Boeing Commercial Aviation Services reached a deal with launch customer LAN Cargo for landing gear MRO services on 767 freighters. Contract includes international access to landing gear repair and replacement.
Midwest Airlines will eliminate positions for 109 employees, including 35 pilots who will be furloughed, and reduce flights by 2.5% owing to soaring fuel costs, it announced this week. "The actions. . .will enable us to maximize revenues, reduce our cost structure, provide sufficient cash and help us weather the storm," CEO Tim Hoeksema said.
US airline executives this week expressed alarm at the consistently high price of fuel, warning that no relief is in sight. "We're not expecting fuel prices to decline," Delta Air Lines President and CFO Edward Bastian said, explaining that DL's proposed merger with Northwest Airlines was driven in part by soaring energy costs. "When we thought about how we would cope with the higher price of fuel, both of us came to the conclusion that we needed greater scale," he said.
Trans States Airlines, which grounded 24 of its 50 ERJ-145s Tuesday for maintenance, expected to have all of the aircraft back in service by last night. They were grounded after an internal audit revealed that they had "exceeded time limits on inspections," VP Bill Mishk told ATWOnline. "The plan is to have a full, normal schedule on Friday," he said.
AirTran Airways flew 1.71 billion RPMs in March, up 15.8% on the year-ago month. Capacity rose 12.9% to 2.15 billion ASMs and load factor increased 1.9 points to 79.6%. Finnair said March unit revenue fell by nearly 3% year-over-year as traffic rose 15% to 2.01 billion RPKs. Capacity climbed 18.2% to 2.63 billion ASKs, dropping load factor 2.2 points to 76.4%. Aer Lingus flew 1.42 billion RPKs in March, up 22.1% from the year-ago month, against a 26.5% increase in ASKs to 1.88 billion. Load factor slipped 2.8 points to 75.3%.
A plunge in first-quarter profit to $34 million from the $93 million earned in the first three months of 2006 revealed both the strength of Southwest Airlines' business model and the weakness of the environment in which it now operates, as even the US's most consistently profitable airline is struggling with soaring fuel costs.
Lufthansa will strengthen the independent hub system it initiated in October 2006 at Frankfurt and Munich, where it installed managers responsible for their own fleet, employees and operations ( ATWOnline, Oct. 16, 2006). "We realized economical and operating synergies [at FRA and MUC]. For example, since we split the fleet at each hub, aircraft efficiency has increased by 5%," Executive VP Karl Ulrich Garnadt told ATWOnline.
Continental Airlines reported a first-quarter net loss of $80 million, reversed from a $22 million profit in the year-ago period, and confirmed yesterday that it has redeemed Northwest Airlines' "golden share" that prevented CO from entering into merger agreements.
CAAC yesterday announced it will transfer rights to routes operated by China Eastern Airlines in Yunnan Province to other carriers and impose a fine of CNY1.5 million in response to a March 31-April 1 incident in which pilots returned outbound flights to Kunming ( ATWOnline, April 8). CAAC's investigation concluded that the "disgraceful incident" involving 21 flights largely was the fault of disgruntled CEA pilots.
Sterling Airlines managed to reduce its full-year net loss drastically to DKK34 million ($7.2 million) in 2007, narrowed from the DKK166 million deficit it posted in the prior year. Revenue decreased 0.8% to DKK3.89 million as average fare fell 5.2% to DKK805. Ancillary revenue per passenger, however, increased 55.4% to DKK101.
US Airways Chairman and CEO Doug Parker told employees in a Wednesday letter cited in press reports that "All airlines are going to have to make dramatic changes to their existing business models in order to viable," and that while he would not comment on any "specific discussions or transaction" that may involve US, the carrier "can't ignore what's happening in the world around us."
SITA yesterday released its fourth "SITA Baggage Report" and said that commercial airlines lost a combined $3.8 billion last year "because of growing pressures on baggage management linked to passenger volumes, tight aircraft turnaround times and heightened security measures." Approximately 1.9% of the 2.25 billion pieces of checked luggage sent through the system in 2007 were mishandled. SITA said 49% of delays were related to transfers, with 16% coming from failure to load and 14% attributed to ticketing error/passenger bag switch/security/other.
Hewa Bora Airways DC-9 crash Tuesday remained under investigation as the confirmed death toll reached 40, according to the BBC ( ATWOnline, April 16). Most of the dead likely were on the ground, according to reports, as the aircraft was unable to lift off the shortened runway at Goma International and crashed through a wall into nearby shops and houses.
Chinese airlines suffered a collective drop in growth in the first quarter owing to a sharp slowdown in international growth caused by depreciation of the US dollar. According to CAAC statistics released yesterday, Chinese airlines carried 45.7 million passengers and transported 983,000 tonnes of cargo in the quarter, up 11% and 12.4% year-over-year respectively.
Flybaboo announced the launch of flights from Geneva to St. Petersburg (thrice-weekly), Kiev (thrice-weekly), Sofia (thrice-weekly) and Vienna (weekdays), plus a third daily frequency to Nice and a second daily to Venice. All new flights will begin May 26-July 1. It also will add seasonal flights to Biarritz, St. Tropez, Tangiers and Ibiza. The Swiss carrier currently operates two Q400s and is taking delivery of three E-190s in May and June.
Navitaire reached a deal with Cebu Pacific Air for provision of its New Skies hosted reservation services and SkyPrice revenue management system. Contract terms were not disclosed. Mxi Technologies said Qantas will implement its Maintenix management software across its fleet. Features include data optimization and integrated maintenance and engineering processes.
Japan Airlines agreed to pay a $110 million fine as part of a plea agreement with the US Dept. of Justice related to its role in the fixing of international cargo rates. Qantas, British Airways and Korean Air already had pled guilty and agreed to penalties in a long-running investigation by US and European authorities that has targeted other carriers as well ( ATWOnline, Jan. 3).
EADS CEO Louis Gallois, in perhaps his starkest language yet regarding its and Airbus's fiscal plight, referenced Greek tragedy to describe the impact on aerospace manufacturing in Europe that the rising euro/sinking dollar is having. "We are at levels which are becoming unbearable," he told reporters in Paris yesterday. "We cannot stay under this Damocles sword, which is starting to fall." He reiterated that each 10 cent rise in the euro compared to the dollar costs Airbus €1 billion ($1.59 billion) as it builds aircraft in euro costs and sells them in dollars.
US Dept. of Transportation yesterday unveiled initiatives it promised would "strengthen passenger protections, improve consumer choice and reduce congestion," including doubling the maximum compensation owed to passengers bumped from oversold flights and its intention to auction off slots at New York LaGuardia.
Airstream International Group arranged the sale and leaseback of two F70s and a related spare Rolls-Royce Tay 620-15 engine. Aircraft are operated by Malev Hungarian Airlines. Aircraft and spare engine were purchased by Gladiator Leasing.
Philippine Airlines announced the launch of a low-fare subsidiary, PAL Express, that will operate turboprops on regional routes and to smaller island airports incapable of handling larger aircraft. Airline will be based in Cebu and fly six Q400s and three Q300s initially. PAL announced the acquisition of the aircraft last week ( ATWOnline, April 11), with deliveries scheduled in the next 4-6 months. "PAL Express will meet the growing demand. .
