Tag Archives: Airbus A319

Spirit Airlines announces a record third quarter net profit, increases 27.6% to $73.9 million

Spirit Airlines, Inc. (Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood) today (October 28) reported third quarter 2014 financial results:

Adjusted net income for the third quarter 2014 increased 27.6 percent to $73.9 million ($1.01 per diluted share) compared to $57.9 million ($0.79 per diluted share) for the third quarter 20131. GAAP net income for the third quarter 2014 was $67.0 million ($0.91 per diluted share) compared to $61.1 million ($0.84 per diluted share) in the third quarter 2013.

For the third quarter 2014, Spirit delivered a record adjusted pre-tax margin of 21.3 percent compared to 20.3 percent over the same period in 20131. On a GAAP basis, pre-tax margin for the third quarter 2014 was 19.3 percent compared to 21.4 percent in the third quarter 2013.

Spirit ended the third quarter 2014 with $588.5 million in unrestricted cash.

Spirit’s return on invested capital (before taxes and excluding special items) for the twelve months ended September 30, 2014 was 31.6 percent.

Revenue Performance

For the third quarter 2014, Spirit’s total operating revenue was $519.8 million, an increase of 13.8 percent compared to the third quarter 2013. The increase was primarily driven by our growth in flight volume and higher operating yields.

Total revenue per available seat mile (“RASM”) for the third quarter 2014 was 12.45 cents, a decrease of 0.8 percent compared to the third quarter 2013. A year-over-year increase in average stage length for the third quarter 2014 contributed 0.4 percentage points to the decline in RASM. In addition, average load factor for the third quarter 2014 declined 1.5 pts, in part due to increased margin accretive flying on non-peak travel days (Tuesday/Wednesday), contributing to the decrease in RASM.

Passenger flight segment (“PFS”) volume for the third quarter 2014 grew 11.2 percent year over year, and the Company’s total revenue per PFS for the third quarter 2014 increased 2.4 percent year over year to $138.54 driven by increases in both ticket and non-ticket revenue per PFS. Demand and pricing strength in the peak summer travel period drove the increase in ticket revenue per PFS and an increase in seat revenues was the primary driver of non-ticket per PFS.

Cost Performance

Total operating expenses for the third quarter 2014, excluding $10.4 million of special items4, increased 12.5 percent to $409.2 million on a capacity increase of 14.7 percent. Including special items, total operating expenses increased 16.9 percent year over year to $419.6 million.

Spirit reported third quarter 2014 cost per available seat mile excluding special items and fuel (“Adjusted CASM ex-fuel”)4 of 5.92 cents, an increase of 1.0 percent compared to the same period last year. Higher salary, wages, and benefits, landing fees and other rents, and depreciation and amortization per ASM were partially offset by lower passenger re-accommodation expense (recorded within Other operating expense) as a result of improved operational reliability.

During the third quarter 2014, the Company became aware of an underpayment of Federal Excise Tax (“FET”) for fuel purchases during the period between July 1, 2009 and August 31, 2014. The commencement of the period in which the Company underpaid FET coincided with a change in its fuel service provider that took place in July 2009. In its calculation for economic fuel price for the third quarter 2014, the Company excluded the prior years’ additional FET amount of $9.3 million as a special item but included the year-to-date 2014 additional FET amount of $2.1 million.

Selected Balance Sheet and Cash Flow Items

As of September 30, 2014, Spirit had $588.5 million in unrestricted cash and cash equivalents. For the nine months ended September 30, 2014, Spirit incurred capital expenditures of $26.3 million, paid $116.0 million in pre-delivery deposits for future deliveries of aircraft, net of refunds, and recorded an increase of $29.0 million in maintenance deposits, net of reimbursements.

Fleet

In the third quarter 2014, Spirit took delivery of one new Airbus A320 aircraft, ending the quarter with 58 aircraft in its fleet. Earlier in the month of October, the Company took delivery of a new A320 aircraft and has six more new A320 aircraft scheduled for delivery by year-end 2014.

