and Valencia and add a second daily service to Alicante and Turin in October. Flights to Warsaw will move from LGW to LHR.
