LCC news

[Pieter C. 5]

Ryanair to open sixth base in Spain

 

May 27, 2010

 

Ryanair is increasing its footprint in Spain further and will open its 42nd base at Barcelona El Prat in September with five 737-800s and 20 new routes, a mix of domestic and international destinations.

 

It already has five bases in Spain, at Alicante, Girona, Madrid, Malaga and Reus. The new BCN base represents an investment of more than $350 million, the LCC said.

 

New routes include twice-dailies to Malaga, Palma and Seville;an 11-times-weekly to Santiago;dailies to Brussels Charleroi, Dublin, Ibiza, Bergamo, Paris Beauvais, Rome Ciampino, Santander and Valencia; a six-times-weekly to Trevisio; a four-times-weekly to Dusseldorf Weeze;thrice-weeklies to Cagliari, Edinburgh, Oslo Rygge and Lanzarotte, and a twice-weekly to Tenerife.

 

In all, Ryanair will operate 270 weekly flights to/from Barcelona El Prat which it said "will help reverse declining traffic numbers at El Prat airport which fell by 3 million passengers in 2009."

[Pieter C. 5]

EasyJet Plans Suit Over Ash Flight Ban

 

May 30, 2010

 

British budget airline easyJet plans a class action lawsuit to win compensation for flight bans imposed by Europe's air safety authorities following a volcanic eruption in April, its chief executive told a German magazine.

 

"We are already working on it with a group of other companies, including those outside the low-cost sector," Andrew Harrison told Wirstschaftswoche in an interview published on Monday.

 

"It will be a suit from all airlines," he said, declining to give further details.

 

EasyJet declined to comment further.

 

Most of Europe's airspace was closed for nearly a week from April 15 after a huge ash cloud from an Icelandic volcano stranded millions of business passengers and holidaymakers and paralysed freight and businesses.

 

The flight ban cost easyJet between EUR€50 million and EUR€75 million euros (USD$61 million and USD$92 million), said Harrison, who is due to step down as chief executive by the end of June to take the helm at British hotel operator Whitbread.

 

"That was a natural catastrophe and there is no reason why the consequences must be borne by the airlines alone, particularly when it became apparent afterwards that a closure of that size was unnecessary," he said.

 

Lufthansa has also demanded compensation for the ban.

 

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said airlines lost more than USD$1.7 billion of revenues due to the volcano crisis.

 

(Reuters)

[Pieter C. 5]

Norwegian Air Passenger Traffic Up In May

 

June 4, 2010

 

Budget airline Norwegian Air Shuttle carried 25 percent more passengers in May than a year ago, recovering from a dip in traffic in April due to cancelations caused by volcanic ash clouds over Europe.

 

Norwegian Air, which competes with Scandinavian leader SAS, said on Friday it carried 1.2 million passengers last month, up from 791,000 in April. In April, the key year-on-year traffic figure showed an 8 percent fall.

 

Total passenger traffic, measured by the number of passengers and kilometres flown (RPK), jumped 37 percent in May due to expansion of routes over the past year and a 5 percent rise in average flying distance.

 

The yield -- the average revenue per passenger carried and kilometre flown -- was 0.51 Norwegian kroner in May, down 14 percent year-on-year.

 

The load factor, which measures seats sold as a percentage of capacity, was flat in May at 77 percent, Norwegian Air said.

 

(Reuters)

[Pieter C. 5]

Air Arabia Plans Jordanian Airline

 

June 7, 2010

 

UAE-based budget airline Air Arabia said on Monday it signed an agreement to launch Jordan's first low-cost carrier and announced its fourth regional hub, as the airline continues its expansion plans.

 

The Arab world's largest listed airline signed a joint venture agreement with Jordanian Tantash Group to launch Air Arabia Jordan which will be based in the country's capital Amman, it said in a statement.

 

The new low-cost carrier will serve destinations across Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.

 

"We are confident of the long-term growth opportunities for the first low-cost carrier in the Kingdom," Adel Ali, Air Arabia's chief executive said.

 

Air Arabia, set up in 2003 in Sharjah in the UAE, also has a hub in Morocco and recently launched operations in its third hub in Egypt. Its business is under pressure from rivals including Kuwait's Jazeera Airways and Dubai-owned FlyDubai.

 

Tantash Group, based in Amman, is an investment company with interests in travel and tourism, real estate, financial services and industrial investment.

 

(Reuters)

[Pieter C. 5]

Spirit Air, Pilots Hold Talks, Strike Possible

 

June 11, 2010

 

The union representing about 430 pilots at privately owned Spirit Airlines said on Friday talks were continuing with the carrier to reach an agreement ahead of Saturday's strike deadline.