Third Quarter 2014 and Other Current Highlights

Added/announced new service between (service start date):

– Fort Lauderdale and New Orleans (8/1/14)

– Boston and West Palm Beach (11/14/14)5

– Houston and New Orleans (8/1/14)

– Latrobe/Pittsburgh and Tampa (12/18/14)5

– Houston and Atlanta (8/1/14)

– Latrobe/Pittsburgh and Fort Myers (12/19/14)5

– Kansas City and Chicago (8/7/14)

– Denver and San Diego (1/5/15)

– Kansas City and Dallas/Fort Worth (8/7/14)

– Cleveland and Orlando (1/15/15)

– Kansas City and Detroit (8/7/14)

– Cleveland and Tampa (1/15/15)5

– Kansas City and Las Vegas (8/7/14)

– Cleveland and Fort Myers (1/15/15)5

– Kansas City and Houston (8/8/14)

– Cleveland and Fort Lauderdale (2/5/15)

– Fort Lauderdale and Houston (9/3/14)

– Cleveland and Dallas/Fort Worth (2/5/15)

– Houston and San Diego (9/3/14)

– Cleveland and Las Vegas (2/5/15)

– Detroit and Atlanta (10/24/14)

– Cleveland and Los Angeles (4/16/15)

– Chicago and Atlanta (10/24/14)

– Cleveland and Myrtle Beach (4/16/15)5

– Detroit and New Orleans (10/30/14

– Chicago and San Diego (4/16/15)

– Chicago and New Orleans (10/30/14)

– Chicago and Philadelphia (4/16/15)

Maintained its commitment to offer low fares to its valued customers; average ticket revenue per passenger flight segment for the third quarter 2014 was $84.50 with total revenue per passenger flight segment of $138.54.

Copyright Photo: Ken Petersen/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A319-132 N502NK (msn 2433) in the new canary yellow “Home of the Bare Fare” livery arrives in Las Vegas.

Spirit Airlines:

Air Serbia launches its new “The new wings of Europe” advertising campaign

Air Serbia (Belgrade) yesterday (October 27) launched a multi-channel advertising campaign to boost awareness of the airline and position Belgrade as a convenient European air transport hub. The airline continued;

“The campaign, which carries the end line: “Air‎ Serbia – The new wings of Europe”, also promotes Serbia and its capital city as a vibrant leisure destination, and is part of the next phase of growth for Serbia’s national airline beyond the Balkan region, including Europe and North America.

Chief Executive Officer of Air Serbia, Dane Kondić, said: “Air Serbia has already achieved strong growth in Serbia and the region. However, if we are to be truly successful with the implementation of our business plan, we need to strengthen our presence across Europe as we connect our network with those of our partners. There is no point in having the best product and service or most connected network, if people don’t know who you are, where you fly or what you stand for”.

The multi-media campaign will include television, print, outdoor billboards and a strong online component.

All the imagery for the campaign was shot on location in Serbia.

Mr Kondic said he was very happy with the campaign. “This campaign is as much about Serbia and Belgrade as it is about Air Serbia. As we proudly share the brand of Serbia, the campaign captures the best that we have to offer as an airline and as a country.It promotes the natural beauty of our country and the fresh, distinctive flavours of Serbian cuisine; highlights a city with rich history and a vibrant nightlife, and promotes Air Serbia as an airline that exemplifies service and quality. This campaign will attract more business to Air Serbia, and this will in turn support the growth of the airline leading to the creation of more jobs for Serbian nationals. I am very excited about the launch, knowing that by making Air Serbia successful, we are continuing to make a significant contribution to the economy of Serbia”, Mr Kondić said.

The campaign will initially air for a month in the Balkan region, Russia, Poland, Germany, France, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland and Austria with the goal of maximizing exposure for the Air Serbia brand and building awareness for its offer.”

