Airline Finance News - Europe

AirGuide Business, Sept 1, 2008

Sep 1, 2008

Aegean Airlines

Aegean Airlines traffic rose 19% year-over-year to 1.8 billion RPKs on a 19% increase in capacity to 2.7 billion ASKs. Load factor was up 0.5 point to 67%. Unit revenue and yield each rose 6% to 9.7 euro cents and 14.4 euro cents respectively, while unit cost climbed 7% to 9.4 euro cents. CASK excluding fuel was down 1%. Gerogiannis warned that the impact of adverse economic conditions and high oil prices will be "more intense" in Aegean's second half. "Nevertheless, the company is confident of maintaining positive profitability and strong cash flows for the year and plans to continue its gradual expansion plans to solidify its position in the market," he said. It will take delivery of two more A320s by year end, six A320s and two A321s in 2009 and six A320s in 2010. Its 737-300s/400s should be phased out by mid-2009. Aug 28, 2008

Aegean Airlines

Aegean Airlines of Greece said on Tuesday first-half net profit fell 13 percent to EUR 5.5 million euros (USD$8.1 million), hurt by high fuel costs. Aegean, which competes with state-owned Olympic Airlines, said it carried 2.6 million passengers in the first half, up 13 percent year-on-year. Passengers on domestic flights rose 8 percent and by 24 percent on international routes. He said the impact of adverse economic conditions and high oil prices on Aegean's financial results would be more intense in the second half of 2008. The airline has been renewing its fleet and wants to add more destinations. It went public in 2007. Its shares have fallen 43.8 since the start of the year, underperforming the broader Greek market which is down 37 percent. Aug 27, 2008

Aer Lingus

Aer Lingus first-half passenger numbers grew 10.5% to 4.4 million, comprising a 9.5% increase on long-haul and a 10.6% lift on short-haul. Average fare fell 2.6% to EUR110.43. Load factor lost 5.1 points to 70.2%, with a 10.2-point decrease on its long-haul network to 67.7% and a 1.4-point drop on short-haul routes to 72.2%. Long-haul RPKs rose 14.5% against a 31.4% gain in ASKs, while short-haul traffic grew 16.5% on an 18.8% capacity hike. Aug 29, 2008

Aer Lingus

AerLingus, citing unprecedented fuel cost Aer s, slowing economic growth in its main markets and weakness in the US dollar and UK pound, Aer Lingus reported a net loss of EUR20.6 million ($30.3 million) for the first half of 2008, reversed from a EUR6.8 million profit in the year-ago semester. Revenue rose 10.2% year-on-year to EUR633 million while operating costs increased 14.6% to EUR655.2 million, with fuel costs soaring 48.7% to EUR172.4 million in spite of hedging savings and dollar weakness. Fuel represented 26.3% of total costs in the period, up 6 points. Operating loss was EUR22.3 million, reversing a profit of EUR2.6 million in the first half of 2007. Aug 29, 2008

Air France KLM

Air France KLM, which bid unsuccessfully for Alitalia in the spring, is willing to take a stake in an ongoing reorganization effort. "If it can be confirmed that the new company will be profitable, Air France KLM is ready to take out a minority stake in the new company's capital alongside the investors identified by the Intesa Sanpaolo bank," the group said in a statement yesterday. Air France KLM's interest coincided with Italian media reports that the government had amended its bankruptcy laws, paving the way for implementation of Intesa's rescue plan. The government's adviser reportedly is proposing to spin off Alitalia's loss-making units and place them under bankruptcy protection and simultaneously create a new entity, dubbed Newco, for the airline. Sixteen Italian investors have indicated their willingness to inject up to EUR1 billion in Newco, which would combine a much smaller and restructured Alitalia with privately held Air One, according to the reports. Alitalia management is scheduled to be briefed on the rescue plan today. Aug 29, 2008

AirBerlin

AirBerlin consolidated second-quarter revenue, which includes LTU and Belair, rose 6.7% to EUR869.5 million while expenses escalated 8.6% to EUR744.5 million. AB said operating EBITAR was EUR132.2 million, down 3.2% from EUR136.6 million last year. Traffic decreased 0.9% to 11.71 billion RPKs on a 4.3% lowering of capacity to 14.59 billion ASKs, producing a load factor of 80.3%, down 2.8 points. Yield increased 12.2% to 5.44 euro cents. Aug 29, 2008

AirBerlin

AirBerlin's second-quarter net profit rose 38.3% to EUR8.3 million ($12.2 million) compared to EUR6 million in the year-ago period if the 2007 results of LTU, AB's acquisition of which was approved in last year's third quarter, are included. In a letter to shareholders, he pointed to AirBerlin's fuel hedging program to explain how the carrier has "been able to handle the extreme price hikes for aviation fuel far better than some of our competitors." The German LCC has said that 88% of its fuel is hedged for 2008. Hunold claimed that owing to hedging, AB's fuel costs rose just 10% over the last 12 months as fuel prices doubled. Aug 29, 2008