Airline Finance News - Europe.Aug 13, 2007 National flag carriers have faced a rough ride over the past few years, with tough competition from no-frills airlines and high fuel costs. Business in general has recovered recently and the Nordic region's economies in particular have surged. Passenger traffic has been rising and the airline has reduced costs and adjusted capacity, boosting yields. Aug 9, 2007 European low-cost carrier A low-cost carrier or low-cost airline (also known as a no-frills or discount carrier / airline) is an airline that offers generally low fares in exchange for eliminating many traditional passenger services. seat capacity grew by 21% or 34 million seats in 2006 compared to 2005 and the sector accounted for around 30% of all intra-European seat capacity last year and 22% of departures, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. rdc's Low Cost Monitor 2007. Although the growth of LCC (Leadless Chip Carrier, Leaded Chip Carrier) See leadless chip carrier, CLCC and PLCC. 1. LCC - Language for Conversational Computing. Written at CMU in the 1960's. departing seats slowed compared to the 27% increase experienced in 2005, "the actual increase in volume of seats offered by low-cost carriers was greater in 2006 than 2005," according to the report. Aug 7, 2007 LTU LTU Luleå Tekniska Universitet (Luleå University of Technology; formerly Luleå Tekniska Högskola) LTU Lithuania LTU La Trobe University (Australia) LTU Lufttransport-Unternehmen GmbH Pilots Vote To Strike Over Pay Pilots at German carrier LTU, which is being bought by Air Berlin, have voted to go on strike over pay and working conditions, pilot union Vereinigung Cockpit said. Aug 7, 2007 Pilots fight mandatory retirement A mandatory retirement age is the age at which persons who hold certain jobs or offices are required by statute to step down, or retire. Typically, mandatory retirement ages are justified by the argument that certain occupations are either too dangerous (military personnel) . About 200 pilots a month are forced into retirement when they reach their 60th birthdays. The Senior Pilots Coalition is lobbying, with some success, for a change to the rule. A Senate committee approved an age-65 rule in May as part of the FAA reauthorization bill, and on Monday, an FAA spokesperson said the agency plans to change the age rule to correspond with international regulations that allow one pilot in the cockpit to be older than 60. Aug 7, 2007 Aer Lingus Aer Lingus is Ireland's national airline. Based in Dublin, it operates 41 Airbus aircraft serving Europe, Africa, North America and the Middle East. The airline is 28% owned by the Irish government; it was floated on the Dublin and London Stock Exchanges on 2 October 2006, Aer Lingus July Traffic Up, Load Factor Lower Irish airline Aer Lingus said on Thursday it carried 919,000 passengers in July, 10.5 percent more than a year earlier. Aug 9, 2007 Aer Lingus Aer Lingus said on Thursday it carried 919,000 passengers in July, 10.5 percent more than a year earlier. The former state carrier said its load factor was 81.6 percent last month compared with 83.8 percent in July 2006. On short-haul flights the load factor rose to 82.2 percent from 81.0 percent, and on long-haul flights slipped to 80.8 percent from 87.5 percent. Aug 9, 2007 Air Berlin Air Berlin, Germany's second-biggest carrier, said that the German Federal Cartel Office approved its acquisition of LTU "without any restrictions." AB reached a deal in March to buy LTU for [euro]140 million and assume [euro]200 million of the company's debt. AB CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. Joachim Hunold said it was "regrettable that this process took so long" and that "synergies could not be exploited during this year as planned. We were not able to adjust summer flight timetables of both airlines." From next year, AB is expecting annual savings of [euro]70-[euro]100 million, although Hunold said some of that depends on the outcome of negotiations with LTU pilots. LTU has a fleet of 27 aircraft and reported revenue of [euro]1.06 billion in 2006. Aug 9, 2007 Air Berlin Air Berlin said it transported 2.3 million passengers in July, up 15.5% on the year-ago month. Load factor climbed 1.9 points to 83.2%. Unit revenue was down 3.4% to [euro]0.057. Aug 9, 2007 Air Berlin Air Berlin announced the conclusion of its first labor agreements with pilots and cabin staff. The deals, covering members of both the Vereinigung Cockpit and ver.di unions, are effective from Aug. 1 and were