Air Serbia:

Video: The new advertising campaign:

Alitalia to lay off 994 employees with the start of its winter schedule

Alitalia (2nd) (Rome) in a cost-cutting measure following the 49 percent investment by Etihad Airways (Abu Dhabi), will terminate 879 ground crew employees, 61 pilots and 54 flight attendants according to Ria Novosti citing a report by the Italian news agency Adnkronos. The cut employees will begin receiving notice on October 31. Previously the beleaguered carrier had already eliminated 700 positions through through resignations or retirements.

Read the full report: CLICK HERE

In other news, with these employee cuts, Alitalia will also trim its fleet. According to ch-aviation, partner Airberlin (Berlin) will add 14 ex-Alitalia Airbus A320s as it goes to an all-Airbus fleet.

Finally the carrier issued the details about its winter schedule that started on October 26:

On Sunday, October 26, Alitalia’s schedule for the winter season 2014-2015 took effect with validity through March 28, 2015.

The schedule will operate 3,650 weekly flights on 124 routes (7 more than the 2013-2014 winter season) and 83 destinations, of which 26 in Italy and 57 destinations in 41 other countries worldwide.

The main highlights of Alitalia’s winter network are:

• the launch of new daily direct flights between Rome and Marseilles reinforcing Alitalia’s offer between Italy and France, and new service to Skopje (Macedonia) and Marrakech (Morocco) launched in recent months;

• the launch of a code share agreement between Alitalia and Airberlin, second largest German airline, making available 412 weekly direct Alitalia and Airberlin code shared flights between Italy and Germany, Austria and Switzerland, as well as many Airberlin domestic flight and Alitalia domestic and international flights;

• the launch of flights replacing Air One Smart Carrier discontinued service between Pisa and Catania and between Milan Malpensa and Tunis;

• the commitment to providing continued and increased service to Albania with a total of 96 flights to Tirana from 8 Italian airports: Rome Fiumicino, Milan Malpensa, Pisa, Bologna, Bari, Turin, Venice and Genoa;

• an increase in the intercontinental network compared to the winter season 2013-2014 with the addition of frequencies to Brazil (+1 weekly frequency to Rio de Janeiro and +3 frequencies to Sao Paulo) and the increase of frequencies between Rome and Abu Dhabi (+2 weekly frequencies).

• on the international network, compared to 2013-2014, there will be an increase of service between London City and Milan Linate, between Tirana and Rome (+6 weekly frequencies), from Rome to Tel Aviv and Bucharest (+3 weekly frequencies), from Rome to Madrid (+2 frequencies), to Zurich, Toulouse, Athens, Prague (+1 frequency) and from Milan Linate to Frankfurt (+2 weekly);

• on the domestic network, compared to the winter season 2013-2014, increased service from Milan Linate Airport to Pescara (+5 weekly frequencies) and introduction of flights between Rome Fiumicino and Alghero in territorial continuity;

• continued service, in territorial continuity, from Lampedusa to Palermo and Catania and Palermo to Pantelleria and Trapani to provide the citizens of Lampedusa and Pantelleria reliable and consistent connections to Sicily, the rest of Italy and international and intercontinental destinations within Alitalia’s network;

During the month of September 2014, Alitalia transported 2,273,629 passengers, an increase of 0.5% compared to the same period last year.

In addition, the load factor in September reached 82.6% (+3.2 percentage points compared to September 2013).

In September flights to and from Rome Fiumicino hub recorded a load factor of 85.8%, 4.4 percentage points higher than in September 2013. This result is especially guided by the increase by 1% on transit passengers in Rome airport with a load factor increase of 2.9 percentage points on connecting flights to and from Fiumicino.

Early October figures confirm the growth trend: in 22 days of October domestic routes from Rome Fiumicino recorded a +5,8% increase in passengers and an average load factor of 79.4% (+2 percentage points compared to 2013).

Positive results also on the routes served by the Milan Linate airport, in the first 22 days of October, which showed an increase in passengers by 3.8% and an average load factor of 70.2% (+3.4 percentage points compared 2013).

