JAL Group is looking to build on its significant financial turnaround ( ATWOnline, Aug. 7) with a greater commitment to routes oriented toward business travelers. From Oct. 28 it will add a 14th weekly Tokyo Narita-Guangzhou flight and increase NRT-New Delhi service to daily from five-times-weekly.
Pinnacle Airlines reported second-quarter net income of $7.7 million, down 35.3% from $11.9 million in the year-ago quarter, a drop it attributed mostly to a $4.1 million nonoperating loss associated with the sale of the remainder of its unsecured claim against Northwest Airlines.
Rolls-Royce Trent 1000, launch engine for the 787, received its joint airworthiness certification from Europe's EASA and US FAA, becoming the first engine to be validated concurrently under new regulatory procedures. The certification comes as scheduled and just 18 months after the engine's first ground run. Nine development engines have been used in ground testing and a further 10 will support inflight testing on four 787s.
Delta Air Lines MRO subsidiary Delta TechOps reached a five-year, $9 million deal with Las Vegas-based Vision Airlines to provide component, APU and landing gear MRO along with inventory support services for Vision's 767-200s.
World Airways and North American Airlines parent World Air Holdings reported earnings results for the first quarter revealing net income of $518,000 for the three months ended March 31, an 85.4% drop from net income of $3.5 million in the 2006 first quarter. World said reporting was in accordance with its legal requirements under the terms of its merger agreement with ATA Airlines parent Global Aero Logistics.
Aer Lingus will establish its first base outside the Republic of Ireland in December when it will base three A320s at Belfast International Airport and launch the first three of eight new routes. Among the new services will be 21-times-weekly flights to London Heathrow beginning Jan. 14, which will mark the end of EI's service to the UK capital from Shannon.
EasyJet said it is "on track" to post full-fiscal-year pre-tax profit growth of 40%-50% as it unveiled certain third-quarter numbers yesterday. The LCC reported a 5.7% year-over-year increase in revenue to £486.5 million ($990.9 million) as passenger numbers rose 13% to 9.9 million. CEO Andy Harrison said the results "provide further support to our maintained profit guidance for the full year." In the year ended Sept. 30, 2006, easyJet posted net earnings of £94.1 million and a pre-tax profit of £129.2 million.
Northwest Airlines' Air Line Pilots Assn. MEC ratified the new work rules agreement reached with management last week as part of the carrier's effort to reduce high levels of flight cancellations it has attributed in part to "pilot absenteeism" ( ATWOnline, Aug. 3). NWA said the agreement is "economically neutral," with the premium pay it has agreed to reinstate for pilots flying more than 80 hr. per month "offset by the value of work rule changes and grievance settlement."
Chinese airlines are expected to expand their collective fleet by 12% annually and reach 1,550 aircraft by 2010, a CAAC source revealed. China's registered fleet numbered 1,039 at the end of 2006, up 15.6% from the year before. As competition increases in the domestic market, Chinese airlines typically are looking to solidify or enhance their competitive positions through aircraft purchases ( ATWOnline, July 13).
MITIE secured a three-year contract with the Airline Operators Committee at Bristol, making the company the sole supplier for hold baggage screening there.
Qatar Airways said it will launch twice-weekly Doha-Nagpur flights from Sept. 23 and daily Doha-Ahmedabad service from Dec. 12 aboard dual-class A320s seating 144 passengers. The new flights will boost QR's India operations to 51 weekly flights to eight cities, making India the nation with the most destinations in the airline's network. It said it will be the only full-service international carrier offering scheduled service to Nagpur, which has a population of more than 2 million. It currently operates daily service to Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Cochin, Trivandrum, and Hyderabad.
European low-cost carrier seat capacity grew by 21% or 34 million seats in 2006 compared to 2005 and the sector accounted for around 30% of all intra-European seat capacity last year and 22% of departures, according to rdc's Low Cost Monitor 2007, a copy of which was provided to ATWOnline.
