January 2010 Archives

Alaska Air Group Inc., owner of Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air, said an increase in traffic helped it posted a $24.1 million fourth-quarter profit.

JetBlue Airways Corp. on Thursday joined just three other major U.S. airlines in reporting a profit for 2009, but the low-cost carrier could experience some turbulence this year.

AirTran Airways is flying high as some of its bigger rivals struggle to turn a profit. Parent company AirTran Holdings Inc. on Wednesday posted a profit of $17.1 million for the final quarter of 2009.

Delta Air Lines on Tuesday offered a more optimistic outlook for 2010 in spite of posting a greater-than-expected quarterly loss, saying it hoped an improving economy would spur demand according to the Financial Times.

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc.forecast a profit at its NetJets Inc. unit, which may get a boost as corporations spend more on transportation and business travelers shun company-owned aircraft.

Continental Airlines posted a surprise fourth-quarter profit and Southwest Airlines reported its 37th consecutive year of profitability.

Southwest Airlines today reported its fourth quarter and full year 2009 results.  Net income for fourth quarter 2009 was$116 million, compared to a net loss of $56 million for fourth quarter 2008.  Excluding special items for both years, fourth quarter 2009 net income was $74 million, compared to $61 million in fourth quarter 2008.

Republic Airways Holdings today announced the completion of the successful operation to rescue 53 orphaned children imperiled by the devastating earthquake that struck Haiti. Republic Airways provided the Embraer 170 jet that was used to transport the children to Pittsburgh, where they are receiving medical attention from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Flight 9401 arrived in Pittsburgh at 9:22 this morning.

While bemoaning the poor results for 2009 and the past decade, AMR execs Gerard Arpey and Tom Horton told analysts that 2010 just might be looking up.

Gulfstream International Airlines today announced an expansion of its United Airlines codeshare relationship to include non-stop flights between Pensacola and both Orlando and Tampa.

Colgan Air Inc.and Pinnacle Airlines Inc., wholly-owned subsidiaries of Memphis-based Pinnacle Airlines Corp., both ended the year with higher passenger counts than 2008 despite different December performances.

While other business aircraft manufacturers struggled last year, Embraer more than tripled its production output of executive jets. Thanks to the ramp-up in deliveries of its new Phenom line, the Brazilian aircraft company delivered 115 business jets last year, up from the 36 it shipped in 2008.

A shell-shocked business aviation industry is peeking out from behind the bulwarks and wondering if the lull in gunfire signals the beginning of an end to the battle.

Southwest Airlines Co. said that it flew six billion revenue passenger miles (RPMs) in December 2009, a 3 percent increase from the 5.8 billion RPMs flown in December 2008, continuing the run of increased traffic it has been reporting for the past several months. Available seat miles (ASMs) decreased 5.8 percent to 7.8 billion from the December 2008 figure of 8.3 billion. The load factor for the month was 76.2 percent, compared to 69.7 percent for the same period last year.

SkyWest Inc., which operates SkyWest Airlines and Atlantic Southeast Airlines, said Monday that its traffic rose 5.4 percent in December.

Republic Airways Holdings, Inc. reported preliminary passenger traffic results for December 2009. The company generated 1.664 billion revenue passenger miles or RPMs, a 112.4% increase from the same month last year, while available seat miles or ASMs increased 99.5%.

Regional carrier American Eagle said Wednesday that December traffic rose 6.6 percent, in contrast to a drop in flying on its larger affiliate, American Airlines.

December was a record-breaking month for AirTran Airways, as the company saw increased traffic, capacity and number of enplaned passengers.

Allegiant Air LLC said its November passenger count jumped nearly 20 percent, the number of departures increased 18.7 percent, and its load factor increased by 0.6 points. Officials at Allegiant also announced Monday the company has signed an agreement to buy 18 MD-80 aircraft from Scandinavian Airlines Systems.

ATP welcomes five more of its graduates as new CFIs:

• Gabe from ATP Dallas
• Emmy from ATP Phoenix
• Greg from ATP Jacksonville
• Sean from ATP Phoenix
• Ryan from ATP Lawrenceville