Aerolineas Argentinas is taking delivery of the second of seven 737-500s this month. Remaining aircraft will arrive in July, September, October (two) and November. The carrier said it also will take an A310 and A340 next month, a second A310 in August and a second A340 "later this year."
AirTran Airways parent AirTran Holdings said it is forecasting a "record" profit in the second quarter despite that fact that it expects unit revenue to fall 3%-5% from the year-ago period, when it reported RASM of 10.75 cents. But nonfuel unit cost also will decline, by an estimated 5%-6% from the 6.3 cents in the second quarter of 2006 when it earned $32 million.
Italian government appointed Credit Suisse to carry out an independent evaluation of the privatization bids for Alitalia. The government put its 49.9% stake up for sale in December and short-listed three bidders: Air One owner AP Holding, the Aeroflot/Unicredito Italiano combination ( ATWOnline, June 7) and a consortium led by TPG. The latter pulled out last month ( ATWOnline, May 31). Deadline for binding offers is July 2.
American Airlines Chairman and CEO Gerard Arpey told analysts and investors last week that it would be a "mistake" to assume US carriers' "troubles are behind us" despite vastly improved earnings over the past year.
Northwest Airlines will launch 19-times-weekly Dallas/Fort Worth-New York LaGuardia service Sept. 5 aboard 124-seat A319s. Flights will operate thrice-daily on weekdays and twice-daily on Saturdays and Sundays. Viva Macau said it received approval to launch services to Tokyo, Osaka, Pusan, Manila Clark, Phuket and Ho Chi Minh City. Start dates and frequencies were not announced. The airline will begin serving Sydney on Aug. 15. It operates 767s.
EasyJet announced the addition of flights to Austria and Romania, bringing its network to 22 countries. Daily London Luton-Vienna service will begin Oct. 29 and daily Milan Malpensa-Bucharest Baneasa flights will launch sometime in September. The LCC transported 3.3 million passengers in May, up 13.8% from the year-ago month. Load factor slipped 0.3 point to 83.6%.
Airbus entered the fray over aviation's environmental impact, saying yesterday that it is targeting a 50% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions and an 80% lowering of nitrogen oxide production in new aircraft by 2020 compared to those manufactured in 2000. President and CEO Louis Gallois called for an environmental summit of CEOs representing engine and airframe manufacturers. "Technology and leadership is key," he said.
Shin Corp. of Thailand said this week that it divested its remaining stake in Thai AirAsia in order to focus on its telecom business, according to press reports from Bangkok. Shin held 50% of the airline until last year, when it set up a company called Asia Aviation to control the stake following the purchase of Shin by Singapore's Temasek Holdings. Shin held 49% of that company but sold off the remaining shares to airline management for THB472 million ($14.4 million).
Air Berlin announced executive changes at its dba subsidiary. Former Lufthansa, Hapag-Lloyd and TUI executive Wolfgang Kurth will head the technology and finance departments and former Etihad Airways VP-Operations Helmut Weixler will lead flight operations. MDs Martin Gauss (operative personnel and commercial department) and Peter Wojahn (technology, finance and personnel) will leave the company.
Lufthansa and EgyptAir announced a codeshare agreement yesterday that they said will be part of a close cooperation between the two and that will boost rumors that the African carrier is being courted by Star Alliance. A source close to the tie-up confirmed that there have been discussions about EgyptAir's potential membership. Codesharing will start with the introduction of the winter schedule and will be introduced on Frankfurt-Cairo, FRA-Alexandria and Munich-CAI flights.
Ryanair will expand operations at its Stockholm Skavsta base in October, adding a fifth and sixth 737-800 and launching 12 new routes during the month: Seven-times-weekly to Berlin Schoenefeld and Bratislava; four-times-weekly to Eindhoven, Baden Baden, Liverpool and Valencia; thrice-weekly to Alicante, Basel, Pisa and Porto, and twice-weekly to Trapani and Malta. A twice-weekly service to Salzburg will start in December. Ryanair said it expects to carry 2.5 million passengers to and from NYO each year.
