AlfvanBeem

The walkout, which began early Tuesday, continued Thursday as management and unions failed to reach a deal on new contracts after two days of negotiations.

Local newspapers reported the restructuring measures include plans to cut around 200 employees and salaries to 40%, according to unions.

“If the restructuring plan is not implemented, Croatia Airlines will go bankrupt,” Doncic has been quoted by several media outlets as saying.

In the meantime, the airline is posting a special schedule on its website.

Croatia Airlines said the indefinite strike is causing only a partial disruption of flight operations. “Most passengers will be carried on scheduled Croatia Airlines flights and the rest will be transferred to flights of partner airlines or carried aboard leased aircraft,” the carrier said on its website.

Source: Air Transport World

Sergey Kustov

Transaero is the second largest airline in Russia. In 2012 it carried 10.32 million passengers, up 22.2% over 2011. It has a fleet of 98 aircraft, comprising 24 Boeing 747s, 14 777s, 15 767s, 41 737s and three Tupolev Tu-214s. This year, Transaero launched cargo services with Tu-204-100C cargo aircraft.

Source: Air Transport World

Boeing

“We’re on track to deliver the next two P-8I aircraft later this year,” says Boeing Military Aircraft president Chris Chadwick, who hailed the company’s on-schedule achievement with transferring the first example. Carrying the registration IN321, this had been formally accepted by the Indian navy at its Seattle site in December 2012.

A further development of the P-8A Poseidon created for the US Navy, the Indian derivative has unique features including a belly-mounted radar.

New Delhi signed for its P-8I acquisition in 2009, with the deal worth around $3.9 billion. Once in frontline use, the type will replace its navy’s aged fleet of Tupolev Tu-142s.

Source: Flightglobal

LATAM

The carrier, which is the fruit of Chilean LAN’s takeover of Brazil’s TAM in June, said in a statement to Chile’s securities regulator that its net profit fell 43.8 percent from $76.1 million in the year ago period.

But LATAM Airlines said that on a pro forma basis, which simulates a combined 2012 first quarter profit for both carriers, net income dropped 48.9 percent from $83.7 million.

TAM benefited from a foreign exchange gain in the first quarter of 2012, the LATAM Airlines said.

Revenue in the January to March period increased 1.5 percent to $3.409 billion, compared to pro forma revenue of $3.360 billion in first quarter of 2012.

International passenger operations, which accounted for around half of the airline’s passenger traffic, “continued to be impacted by increased capacity from international carriers flying to South America, especially from the United States, as well as by weak European markets,” the airline said.

“We remain confident in our synergy target of between $600 million and $700 million, to be fully achieved by the fourth year after the merger (June 2016) … We expect merger synergies to be between $250 million and $300 million during 2013,” it added.

DREAMLINER HALT, CARGO DRAG

Additionally, results were impacted by the fixed costs related to the grounding since January of three Boeing 787 Dreamliners.

Regulators around the world in January joined the United States in grounding Boeing Co’s 787 Dreamliner passenger jets after a series of battery-related problems.

The airline has said it expects to restart its Dreamliner flights in June.

Cargo revenues fell 3.2 percent during the first quarter, due to slightly lower cargo traffic and a 3.2 percent decline in yields.

The drop reflects “the challenging scenario in Latin American cargo markets due to a decline in demand on routes to Latin America, especially Brazil, as well as increased competitive pressures from regional and international cargo carriers,” LATAM Airlines said.

Passenger operations account for just over 84 percent of total revenue, while cargo operations make up 13.5 percent.

The carrier has operations in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.

Source: Reuters

Boeing

The announcement brings total MAX orders to 1,315, including the recently confirmed deal with Turkish Airlines for 40 737-8s and 10 737-9s. It also marks the launch of the third variant of the MAX family, which Southwest officially inaugurated with a deal for 150 firm orders plus 150 options in December 2011. Boeing says the airline is converting 30 of these existing orders to the 737-7 version. As part of the deal, announced on May 15, Southwest is also exercising options for five additional 737-800s. With the 737-7 conversions and exercised options for 737-800s, Southwest’s unfilled orders consist of 180 737 MAX aircraft and 137 737-700/800s.

Until today’s announcement the 737-7, which is the smallest of the three variants, was the orphan of the family with no firm orders. The 737-8, in contrast, has taken 1,121 orders—or almost 90% of the announced business—while the stretched 737-9 has taken 164 orders to date. The 737-7 is designed to replace the 737-700 and, because of the lower fuel burn of its CFM Leap-1B engines and other aerodynamic and structural improvements, can fly up to 400 naut. mi. farther than the current model.

