Independence Air parent FLYi reported an $86 million net loss for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, which included costs related to the sale of four CRJs, the writeoff of goodwill remaining from the original formation of the company and costs related to a recently completed financial restructuring ( ATWOnline , Feb. 23).
On top of that introduction schedule, engine manufacturers are assuming that follow-ons to the single-aisle 737NG/ A320 twinjets will be launched around 2010 to be in the market in 2012. This is the big-number category, with hundreds pouring out of factories every year even in down times.
Indonesia's Lion Air is in the market for 40 737-900s or A320s/A321s, according to insiders. ATWOnline understands that an MOU has been signed with Boeing, although Airbus is making a counteroffer.
Bratislava would seem to be an unlikely place from which to launch an airline. The capital city of Slovakia has a population of around half-a-million (for the country as a whole it is 5.4 million) and is only 30 mi. from Vienna, home to Central Europe's largest carrier, Austrian Airlines.
It is back to the future for Singapore Airlines and Malaysia Airlines, who signed codeshare agreements to compete with the new LCCs operating out of Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. Under the deal, SIA and its regional subsidiary SilkAir will codeshare on a variety of Malaysia Airlines routes starting March 27. SIA and MAS split in 1972 and relations have been cool for decades, but the impending Asean Free Skies starts in 2008. Both airlines have taken the strategic decision to build market presence and cut out wasteful duplication to combat LCCs.
Airlines soon may get an inkling as to which radio technology to buy-or not to buy-for their future aircraft. The enlightenment will commence in a meeting room in Montreal next month when technical experts from FAA, NASA and Eurocontrol unveil to a 30-member ICAO aerocommunications panel their top six or so ideas for what type of communications system will make the most economical and functional sense for global interoperability through 2030.
UPS announced late Friday that it plans to add an $82.5 million, 700,000-sq.-ft. heavy freight facility to its existing Louisville Cargo operations. The move came just one day after the company announced it was closing its freight-sorting hub at Dayton ( ATWOnline , Feb. 25). UPS said several states were considered as bases for the facility but the decision of the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority to extend it tax incentives helped seal the deal. The new complex is expected to bring 720 jobs to Louisville.
Iberia, which late last week placed an order for up to 79 Airbus aircraft ( ATWOnline , Feb. 28), posted a consolidated profit after tax and minority interests of eur218.4 million ($289.4 million) for 2004, a 53% increase over net income of eur34.9 million in the previous year and the second-best profit ever recorded by the company. For the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, consolidated net profit rose 53.1% on the year-ago period from eur34.9 million to eur53.4 million.
Valuair , a Singapore-based low-cost carrier, is planning to launch flights to Australia's east coast cities by December. The airline already operates A320s from Singapore to Perth and the success of that operation is prompting expansion plans. Insiders suggest Valuair will lease A330s or A340s to launch the flights. It operates to Hong Kong, Bangkok and Jakarta and plans to start flights to Chengdu and Xiamen in China, Japan and Korea.
It is quite certain that Bill Boeing was not thinking of the 777-200LR when he declared in 1929 that his namesake company's goal was "to let no new improvement in flying and flying equipment pass us." But 76 years later, the emergence of the newest variant of the successful 777 family certainly represents a triumph of aerospace technology and an improvement in "flying equipment."
But for the grace of US taxpayers, patient bankruptcy judges and the deep pockets of GE Capital Corp., the long-awaited consolidation of the US airline industry might have begun in earnest last year as companies such as United Airlines, US Airways Group and Delta Air Lines simply ran out of financial options. Together, the three accounted for $7.5 billion of the $9.2 billion in aggregate losses suffered by US Major passenger airlines in 2004. Delta by itself accounted for nearly 60% of the industry's annual loss and a bit more than half of the fourth-quarter loss.
Thirty years ago, Airbus Industrie ran an advertising campaign to educate a doubting industry about its credibility and the virtues of the new A300. "What is it? Who is it? How does it work and where is it going?" the advertisement asked. On Jan. 18, 2005, not one of the nearly 4,500 guests attending the "A380 Reveal" was in the slightest doubt regarding the success of Airbus and what the A380 represents to European industrial collaboration and the airline industry.
US Airways yesterday said its $125 million financing agreement with Eastshore Aviation ( ATWOnline , Feb. 23), an investment entity owned by Air Wisconsin Airlines Corp. and its shareholders, was approved by the US Bankruptcy Court. The facility is structured as debtor-in-possession financing and $75 million will be available immediately. The remaining funds will be drawn in $25 million increments later. Upon emergence from Chapter 11, the loan will be converted to equity in the reorganized US Airways.
