Airline Finance News - Europe.

For more airline finance news, data and analysis, please go to: http://www.airguideonline.com/professional.htm Jun 12, 2006

Air France-KLM 

Air France-KLM said May traffic rose 6.2% over the year-ago month to 16.18 billion RPKs against a 4.3% lift in capacity to 20.45 billion ASKs. Load factor gained 1.4 points to 79.1%. The company posted a "significant increase" in unit revenue last month, "once again driven by sustained levels of premium traffic." Jun 8, 2006

British Airways 

Pensions before planes, BA's Walsh stresses. British Airways intends to resolve its pension issue before it moves forward with significant long-haul aircraft orders and does not want to take delivery of any new types ahead of its 2008 move into London Heathrow's Terminal 5, CEO Willie Walsh confirmed earlier this week at a meeting of oneworld executives ahead of the IATA AGM.The carrier has proposed a series of measures aimed at lowering its current pension deficit, which totaled [pounds sterling]2.07 billion ($3.87 billion) at the end of March, and slowing the rate at which future obligations accrue. Jun 8, 2006

British Airways

British Airways flew 9.66 billion RPKs in May, a 6.9% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity rose 5.1% to 12.97 billion ASKs and load factor went up 1.3 points to 74.5%. Jun 7, 2006

CSA Czech Airlines

CSA Czech Airlines posted a CZK496 million ($22.6 million) loss in 2005, a significant reversal from the CZK324 million profit earned in 2004, and expects to finish 2006 in the red, the carrier told the CTK Czech News Agency. Operating revenues rose 12% to CZK22.4 billion against a 21.4% increase in costs to CZK23.4 billion. CSA transported 5.2 million passengers last year, a 20% increase that "was achieved at the cost of inadequately high expenditures," President Radomir Lasak told CTK. "This problem has roots in 2003, when CSA decided to increase its fleet by 45% in a leap. This raised CSA's transport capacity by 59% but the company was not ready for this in business terms." Lasak said the airline has revamped its business plan for 2006-08 and will present it next week. Jun 7, 2006

Iberia

Iberia is only "cutting nonprofitable routes" at Barcelona International, Chairman and CEO Fernando Conte said at the IATA AGM in Paris. "There is a lot of misunderstanding on this matter. We are not leaving BCN. As a matter of fact, we have plans to invest in our MRO and handling activities at the airport," he stated. Jun 6, 2006

Lufthansa

Lufthansa appears to have been unsuccessful in its bid to cut pilot costs in the face of strong earnings last year, announcing a new deal yesterday with the approximately 4,000 pilots represented by the Vereinigung Cockpit union that offers a 2.5% pay raise from July 1, a further 1.5% raise on March 1, 2007, a small one-off payment and an incremental reduction in regular work hours. Chief Officer-Aviation Services and Human Resources Stefan Lauer put a positive spin on the agreement, saying, "the settlement is a fair deal for both sides, particularly when viewed against the background of a 23-month wage freeze. The lowering of the regular working time prior to the payment of overtime will also afford us much greater operational flexibility and permit more efficient use of resources." Jun 7, 2006

Pantheon, Olympic Airlines

Pantheon set to rise from Olympic's ashes. The replacement carrier for troubled Olympic Airlines is supposed to start operating this fall, Sabre Aviation Consulting Services President Nejib Ben-Khedher told this website during this week's IATA conference in Paris. Sabre's consulting arm was contracted by the Greek government to find investors and work out a business plan for the startup, which probably will be called Pantheon Airways. The government will be a shareholder of the new carrier but the size of that stake is unclear. "Pantheon will be run as a private airline, but one can assume some senior management will come from Olympic," Ben-Khedher said. Jun 8, 2006