agreed to "on the basis of the present actual working conditions at Air Berlin," the airline said. The agreement covering compensation runs until Dec. 31, 2008, with the accord on work rules expiring one year later. AB employs 805 pilots and 1,442 flight attendants. Aug 8, 2007 Air France Air France in full Compagnie Internationale Air France French passenger and cargo airline with more than 200 destinations in some 80 countries. It introduced supersonic Concorde service in 1976, but financial loss led the company to cease its Concorde KLM KLM Kaiserliche Marine (Enigma: Rising Tide game) KLM Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij (Royal Dutch Airlines) KLM Klub Langer Menschen (German: Tall Person Club) Air France KLM had already reported passenger traffic rose 4 percent in the April-June quarter. Air France-KLM Air France-KLM (Euronext Paris: AF, NYSE: AKH) is an airline company incorporated under French law with its headquarters at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle Airport near Paris, France. said it was "on track to achieve objectives for the full year of a further rise in operating income Operating Income The profit realized from a business' own operations. Notes: This would not include income from things such as investments in other firms. Also referred to as operating profit or recurring profit. and a return on capital employed Return on capital employed (ROCE) Indicator of profitability of the firm's capital investments. Determined by dividing Earnings Before Interest and Taxes by (capital employed plus short-term loans minus intangible assets). of 7 percent." In 2006-07 the figure stood at 6.5 percent. Aug 9, 2007 Air France KLM Air France KLM posted fiscal first-quarter operating profit Operating profit (or loss) Revenue from a firm's regular activities less costs and expenses and before income deductions. operating profit See operating income. up 1 percent and said on Thursday it was on track to reach its financial objectives for the year. The world's largest airline by revenues said operating earnings Operating Earnings Profits after subtracting expenses such as marketing, cost of goods sold, administration and general operating costs from revenue. Notes: Tax and interest expenses are not subtracted - operating earnings are synonymous with EBIT (earnings before reached EUR EUR In currencies, this is the abbreviation for the Euro. Notes: The currency market, also known as the Foreign Exchange market, is the largest financial market in the world, with a daily average volume of over US $1 trillion. 415 million euros (USD USD In currencies, this is the abbreviation for the U.S. Dollar. Notes: The currency market, also known as the Foreign Exchange market, is the largest financial market in the world, with a daily average volume of over US $1 trillion. $571.4 million) in the three months to June 30 on revenues which grew 2.5 percent to EUR5.945 billion. Net profit rose 70 percent to EUR415 million, which included foreign exchange gains as well as capital gains from the sale of an air catering business in Britain and reservations system Amadeus. Aug 9, 2007 Alitalia Italian Group Interested In Buying Alitalia A mostly Italian group has expressed interest in buying state-controlled airline Alitalia, following the failed auction for the carrier, the group's lawyer Antonio Baldassarre said. Aug 10, 2007 British Airways British Airways in full British Airways PLC International passenger airline based in London. In 1936 British Airways Ltd. was founded through the merger of three smaller airlines. British Airways executives are expected to be named in a price fixing price fixing n. a criminal violation of federal anti-trust statutes, in which several competing businesses reach a secret agreement (conspiracy) to set prices for their products to prevent real competition and keep the public from benefiting from price competition. probe this month as the US Department of Justice reveals those not covered not covered Health care adjective Referring to a procedure, test or other health service to which a policy holder or insurance beneficiary is not entitled under the terms of the policy or payment system–eg, Medicare. Cf Covered. by a plea deal which it announced with the airline last week, a UK newspaper reported. Two British Airways executives were identified when they resigned last October -- former commercial director Martin George and former public relations public relations, activities and policies used to create public interest in a person, idea, product, institution, or business establishment. By its nature, public relations is devoted to serving particular interests by presenting them to the public in the most boss Iain Burns -- although no wrongdoing wrong·do·er n. One who does wrong, especially morally or ethically. wrong  do by either has been announced. Aug 6, 2007