 

"While we've made some progress, we've got a long way to go and a short time to get there," said Arthur Luby, assistant director of representation for the Air Line Pilots Association, International (ALPA).

 

"There's still crucial differences on crucial issues," he said.

 

June 12 will mark the end of a 30-day cooling-off period, and a strike could start early on Saturday.

 

Luby said the main issues in the talks were pay and scheduling.

 

Meanwhile, Spirit spokeswoman Misty Pinson said in an email that some flights had been cancelled on Friday and for Saturday as the talks were taking place at the National Mediation Board in Washington, DC.

 

Spirit Airlines, based in Miramar, Florida, offers flights in the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean.

 

In April, Spirit sparked debate when it announced plans to start charging USD$45 for carry-on bags.

 

Later that month, US Senator Charles Schumer of New York announced he had obtained commitments from senior executives at five bigger carriers, including Delta, United and American not to follow Spirit's lead in charging for carry-on items.

 

(Reuters)

[Pieter C. 5]

Spirit Airlines Pilots Strike Grounds Flights

 

June 14, 2010

 

Privately held Spirit Airlines said on Sunday it has cancelled flights for the next few days as a pilots' strike continued.

 

Spirit's 440 pilots represented by the Air Line Pilots Association walked off the job on Saturday after US-mediated talks failed to bridge differences with management over pay, scheduling and benefits.

 

The Miramar, Florida, airline carries less than 1 percent of US passenger traffic and offers flights in the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean.

 

The strike at Spirit was the first notable job action at a US passenger airline since Northwest Airlines mechanics walked off the job in 2005. Northwest was acquired by Delta Air Lines in 2008.

 

Spirit said the ALPA rejected an offer that amounted to a compound average 29 percent pay rise and which would have cost the airline an additional USD$70 million over five years.

 

The offer would have paid senior captains over USD$200,000 a year, Spirit airlines chief executive Ben Baldanza said in the statement.

 

Baldanza added that he was concerned employees were being used in "a broader political game."

 

"This deal should be about Spirit and Spirit only, not about the pilots whose contracts are under negotiation at other ALPA carriers, but it would appear other forces have intervened."

 

A spokesperson for the ALPA was not available to comment.

 

(Reuters)

 

-----------------------------------------------------------

 

Spirit Air Cancels More Flights As Strike Continues

 

June 14, 2010

 

A pilots' strike at Spirit Airlines prompted the carrier on Monday to extend flight cancellations, with shares of rivals moving higher on prospects of more business.

 

Pilots represented by the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) struck on Saturday after last-ditch talks with the discount carrier failed to bridge differences over pay.

 

Florida-based Spirit said it is offering affected customers flight credits for the full amount of their cancelled flights and giving them a USD$100 future flight credit.

 

Privately held Spirit operates more than 150 flights per day, primarily to the eastern United States, Latin America and the Caribbean.

 

Airline shares rose along with the broader market on Monday. But shares of Spirit's most immediate rivals, JetBlue Airways, American Airlines parent AMR and AirTran, also rose on prospects of additional business.

 

Spirit accounts for less than 1 percent of the overall US market, with about 5.2 million passengers in 2009.

 

Spirit pilots planned to picket on Monday at Fort Lauderdale, Detroit and Atlantic City, its three biggest cities.

 

The strike at Spirit is the first notable airline strike since Northwest mechanics walked out in 2005. It is being watched closely by unions in contract talks at other airlines.

 

Spirit is best known in the industry for its low fares and for its controversial plan announced in April to begin charging up to USD$45 for carry-on bags. Most airlines charge for checked bags only.

 

(Reuters)

[Pieter C. 5]

Spirit, Pilots Agree Deal, Flights Resume Friday

 

June 17, 2010

 

The union representing striking pilots at Spirit Airlines said on Wednesday it reached a tentative accord with the company, and the low-fare carrier said flights will resume on Friday, after being grounded for six days.

 

Captain Sean Creed, head of the Spirit unit of the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), said the union accepted a tentative agreement on Wednesday and will work with the airline to draft a return-to-work accord.

 

Calling it a "good compromise," Creed said: "It's more than what we had walked away from or that we'd parted ways from when we began the strike." He added the pact must be voted on by rank-and-file pilots.

 

The approval process will likely take at least three weeks but the union will work with the company to get the airline back to full operations as soon as possible, Creed said.

 

Spirit pilots walked off the job on June 12, after US-mediated contract talks failed to bridge differences over pay. Spirit said on its website that "Spirit will resume flight operations on Friday."

