EasyJet transported 2.9 million passengers in October, up 7.3% from the year-ago month. Load factor fell 2.4 points to 83.2%. Separately, the carrier will reinstate its thrice-weekly Bristol-Pisa service on Jan. 18. The route originally was a summer-only service. Year-round service will become daily by the end of March.
SkyTeam carriers Aeromexico, Air France, Alitalia and KLM have co-located their operations at Sao Paulo Guarulhos Terminal 1, which the alliance said is the first co-location in its network where the participating airlines operate equally. A common-use ticket office and joint purchasing of ground handling services also have been implemented. The alliance operates 75 weekly flights to and from GRU.
United Airlines flew 9.67 billion RPMs in October, up 2.3% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose at the same rate to 11.99 billion ASMs, leaving load factor at 80.6%. Lufthansa flew 9.87 billion RPKs in October, a 3.5% rise over the year-ago month. ASKs climbed 1.3% to 13.06 billion and load factor was up 1.6 points to 75.6%. Gol flew 1.33 billion RPKs in October, up 39.7% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 49.6% to 1.91 billion ASKs and load factor fell 4.9 points to 70%.
IATA warned that the return on the cost of capital is a major impediment to industry growth despite some headline-grabbing profits posted by a handful of carriers. Speaking at the Centre for Asia Pacific Airlines Outlook 2007 summit in Singapore, IATA Chief Economist Brian Pearce said the industry's overall performance between 2001 and 2004 was an abysmal 3.3% compared to a benchmark of 7.2%. Asian airlines fared better with a 4.6% return, with US carriers at 2.5%. Not surprisingly, LCCs reported a strong 6.8% average.
The Sydney-based Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation urged Asian governments to speed liberalization of bilateral restrictions hindering air transport in the region. Speaking at Outlook 2007, CAPA's third annual regional airline summit in Singapore, Executive Chairman Peter Harbison told delegates that low-cost carriers represent only 5% of the market in the region, which has a population of roughly 3.5 billion, whereas 60 LCCs serve a population of 375 million in Europe and account for 20% of traffic.
Satyam Computer Services of India signed a seven-year deal with Qantas covering development and maintenance for more than 150 applications across various technologies.
Northwest Airlines intends to recall approximately 150 furloughed pilots by July 2007, according to the Air Line Pilots Assn., which issued a clarification in response to several press reports indicating the carrier was recalling "hundreds" of pilots. "The recall pace is expected to be steady throughout 2007 although the staffing situation is extremely fluid," ALPA said. Separately, NWA flew 6.49 billion RPMs in October, a 0.2% rise over the year-ago month. Capacity fell 0.7% to 7.83 billion ASMs and load factor was up 0.7 point to 82.8%.
Qantas informed investors yesterday that 46.08% of the carrier is now owned by foreign investors following "recent" sales, an increase of 1.18 points since May 10. The ceiling is 49%.
Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, parent of Atlas Air and Polar Air Cargo, reported third-quarter net income of $7.1 million, significantly narrowed from a $29.9 million profit in the year-ago quarter.
Boeing began using a moving assembly line--moving at 1.6 in. per min.--during final assembly of the 777. The company said it plans to complete a continuous, one-bay moving 777 assembly line that will include systems installation, final body join and final assembly in 2008. Separately, Boeing announced the delivery of the first of four 777-200ERs to Thai Airways, which will take an additional two next year.
SAS Group reported third-quarter net income of SEK604 million ($84.3 million), up 14.2% from a profit of SEK529 million in the year-ago quarter, on an 8.9% rise in revenues to SEK18.04 billion. Acting President and CEO Gunnar Reitan called the results "positive" but noted that a "strong economy is a significant contributory factor," adding, "The result is far from the group's return requirement and, accordingly, it is necessary to continue focusing full energy on cost-cutting measures."
AAR signed a three-year agreement to manage supply chain service for Chautauqua Airlines. AAR will provide asset planning and repairs and maintain rotable parts to support 24 CRJ200s joining the fleet from January for Chautauqua's new service agreement with Continental Airlines. AAR also will perform heavy MRO and interior modifications on up to 15 Northwest Airlines 757s. Work begins this month in Indianapolis and will continue through July 2007.
