CommercialFirst United 787-9 leaves paint shopUnited Airlines’ first Boeing 787-9 has left the paint shop, as it is readied for delivery in July. Roll out from the paint shop occurred a little more than a month after the aircraft exited Boeing’s final assembly line in Everett, Washington, on 8 April. The 787-9 will be one of six participating in the flight test program for the type, prior to its delivery to United.
LinkMAS Earnings To Show Burden Of MH370 LossMalaysia Airlines will report first-quarter earnings on Thursday that are set to provide confirmation of just how badly the loss-making carrier's finances have been hit by the disappearance of flight MH370 on March 8. Struggling for years to cope with high costs and nimbler regional and international rivals, Malaysia Airlines' quarterly performance has been made so uncertain by reduced traffic and potential costs linked to the jet's unexplained disappearance that analysts say they simply can't issue January-March estimates.
LinkAir Berlin Says Fundamental Change NeededAir Berlin said it needed to change and was working on developing a sustainable business model as it reported a slightly narrower first-quarter loss. The airline, in which Gulf carrier Etihad owns a 29.2 percent stake, reported an operating loss of EUR€182.8 million (USD$250.63 million) in the first three months of 2014, compared with a loss of EUR€188.4 million a year ago. Revenue fell 3.8 percent to EUR€761.8 million. Air Berlin, which received a financial boost in the form of a EUR€300 million convertible bond from Etihad last month, has been struggling to reach sustained profitability after building up debts during expansion.
LinkFleet Costs Weigh On LATAM Airlines EarningsLATAM Airlines posted a first quarter loss as improved operating results were offset by fleet restructuring costs, a weak Brazilian real and poor performance in its cargo business. The company reported a net loss for the first quarter of USD$41 million. Excluding the one-off costs of the fleet restructure, it made a net profit of USD$81 million. That compared to net profit of USD$43 million for the same quarter in 2013. The airline has been cutting capacity on Brazilian routes and deleveraging to improve its margins and debt rating.
LinkCurrency Costs Strain Competitiveness: AirbusThe strength of the euro and the cost of currency hedging are obstacles to competitiveness, a senior Airbus executive said on Wednesday, highlighting renewed concerns about the impact of currency swings on European exporters. "I will be relieved when the euro reaches a dollar level which is compatible with our competitivity," Marwan Lahoud, chief strategy and marketing officer for Europe's largest aerospace group, told BFM radio. "1.2 is the figure which is usually mentioned. We have to protect ourselves by hedging, which costs money, so that is one less advantage and an obstacle to competitivity," Lahoud, who also heads the French aerospace association Gifas, said.
LinkPhilippine Airlines prepares to retire 747-400sPhilippine Airlines (PAL) will retire its Boeing 747-400s in the coming weeks, with the type due to be replaced by 777-300ERs on the carrier's 18 weekly services to the US. The carrier will perform its last 747 flight on the Manila-San Francisco route in early June, with the 777s to take over operating on the route. The change has been made possible by the US Federal Aviation Administration's upgrade of the Philippines to Category I status, which has allowed PAL to introduce the new aircraft on its US services.
LinkSkyWest and Trans States bid on American E175 contractSkyWest Inc and Trans States Holdings have submitted bids to operate up to 60 Embraer 175 aircraft for American Airlines. Russell Childs, president of SkyWest, and Richard Leach, president of Trans States, confirm that they have both submitted bids to operate the aircraft at the Regional Airlines Association (RAA) convention in St. Louis. “Yes, we have submitted a bid but so has just about everyone else,” says Leach. Mesa Airlines, who is prepping to introduce the first of 30 E175s with United Airlines in June, is also interested.
LinkDelta boosts quarterly dividend on strong cash flowDelta Air Lines boosted its quarterly dividend, and shareholders will receive 9 cents per share in September. Delta's solid cash flow enabled the carrier to raise its dividend from 6 cents per share. Delta is also in the process of buying back stock.
LinkAmerican to receive fuel-efficient CRJ900 in JuneAmerican Airlines is slated to receive delivery of the first Bombardier CRJ900 with 5.5% improved fuel efficiency. The CRJ900 also includes NextGen features and other improvements. American will accept delivery of the CRJ900 in June.
LinkJetBlue's new binary code livery highlights Wi-Fi binary code livery, which the airline says promotes its broadband Internet service, Fly-Fi. In December, JetBlue partnered with LiveTV and satellite provider ViaSat to offer Fly-Fi. Six months later, nearly one-third of JetBlue's Airbus A320 aircraft are equipped with Fly-Fi, said the airline, and the service is being added at an average rate of 10 aircraft per month.
LinkAirbus on schedule for A350 testing, launchAirbus has tested four of its initial A350s and will test the fifth next month. The company is looking to acquire its certification for the airplane during the third quarter of this year. Qatar Airways is slated to receive the first A350 model, which is said to rival Boeing's Dreamliner, in December.
LinkExtreme winter weather affected air travel in Q1Extreme winter weather, including two of the worst winter weather days for aviation ever recorded, had a tremendous effect on U.S. airline operation in the first quarter of 2014. Commenting on the historically bad weather conditions, Airlines for America Senior Vice President Jean Medina said, "there's times when it's simply not safe to fly. ... Airlines did they best they could to get customers where they needed to be and reaccommodate them quickly."
LinkBoeing blends flight deck ideas for 777XBoeing is picking and choosing the best features from two successful flight decks for the hybrid design it will incorporate into the 777X. Among the early decisions was the use of large display formats on the 787, giving the 777X five 12-inch by 9-inch displays for 546 square inches total, double that in the current 777. Beyond the cockpit, the 777X will have a fly-by-wire flight-control system and foldable wingtips for ease of docking at the gate.
LinkACI: Worldwide air freight rose 3.2% in Q1 Global air freight traffic grew 3.9% year-over-year in March, marking six consecutive months of improvement and a 1.3 point rise from February, according to Airports Council International (ACI). Air freight volumes grew 3.2% year-over-year in the first quarter, compared to a virtually stagnant worldwide cargo market in the year-ago quarter. Worldwide airport passenger traffic increased 2.4% year-over-year in March, slipping 1.8 points from February’s 4.2% growth rate. “The recent revival in the air freight market is a direct by-product of the improvements in world trade and the recovery in advanced economies,” ACI economics director Rafael Echevarne said. “Despite the fact that many Asian airports have performed well … the downside risks and relative weakness in the Chinese economy continues to persist. The outlook for air freight in the short term should be viewed with cautious optimism.”
LinkGogo, LiveTV submit patent applicationsGogo and LiveTV have submitted intellectual property patent applications for their airline service operations. LiveTV's patent deals with a system to store media, and Gogo wants to patent how passengers download apps without giving them access to other online perks.
LinkFrontier to launch service to Dulles airport Frontier Airlines is betting big on Washington's Dulles International Airport. The carrier on Tuesday said it would add the airport to its route map starting in August, planning an aggressive launch that will make Dulles its third-busiest destination within a month of beginning service there. Frontier plans 14 nonstop destinations from Dulles, phasing in that schedule between mid-August and mid-September. Once the new schedule is fully implemented, only Frontier's main hub in Denver and its focus city in Trenton, N.J., will have more nonstop destinations on Frontier.
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