The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said its annual report monitoring the performance of the country's largest airports produced evidence that Sydney "has increased profits by permitting service quality to fall below that which the airlines reasonably expect."
ACCC gathers data on SYD, Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne Tullamarine and Perth "due to concerns that they might use their monopoly position. . .to increase profits at the expense of airlines and passengers."
Ground staff at the world's airports reduced the number of mishandled bags last year by 23.8%, resulting in savings of $460 million for airlines, according to SITA's "2010 Baggage Report" released in late March.
SITA said that 2.2 billion passengers reported the mishandling of 25 million pieces of luggage in 2009, 7.8 million fewer bags than in 2008 and an improvement of more than 40% from 2007 numbers.
Global passenger traffic dropped 2.7% to 4.4 billion in 2009, according to Airports Council International, which said that a "return to growth activity by year end" helped mitigate the damage caused by "steep declines" in the first quarter. The number of international passengers was down 4.2% to 1.8 billion and total aircraft movements fell 5.5% to 63.9 million. Freight plunged 8.2% to 71.3 million tonnes.
The ICAO High-Level Safety Conference in Montreal was the site of a "milestone agreement" among ICAO, FAA, the EC and IATA that the airline trade group called "the first step to creating a global information exchange to improve aviation safety."
TAM returned to profit in 2009, reporting a BRL435.7 million ($241.9 million) surplus under IFRS that compared to a BRL1.43 billion loss in 2008 fueled by nonoperating items.
Aer Lingus released its full 2009 financial results yesterday, three weeks after a preliminary announcement, and reported a €130.1 million ($175.2 million) loss that represented an 18.4% deterioration from the €109.9 million deficit suffered in 2008.
British Airways said yesterday that the second flight attendants' strike, scheduled to run through Tuesday, cost the carrier £11 million ($16.4 million) over the weekend but will have no impact on its full-year earnings.
BA estimated that the Unite union's March 20-22 walkout had a £21 million impact on its bottom line (ATWOnline, March 23).
British Airways said it planned to serve more than 75% of those customers booked on flights from Saturday through Tuesday, when flight attendants represented by Unite were scheduled to engage in the second of two strikes protesting imposed crew reductions.
Air Berlin yesterday said it is expecting a "noticeable increase" in 2010 profit compared to the €9.5 million loss suffered last year, while it simultaneously announced the sale of 11 aircraft to two separate parties.
EasyJet tapped media executive Carolyn McCall, who ran the UK's Guardian Media Group, as its new CEO, succeeding the departing Andy Harrison.
The LCC said McCall "has a proven track record of successful operational delivery in a fast-changing online consumer facing business combined with extensive plc board and government and lobbying experience."
One month after suspending a four-day strike after the first day, Lufthansa pilots represented by Vereinigung Cockpit are planning another four-day stoppage, this one scheduled for April 13-16, after talks with the airline regarding the union's job security concerns reportedly broke down.
Delta Air Lines and US Airways have softened their stance and will give up 12% of the slots originally included in their New York LaGuardia/Washington National swap deal in order to secure approval from the US Dept. of Transportation.
ANA now expects to report a ¥65 billion ($720 million) consolidated net loss in its fiscal year ending March 31, compared to the ¥28 billion loss forecast last October, owing to a "slower than expected recovery," although it plans to return to profit in 2010-11.
British Airways flight attendants represented by Unite will conclude their three-day walkout today amid contradictory claims regarding the impact of the airline's first strike in 13 years.
FedEx Corp. reported a $239 million net profit in its fiscal third quarter ended Feb. 28, more than double the $97 million posted in the year-ago period, driven by significant improvement at its FedEx Express segment.
"Outstanding execution of our business strategy and an improving global economy drove solid financial performance," Chairman, President and CEO Frederick Smith said. Group revenue was up 7% to $8.7 billion and operating income soared to $416 million from $182 million in the quarter ended Feb. 28, 2009.
The US should look to what’s happening at airports worldwide and think bigger and more strategically about how its airports can best raise the investments necessary to keep them competitive on a global scale, the head of the Airports Council International said Monday....More
Governments must put more political will into sorting out air traffic management mega-projects and also addressing the political issue of finding a global agreement for emission market-based-measures (MBMs), the head of IATA said Monday....More
Airbus, Air Canada and BioFuelNet Canada have formed a partnership to assess Canadian solutions for the production of sustainable jet fuels with a long-term goal of supplying Air Canada....More
US regional airlines are increasingly concerned about a potential pilot shortage that could curtail their growth or even force carriers to decrease capacity....More
Preliminary results of a pilot fatigue study conducted by Washington State University (WSU) show there is a “small difference” between the fatigue level of pilots conducting multi-segment operations and those flying a longer single segment....More
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