 

A company representative has not yet responded to an email seeking comment.

 

Miramar, Florida-based privately held Spirit operates more than 150 flights a day, mainly to the eastern United States, Latin America and the Caribbean. It carries less than 1 percent of US air-passenger traffic.

 

(Reuters)

[Pieter C. 5]

Parent Says No Need For Cebu Air IPO This Year

 

June 28, 2010

 

Philippine conglomerate JG Summit does not see a need for its airline arm, Cebu Air, to go public this year, its president said on Monday.

 

JG Summit President Lance Gokongwei said there was no specific date yet for Cebu Air's PHP25.7 billion peso (USD$554 million) initial public offering, adding it would hinge on market conditions.

 

"No need to do it this year but at some point we would like it to be a listed company," Gokongwei told reporters.

 

Cebu Air said in March it had deferred its planned IPO until after the May 10 national elections. But the parent firm said on May 26 it was not a good time to push ahead with the share sale, adding it would not affect expansion plans for budget carrier Cebu Pacific.

 

(Reuters)

[Pieter C. 5]

Ryanair To Cut UK Winter Capacity

 

June 29, 2010

 

Irish airline Ryanair said it would cut UK winter capacity by 16 percent from November, blaming the UK government's Air Passenger Duty (APD), adding that the move would lower its costs and boost profits.

 

The airline said it would switch some London-based aircraft to lower cost European bases, where governments have scrapped "tourist taxes" and reduced passenger charges, resulting in the loss of over 2 million passengers at UK airports.

 

The APD came into effect in November 1994 and taxes every passenger leaving the UK. The four-band duty currently ranges from GBP£11 to GBP£110 depending on the destination.

 

At a press conference, chief executive Michael O'Leary said Ryanair could save about GBP£10 million (USD$15 million) by taking two aircraft out of London Stansted.

 

The UK capacity cuts should lower costs and boost profits, he said, declining to give further details.

 

Ryanair said capacity at London Stansted will be reduced by 17 percent with the loss of up to 1.5 million passengers at the airport between November and March 2011.

 

It said this could lead to 2,500 jobs being cut at the airport of which less than 200 are expected to come from within Ryanair.

 

It cut winter capacity at Stansted last year by 14 percent.

 

Ryanair will also cut winter flights at most of its other UK bases, except Edinburgh and Leeds Bradford.

 

The tax and BAA's high airport charges are damaging UK tourism and the British economy generally, O'Leary said.

 

SUMMER BOOKINGS

 

Bookings, which were disrupted significantly by the volcanic ash cloud's impact on passenger confidence, have improved recently.

 

"Bookings over the last couple of weeks have been very strong and jumped significantly in the UK since Sunday," he said.

 

O'Leary, sporting a German football shirt, said bookings in the UK jumped 15 percent on Sunday from the week earlier after England's World Cup defeat to Germany took them out of the competition. Bookings were up 20 percent on Monday on the previous week, he added.

 

He tipped Brazil as winner of the tournament adding that he would be happy if all the European teams were knocked out so that bookings could get a lift.

 

The airline has carried 27 million passengers in the first five months of this year, a 3 million increase on the previous year.

 

The ash cloud disruption affected bookings between April-June although average fares were higher and O'Leary said he expects these to rise significantly in the second quarter to end September.

 

(Reuters)

[Pieter C. 5]

Jetstar Pacific executives allowed to leave Vietnam after six-month detention

 

July 5, 2010

 

Two Qantas executives at the center of an investigation into multimillion-dollar fuel-hedging losses in Vietnam have been allowed to return to Australia.

 

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the former COO and CFO respectively of QF's no-frills Vietnam brand Jetstar Pacific, Daniela Marsilli and Tristan Freeman, flew back to Sydney Thursday. Vietnamese authorities detained the pair in December shortly before they were to travel with their families to Australia for Christmas. They were barred from leaving Vietnam while authorities investigated $31 million in fuel-hedging losses in 2008 by the government-owned carrier in which QF has a 27% stake.

 

Qantas said in a statement that the executives were allowed to leave after the investigation was "terminated." It said no money changed hands to secure their release and it remains committed to its investment in the Vietnamese airline. The release of the two Australians came after Australian Deputy Prime Minister Wayne Swan raised the issue with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung at the recent G20 summit in Toronto.

 

Former Jetstar Pacific CEO Luong Hoai Nam remains in jail. He was arrested in January for ''causing serious losses" at the carrier.