Brazilian Defense Minister Nelson Jobim announced yesterday that Jose Carlos Pereira, head of national airport authority Infraero, will be replaced by Space Agency President Sergio Mauricio Brito Gaudenzi effective immediately as the shakeup of the nation's aviation leadership continued in the aftermath of last month's TAM A320 crash.
ABX Air yesterday agreed to purchase a 767-200ER from Air China and convert it to a freighter for long-haul international operations. The Wilmington, Ohio-based cargo carrier projected the total cost to purchase, modify and put the aircraft into revenue service at approximately $23 million. ABX primarily operates as a DHL subservice carrier in the US but is eager to grow non-DHL operations outside North America.
The New York legislature passed and Gov. Eliot Spitzer signed into law last week a "passenger bill of rights" outlining requirements for airlines during extended ground delays, making the state that is home to busy New York JFK and LaGuardia the first in the US to act on passenger complaints of poor customer service.
ARINC signed a marketing and reseller agreement with Abanco LLC to introduce an airborne data and payment system to enable passengers to use credit cards for onboard purchases. Under the agreement, ARINC will license Abanco's MDT In-Flight productivity application, "which is currently in use by many US carriers." The companies said they "plan to market a range of streamlined payment and inventory control solutions for onboard sales by airlines."
Japan Airlines parent JAL Group's strategy of focusing on high-yield business traffic appears to be paying dividends, evidenced by a narrowed fiscal first-quarter net loss of ¥4.2 billion ($36.8 million) for the three months ended June 30, a strong improvement over a ¥26.6 billion net loss in the year-ago quarter. The result was achieved on revenue of ¥520.6 billion, a 0.3% decline attributed to the removal of trading company JALUX from the group's figures. Airline operations produced revenue growth of 3% to ¥422 billion despite cutbacks in routes.
Northwest Airlines told travel agents that it will suspend its Detroit-Brussels service in mid-month, citing "operational challenges" with the cockpit crew of the 757-200s that operate the route. NWA launched the service in early May. It previously said it would drop its second Detroit-Frankfurt frequency in order to free up 757 pilots ( ATWOnline, July 2).
KLM became the first airline to offer self-service check-in to passengers at Kuala Lumpur International, using the SITA-installed CUSS kiosks now in operation there. Together with Malaysia Airports, SITA installed 12 CUSS kiosks with 24 more to follow over the next few months. SITA said CUSS check-in applications for both Malaysia Airlines and Cathay Pacific will be placed on the kiosks before year end and the option also will be available to some 40 other carriers using KLIA.
Owing to a $300 million fine it agreed last week to pay to the US Dept. of Justice for antitrust violations regarding fares and surcharges, Korean Air reported a second-quarter net loss of KRW214 billion ($229 million), a significant decline from a net profit of KRW14.9 billion in the year-ago quarter.
Boeing enjoyed a strong week last week with orders from Air New Zealand, WestJet and Ukraine's AeroSvit Airlines. ANZ is continuing to orchestrate the replacement of its 747-400s, placing a firm order for four 777-300ERs plus three options. The deal represents the conversion of price rights that were part of the carrier's 2004 order for up to 52 long-haul aircraft.
Vueling Airlines reported a net loss of €33.7 million ($46.1 million) in the first six months of 2007, widened from a deficit of €6.5 million in the year-ago period, according to press reports from Madrid. Revenue climbed 57.3% to €149.7 million but costs soared 79% as competitive pressures hammered yields. Reuters reported that Vueling's average fare during the second quarter plunged 23.4% to €39.71.
EasyJet and Wizz Air last week announced that they will start charging for each piece of checked baggage. The UK-based LCC said that in order to "reduce the number of passengers who travel with checked-in bags," it will be charging £2 ($4.06) per piece of hold baggage per sector from Oct. 1. Previously, easyJet did not charge for the first bag but levied £5 for each additional piece. Maximum weight per passenger remains at 20 kg.