In the aftermath of 9/11 and responding to growing national as well as European regulatory demands for increased security at airports, Aeroports de Paris launched a trial of several biometric systems in an effort to improve the reliability of access pass control of staff entering restricted areas.
Last summer, 787 VP and GM Mike Bair talked of a "land rush" of airline orders and, along with Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and CEO Alan Mulally, repeatedly predicted that more that 200 787 orders would be on the books by the end of 2004. But even the late-January order from six Chinese carriers for a total of 60 787s left the company 14 short of its year-end target, while the number of firm orders remained at 56.
Coming this May, Disney in a partnership with ARINC and Baggage Airline Guest Services Inc. will take the "hold" out of hold baggage and put a zip in the trip to the airport for guests at its Walt Disney World Resort.
Looking like a tiny abstract sculpture in the midst of the giant terminals of 21st century John F. Kennedy International Airport, architect Eero Saarinen's 1961 TWA World Flight Center sits empty on what Richard Smyth, JetBlue Airways' VP-JFK redevelopment, calls "the best ramp on the airport."
Ready or not, the A380 is coming in 2006. "Airports will be ready," Dick Marchi, senior VP at ACI-NA, tells AE&T. "Most will be fine." The double-decker A380, which was rolled out in January, will carry up to 555 passengers more than 9,000 nm, while the freighter version will be able to haul up to 150 tonnes for more than 5,600 nm.
SkyEurope intends to add four 737-500s this summer, bringing its fleet of the twinjets to 11. It also operates six Brasilia turboprops. The additional aircraft will support an increase in frequencies as well as the launch of 10 new routes: Athens from/to Bratislava and Budapest, Barcelona from/to Budapest and Krakow, Copenhagen from/to Bratislava and Budapest, Manchester from/to Bratislava and Krakow, and Nice from/to Bratislava and Budapest.
Sabre Holdings Corp.'s acquisition three years ago of David R. Bornemann Associates, a privately held developer of Windows-based software solutions for smaller airlines, has proven to be both a savvy business decision and a challenge for the company's airline software products and services division, Sabre Airline Solutions.
ACI-NA announced that David Plavin will leave his post as president at year end. Airbus North America welcomed Bill Bozin as VP-safety & technical affairs succeeding John Lauber , who becomes Airbus chief safety officer in Toulouse. Air France appointed Catherine Guillouard VP-finance. Alaska Airlines tapped Megan Lawrence as dir.-government affairs. American Airlines promoted Oliver Martins to VP-engineering, quality assurance & planning.
Orbitz Thursday said it filed a lawsuit against G2 SwitchWorks Corp. and five of the company's officers and employees. All five formerly worked at Orbitz, according to the lawsuit, which alleges that they "breached their employment agreements with Orbitz," including having "improperly taken and used Orbitz's confidential information and trade secrets." In a statement, Orbitz claimed that one current G2 employee "has already admitted, in writing, that he was 'in possession of and used sensitive documents.'"
Hawaiian Airlines and its pilots, represented by the Air Line Pilots Assn., reached agreement on a new three-year contract. Terms of the deal were not released. The agreement will be sent to union members for a ratification vote. Hawaiian, which already has new deals in place with four of its six unions, said it will be able to exit bankruptcy if the new agreement and a recently negotiated accord with its flight attendants are ratified. Separately, the carrier reported net income of $588,000 for January, an 82% reduction compared to net income of $3.3 million in January 2004.
UAL Corp., parent of United Airlines, reported a $326 million net loss for January in its Monthly Operating Report filed with the US Bankruptcy Court. The loss included $138 million in reorganization expenses. In the year-ago period, United reported a net loss of $252 million, which included $26 million in reorganization expenses primarily consisting of noncash items resulting from the rejection of aircraft. Operating loss for January totaled $151 million, down from an operating loss for the same month in 2004 of $191 million.
Iberia late Friday announced orders and options for up 79 Airbus narrowbodies worth more than $4.5 billion at list prices, although it said it obtained "important discounts." The largest order in the carrier's history, it encompasses 30 firm aircraft--15 A318s, nine A320s and six A321s--and 49 options. Deliveries of the firm aircraft will be in 2006-11. They will replace 19 MD-87s, 13 MD-88s, seven 757s and the oldest A320s. Engine selection was not announced.
