Data/Airline Economics Channel

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SITA/ATW Self-Service Survey

By Aaron Karp

Passengers are responding positively to automated interaction with airlines and want more.

Southwest's RNP investment: Is $175 million pledge too far ahead of US government, industry?

By Aaron Karp

Southwest Airlines has committed boldly to investing $175 million to implement Required Navigation Performance fleetwide, an endeavor that includes retrofitting at least 115 737 Classics' cockpits, ensuring its more than 320 737-700s are equipped to be RNP-capable, training its pilots and working with US FAA to develop RNP procedures for the more than 65 airports into which it operates. But will the US government and other airlines similarly move forward, or will SWA within the next 2-3 years have aircraft and pilots capable of operating at a level of efficiency that FAA and much of the rest of the US industry is unable to reach for the foreseeable future?

Liberalizing air transport: Has frustration over ownership restrictions reached a tipping point?

By Aaron Karp and Christine Boynton

As the global airline industry struggles through one of the worst years in its history, with IATA projecting a collective full-year loss of $11 billion, dissatisfaction with restrictive ownership and control regulations is mounting. The complaint that airlines are hamstrung by a limited ability to pursue capital and mergers across borders is certainly not new, but industry leaders believe the current economic environment brings a higher level of urgency to efforts to ease nationality constraints.

High-performance airlines: What distinguishes air transport's consistently successful players?

By Aaron Karp

Consistently generating revenue and earning profits is perhaps more of a challenge in the airline industry than in any other global business. Air transport's high costs, cyclical nature and vulnerability to twists and turns in the general economy leave many carriers searching for answers. But there are a small number that, while not completely immune to financial pressures, have managed through the years to outperform their industry peers in good times and bad.

Forecast 2010: Shuffle the Cards

By Perry Flint

This looks to be a transition year for the struggling airline industry. Profits won't flow but traffic will start to recover.

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Swiss leads Lufthansa's airline pack

Tuesday March 16, 2010

Lufthansa's full-year result, which included an €8 million ($11 million) operating loss by the Passenger Airline Group, was buoyed slightly by the €93 million operating profit posted by its Swiss International Air Lines subsidiary, the most successful carrier in the LH stable. [more]

Tuesday March 16, 2010

Robin Hood Aviation, a small regional based at Graz, declared insolvency yesterday owing to debt of €3.3 million ($4.5 million). It operates two Saab 340s and plans to pay a bond of €100,000 to continue operations.

Tuesday March 16, 2010

UK CAA said the country's airports handled 218 million passengers in 2009, a 7.3% decline from the prior year. The drop was the largest single-year decrease for 65 years and marked the first time that traffic fell for two straight years. "Passenger numbers are now back to the level they were six years ago and, although they will certainly rebound, the pace of recovery is uncertain and it could be a number of years before they reach their peak level again," Director-Economic Regulation Harry Bush said. The rate of decline eased throughout 2009, from 12.5% in the first quarter to 3.8% in the fourth. Full-year domestic traffic dropped 8% to 21 million passengers and traffic to/from continental Europe was down 8%. Passenger numbers to/from North America sank 10% and traffic to international destinations outside Europe and North America increased 0.7%. Overall scheduled traffic was down 6% and charter traffic plummeted 17%. Total freight and mail fell 10% to 2.3 million tonnes.

Turkish Airlines flew 6.4 billion RPKs in the first two months of 2010, up 34.5% from the year-ago period. Capacity climbed 29% to 9.3 billion ASKs, lifting load factor 2.8 points to 69.1%.

Air Berlin said February unit revenue rose 3.3% year-over-year to €0.0551 (7.55 cents). It carried 2 million passengers, up 3.1%, and load factor slipped 0.3 point to 70.6% on a 3.5% lift in capacity.

Finnair flew 1.63 billion RPKs in February, down 9.3% year-over-year, against a 13.7% cut in capacity to 2.03 billion ASKs. Load factor rose 3.9 points to 80.2%.

Vueling Airlines flew 594.6 million RPKs in February, a 94.2% surge year-over-year. Capacity rose 81.9% to 831.2 million ASKs and load factor was up 4.5 points to 71.5%.

Gol swings to $504 million 2009 profit with reoriented network

Monday March 15, 2010

Gol reported net income of BRL890.8 million ($504.2 million) for 2009, reversed from a BRL1.2 billion deficit in 2008, attributing its profitability to "synergies" created by the merger of Gol's and Varig's operations at the end of 2008 and its transformation into an efficient 737NG operator organized around a short-haul South American network that it believes appeals to Brazil's growing middle class. [more]

AA contends with FAA's proposed fines, unhappy unions

Monday March 15, 2010

American Airlines faces growing problems on two fronts as US FAA announced Friday it is seeking to collect civil penalties totaling $787,500 from the carrier for maintenance violations and its ground workers became the second labor group to ask the National Mediation Board for a release from talks that could lead to a work action. [more]

Oman Air finding its niche

Monday March 15, 2010

Oman Air realizes that it is better to remain a "unique boutique airline, rather than to compete against Emirates and company," CEO Peter Hill told ATWOnline at ITB Berlin. [more]

Air China readies $953 million capital increase

Monday March 15, 2010

Air China announced plans to raise more than $953 million through a share issue. It will issue up to 585 million new A shares to "10 specific investors" at CNY9.58 ($1.40) per share and 157 million new H shares to a subsidiary of parent company China National Aviation Holding priced at HK$6.62 per share ($0.85). The state-owned parent will subscribe directly to 157 million of the A shares for CNY1.5 billion. CA said the net proceeds from the A share issue will be CNY5.6 billion and will go toward working capital expenditure and its acquisition of a stake in Air China Cargo (ATWOnline, Jan. 20). Proceeds from the H share issue will be HK$1.04 billion, it said.

ARC: February sales rise 16.8%

Monday March 15, 2010

ARC reported that ticket sales through participating travel agencies totaled $6.22 billion in February, up a healthy 16.8% over February 2009 and a 4.5% rise over January 2010, "accelerating seasonal expectations." Credit card sales, representing the bulk of agency sales, soared 19% year-over-year to $5.56 billion. Total fares excluding taxes and fees grew 17.5% to $5.22 billion. Domestic fares climbed 15.8% to $2.73 billion on a 12.3% rise in transactions, while international fares were up 19.5% to $2.49 billion on a 9.4% gain in transactions.

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