Cathay Pacific Airways and Dragonair flew a combined 6.35 billion RPKs in May, up 1.1% from the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 1% to 8.46 billion ASKs and load factor rose 0.1 point to 75.1%. Hawaiian Airlines flew 672.7 million RPMs in May, up 19.6% from the year-ago month, on a 19.8% lift in capacity to 776.6 million ASMs. Load factor dipped 0.2 point to 86.6%.
CAE signed contracts to design and manufacture three CAE 7000 Series full flight simulators and training devices valued at C$48 million ($44.9 million), bringing first-quarter simulator sales to 13. CAE will build a 7000 Series 747-8 Freighter FFS and a suite of Simfinity747 ground school training devices for Cargolux International Airlines, launch customer for the 747-8F. Emirates ordered a 777-300ER FFS. Hainan Airlines will receive an ERJ-145 FFS along with a suite of Simfinity training devices.
SITA added Global Systems of UAE to its international network of Indirect Channel partners that provide the company's IT solutions to airports that handle 5 million passengers or fewer per year. Global Systems will offer SITA solutions to airports in Morocco, Algeria and Libya with plans to extend further into Africa in a later phase.
EVA Air reported a first-quarter net loss of TWD331.3 million ($10 million), widened considerably from a TWD225.9 million deficit in the first three months of 2006. Revenue slipped 0.7% to TWD22.49 billion against a 0.6% decline in expenses to TWD23.02 billion. Operating loss deepened to TWD523 million from TWD514.9 million. EVA operates 18 747 passenger aircraft, Combis and freighters, 11 A330-200s, three 777-300ERs four MD-90s and 14 MD-11Fs.
Indian Airlines yesterday said it had resolved the issues with the Air Corporation Employees Union representing ground operations and clerical staff that led to a three-day strike this week and that operations are scheduled to return to normal today. The carrier said the issues pertained to career progression and payment of a decade's worth of arrears. The Indian government's Press Information Bureau said the arrears total INR2.67 billion ($65.1 million) and will be paid out over 18 months.
AirTran Holdings may have nudged Midwest Air Group a step closer to a merger after its three candidates were elected yesterday to the nine-member Midwest board. In light of the change, Midwest said it would permit AirTran to present its takeover proposal to the board. But at the same time, the Milwaukee-based carrier made a point of stating that it had made "no determination to engage in negotiations with AirTran."
Ukraine International Airlines said IATA extended its IOSA registration for another two years until June 17, 2009. In 2005, UIA became the first CIS carrier to complete IOSA certification.
Spanair confirmed yesterday that Spanish tour operator Marsans has made a full bid for the airline, whose pending sale was announced by SAS Group this week ( ATWOnline, June 14). Outgoing SAS Executive VP Gunnar Reitan told reporters that Marsans' offer was "not exclusive" but that no other bids have been received. Marsans head Gonzalo Pascual said his company was bidding on its own, according to AFX News, adding that Spanair will not merge with either Air Comet or Aerolineas Argentinas.
Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, parent of Atlas Air and Polar Air Cargo, yesterday said it has entered into a joint venture agreement to build a new cargo warehouse at Seoul Incheon. The 12,000-sq.-m. Atlas Air Cargo Terminal, slated to open early next year, will be operated by AACT Co., a JV comprising Atlas Air and Sharp, a South Korean provider of maintenance, ground and related airline support services. It will be the first facility at Incheon to be at least partly owned by a foreign airline.
Emirates said it will make a "massive. . .multimillion-dollar" investment in upgrading cabins on its 777 long-haul fleet, including an enhanced version of its first class private suites, lie-flat massage seats in business class, economy class seats with extra legroom and "the industry's largest personal TV screens in all classes."
AviIT and Phantom Media announced the formal launch of their 50/50 joint venture bluebox Avionics to develop inflight entertainment systems for the airline industry. Under the JV, "AviIT is responsible for all software and infrastructure design and development whilst Phantom Media provides its expertise in content provision." The companies claim their bluebox system "could remove up to 1.5 tonnes of weight from a typical widebody aircraft compared to a conventional AVOD system."
