Alitalia said it posted a "good performance" in April that reflected a recovery after last January's strikes, particularly in the leisure segment. Traffic increased 6% on the year-ago month to 3.25 billion RPKs on a 3.3% capacity reduction to 4.3 billion ASKs. Load factor gained 6.6 points to 75.6%. Passenger boardings were up 5.1% to 2.08 million.
US Airways Group yesterday announced that Eastshore Aviation will sell 3.05 million shares of the group's common stock in an underwritten secondary offering. None of the proceeds of the offering, underwritten by Goldman, Sachs & Co., will go to US. Separately, the carrier launched a daily Philadelphia-Portland, Ore., service yesterday aboard an America West Airlines A320 and a daily Phoenix-Kalispell, Mont., flight aboard a Mesa Airlines CRJ200. From July 1 until Aug. 19 the route will be operated by a US A319.
In what ANA President and CEO Mineo Yamamoto described as a "great day for ANA and Star Alliance and the dawn of a new age" for air travel in Japan, 10 of the 11 Star Alliance airlines serving Tokyo Narita begin operating today from co-located facilities in the airport's Terminal 1 South Wing.
Malaysia Airlines this week reported a MYR321 million ($88.4 million) loss for the three months ended March 31, a quarter it called "Q1 2006" even though its last reporting period, ended Dec. 31, 2005, was labeled the third quarter of its fiscal year ( ATWOnline, Feb. 28). The result, which compares to a MYR109.2 million profit earned in the quarter ended March 31, 2005, beat MAS's forecast loss of MYR349 million and was boosted by a "small" MYR7 million profit in March.
Cathay Pacific Airways exercised two of its 20 purchase rights for 777-300ERs for delivery in 2008. Late last year, Cathay ordered 16 777-300ERs plus the purchase rights ( ATWOnline, Dec. 2, 2005). The first aircraft will be delivered in September 2007. They will be powered by GE90-115Bs.
Delta Air Lines said yesterday that it lost $27 million in April, a significant improvement over a net loss of $163 million in the year-ago month. Net income excluding reorganization items was $22 million compared to a $163 million deficit in April 2005. The carrier has $3.4 billion in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments, $2.5 billion of which is unrestricted. Mainline unit costs increased just 1.6% to 10.29 cents in April, and fell 3.8% to 7.26 cents excluding fuel. Consolidated passenger RASM climbed 17.1% to 10.97 cents.
IATA reported a 9.9% rise in international RPKs in April compared to the year-ago month. Capacity increased 5.5% and load factor was 76.5%. Strongest traffic growth was in the Middle East, which showed a 22.1% rise in RPKs against a 16.2% climb in ASKs.
Oman Air plans to add two more 737-800s, one of which will replace an existing 737-700. The new aircraft will increase the fleet to five 737-800s and two 737-700s.
Qatar Airways is expressing caution regarding its order for 60 A350s valued at $10 billion given the uncertainty surrounding the likely redesign of the aircraft. Qatar, which signed a letter of intent for the A350s last year and is slated to be the aircraft's largest customer, is holding off on signing a definitive purchase agreement pending the redesign, which is expected to be completed this summer.
Kenya Airways posted a net profit of KES4.83 billion ($66.5 million) for the fiscal year ended March 31, a 24.4% increase over the KES3.88 billion earned in FY05. Revenues rose 25.1% to KES52.8 billion as the airline carried 2.4 million passengers during the year, an increase of 17%. It plans to take delivery of three new 737-800s this year and a fourth 777 in early 2007.
Aeroports de Paris yesterday launched its long-awaited initial public offering that will see the French government reduce its 100% stake in the airports operator by 28%-33%. ADP expects to raise €1.2 billion ($1.54 billion) in total, placing 30 million shares. Shares are priced at between €42 and €48.5 each for institutional investors and between €41 and €47.50 for French retail investors. Employees will be able to buy shares at between €32.80 and €38. About 10% of the shares to be sold are expected to be reserved for ADP employees.
Air Transport Assn. said it believes the US and EU can reach a new agreement on the processing and transfer of PNR data by air carriers that will not subject airlines to "conflicting demands." ATA President and CEO James May noted that Tuesday's European Court of Justice ruling invalidating a 2004 agreement on data transfer ( ATWOnline, May 31) does not go into effect until Sept. 30, giving authorities time to "find a practical solution to this issue."
