AirBridge Cargo and Nippon Cargo Airlines signed an agreement to share 747 cargo capacity between Europe and Japan beginning in January. The carriers will market capacity on twice-weekly flights through AirBridge's Krasnoyarsk hub.
Air Jamaica named Michael Conway as CEO. Conway co-founded America West Airlines in the early 1980s and served as that carrier's CEO in the early 1990s. He also founded and led National Airlines, a short-lived, Las Vegas-based carrier that failed in December 2000.
Midwest Air Group, parent of Midwest Airlines and Skyway Airlines/Midwest Connect, reported a third-quarter net loss of $26.9 million, double the $13.4 million loss in the year-ago period, owing to surging expenses.
Frontier Airlines returned to the black in its fiscal second quarter ended Sept. 30, earning $6.9 million compared to a net loss of $2.1 million in the year-ago period. It marked the carrier's best financial performance in seven quarters, but the Denver-based LCC warned it expects to post a loss in the December quarter that likely will exceed its September quarter profit "in magnitude" owing to higher fuel prices and disruption of its services to Cancun by Hurricane Wilma.
Swiss European Air Lines has been issued its Air Operator's Certificate by the Swiss Federal Office for Civil Aviation, allowing it to begin operations Nov. 1 ( ATWOnline, Oct. 11). The wholly owned Swiss subsidiary will operate wet-lease services in the European market on behalf of its parent company and will serve some 30 destinations. Eighteen Avro RJ 85s/100s and eight Embraer 145s will be transferred to the new company, which will be led by its own management team headed by Peter Koch. Service will commence Tuesday morning with flights from Basel and Geneva to Zurich.
In its first quarterly report since filing for bankruptcy last month, Northwest Airlines Corp. said its net loss widened to $475 million for the three months to Sept. 30 compared to a loss of $46 million in the year-ago period. Excluding $82 million in pension curtailment charges and $159 million in charges related to its Chapter 11 reorganization, net loss for the current period was $234 million. The airline did not address the impact of its continuing mechanics strike on the quarter's performance.
CAE received simulator orders from JetBlue Airways and China Eastern Airlines' training subsidiary worth C$35 million ($29.9 million). CAE will deliver an Embraer 190 full-flight simulator and two Simfinity FTDs for the 190 and the A320 to Orlando and an A320 full-flight simulator and a Simfinity 737NG integrated procedures trainer to Shanghai.
Singapore Airlines parent SIA Group reported a profit attributable to shareholders of S$343.2 million ($202.8 million) for the fiscal second quarter ended Sept. 30, down less than 1% compared to earnings of S$346.4 million last year despite a 65% jump in fuel costs between the periods. Operating revenue rose 9.7% to S$3.35 billion while expenses climbed 10.4% to S$3.02 billion. SIA noted that excluding fuel, expenses actually declined 6.1% compared to the year-ago period. Operating profit rose 3.4% to S$330.6 million from S$319.7 million in 2004.
AirTran Airways reported near-breakeven results for the third quarter to Sept. 30, losing $0.2 million for the period, narrowed from a loss of $9.8 million in the year-ago quarter. "While we continued to drive down nonfuel cost, the increasing price of fuel more than offset our effort," CFO Stan Gadek commented. Fuel expense for the quarter rose 98% to $127.8 million, representing more than a third of operating expenses for the quarter.
LAN Airlines posted a profit of $23.8 million in a busy third quarter marked by record fuel prices and startup costs related to the launch of LAN Argentina. The figure represents a 34.6% drop from $36.4 million net income in the year-ago period. Operating income plunged 75.7% to $10.01 million from $41.1 million.
Cathay Pacific and Air China will codeshare between Beijing and Hong Kong from Oct. 30. Cathay will operate 10 weekly flights to Beijing and Air China will operate thrice-daily roundtrips.
Southwest Airlines will inaugurate its new Denver service ( ATWOnline, October 21) on Jan. 3 with 13 daily nonstop flights to three destinations. Chicago Midway will get four daily roundtrips, Las Vegas five and Phoenix four. Southwest will occupy two gates on the C concourse at Denver International Airport and start with approximately 40 local employees. "Denver is a market that has been a significant gap in Southwest's system for many years, and now we can connect Denver customers into our coast-to-coast operations," CEO Gary Kelly said.
Thai Airways has raised its fourth-quarter fuel hedges. Reuters reported that the carrier increased its cover to 22% at $71 a barrel from 15% at $74 per barrel last quarter.
Air Arabia said it has carried more than 1.5 million passengers in the two years since it started operations and confirmed it will post a proft for the fiscal year ending Dec. 31. "We are now a profitable airline and going to announce our audited financial results on the current financial year early next year," Marketing Manager Jyotsna Kaur Habibullah told Gulf News. She added that the airline, the first and only LCC in the Middle East and North Africa, broke even at the end of its first year. The Sharjah-based carrier commenced operations Oct.
Republic Airways Holdings reported that net income for the third quarter ended Sept. 30 rose 63% to $14 million from $8.6 million earned in the year-ago period. Operating revenues grew 39.2% to $230.2 million while operating expenses climbed 33.2% to $192.8 million, resulting in an operating profit of $37.4 million, up 81.1% from $20.7 million. During the quarter, Republic took delivery of 11 Embraer 170s, six of which will be used for Delta Air Lines, three for US Airways and two for United Airlines.
FL Group, parent of Icelandair and Sterling, yesterday raised its stake in UK LCC easyJet from 13.99% to 16.18%. Lufthansa and Swiss International Air Lines will use the same terminals and check-in facilities at Zurich, Frankfurt and Munich and, as previously announced, will codeshare on their more than 80 daily flights between Germany and Switzerland with introduction of the 2005-06 winter schedules from Oct. 30 ( ATWOnline, Aug. 26).
Spanair Chairman Gonzalo Arias announced that the airline's CFO and chief commercial officer, Lars Nygaard, will succeed Enrique Soriano as CEO of the SAS Group carrier. Soriano becomes DG of ground handler Newco Airport Services of which Arias also is chairman. Nygaard, 39, was seconded to Spanair from SAS in 2001. He was been with the group since 1991. Palma-based Spanair offers more than 1,000 daily flights with a fleet of 65 aircraft.
"The single overriding issue [in the US market] is excess capacity" that keeps US carriers in red ink, Southwest Airlines CEO and Vice Chairman Gary Kelly said Wednesday.
Northwest Airlines is seeking to outsource a majority of the slots on international routes now reserved for senior Northwest flight attendants to foreign-based cabin staff. According to the Wall Street Journal, the airline is proposing to have 75% of its transatlantic and transpacific flights staffed by "regional flight attendants" who are not members of the Professional Flight Attendants Assn., which represents NWA attendants. The carrier also wants to staff its proposed Regional subsidiary ( ATWOnline, Oct. 14) with attendants not on the mainline seniority list.
AirTran Airways announced that Director-Marketing Tad Hutcheson and GM-Operations Jim Tabor were named VP-marketing and sales and VP-operations respectively. Crane Aerospace & Electronics named Dewey Turner III senior VP-global sourcing and manufacturing. Messier-Dowty appointed Christian Breyton group VP-supply chain management and Jean-Marie Jacquet group VP-production. Additionally, the company selected Pierre Lescure to lead a new Stepchange in Quality taskforce.
FL Group and Kaupthing Bank signed a letter of intent to form a company to manage 15 737-800s ordered by FL Group earlier this year. FL Group will hold 49% of the leasing venture. Lease agreements have been placed for nine of the aircraft, five of which will go to Air China as previously announced. Hainan Airlines will lease another four for eight years with deliveries in August-December 2006.