Copyright Photo: Jacques Guillem/AirlinersGallery.com. In April 2014 Alitalia introduced this “Discover Friuli Venezia Giulia” Airbus A319 logo jet in support of the Colibri (Hummingbird). Friuli Venezia Giulia is the only region in Italy where the endangered Hummingbird maintains a natural habitat. A319-112 EI-IMI (msn 1745) taxies past the camera at Paris (Orly).

Alitalia (2nd) Aircraft Slide Show:

Brussels Airlines to serve six new destinations next summer

Brussels Airlines (Brussels) next summer season is adding six new destinations; Billund (starting on March 29), Calvi (May 30), Dubrovnik (April 25), Lourdes (May 11), Olbia (May 27) and St. Petersburg (March 30).

The airline issued this statement:

Brussels Airlines expands its network for summer 2015, adding no less than six new destinations: St. Petersburg, Dubrovnik, Calvi, Lourdes, Olbia and Billund.

The flight frequencies of Tel Aviv and Malta will be increased.

New Destinations

As from March 29, Brussels Airlines starts flights to Billund, in the Danish Jutland region. The airline will operate two daily flights, with a schedule that is convenient to both business travelers and tourists, and which allows connections to other destinations in Europe, Africa and the States.

Brussels Airlines also reinforces its Southern European flight offer, by adding Dubrovnik to its network, the gateway to the magnificent Croatian coast and islands. Dubrovnik will be served twice a week. Weekly flights to Calvi (Corsica) and Olbia (Sardinia) will also be added to the summer timetable.

The airport of Lourdes will be served twice per week (Monday and Friday) between May 11 and September 25. With its Lourdes service, Brussels Airlines offers an alternative travel solution to the thousands of pilgrims visiting the French town.

Brussels Airlines adds St Petersburg to its network, a cultural top destination which wasn’t connected to a Belgian airport yet. The city of the Tsars, known for its Hermitage museum, is served three times per week (Monday, Wednesday and Friday).

More flights to existing destinations

The flight offer to Malta, which was launched successfully last summer, returns in 2015 with more flight frequencies. Because of the large demand, Brussels Airlines will set course for Malta twice per week (Thursday and Sunday) between April and October.

More flights are also added between Brussels Airport and Tel Aviv. Starting next summer season, the destination will be served twice daily (morning and afternoon/night flight).

Seville, the capital of Andalucía, will be operated four instead of three times per week and Faro, the gateway to the Algarve, will be served six instead of five times per week.

Brussels Airlines continues its flights to other popular summer destinations next summer, including Nice, Malaga, Barcelona, Florence, Alicante, Marrakech, Agadir, Athens, Naples, Porto, Palermo, Catania, Venice or one of the many other European destinations.

One of the best airline TV commercials (SN Brussels Airlines):

Brussels Airlines Aircraft Slide Show:

Lufthansa to fly to Aalborg and Keflavik

Lufthansa (Frankfurt) will expand its European services in next year’s summer flight timetable. From March 29, 2015, the airline will be operating a new route from Frankfurt Airport to Aalborg in Jutland, Denmark, with 14 flights a week.

The commercial and university city will be Lufthansa’s third destination in Denmark, after Copenhagen and Billund.

The airline will also be launching a twice-weekly nonstop service between Frankfurt and Keflavik (near Reykjavík), Iceland, from May 2, until September 26, 2015. The Aalborg route will have two flights a day with a Bombardier CRJ900 aircraft, with 90 seats in Business and Economy Class. The service will depart from the Lufthansa hub every morning at 8.25 a.m. as flight LH 844 and every afternoon at 4.10 p.m. as flight LH 846, arriving in Aalborg at 10.05 a.m. and 5.50 p.m. respectively. The return flights will land in Frankfurt at 12.25 p.m. and 8.10 p.m. respectively.