Southwest is expected to take its first 737-7 delivery in 2019.

Source: Aviation Week

Core profit at Airbus parent EADS rose sharply in the first quarter after the passenger jet maker raised output of its most profitable planes, eclipsing weakness at EADS’s helicopter division.

Revenue at Europe’s largest aerospace group rose 9 percent to 12.4 billion euros ($16.1 billion), fuelled by a 16 percent rise in Airbus commercial revenues as it reclaimed the top spot in deliveries after falling behind Boeing in 2012.

The slightly better than expected performance confirmed an improving outlook for aerospace companies after EADS rival Boeing beat profit forecasts, marking a rare bright spot in the economy as planemakers ramp up output to meet strong demand from Asia and the Middle East.

EADS consumed a significant amount of cash to boost inventories in the first quarter, a move partly seen as a buffer against disruption on its new A350 and other projects, but reaffirmed a goal to break even in free cashflow for the year.

EADS described the first all-new Airbus jet in almost a decade as “challenging,” but stuck to a summer target for the maiden flight of Europe’s answer to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

Most industry experts have said this could come some time in July, but France’s La Tribune newspaper reported the freshly painted A350 could fly before the June 17-23 Paris air show.

EADS booked no new financial charges for the A350, which Barclays analysts described as a positive sign taken together with a “great start to the year” for existing models.

EADS painted a weaker picture at Eurocopter where deliveries of the Super Puma have been hit by safety concerns after two emergency North Sea ditchings, reportedly blamed in part on corrosion. Sales and earnings posted double-digit declines.

“A recovery is expected later in 2013 as Eurocopter has now identified the root cause for the technical issues,” EADS said.

EADS operating profit before one-off items – a measure stripping out any major project charges or currency swings to get to the heart of the group’s elaborate results – rose 56 percent to 741 million euros, the group said in a statement.

“Reported” operating profit, which still excludes goodwill and some exceptional items, rose almost 79 percent to 596 million euros, slightly above market forecasts.

Analysts on average expected reported operating profit to rise 68 percent to 577 million euros on sales of 12.06 billion euros.

Source: Reuters

Copa Holdings reported net income of US$113.8 million for 1Q13, or diluted earnings per share (EPS) of US$2.56. Excluding special items, Copa Holdings would have reported an adjusted net income of $124.4 million, or $2.80 per share, a 37.3% increase over adjusted net income of US$90.6 million and US$2.04 per share for 1Q12.

Operating income for 1Q13 came in at US$142.6 million, a 27.9% increase over operating income of US$111.6 million in 1Q12. Operating margin for the period came in at 22.2%, compared to 20.5% in 1Q12, as a result of lower unit costs.

Total revenues increased 18.0% to US$641.3 million. Yield per passenger mile decreased 0.8% to 17.6 cents and operating revenue per available seat mile (RASM) decreased 1.5% to 14.0 cents. However, adjusting for a 6.3% increase in length of haul, yields and RASM increased 2.2% and 1.5%, respectively.

For 1Q13, robust demand trends resulted in passenger traffic (RPMs) growth of 19.5% on a 19.9% capacity expansion. Consolidated load factor came in at 76.9%, or 0.3 percentage points below 1Q12.

Operating cost per available seat mile (CASM) decreased 3.6%, from 11.3 cents in 1Q12 to 10.9 cents in 1Q13. CASM, excluding fuel, decreased 4.7% to 6.5 cents.

Cash, short term and long term investments ended 1Q13 at US$733.4 million, representing 31.2% of the last twelve months’ revenues.

During the first quarter, Copa Airlines took delivery of two Boeing 737-800 aircraft. As a result, Copa Holdings ended the quarter with a consolidated fleet of 85 aircraft.

For 1Q13, Copa Holdings reported consolidated on-time performance of 90.0% and a flight-completion factor of 99.7%, maintaining its position among the best in the industry.

Source: Yahoo! Finance

Brazilian airline Gol Linhas Aereas posted a bigger net loss in the first quarter than a year earlier, as losses from currency hedges offset profitability gains from a year of cutting its payroll and flight network.

The airline reported a net loss of 75 million reais ($37 million), according to a late Monday filing, after a loss of 41 million reais a year earlier.