[Pieter C. 5]

Court Backs EU Veto Of Ryanair/Aer Lingus Deal

 

July 6, 2010

 

Europe's second-highest court upheld on Tuesday a decision by EU regulators to block a plan by Irish airline Ryanair to buy Aer Lingus three years ago, saying there had been valid concerns about the deal.

 

The General Court was ruling on an appeal by Ryanair against the European Commission's rejection of its takeover bid and on an appeal by Aer Lingus against the watchdog's dismissal of its request to order that Ryanair divest its Aer Lingus stake.

 

The Commission, the 27-country European Union's competition enforcer, said in its 2007 decision that the combined carriers would be dominant on many routes, marking its second veto of a merger in four years.

 

"Those dominant positions are monopolistic or very significant and are sufficient, in themselves, to validate the Commission's finding that the... merger must be declared incompatible with the common market," a court statement said.

 

On Aer Lingus' appeal, it said the Commission had legal and factual justification not to order Ryanair to sell its shares in the Irish former state carrier after the bid failed.

 

Antitrust lawyers said the verdict of the Luxembourg-based court followed a general trend seen in previous cases.

 

"No one will be surprised by today's judgment," said Paul McGeown, a partner at Hunton & Williams.

 

"The court allows the Commission considerable leeway in assessing the commitments offered to address competition worries, and in this case, Ryanair simply flew too close to the sun, offering too little, too late," he said.

 

(Reuters)

[Pieter C. 5]

WestJet Flies Fuller Planes In June

 

July 6, 2010

 

WestJet Airlines said on Tuesday it flew fuller planes in June even as it increased capacity, a positive sign for Canada's No. 2 airline as the busy summer travel period kicks off.

 

WestJet said its load factor for June rose to 78.2 percent from 72.9 percent at the same time last year. That came despite a 10.9 percent increase in capacity, measured in available seat miles.

 

"Since June is a month when we transition into the peak travel season, we are very encouraged with this month's strong load factor, particularly with our significant year-over-year capacity growth," WestJet chief executive Gregg Saretsky said in a statement.

 

Traffic, measured in revenue passenger miles, increased 19 percent year over year. Overall, the low-cost airline flew an extra 139,000 passengers in June compared with the same month last year.

 

Like airlines around the world, those in Canada are experiencing a resurgence of air travel this year after a sharp slowdown because of the economic downturn in 2008 and 2009.

 

(Reuters)

[Pieter C. 5]

Ryanair To Cut Dublin Winter Capacity

 

July 8, 2010

 

Irish airline Ryanair said it would cut its Dublin winter capacity by 15 percent as passenger traffic falls, and again called for a tourist tax to be scrapped and airport charge increases to be reversed.

 

Europe's biggest low-cost carrier will cut its Dublin base to 12 aircraft from 14 this winter and will operate less than 850 weekly flights from the airport compared to 1,000 last winter.

 

The airline said it will switch these aircraft to other EU countries, which it said have reduced airport charges and scrapped government tourist taxes. Ireland imposed a EUR€10 tourist tax last year.

 

The Dublin cut comes after Ryanair said last month it would cut UK winter capacity by 16 percent from November, blaming the UK government's Air Passenger Duty and adding the move would lower its costs and boost profits.

 

Speaking at a news conference, chief executive Michael O'Leary also said Ryanair would "hang on" to its shares in rival Aer Lingus, in which it has a 29.8 percent stake.

 

"Unless somebody comes along and makes us a very generous offer for the Aer Lingus shares, we have every intention of holding on to them," he said.

 

Ryanair has said it could still bid for Aer Lingus despite losing a legal challenge to a 2007 veto by EU regulators against its second attempt to buy its rival.

 

O'Leary also reiterated that the final figure for the cost from disruption caused by the ash cloud that drifted over European airspaces could come in just below EUR€50 million.

 

(Reuters)

[Pieter C. 5]

Ryanair Says German Levy Threatens Expansion Plans

 

July 9, 2010

 

Ryanair's chief executive said the introduction of a German air traffic levy would make Germany less attractive as a destination and threatens the airline's German expansion plans.

 

"Undoubtedly our plans to maybe open up another one or two bases in Germany may have to be put on hold," Michael O'Leary, the head of the low-cost carrier said.

 

"There is no point for us to open another base in Germany if we can open up one in Spain or in Holland with no tourist tax."

 

As well as calling into question the Irish airline's expansion plans, O'Leary said there would be "real reductions" in Ryanair traffic in Germany.

 

In June Ryanair said it would cut UK winter capacity by 16 percent from November, blaming the UK government's Air Passenger Duty (APD).

 

(Reuters)

 

Good news for Eindhoven !!!