Japan Airlines emerged from a year in the red with a ¥28.2 billion ($239.2 million) profit in its second fiscal quarter ended Sept. 30, a figure calculated by ATWOnline based on the carrier's half-year results released yesterday. For the six-month period, JAL posted a ¥1.5 billion profit that represented a reversal from a ¥12 billion net loss in the semester ended Sept. 30, 2005. Six-month revenues rose 3.4% to ¥1.15 trillion.
Vietnam Airlines and the US Export-Import Bank announced a preliminary agreement for a loan "in excess" of $400 million that will support the carrier's acquisition of four 787-8s that it ordered last year ( ATWOnline, June 22, 2005). The deal was announced in Hanoi by Michael Marine, US ambassador to Vietnam. The bank previously financed four 777-200ERs for VN.
ExpressJet Holdings, a Regional partner of Continental Airlines, reported a 10.9% drop in third-quarter net income to $22.7 million from $25.4 million in the same period a year ago. Operating revenues increased 8.8% to $428.6 million while operating expenses grew 10.8% to $394.1 million. Operating income was down 9% to $34.5 million. Traffic rose 14.1% to 2.7 billion RPMs, which bumped up load factor 1.5 points to 78.1%. ASMs increased 12% to 3.5 billion. Earlier this year, CO removed 69 ERJs from ExpressJet's network after the two companies failed to agree on new financial terms.
Now the sole shareholder in Airbus, EADS felt the full impact of the aircraft manufacturer's troubles as it reported a €195 million ($248.8 million) third-quarter loss, a reversal from a €279 million profit in the year-ago quarter. At Airbus, operating result plunged to a €350 million loss from a €410 million profit even as revenues rose 14% to €5.42 billion.
Cameroon Airlines will migrate its legacy communications system to SITA's Internet Protocol Virtual Private Network service. The five-year, $4.3 million contract is part of the carrier's effort to increase operational efficiencies as it prepares for privatization next year.
Delta Air Lines flew 9.56 billion system RPMs in October, a 1.7% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity fell 4.5% to 12.4 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 4.7 points to an October record 77.1%. Domestic traffic dropped 5.5% to 6.72 billion RPMs against a 14.1% decline in capacity to 8.57 billion ASMs, sending load factor up 7.1 points to 78.4%. International RPMs grew 24% to 2.84 billion, ASMs increased 27.2% to 3.83 billion and load factor dipped 1.9 points to 74.2%.
Air New Zealand unveiled a reconfigured Pacific network "following a review of route profitability." It will suspend its thrice-weekly Los Angeles-Papeete-Rarotonga service beginning April 2 and reinstate a weekly LAX-Rarotonga flight. It will codeshare with Air Tahiti Nui on its four-times-weekly LAX-Papeete service and cooperate with ATN on a four-times-weekly Papeete-Auckland service. The ANZ-ATN codeshare is subject to government approval. United Airlines will launch service to Huntsville from Denver (daily from Feb.
Lufthansa Technik signed a six-year deal with Air Europa covering MRO on landing gear for at least 28 737NGs. Work will be performed in Hamburg while spare shipsets provided by LHT will be installed by the carrier and its Globalia Mantenimiento Aeronautico subsidiary in Palma de Mallorca.
FedEx Express yesterday cancelled its $2.3 billion order for 10 A380Fs and placed an order for 15 777Fs with 15 options, becoming the first airline to cancel an A380 order and dealing a serious blow to beleaguered Airbus.
Air Canada and Air Canada Jazz are boosting capacity in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador by 16% through more frequencies and fleet reallocation, the carriers announced yesterday. The increase will equal more than 10,000 additional seats per week and will cover 21 additional weekly flights to/from and within Newfoundland and Labrador, 27 in New Brunswick and 73 in Nova Scotia. Centralwings will launch twice-weekly flights from Lodz to Rome Ciampino and Paris Beauvais from Feb. 19 aboard 737-300s/-400s.
AirBridge Cargo, the 747F scheduled freight airline launched by Volga-Dnepr in 2004, said yesterday it has received an Air Operators' Certificate from the Russian government, which Volga-Dnepr called a "a key milestone" in its effort to establish ABC as an independent operator.