Aeroflot stockholders overwhelmingly approved the previously announced purchase of 30 new regional jets from Sukhoi Civil Aircraft. Sukhoi's 75/95-seat aircraft program has lined up an impressive list of partners including Honeywell, Parker, Thales and Goodrich, with Boeing serving in an advisory role. The company also is negotiating with Boeing for customer support, warehousing of spare parts and a joint-venture training facility based in Moscow. "Up until now it's been in the role of consultant," said Sukhoi representative Svetlana Issaeva at last week's Regional Airline Assn.
Although airlines serving European airports have worked with common-use passenger handling systems for decades, US carriers have resisted the technology and US airports have been reluctant to impose it on them. Gradually this is changing. Raleigh-Durham International will build the system into its new Terminal C, making it the first airport in North Carolina to adopt it.
US deregulation of the global distribution systems market in 2004 had all the immediate impact of a whisper in the woods. At the time, most of the US Major airlines already were locked into three-year, "full-content" direct connect agreements with GDS providers that guaranteed the status quo would linger regardless of the Dept. of Transportation's decision to let the CRS rules expire (ATW, 4/04, p. 33).
The international terminal at Istanbul Ataturk International Airport is a pleasant surprise: Luxurious without being overwhelming or tacky, with modern architecture, glass curtain walls, stainless steel and ceramic panel finishes, granite flooring, plenty of space and very, very cleaneven the toilets.
When information overload hit the information technology department at Vancouver International, officials concluded that IT support wasn't one of the airport's core businesses and outsourced it. By contrast, when the same thing happened at Las Vegas McCarran International, officials decided to beef up their in-house team to take on the new work.
One thing that can be said about Mesa Air Group Chairman and CEO Jonathan Ornstein is that he loves a challenge. Whether on the basketball court or in the boardroom, his natural instinct is to play hard and play to win. His acumen as a corporate leader is demonstrated by the Phoenix-based carrier's track record of growth and profitability during a period of financial hardship for most of the commercial aviation industryincluding some of Mesa's Regional counterparts.
Maintenance, repair and overhaul organizations are investing millions of dollars in IT systems to manage their operations. Those facilities equipped with the latest software are far more likely to get the work than those without IT.
JetBlue Airways is "looking seriously" at GDS participation, according to David Neeleman, chairman and chief executive officer. At the Merrill Lynch Global Transportation Conference, Neeleman said the airline was missing out on business by not being in corporate travel departments' booking systems.
If US passenger airlines succeed in posting a cumulative operating profit for 2006after five years of negative EBITtwo dates will loom large in the story of their turnaround: Sept. 14, 2005, when Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines entered Chapter 11 and began dropping capacity like a cat sheds fur, and Jan. 5, 2006, when Independence Air closed down, bringing some semblance of sanity to East Coast pricing. Give some credit as well to a couple of furies named Katrina and Rita for driving oil prices so high that even the most logic-challenged carrier had to raise its fares.
Air Canada Technical Services appointed Stephane Guerin CFO, Danielle Poudrette senior VP-business strategy, Pat Iaconi VP-corporate development, Mark Swearingen executive VP-airframe maintenance and Ron Elvidge VP-components & engine maintenance. Air Wisconsin's former chairman & president, Preston Wilbourne, died April 20 at the age of 80. Alaska Airlines welcomed Paul McElroy as dir.-internal communications. ASIG promoted Dan Sellas to VP-sales & marketing. ATA Airlines welcomed John Kelly as VP-maintenance & engineering.
Singapore Changi Airport is perhaps best known for its upscale terminals that cater to the whims of every passenger. There are a movie theater, swimming pool, health clubs and lush interior orchid gardens, to name a few of the amenities. The new S$45 million ($28.5 million) Budget Terminal that opened in March offers a study in contrast. It features a functional, no-frills, utilitarian design that caters specifically to low-cost carriers.
For some, the Electronic Flight Bag is a rather neat way of displaying airport and approach plates and is supplied by a teaming of Astronautics, Jeppesen and Boeing. Certainly the EFB is a cool technology, but it also is available from 15 other system providers using software from 28 vendors and marrying it to hardware from seven other suppliersand the list of capabilities appears to be growing daily. Now pilots have at their fingertips moving maps, graphical weather forecasts, terrain mapping and a host of additional features that they never knew they needed.
