US carrier parents AMR (American) and UAL (United) have reported fourth quarter losses of US$214 million and US$547 million respectively. AMR chief executive Gerard Arpey said he now was "guardedly optimistic" that his company can regain momentum this year, but said AMR "faces continued economic uncertainty, slower travel demand and fuel price volatility in 2009". Both American and United will continue to cut capacity in 2009, with American cutting capacity by more than 8.5 per cent in the first … [Read more...] about Losses at both American and United
Carriers
New US-NZ freighter service for Qantas
In an attempt to diversify its business exposure to the ongoing global economic congtagion, Qantas Freight has launced a direct, weekly B747-400 freighter service between the US and New Zealand from February. ¡°Our new freighter service will provide main deck capacity between the US east coast and New Zealand as well as from New Zealand into Australia, with connections to Asian ports including Bangkok, Hong Kong and Shanghai,¡± said group general manager Qantas Freight Stephen Cleary. The … [Read more...] about New US-NZ freighter service for Qantas
Liepzig/Halle sees jump in cargo thanks to DHL
Boosted by DHL's establishment of its Europe hub at the airport, Leipzig/Halle Airport has reported a 2008 throughput of almost 450,000 tonnes of cargo, making it the third largest logistics airport in Germany. Leipzig/Halle and Dresden Airports, both subsidiaries of Mitteldeutsche Airport Holding, enjoyed considerable growth in various sectors in 2008 with both airports handling 96,892 flights, 4.32 million passengers and 442,750 tonnes of freight last year. A total of 96,892 takeoffs and … [Read more...] about Liepzig/Halle sees jump in cargo thanks to DHL
Plummeting volumes for JAL and ANA
Japan Airlines, Asia¡¯s biggest air carrier, said international cargo volume declined for five months in a row to November, when volume plummeted 25.1 per cent to 47,000 tonnes. During the first eight months of the fiscal year 2008, which started in April, international volume totaled 434,943 tonnes, down 7.8 per cent from the same period a year earlier. By comparison, JAL's domestic cargo in November increased 13 per cent on-year and year-to-date. Japan¡¯s second-largest airline, All Nippon … [Read more...] about Plummeting volumes for JAL and ANA
Possible Alitalia cargo sale nears
Alitalia¡¯s bankruptcy administrator is close to selling the cargo unit of Italy¡¯s former state-owned airline. Alitalia's Extraordinary Administrator, Augusto Fantozzi has set a 29 January deadline for companies to make offers for the cargo unit¡¯s five MD-11 freighters and its other assets. This will be followed immediately by a public tender. The cargo unit was not included in the US$1 billion acquisition of Italy's national carrier by CAI, an Italian investor group, which launched a … [Read more...] about Possible Alitalia cargo sale nears
More bad news from China carriers
Air China and Shanghai Airlines joined China Southern Airlines and China Eastern Airlines in announcing that they expect to report losses for 2008. Both carriers cited declining market demand along with the impact of May's Sichuan earthquakes, stricter security measures surrounding the Beijing Olympics, the global financial crisis and the mid-year spike in fuel prices, followed by fuel hedge losses. Air China noted that it suffered a US$993.3 million loss resulting from a writedown in the value … [Read more...] about More bad news from China carriers