The service to Keflavik (Reykjavík) will operate on Thursdays and Saturdays with an Airbus A319, with 138 seats in Business and Economy Class. Flight LH 856 will take off from Frankfurt in the morning and land in Reykjavík around midday. Flight LH 857 will arrive back at Frankfurt Airport in the early evening.

Lufthansa:

American Airlines Cargo and US Airways Cargo today are now using the same air waybill, another step in the merger process

American Airlines (Dallas/Fort Worth) and US Airways (Phoenix) have reached a significant milestone in their merger today as the cargo divisions combined under a single air waybill. The new entity brings in more than $800 million each year and moves more than one billion pounds of freight and mail annually.

The cargo teams have successfully combined 154 facilities and harmonized products since December 2013, making it the first operations division at the airline to be fully integrated.

Copyright Photo: Jay Selman/AirlinersGallery.com. Another step in the repainting process at US Airways is the pictured Airbus A319-112 N745VJ (msn 1289) in the legacy 1966 Allegheny Airlines markings now has American titles.

American Airlines-US Airways:

American Airlines (current livery):

US Airways:

Allegheny Airlines (1st) Aircraft Slide Show:

http://airlinersgallery.smugmug.com/Airlines-UnitedStates-1/Airlines-UnitedStates-1/Allegheny-Airlines-1st

Volaris is coming to Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood from Mexico City and Guadalajara

Volaris (Mexico City) has announced the launch of two new routes to connect Mexico City and Guadalajara with Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL). Mexico City flights will start operating on December 1 and Guadalajara flights on December 4. Mexico City flights will operate four days a week and Guadalajara flights two days a week. FLL is the second destination in Florida after Orlando. FLL will serve the Miami area (see map below).

The carrier is also adding the following routes this winter:

Morelia-Oakland (twice-weekly, effective November 3)

Guadalajara-Orlando (twice-weekly, effective November 17)

Guadalajara-Chicago (O’Hare) (twice-weekly, effective November 19)

Cancun-Las Vegas (twice-weekly, effective December 18)

Volaris:

Updated Route Map for routes from Mexico City:

Lufthansa is facing another two days of strikes by its pilots

Lufthansa (Frankfurt) issued this statement concerning strike action against the carrier today and tomorrow:

Lufthansa is working flat out to devise special timetables for the next two days in response to planned strike action by its Vereinigung Cockpit pilots’ union. The union has called for a nationwide strike affecting all Lufthansa flights operated with Airbus A320-family, Boeing 737 and Embraer aircraft from 13:00 CEST on Monday October 20 to 23:59 CEST on Tuesday October 21.

A first special timetable, valid for the first 24 hours of the strike, was placed on the http://www.LH.com website around 19:00 this evening. A second special timetable for the remaining strike period should be published tomorrow (Monday 20 October) around 13:00. The special timetables are also intended to ensure that Lufthansa services can be returned to normal once the strike is over.

In view of the length of the strike action called, Lufthansa’s short- and medium-haul services are likely to suffer substantial disruption during the strike period. But as part of its special timetable preparations, the company is currently determining which flights can still be operated. Lufthansa’s long-haul services will operate normally tomorrow (Monday); but travellers are still asked to check the status of their flight prior to their departure. The company’s http://www.LH.com website is the best place to do so: since the strike action has been announced on a Sunday, it will be some time before the call centres can be brought up to maximum capacity.

Travellers whose flight is cancelled as a result of the strike action have the options of rebooking or cancelling their ticket free of charge. Customers who have booked a Lufthansa flight for 20 or 21 October can also rebook their ticket once free of charge even if their original flight is expected to operate. Tickets for travel within Germany can also be exchanged for a rail ticket on http://www.LH.com or at any Lufthansa Quick Check-In machine.