Still, a 30 percent cut in employee costs from a year before allowed Gol to substantially boost operating profits, adding to signs of a gradual turnaround after years of poorly controlled growth led to a loss of 1.5 billion reais for 2012.

Earnings before interest and taxes, a gauge of operating profit known as EBIT, rose to 101 million reais in the first quarter from 7 million reais a year earlier.

Discounting the impact of depreciation, amortization and aircraft rentals, the industry measure of profitability known as EBITDAR rose 37 percent to 367 million reais.

Source: Reuters

Martin Needham

Boeing and Turkish Airlines today finalized a firm order for 40 737 MAX 8s, 10 737 MAX 9s and 20 Next-Generation 737-800 jets, valued at $6.9 billion at list prices. The order, originally announced as a commitment last month, also includes options for an additional 25 737 MAX 8s and is the largest Boeing order in Turkish Airlines’ history.

“We are delighted to finalize the order, which will considerably expand our fleet and contribute to our continued growth,” said Temel Kotil, PhD, President and CEO of Turkish Airlines. “Turkish Airlines is a global airline, serving the most countries worldwide and we are building the strongest network in the world. Our long-standing partnership with Boeing is one of the key factors behind the success of Turkish Airlines.”

Today’s announcement brings the total number of 737 MAXs ordered to date to 1,285 and Boeing currently has more than 3,100 unfilled orders for 737s. ”Turkish Airlines currently operates more than 85 Next-Generation 737s, which are the foundation of its successful short-haul operations,” said Todd Nelp, vice president of European Sales, Boeing Commercial Airplanes. “Today’s announcement demonstrates the confidence Turkish Airlines has in the proven reliability, performance and economics of the Next-Generation 737, while the order for 50 737 MAXs marks a new chapter in their continued fleet expansion, ensuring unrivaled efficiencies and superior passenger comfort.”

The 737 MAX builds on the strengths of the world’s best-selling Next-Generation 737. The 737 MAX incorporates the latest-technology CFM International LEAP-1B engines to deliver the highest efficiency, reliability and passenger comfort in the single-aisle market. Airlines operating the 737 MAX will see a 13 percent fuel-use improvement over today’s most
fuel-efficient single-aisle airplanes.

Turkish Airlines currently serves more than 220 cities in 99 countries around the world. In March 2013, the carrier received its 100^th direct delivery from Boeing and currently operates Next-Generation 737s and 777-300ER (Extended Range) jets. With today’s announcement, Turkish Airlines has 100 Boeing airplanes on order including Next-Generation 737s, 737 MAXs and 777-300ERs.

Source: Bloomberg

xfw spotter

The airline reported another annual loss on Monday, but it’s aiming for a profit in the second half of the year after reworking debt it owes to Richard Branson’s Virgin Group and others. The improved finances should be one step on its way toward a public offering in late 2014 or in 2015, CEO David Cush said in an interview.

A share offering would be a way for Virgin Group and other shareholders to recoup some of their investments, Cush said. Virgin America, based in Burlingame, Calif., is privately held but reports its finances as part of financial disclosures required by the U.S. Transportation Department.

On Monday the airline said its 2012 net loss jumped 45% to $145.4 million. Virgin America started flying in 2007 but has not turned an annual profit.

It posted a fourth-quarter loss of $25 million, an improvement from its loss of $30.8 million a year earlier. In the first quarter of this year it lost $46.4 million, an improvement from its $76 million loss during the same period last year.

Full-year revenue rose 29% to $1.33 billion.

Virgin America already has deferred deliveries of new planes until 2015. Stopping its growth is a key part of making the airline profitable, Cush said.

It also is cutting interest payments.

Virgin America recently closed a deal that eliminates $290 million in debt, a majority of it owed to Virgin Group, Cush said. The debt was converted to “conditional equity,” he said.

The U.S. caps foreign ownership of U.S. airlines at 25%. Cush said the debt transaction keeps its foreign ownership under that threshold and was approved by the Transportation Department. Discussion about reworking the debt began about six months ago, at the same time it was talking about delaying its aircraft deliveries. “We were certainly interested in doing it, but ultimately it was the call of the debt holders and the shareholders,” he said.

Cush said it’s too soon to know how much of the company might be offered to the public. It will depend on how well Virgin America is doing financially, how receptive investors are, and how much the current private shareholders are willing to sell.

First, though, it needs to fix its finances.

“People are going to want to see some profit” before they decide how much Virgin America is worth, he said.

Source: USA Today