Air Berlin will begin six-times-weekly Oviedo-Palma de Mallorca service on Nov. 1. Oviedo will become the carrier's 12th Spanish destination. Qantas will increase its Adelaide-Perth service to 31-times-weekly from 27 from Oct. 29.
American Airlines flew 12.48 billion system RPMs in August, a 1.4% decline from the year-ago month. Capacity dropped 1.9% to 15.21 billion ASMs and load factor rose 0.4 point to 81.9%. Domestic RPMs fell 4.1% against a 4.8% drop in capacity to 9.64 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 0.6 point to 82.4%.
Alitalia, in which the Italian government still owns just under 50%, confirmed last week that it is reviewing and revising its business plan to counter rising fuel costs and adjust its targets. Business Plan 2005-2008 forecasts that AZ Fly, the airline entitity, will achieve a breakeven result this year and an EBITDAR margin of about 14% for 2007 and 2008.
British Airways teamed with Google to launch an interactive service on its website allowing passengers to "zoom in on their destination of choice" electronically using Google Earth.
SkyEurope Airlines suffered a €16.5 million ($21.2 million) loss in its fiscal third quarter ended June 30, widened from a €10.1 million deficit in the year-ago quarter, despite making what it called "significant operational improvements." The Bratislava-based low-fare carrier said it remains committed to growth, having announced a €56.3 million capital increase and financing package last week ( ATWOnline, Aug. 30).
Northwest Airlines reported a net profit of $101 million in July in a filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Operating revenues totaled $1.2 billion and expenses came to $1.02 billion, resulting in a $180 million operating profit. It recorded $39 million in reorganization costs. Meanwhile, both the airline and its flight attendants, represented by the Assn. of Flight Attendants-CWA, were awaiting a ruling late Friday from US District Judge Victor Marrero on whether work actions can go ahead. Marrero granted NWA's request for a temporary injunction on Aug.
Comair received an extension Friday from Delta Air Lines to Oct. 2 for submitting its bid for Regional jet services. At the same time, the first lawsuit was filed against the carrier by a family of one of the victims from last week's fatal CRJ200 crash ( ATWOnline, Sept. 1).
Air France-KLM Group yesterday raised its full-year forecast and said it expects to "generate a significant increase in operating income compared to last year" as it reported a net profit of €244 million ($313 million) for its fiscal first quarter ended June 30, more than double the €112 million earned in the year-ago quarter. Operating income rose 84.3% to €411 million from €223 million on an 11.9% increase in revenues to €5.8 billion. Expenses climbed 11.8% to €3.24 billion, driven by a 24.8% jump in fuel costs to €1.01 billion.
Dragonair was hit hard by fuel prices in the first half of 2006 and reported a loss of HKD43.3 million ($5.6 million), a reversal from a HKD95.2 million profit in the year-ago period. China National Aviation Co., which for now holds 43.3% of Dragonair, told Hong Kong media that fuel prices climbed 32% for the semester. Passenger revenues increased 8.5% to HKD2.97 billion on a 10.2% rise in passenger numbers to 2.6 million. Load factor improved 0.5 point to 64.6%.
Aer Lingus will report half-year profits of just under €20 million ($25.7 million), up 27% from the €15.5 million earned in the first six months of 2005, according to Irish press reports. It is forecasting a full-year profit of €92.5 million, an increase of 7.8% from the €85.8 million earned in 2005. It reportedly attributed the first-half growth partly to a 12% increase in passengers on European routes.
Investigators examining Sunday's fatal crash of a Comair CRJ200 in Lexington, Ky., revealed yesterday that the lone air traffic controller on duty was operating on just 2 hr. of sleep and was completing the second of two 8-hr. shifts in a 24-hr. period.
BAA fought back against airline calls for its breakup, saying the lack of runway capacity in southeast England and not its control of London Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted airports is "the biggest problem" facing UK carriers and passengers.
TUI board announced yesterday that the company's two German airlines, leisure carrier Hapagfly and low-fare scheduled airline Hapag-Lloyd Express, will merge "in order to ensure that results targets in the tourism division are met. Even though margins remain under pressure, further efficiency improvements are being realized," TUI said. "Deterioration of exogenous market conditions in both areas of business [tourism and shipping]" has resulted in "unsatisfactory results and an unsatisfactory assessment of TUI AG on the capital markets." Further details will be determined by December.
TAP Portugal said in a statement yesterday that it is pursuing "potential acquisition [or] shareholder participation" in rival Portugalia Airlines. "The process is in its initial phase and no formal commitment has yet been entered into by the interested parties," the company said. TAP is working with Espirito Santo Financial Group.
UPS pilots, represented by the Independent Pilots Assn., ratified an eight-year labor agreement covering 2,775 captains, first officers and flight engineers. The 2,623 members voting approved the deal 56.5% to 43.5%. The vote ended nearly four years of negotiations. "From the beginning of the process our pilots wanted a comprehensive contract and the union wanted a contract that could keep pace with the global expansion of UPS," IPA President Tom Nicholson said.
It's being called a revolution in air traffic management, but as history shows, with any revolution there are complications and disappointments. And so it is with Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast, a technology that when fully implemented will offer radar-like coverage with more accuracy at a much lower cost and will give pilots the information about other traffic that currently is available only to ground controllers.
Farnborough Hat Trick for Airbus Airbus came to Farnborough needing to accomplish three things: Demonstrate that it understood and was attacking the A380 production snags; present a new A350 that would capture airlines' attention, preferably via an order from a premier league airline; and sell a few airplanes after a first half that was virtually all Boeing.
Amadeus said it would reimburse subscribers for fees assessed by American Airlines and Northwest Airlines as an "interim relief measure" while it worked toward obtaining full-content agreements from the carriers. Meanwhile, Delta on Sept. 1 took the industry by surprise and announced that it, too, would impose fees of $3.50 for each segment booked through non-preferred channels beginning at noon the same day. However, it singled out Amadeus as a non-preferred channel. Curiously, it made no mention of Worldspan, with which it had not yet announced an agreement.
Runway safety and runway incursions shot up the priority list in Europe following the ground collision between an SAS MD-87 and a Cessna Citation in fog at Milan Linate in October 2001. The Citation strayed across the active runway as the MD-87 was taking off and 114 people on both aircraft were killed, as were four baggage handlers on the ground. It was Italy's worst aviation accident and made Europe sit up and take note.
Six weeks ago, American Airlines parent AMR Corp. surprised Wall Street with a handsome second-quarter net profit of $291 million. To put this achievement into its proper perspective, the last time AMR earned as much, fuel was selling for around 80 cents a gallon, yields were rising toward 14 cents per passenger mile, Bill Clinton was completing his second term in the White House and 911 was what you dialed in an emergency.
If this kind of thinking is not reversed, airplanes in Europe may be required one day to carry a warning label on their fuselages: "Warning: Air travel is hazardous to your health."
Look back into the history of any large company and odds are you will find some ironies lurking in its past. Cathay Pacific Airways, celebrating its 60th birthday this month, is no exception. Here's one: Although its name is virtually synonymous with Hong Kong, the two men who initially got it off the ground were from Texas and Australia. Here's another: What they really wanted to do was to start a trading company, not a passenger airline.
