Taca Group placed an order for 11 E-190s plus 15 options, Embraer announced. The order, which had been on the manufacturer's books as unidentified, is worth $379.5 million at list prices and could reach $897 million if all options are exercised. Aircraft will be configured with 88 economy and eight executive class seats, with deliveries planned to begin in the second half of next year.
China Southern Airlines posted a net profit of CNY1.88 billion ($249.5 million) in the third quarter, up 49% from the CNY1.29 billion earned in the year-ago quarter, on a 16.9% lift in operating revenue to CNY16.5 billion and a 10.2% increase in expenses to CNY12.33 billion.
Boeing reported third-quarter net income of $1.1 billion, up 61% over a net profit of $694 million in the year-ago period, and insisted that 787 program delays will have minimal financial impact beyond a slight decrease in projected 2008 revenue.
Iberia and TAP signed an agreement under which TAP Maintenance & Engineering will perform MRO work on the CFM56-5Cs powering Iberia's A340s while Iberia Maintenance and Engineering will maintain TAP's A320 landing gear. The carriers said creation of maintenance networks among airline MRO organizations through sharing and exchanging of maintenance services "becomes an important factor to compete against" increasing inroads into the aftermarket by OEMs.
Niki will add two A320s to its fleet as soon as possible in order to open new routes from Vienna to Milan Malpensa, Warsaw, Sophia, Bucharest Otopeni and Istanbul Ataturk, founder Niki Lauda told ATWOnline. He said he needs the additional aircraft to compete with SkyEurope Airlines' enhanced VIE service.
LAN reported third-quarter net income of $78.8 million, up 52.9% over a net profit of $51.5 million in the year-ago quarter, on a 15.2% increase in revenue to $878 million. "This result reflects significant margin improvements resulting mainly from capacity expansion and strong traffic growth as well as effective control of operating costs," the company said.
Singapore Airlines flew 7.48 billion RPKs in September, up 4.1% on the year-ago month, as capacity fell 0.5% to 9.23 billion ASKs. Load factor rose 3.6 points to 81%.
ASC announced an expansion of its aviation recording solutions to three airports in Argentina. Under the project, to be completed in 2008, ASC will install its primary communications recording system Marathon Evolution for Administracion Aeronautica Argentina for Cordoba, Buenos Aires-Ezeiza and Buenos Aires-Cipe airports.
FAA Acting Administrator Bobby Sturgell yesterday was nominated by President George W. Bush to succeed Marion Blakey, whose five-year term as administrator expired last month. Dept. of Transportation Secretary Mary Peters urged Sturgell's confirmation, saying the former deputy administrator "has worked tirelessly. . .to fight congestion and modernize our aviation system while preserving the safest period in aviation on record." Air Transport Assn. lent its support despite the current row over proposed schedule caps at New York JFK (see story above).
Alitalia, TAP Portugal and Air France are facing labor issues this week. Work stoppages by the National Flight Assistance Co. and Air Transport Regione Lombardier forced the cancellation of nearly 300 AZ flights Monday in Milan and Rome plus today's Osaka-Milan Malpensa service. TAP said the Civil Aviation Pilots Union scheduled a 3-hr. strike yesterday, a 24-hr. stoppage on Thursday and a 13-hr.
Hochtief AirPort, the airport investment and management unit of the global construction services firm, expects to put in a bid for Chicago Midway if, as is expected, the city moves forward with plans to privatize the airport proposed by Mayor Richard Daley last year. Hochtief AirPort MD and CFO Reiner Schrankler told ATWOnline yesterday that the company intends to partner with a US investor and anticipates that the qualification round of bidding could take place as early as January. Expectations are that Chicago will sell a leasehold in the airport for 25-100 years.
JetBlue Airways reported a $23 million third-quarter profit that, while representing a turnaround from a $500,000 loss in the year-ago period, did not sway the carrier from its continuing commitment to streamlining its operation.
Finnair said the sale of its FlyNordic subsidiary to Norwegian will result in a €14.1 million ($20.1 million) net gain in its third-quarter operating profit resulting from a €18.6 million capital gain recognized for the summer transaction ( ATWOnline, July 3), an additional €3 million in depreciation on six FlyNordic MD-80s owned by Finnair Aircraft Finance and a €1.5 million amortization.
