Turkish Airlines announced plans to operate to 11 new destinations in 2011. The carrier plans to launch new long-haul services to Guangzhou, Los Angeles and Manila, as well as more destinations in North Africa, the Middle East and Europe.
Lufthansa welcomed new CEO Christoph Franz on 01-Jan-2011 who will play an instrumental role in shaping European aviation over his term. Mr Franz will be key in integrating the Lufthansa family of airlines and will no doubt seek to reinforce the group’s lead in European passenger volume and revenues...
SkyTeam has announced that Saudi Arabian Airlines will join the alliance in 2012. While certainly a network asset for the alliance in a region in which it is currently unrepresented, the move also shows the complexity of creating a global network as the number of available candidates shrinks.
China is set for a busy year in terms of local airport development. At the same time, it is extending its influence around the world, providing financing and development support for an array of projects. Most recently, it has signed an agreement for the construction of a new airport terminal at the...
Shares in Indian airport operators slipped in early trading this week, with GVK Infrastructure dropping 3.2% and GMR Infrastructure down 3.1%. Mumbai Airport, operated by a GVK-led consortium, signed an agreement with UK-based NATS this week, to help resolve congestion problems at the airport and increase...
Shares in Hellenic Duty Free dropped back 4.5% on Monday. The company's shares had surged 9.1% on Friday, as 60.6 million shares in the group formed by the airport and port retailer’s merger with Folli-Follie and Elmec Sports commenced trading.
As Korea’s Incheon Airport gears towards a partial IPO in 2011, the government has committed to an investment of KRW1.8 trillion in its third expansion phase. Meanwhile, in Japan, the focus is more on LCCs, which seem to be taking on a greater significance there than they have in the past and the...
Shares in Australia's two largest airlines saw strong gains on Monday, with Virgin Blue up 4.7% and Qantas gaining 4.1%, the carrier's largest single-day gain since Jul-2010.
Cebu Pacific handled its 50 millionth passenger on 06-Jan-2011 with President and CEO Lance Gokongwei adding that the Philippine LCC plans to handle its next 50 million passengers by 2014. That will be four years compared with the 14 years the carrier took to reach its first 50 million passengers.
ICAO stated airlines of its 190 member states handled 2.5 billion passengers in 2010, a 6.3% year-on-year increase from the depressed levels of 2009. ICAO forecasts traffic worldwide will grow at 4.7% and 4.9% for 2011 and 2012, respectively, based on global economic growth of more than 4% for the next...
IndiGo, India's biggest low cost airline, on 11-Jan-2011 signed an MoU for 180 A320 aircraft, marking the largest single firm order in commercial aviation history by number of aircraft, according to Airbus. Of the 180 aircraft, 150 will be A320neos making IndiGo the launch customer for the A320neo....
The wheels of bureaucracy may grind slowly but often a quiet logic emerges that can still the shrill voices of political rhetoric. So the EU Commission and the US Department of Transportation’s release of their Nov-2010 joint report on competition and airline alliances appears as one more step in...
Air Mauritius and South Africa's Comair both gained 2.2% in a quite day of trading for Middle East and African shares. Shares in Air Arabia, Jazeera Airways and Royal Jordanian and Lonrho were flat.
Allegiant Airlines shares closed down 5.1% on Tuesday. The carrier reported Dec-2010 traffic increased 12.5% year-on-year, while load factor dropped 1.1ppts to 89.5%.
Trading of ordinary shares in British Airways will be suspended from 21-Jan-2011, due to the company's merger with Iberia. International Consolidated Airlines Group, the merger vehicle under which the carriers are combining their organisations, will have its shares listed on the London Stock Exchange...
Shares in EADS traded up 4.7% yesterday, after the company’s Airbus unit announced an order for 180 A320-family aircraft from Indian LCC IndiGo. The order is for 150 A320neos, the company’s reworking of the A320 family, as well as 30 standard A320-family aircraft.
American Airlines shares dropped 5.9% yesterday. The company’s outlook was downgraded from “buy” to “neutral” by UBS. UBS believes that the carrier’s efforts to cut distribution costs, by switching to direct connection with online users, rather than third party providers, is “very likely...
Shares in Mexican airport operator GAP were up 2.9% in trading on Tuesday. Reports in the Mexican press have emerged that Mexicana plans to resume operations from late Jan-2010.
Shares in Hellenic Duty Free fell 2.4% in trading on Tuesday. The company announced it has received permission from the Greek minister of Finance to resume sale of duty free petroleum products. The exact date of resumption of the service centres has yet to be announced.
Shares in Philippine Airlines were down 2.2% on Tuesday. The carrier responded to a Philippines Labor Ministry ruling made late last year, which ordered PAL to increase pay for its cabin staff and increase the minimum retirement age. Philippine Airlines President, Jaime Bautista, announced the carrier...
Only months after gaining anti-trust immunity, American Airlines and Japan Airlines will launch their trans-Pacific joint business on 01-Apr-2011, the expected revenue sharing start date. The deal is expected to yield USD156 million (JPY13 billion) in combined annual incremental benefits for the two...
Virgin Blue Group and Skywest Airlines signed a 10-year strategic alliance on 10-Jan-2011 covering the regional Australia market with Skywest to operate up to 18 new Virgin Blue-branded turboprop aircraft to a number of existing and new destinations around Australia. Details of the network and flight...
All Of Indonesian LCC, Mandala Airlines' flights were suspended effective 13-Jan-2011. Mandala yesterday announced it had requested “suspension of payment obligation to the Commercial Court allowing its management to restructure the business and to restore the airline to profitability”.
Lufthansa reports trans-Atlantic traffic rose 8.4% year-on-year in Dec-2010, with passenger numbers hitting 665,000 at an average load factor of 84.2%. For 2010 trans-Atlantic traffic hit 8.4 million passengers, up 7.5% at an average load factor of 85%. Lufthansa shares gained 1% in trading yesterday...
Ever-increasing passenger numbers passing through Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport – 43.7 million in 2010 – has prompted the airport operator and the government to consider both the expansion of the airport and the construction of a new one as the capital's main flight hub will not...
EADS CEO Louis Gallois stated that the company’s commercial aircraft unit, Airbus, received more than 500 orders and delivered more than 500 aircraft in 2010. The manufacturer is due to announce details of its 2010 orders and deliveries in late Jan-2011. Airbus had booked 440 gross and 388 net orders...
Brazil's Finance Ministry Price Administration and Competition Bureau stated it is likely to support the merger of TAM and LAN Airlines and submit a favourable report on the competition aspects, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. The merger still needs to pass scrutiny from the Brazilian...
CAPA Centre for Aviation has assessed the winners and losers among US airports over the past decade and three have been especially affected by their primary carriers: Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and St Louis. Recent OAG data provides a clear picture of just what has happened in these locations in those 10...
Traffic at BAA, a unit of Ferrovial, was down 2.8% in 2010, with the ash cloud crisis, strikes, a slow economic recovery in the UK and poor winter weather all contributing to the poor result.
The CAAC, in its 12th five-year development plan (2011-2015) submitted to the National Development and Reform Commission for approval, forecasts an annual increase of 13% in traffic over the next five years to 2015 - nicely ahead of a projected annual increase of 11% in capacity over the same period...