The flights of sister Lufthansa Group carriers Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Germanwings, SWISS and Air Dolomiti (operated by OS, SN, 4U, LX and EN) will operate normally during the strike period. Lufthansa Cargo, too, remains largely unaffected. Germanwings is currently studying whether it can operate up to four Lufthansa flights that would otherwise be cancelled as a result of the strike action. And Lufthansa’s personnel are doing their utmost to ensure that travellers – and connecting passengers in particular – can be rerouted via the Lufthansa Group’s Zurich, Vienna and Brussels hubs wherever possible to get them to their destination on time despite the strike action. Customers who have provided contact details will also be informed by email or SMS text message of any changes to their flights.

Lufthansa views the Vereinigung Cockpit’s announcement of its latest strike action as totally incomprehensible and disproportionate. The company also feels that the continuing series of strikes here only confirms that urgent action is needed to review the current strike laws in Germany for companies providing critical infrastructural facilities.

The transitional benefits offered by Lufthansa are still among the best (if not the best) in the world and therefore a significant privilege, the company maintains, and are thus exactly the opposite of the “social slashing” that the Vereinigung Cockpit claims. The company’s concrete offer to redesign these transitional benefits includes a comprehensive retention of current status and privileges and a gradual transition to a sustainable model for all current pilots.

Lufthansa also aims to offer pilots who have joined (or will join) the company since 1 January 2014 the option of early retirement from flight duties. And the company has offered the Vereinigung Cockpit further talks to discuss the financing of the transitional benefits for these newer staff. In response, the company has received no proposals for redesigning the present transitional benefits to date from the Vereinigung Cockpit itself.

Around half of the just under 10,000 pilots within the Lufthansa Group currently work under transitional benefit provisions that only allow them to retire from flight duties at age 60 or over, if at all. Indeed, the Vereinigung Cockpit itself has concluded collective labour agreements incorporating such provisions within the Lufthansa Group. But, Lufthansa maintains, the union is now insisting on provisions for the pilots it represents that would give them benefits which would be exceptionally generous in the aviation industry worldwide.

Lufthansa’s remaining 115,000 employees have made their contribution to ensuring the company’s long-term future and competitiveness in a harsh and unfair global market arena. So Lufthansa does not see the slightest reason why this particular employee group should be solely determined to retain its present status and privileges for decades to come, and to do so even for pilots who are yet to join the company.

Read the analysis from Business Insider: CLICK HERE

Lufthansa:

Gambia Bird is unable to resume London Gatwick flights

Gambia Bird Airlines (Banjul) has been unable to resume flights to London (Gatwick) according to Proactive Investors. The west African airline had been planning to resume operations to London on October 17. The UK government through the Department of Transport did not renew its permit to operate to the UK due to the on-going Ebola crisis. The airline has been hit hard by the outbreak.

Previously Gambia Bird had extended the suspension of all flights to and from Monrovia, in Liberia, and to and from Freetown, in Sierra Leone, until September 28. 2014, due to the current public health situation in both countries.

Read the full report: CLICK HERE

Copyright Photo: Antony J. Best/AirlinersGallery.com. Germania’s Airbus A319-112 D-ASTA (msn 4663) is seen in action at London’s Gatwick Airport.

Gambia Bird:

Gambia Bird’s operating area is ground zero for the Ebola affected areas:

Gambia Bird Aircraft Slide Show:

http://airlinersgallery.smugmug.com/Airlines-Africa-2/Airlines-Africa2-GZ/Gambia-Bird

Spirit Airlines to start Denver-San Diego flights on January 6

Spirit Airlines (Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood) is again expanding its network. The carrier will add daily nonstop flight between Denver and San Diego starting on January 6, 2015 according to The Denver Post.

Spirit returned to Denver in 2012 and has been adding routes since then.

Copyright Photo: Ken Petersen/AirlinersGallery.com. Reflecting the new “Bare Fare” advertising campaign, Airbus A319-132 N502NK (msn 2433) arrives in Las Vegas in the bright new canary yellow 2014 color scheme.

Spirit Airlines:

Spirit Airlines has taken the “Bare Fare” concept (i.e. charging for all extras) to the extreme, even now charging for carry-ons. They provide this “Pro Tips” guidance to avoid some of the extra charges: