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Wednesday, December 31st, 2014Government – Public Institutions – City Councils – Universities wasting tax payer money for expensive travel and higher airfares
Monday, June 30th, 2014Latest research results show: Government Departments – Public Institutions – City Councils – Universities wasting tax payer money for expensive travel and higher airfares. Click to continue »
Tropical Cyclone Lusi – remnants of the hurricane force storm due to hit New Zealand – Weekend events changed due to weather
Thursday, March 13th, 2014Weekend events changed due to weather – remnants of Tropical Cyclone Lusi:
• The Cancer Society’s Relay for Life in Rotorua on Saturday has been shortened from a 22-hour event to an eight-hour event
• The Auckland West Relay For Life has been cancelled. People can transfer to Auckland North Relay on 29/30th March. For more info go to www.relay.org.nz. Click to continue »
Volvo Ocean Race Fleet arrives in Auckland – Groupama 1st
Sunday, March 11th, 2012
source volvooceanrace The French team rallied in eight metre seas and 30 knot headwinds to isolate the leak and drain 1.5 tonnes of water before crossing the finish line at 10:33:47 UTC/23:33:47 local, more than 80 nautical miles ahead of their nearest competitor.
Skipper Franck Cammas was thrilled with the win and becoming the first French team to take line honours in a Whitbread/Volvo Ocean Race finish into Auckland, although 33 Export did win on handicap back in 1977-78.
“It’s a great day for Groupama 4 and it’s a great to arrive here first into Auckland,” Cammas said. Click to continue »
Alitalia: apostolic journey by the Holy Father in Mexico and Cuba Rome, Italy – The B-777 airplane departed this morning from Fiumicino
Thursday, March 1st, 2012(WAPA) – It’s Alitalia to accompany the Holy Father Benedetto XVI into the apostolic journey in Mexico and into the Cuba Republic until March 29. Roberto Colaninno, airline’s President, has greeted him before the flight departure.
Click to continue »
news update… Air New Zealand profits down by 61%
Friday, February 24th, 2012
24 February 2012. News reports state that Air New Zealand has announced a big slump in profits and warned that it is cutting more than 400 jobs. Some staff will be made redundant, others will not be replaced when they leave, and more will not get their contracts renewed. The airline’s six month net profit, after tax, was down by 61 percent to $38 million. One contributing factors for deepening financial problems and profit loss might be the lack of cooperation with local travel agents (zero commission policy plus additional fees)
“The Market says Rob Fyfe has failed” So the departing CEO of Air New Zealand Ltd [AIR.NZX] is leaving his post at the end of 2012 and being lauded by some as a “rockstar” CEO and the saviour of an airline. According to the market though he is not. If we look at the 7 year chart below – the length of time Mr Fyfe has been with AIR NZ – we can see that the share price has kamakazied to half the value it was when he took over in 2005.
Click to continue »
Air Australia collapse leaves 4,000 stranded and scrambling for refunds
Saturday, February 18th, 201217 February 2012
News reports state that Budget airline serving Asia-Pacific destinations including Hawaii and Thailand went into voluntary administration and unable to pay for fuel Thousands of passengers traveling from Hawaii to Thailand were stranded Click to continue »
American Airlines parent posts a $904 million net loss
Saturday, February 4th, 20124 February 2012 News reports state that American Airlines parent AMR Corp. (AAMRQ) reported a $904 million net loss for December in the first monthly operating report during its Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Click to continue »
Singapore Airlines profit plunges 53 percent in fourth quarter ..
Thursday, February 2nd, 20122 February 2012 News reports state that Singapore Airlines Ltd. said Thursday that quarterly profit plunged 53 percent as passenger demand slowed while higher fuel prices sent costs up. Click to continue »
Thai Airways 4th Quarter loss of $97.6 Million
Friday, December 9th, 20119 December 2011
Thai Airways 4th Quarter loss of $97.6 Million
News reports state that Thai Airways International (TG) expects a fourth-quarter loss of THB3 billion ($97.6 million) owing to the flooding in Thailand, TG president Piyasvasti Amranand said in an interview with the Bangkok Times. He indicated that TG might report a loss for 2011 given the decline of both local and international passengers.
Amranand said, “This year will see the number of passengers drop to a historic low for the year-end high season, with a possibility that the traffic will remain low in January next year.” He added that travel advisories caused visitors to change destinations although several tourist destinations were not hit by the floods.
In the first nine months of the year, TG reported a net loss of THB4.81 billion, reversed from a THB11.96 billion net profit in the year-ago period. Passengers carried increased year-on-year 4.2% to 13.9 million and yield rose 7.1%, lifting revenue 9.8% to THB147.37 billion. Expenses increased 15%, owing mainly to a THB3.33 billion loss on foreign currency exchange and 41.5% hike in the cost of jet fuel.
Airlines currently excluded from cover:
Tuesday, November 29th, 2011Airlines currently excluded from cover:
* Please note cover excludes any airline where there is a threat of, or has filed
or applied for any form of insolvency or insolvency protection at the time
of effecting cover or issuance of the air ticket
STRATEGIC AIRLINES PTY t/a AIR AUSTRALIA AIRWAYS
UNDER FINANCIAL REVIEW – as of 28 November 2011
DAALLO AIRLINES – as of 6th April 2010
AER ARRAN – as of 27th August 2010
ARIK AIR – as of 02 September 2010
American Airlines – bankruptcy protection Nov 2011
American Airlines AMR files for bankruptcy protection – chapter 11
Tuesday, November 29th, 2011
29 November 2011
American Airlines (AMR) files for bankruptcy protection
American Airlines, Inc. through its website announced that its parent company, AMR Corporation, and certain United States-based subsidiaries today voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 reorganization under United States law. American took this action in order to achieve a cost and debt structure that is competitive in the airline industry so that it can continue delivering a world-class travel experience for its customers.
American expects to continue normal business operations throughout the reorganization process, and the business will continue to be operated by the Company’s management. The United States Chapter 11 reorganization process enables a company to maintain normal business operations while it establishes a competitive cost and debt structure. This action has no direct legal impact on any American Airlines operations outside the United States.
American Airlines is operating normal flight schedules, honoring tickets and reservations as usual, and making normal refunds and exchanges. American’s AAdvantage® frequent flyer program is not affected. American remains part of the oneworld® alliance, of which it is a founding member, and all of its codeshare partnerships continue, enabling customers to earn and redeem miles on convenient flight options worldwide.
29NOV2011> ViPTRiP insolvency protection policies no longer available for American Airlines tickets
Air France profits down 95.2%
Friday, November 11th, 201111 November 2011
Air France profits down 95.2%
News reports state that Air France KLM Group reported a net profit of €14 million ($19.2 million) for the quarter ended Sept. 30, down 95.2% from net income of €290 million in the year-ago quarter, due mainly to foreign exchange losses and a decline in the fair value of hedging instruments.
Chairman and CEO Jean-Cyril Spinetta said the group’s “insufficient profitability in recent quarters, in an economic environment affected by the weak global demand and high oil prices, shows that we need to go further” despite the “many measures” pursued over the last three years.
AF KLM last month announced a shakeup of its top management, which included the return of Spinetta as group CEO and AF CEO. Spinetta said the new management will focus on three priorities: a “rapid” reduction of the company’s €6.5 billion net debt, additional cost savings, and the restructuring of its short- and medium-haul business. He declined to go into detail and said an action plan will be presented during the first quarter of 2012.
IATA predicts sluggish growth, weak profits next year
Wednesday, September 21st, 201121 September 2011
IATA predicts sluggish growth, weak profits next year
News reports state that IATA has warned that the economic outlook for the airline industry has deteriorated since its June update despite the stronger-than-expected surge in the first half.
IATA DG Tony Tyler said the airline industry net profits should total $6.9 billion in 2011 on revenues of $594 billion, up from the previous projection of $4 billion, but well down on the $16 billion achieved in 2010.
“Airlines are going to make a little more money in 2011 than we thought,” Tyler said. “That is good news. Given the strong headwinds of high oil prices and economic uncertainty, remaining in the black is a great achievement.” But Tyler cautioned that $6.9 billion only represented a 1.2% margin. And that margin is going to get worse, Tyler warned, with the 2012 outlook for “a year of sluggish growth and weak profits,” with net profit forecast at just $4.9 billion or 0.8% on revenues of $632 billion.
Tyler said that IATA’s forecast is built around global projected GDP growth of 2.5% in 2011 falling to 2.4% in 2012.
“Airline financial performance is closely linked to the health of world economies. Whenever GDP growth has slowed below 2% the airline industry has lost money. We will be perilously close to that level at least through 2012,” Tyler said. “The industry is brittle. Any shock has the potential to put us in the red.”
Passenger demand is driving the short-term spike with numbers forecast to grow 5.9% to 2.83 billion, up from 4.4%—or 2.79 billion—projected in June.
“The strong travel trend in 2011 is built on residual confidence from economic optimism at the beginning of the year. While some economies may be more durable—China for example—the overall outlook is for a weaker end to 2011.”
Of concern, however, is that world trade basically stopped growing at the end of 2010, said Tyler, noting that airfreight, which has stagnated since the start of the year, is reflecting that slowdown in economic growth. “We have slashed full-year volume growth projection from 5.5% to 1.4%. It appears unlikely that a revival in airfreight will begin before 2012.”
Business confidence in the manufacturing sector of the major economies has fallento just above the 50-level of the index, which indicates that purchasing managers expect growth to stop, said IATA.
Tyler said that oil prices have remained consistent with the previous forecast of $110/barrel (Brent Crude). “This is 39% higher than the $79.4 average price of 2010. A total fuel bill of $176 billion is expected to account for 30% of industry costs,” Tyler said.
“There are likely to be major variations” in regional growth, said Tyler. “European airlines achieved strong growth in 2011 on international markets but the very weak economic outlook for this region is expected to limit growth in next year,” he said. However, IATA expects a solid rebound in the traffic carried by Asia/Pacific airlines with the Japanese economy expected to rebound from earthquake-damaged levels this year.
“Non-Japan Asia is forecast to continue to expand at a strong pace. Growth prospects also remain relatively strong in Latin America and the Middle East, albeit considerably down on the pace of the post-recession period,” Tyler said.
Tyler urged governments to focus on aviation policy as a key part of their economic policy and not to add more taxes to the industry.
“Governments must carefully evaluate the negative impact of the current high levels of taxation, absolutely resist increases or new taxes, and develop policies that support aviation’s growth with efficient infrastructure. Time and again aviation has shown its resilience. People need and want to travel. Now is the time to harness the economic possibilities that this presents,” Tyler said.
Tiger Airways Fleet Grounded in Australia
Friday, July 1st, 2011Australia grounds Tiger Airways over safety fears Click to continue »
Desperate NZ Government Selling off Key Kiwi Assets
Tuesday, January 25th, 2011“In the worst of the recession, running a budget deficit was the right thing to do, as it gave much-needed support to the economy,” Mr Key said. Click to continue »
Singapore Airlines reported a worse-than-expected quarterly loss as the global economic slowdown….
Thursday, November 12th, 2009SINGAPORE — Singapore Airlines reported a worse-than-expected quarterly loss as the global economic slowdownaffected profit margins but said the outlook had improved.