British Airways The US Dept of Justice last week announced a USD$300 million fine for British Airways stemming from price fixing on fuel surcharges on passenger flights and on cargo fuel charges. That combined with a GBP GBP In currencies, this is the abbreviation for the British Pound. Notes: The currency market, also known as the Foreign Exchange market, is the largest financial market in the world, with a daily average volume of over US $1 trillion. 121.5 million pound fine announced by the UK's Office of Fair Trading The Office of Fair Trading or OFT is a non-ministerial government department of the United Kingdom, established by the Fair Trading Act 1973, which enforces both consumer protection and competition law, acting as the UK's economic regulator. , also last week, means BA must pay almost GBP270 million in fines, leaving about GBP80 million of a provision it took in May. British Airways' GBP350 million provision could prove insufficient as the European Commission European Commission, branch of the governing body of the European Union (EU) invested with executive and some legislative powers. Located in Brussels, Belgium, it was founded in 1967 when the three treaty organizations comprising what was then the European Community is set to fine BA "in excess of GBP60 million" and the company could face an even larger class action suit, the Telegraph said, without citing its sources. Aug 6, 2007 EasyJet EasyJet Q3 Revenue Up 5.7 Percent. EasyJet posted a 5.7 percent rise in third-quarter revenues on Tuesday, sending its shares 6 percent higher as the British budget airline stayed on course for a full-year jump in profits of as much as 50 percent. Revenues for the quarter grew to GBP486.5 million pounds (USD$992.2 million), though revenue per seat fell by 8.0 percent to GBP41.46, easyJet said in a statement. Aug 7, 2007 EasyJet EasyJet reported July traffic, which rose by 17.5 percent to 3.72 million passengers. The airline's load factor for July fell by 1.8 percentage points to 88.6 percent. Aug 7, 2007 EasyJet EasyJet's full year guidance remains unchanged, for the year to September 2007 the company expects pre-tax profit growth of 40 percent to 50 percent," Europe's second-largest budget airline said. Fourth quarter unit cost reductions, excluding fuel, will continue at a similar rate to the third quarter and better than previously expected," it said, noting full-year unit fuel costs would be slightly lower than last year. Aug 7, 2007 Finnair Finnair is "heading in the right direction," according to CEO Jukka Hienonen Jukka Antero Hienonen (born on August 9, 1961) is a Finnish businessman. He is currently the CEO of Finnair, and a former Vice President of Stockmann. Hienonen lives in the city of Kauniainen with his wife and two daughters. He is fluent in Finnish, English, Swedish and Russian. , as the carrier yesterday reported a second-quarter profit of [euro]25.8 million ($35.5 million) that compares to [euro]0.4 million in earnings during the year-ago period. It continues to expect a full-year operating result (EBIT EBIT See: Earnings Before Interest and Taxes EBIT See earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT). excluding capital gains and changes in the fair value of derivatives) of more than [euro]70 million. It reported an [euro]11.2 million profit on a similar basis last year. Aug 10, 2007 Finnair Finnair second-quarter revenue rose 8.8% to [euro]538.1 million and while expenses climbed just 3.1% to [euro]512.2 million, lifting operating income to [euro]37.1 million from [euro]5.5 million in the year-ago period. Traffic in RPKs fell 13.9% against a 15.3 rise in capacity that dropped load factor 0.9 point to 74.6%. Unit revenue fell 0.3% but yield per passenger increased 9.8%. It said growth in demand is "expected to continue strongly" on both European and Asian routes. Six month profit of [euro]35.1 million compares to a [euro]3.6 million loss in the first half of 2006. Aug 10, 2007 Finnair Asian Demand Boosts Finnair July Traffic. Finnish national carrier Finnair's total passenger traffic increased sharply in July, boosted by continued strong growth in demand for flights to Asia as well as within Europe, it said