Mxi Technologies said MRO Teknik Servis Sanayi Ticaret A.S. (myTechnic), a startup maintenance facility in Turkey, chose to implement its Maintenix maintenance management software.
Bombardier said it received a firm order for 10 Q400s, along with 10 options, from an unidentified European carrier that currently does not operate the aircraft type. Contract is valued at $267 million and would rise to approximately $540 million if all options are exercised.
Airline fares are expected to trend upward in 2008 in response to continued strong demand, generally tight capacity and higher fuel prices, according to the "Global Business Travel Forecast" released by American Express Travel Advisory Services yesterday. US domestic and short-haul economy fares will rise 1%-5% while international/long-haul business fares climb 5%-10%. Domestic/short-haul fares in Canada should rise 2%-5% while international/long-haul business fares climb 5%-8%.
Continental Airlines granted multiyear IT service contracts to EDS and Hewlett-Packard. Some of the work will involve migration of legacy applications to modern platforms and integration of servers, storage and software. Enaxis Consulting helped Continental through the selection and award process.
United Airlines parent UAL Corp. reported third-quarter net income of $334 million, up 75.8% from $190 million in the year-ago quarter, and said it will continue to maintain "discipline in capacity planning" as it implements a five-year strategic plan that focuses on its "core business" and contemplates selling off noncore businesses such as its Mileage Plus frequent-flier program.
Air Mauritanie, which ceased operations last month, has been liquidated owing to its inability to pay off $2.7 million in debt related to aircraft leased from ILFC. Two 737-700s are grounded in France while one F28 and one 727 have been stored at Nouakchott, leaving Mauritania without a national carrier for the time being. A new airline called Mauritanie Airways is scheduled to start operating Nov. 8. That company will be owned 51% by Tunisair, 39% by Groupe Boumatou and 10% by the Mauritanian government. No details have been released regarding its aircraft or network.
US Air Transport Assn. blasted the New York JFK airline scheduling meeting being held in Washington yesterday and today at the behest of the US Dept. of Transportation and FAA as "fundamentally flawed" and said DOT appears intent on imposing "anti-marketplace" schedule reductions and "most likely" congestion pricing at the crowded airport.
UPS reported third-quarter net income of $1.08 billion, up 3.7% over a net profit of $1.04 billion in the year-ago quarter, as a strong performance in the international sector compensated for a slowing US market. "Once again, UPS's balanced network around the globe produced solid results even in the face of a lackluster US economy," Vice Chairman and CFO Scott Davis said.
JetBlue Airways will launch daily flights from New York JFK to Puerto Plata (from Jan. 10) and St. Maarten (from Jan. 17) and a daily Salt Lake City-Burbank service on Dec. 15, all aboard A320s. JetBlue flew 1.84 billion RPMs in September, up 11.8% on the year-ago month, against a 13.7% rise in ASKs to 2.57 billion that lowered load factor 1.2 points to 71.4%.
Emirates raised $239 million with the support of the US Export-Import Bank to finance two 777-200LRs delivered in August and September. The 12-year financing was arranged and funded by BNP Paribas and its leasing subsidiary Capstar Partners.
Naverus named United Airlines Senior VP-Flight Operations Steve Forte as its new COO, effective Nov. 1. Air Jamaica released a statement confirming last week's resignation of CEO Michael Conway, saying that his contract "offered the option" to resign owing to a change in the national government, which owns the carrier. The airline's new board, chaired by Shirley Williams, will meet this week. "She will be temporarily assuming a larger executive role until the new direction of the airline's management is determined," the carrier said.
Aeroflot will decide within two weeks whether to submit a second bid for Alitalia, according to press reports citing SU Deputy GD-Finance and Planning Mikhail Poluboyrarinov, who said the airline may raise up to €1 billion ($1.43 billion) to finance the acquisition. SU was named on a shortlist of potential bidders two weeks ago ( ATWOnline, Oct. 9).