on Tuesday. Finnair's total revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) rose 16.5 percent to 1.84 billion in July from the previous year, after an 18 percent climb in June, the company said in a statement. Demand increased around 30 percent in both European and Asian traffic. The carrier's overall passenger load factor fell 2.5 percentage points to 79.7 percent due to new route openings in Asian traffic, Finnair said. For scheduled traffic, Finnair's RPKs were up 24.9 percent and its scheduled load factor was 79.1 percent, down 1 percentage point year-on-year. The airline is due to report its second-quarter earnings on August 9. Aug 7, 2007 Kale kale, borecole (bôr`kōl), and collards, common names for nonheading, hardy types of cabbage (var. Consultants Kale Consultants acquired privately held Zero Octa. According to Kale, UK-based ZO is the world's largest provider of airline revenue assurance, protection and audit services. "The addition of Zero Octa will advance Kale's vision to be the leader in the revenue management space," Kale MD and CEO Vipul Jain said. Aug 9, 2007 LTU LTU Pilots Vote To Strike Over Pay. Pilots at German carrier LTU, which is being bought by Air Berlin, have voted to go on strike over pay and working conditions, pilot union Vereinigung Cockpit said. Staff staged brief walkouts on Monday that led to delays for LTU as the pilots seek a 6 percent pay rise, changes to starting salaries and longer rest periods, Cockpit vice-President Niels Stueben said. But LTU warned that strikes could endanger the survival of the loss-making carrier. Air Berlin's acquisition of LTU faces cartel concerns. The German cartel office began a more detailed investigation in May of the impact of a merger of the two airlines on competition. Aug 7, 2007 Lufthansa Lufthansa July Traffic Rises 5.7 Percent Lufthansa said July passenger traffic rose 5.7 percent from the year-earlier month, boosted by European, domestic and Americas routes. Aug 10, 2007 Qantas Airways, Virgin Airlines Price-fixing scheme may cost Virgin, Qantas. Virgin Airlines may be required to pay restitution to passengers affected by its admitted price fixing, according to the U.S. Justice Department. Qantas Airways has also revealed that it may be subject to fines in the expanding investigation. Aug 6, 2007 Ryanair Ryanair, after investing EUR350 million euros (USD$481.9 million) at Ciampino over the years, Ryanair does not want to move its flights to Rome's larger Fiumicino hub, he said. The airline's complaint filed at the Lazio regional court seeks a temporary injunction temporary injunction n. a court order prohibiting an action by a party to a lawsuit until there has been a trial or other court action. A temporary injunction differs from a "temporary restraining order" which is a short-term, stop-gap injunction issued pending a against the traffic cuts. Aug 9, 2007 Ryanair Ryanair Sues Italy Over Rome Airport Rome Airport may refer to:
Ryanair Ryanair, easyJet and Air Berlin accounted for 54% of low-cost capacity within Europe, down from 55% in 2005, while the top 10 LCCs accounted for 77%, down from 80%. Among other findings, the UK remained the largest LCC country with 56 million departing seats in 2006, but growth slowed dramatically to below 11% per year. Stansted was the largest low-cost hub with 14.1 million departing seats last year, while Wroclaw was the fastest-growing low-cost airport and Vueling the fastest-growing LCC in terms of departing seats. The analysis also shows that at current growth rates Growth Rates The compounded annualized rate of growth of a company's revenues, earnings, dividends, or other figures. Notes: Remember, historically high growth rates don't always mean a high rate of growth looking into the future. , more than half of all European point-to-point passengers will be carried by LCCs by 2011. LCCs will account for 43% of the estimated 1 billion intra-Europe seats on offer that year. For more information about the LCM (Liquid Crystal Monitor) A flat panel display that uses the liquid crystal (LCD) technology. See flat panel display. , contact chris@routedev.com Aug 7, 2007 Ryanair Ryanair transported 4.8 million passengers in July, up 21% from the year-ago month. Load factor was steady at 90%. Aug 6, 2007 SAS (1) (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, www.sas.com) A software company that specializes in data warehousing and decision support software based on the SAS System. Founded in 1976, SAS is one of the world's largest privately held software companies. See SAS System. Scandinavian Airlines SAS Scandinavian Airlines aims to boost pretax profit to about SEK SEK In currencies, this is the abbreviation for the Swedish Krona. Notes: The currency market, also known as the Foreign Exchange market, is the largest financial market in the world, with a daily average volume of over US $1 trillion. 4 billion (USD$593 million) by 2011 and to cut costs by SEK2.8 billion. It said on Thursday that 14 percent of the cost cuts had been implemented in the second quarter. Aug 9, 2007 SAS Scandinavian Airlines SAS Scandinavian Airlines posted a lower-than-expected rise in second-quarter pretax profit on Thursday. The airline -- half-owned by Sweden, Norway and Denmark -- made pretax profit of SEK800 million Swedish kroner (USD$119 million). Profit rose from SEK442 million a year earlier. SAS said markets would probably not be so helpful in the second half of the year as in the first. Costs, adjusted for currency effects and one-offs, were 4.8 percent higher in the second quarter on a yearly basis due to higher fuel prices and increased volumes. Fuel costs rose SEK220 million compared with the same period last year. Aug 9, 2007 SAS Scandinavian Airlines SAS Scandinavian Airlines reported last week an 8.5 percent rise in traffic in July and its planes were the fullest they have ever been. In the second quarter, the airline carried a record 11 million passengers. Aug 9, 2007 SAS Scandinavian Airlines SAS Scandinavian Airlines said it saw no signs of a slowdown in the airline market, though uncertainties remained over the strength of future growth and the trend in jet fuel prices. After years of restructuring, SAS outlined its latest turnaround plan in June. It will focus on flying to, from and within northern Europe and sell off non-core operations, such as its Spanair unit, Air Greenland Air Greenland is the regional airline of Greenland, based in Nuuk. It operates largely domestic services, with international services to Copenhagen and Baltimore . It offers concessional air services to all communities in Greenland and operates charter, taxi and special flights, and its 20 percent stake in British carrier bmi. SAS said a decision about the future of its ground handling and technical services units would be made in December. Aug 9, 2007 SunExpress SunExpress, a joint venture between Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines that operates bases in Antalya and Izmir, reported a 36% year-over-year increase in passengers to 1.3 million in the first half of 2007. It expects to surpass the 3 million mark this year (compared to 2.3 million in 2006). It operates a fleet of 14 Boeing 737-800s and 757-200s. Aug 9, 2007 Vueling Airlines Vueling Airlines is a low-fare airline based in Barcelona, Spain. It serves many destinations in Europe and the western Mediterranean. Its main base is Barcelona Airport, with additional hubs at Valencia Airport, Madrid Airport and Paris-Charles de Gaulle International Airport. Vueling Airlines reported a net loss of [euro]33.7 million ($46.1 million) in the first six months of 2007, widened from a deficit of [euro]6.5 million in the year-ago period, according to press reports from Madrid. Revenue climbed 57.3% to [euro]149.7 million but costs soared 79% as competitive pressures hammered yields. Reuters reported that Vueling's average fare during the second quarter plunged 23.4% to [euro]39.71. The carrier lowered its full-year revenue guidance--it now forecasts a 57%-64% increase from the [euro]235.5 million reported in 2006 rather than the nearly 100% rise it predicted in February. Aug 6, 2007 ZZ Editorial eMail: edit@AirGuideOnline.com For Air Transport & Travel Business Experts contact our Director of Content Aram Gesar eMail: bizintel@AirGuideOnline.com For more global news, reviews, features and analysis, please subscribe to Verb 1. subscribe to - receive or obtain regularly; "We take the Times every day" subscribe, take buy, purchase - obtain by purchase; acquire by means of a financial transaction; "The family purchased a new car"; "The conglomerate acquired a new company"; our Newsletters: http://www.airguideonline.com/order_formsubs.htm#news To Advertise: advert@AirGuideOnline.com AirGuideFlightTracker is a new service that keeps travelers informed on flight and airport status via the Web. For more go to http://www.airguideonline.com/airline_tracker.htm Copyright [c] 2007 Pyramid Media Group / Air Travel Media. All rights reserved. |
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