CAPA News Briefs

Kuwait Airways, via its official Twitter account, announced (21-Oct-2018) the appointment of Kamel Hassan Al Awadhi as CEO, effective 01-Nov-2018. Mr Al Awadhi succeeds Abdullah Ahmed Al Sharhan, who was appointed acting CEO in Apr-2018.

Etihad Airways and Saudia announced (22-Oct-2018) a new codeshare partnership covering 41 destinations and plans for greater cooperation in other areas, including frequent flyer programmes, cargo and engineering and maintenance. Details include:

• The codeshare covers the following destinations:
  • Served by Etihad: Abu Dhabi, Ahmedabad, Baku, Belgrade, Chengdu, Chicago O'Hare, Dammam, Jeddah, Madinah, Nagoya, Riyadh, Seychelles and Tokyo Narita;
  • Served by Saudia: Abha, Abu Dhabi, Al-Baha, Alexandria, Alula, Arar, Bisha, Dammam, Dawadmi, Gassim, Gizan, Gurayat, Hail, Hofuf, Jeddah, Jouf, Madinah, Multan, Peshawar, Port Sudan, Qaisumah, Rafha, Riyadh, Sharm el-Sheikh, Sharurah, Tabuk, Taif, Tunis, Turaif, Wadi-Ad-Dawasir, Wedjh and Yanbo;
• The Alfursan and Etihad Guest frequent flyer programme teams are finalising discussions to offer reciprocal 'earn and burn' opportunities to members;
• Etihad Airways Engineering will provide select maintenance services for Saudia aircraft at its MRO facility in Abu Dhabi;
• The airline's cargo divisions are in talks for greater cooperation. Discussions are taking place to explore commercial cargo joint opportunities. [more - original PR]

CAAC reported (22-Oct-2018) the following traffic highlights for Aug-2018:

• Passengers: 56.6 million, +12.1% year-on-year;
  • Domestic: 50.6 million, +11.9%;
    • Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan: 1.0 million, +13.3%;
  • International: 5.9 million, +13.8%;
• Passenger load factor: 86.5%, +1.4ppts;
• Cargo: 607,000 tonnes, +6.4%;
• • Domestic: 404,000 tonnes, +3.8%;
    • Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan: 21,000 tonnes, -0.1%;
  • International: 203,000 tonnes, +11.9%. [more - original PR - Chinese]

EVA Air unveiled (22-Oct-2018) its first Boeing 787-9 aircraft on 22-Oct-2018. The carrier is scheduled to take delivery of a second 787-9 aircraft in 2018, for a total of four 787-9s and 20 787-10s, all of which are scheduled to be delivered by 2022. EVA Air's 787-9 is configured with 304 seats in a two class configuration, including 26 business and 278 economy class seats. EVA is finalising preparations and securing certifications for the aircraft and expects to put the first aircraft into service in Nov-2018, serving Taipei-Hong Kong initially before extending to Osaka and Tokyo Narita in Dec-2018 with delivery of its second 787-9. EVA will use the remaining two 787-9s for services to Australia and Europe in 2019. [more - original PR] [more - original PR - II]

Government of Dubai reported (18-Oct-2018) the expansion of Dubai World Central Al Maktoum International Airport is expected to completed by 2030, five years later than originally anticipated. According to Dubai Aviation Engineering Projects (DAEP), the airport will be able to accommodate 130 million passengers p/a within the first year of opening. Once all projects are complete, the airport will be able to handle 260 million passengers p/a. As previously reported by CAPA, DAEP recently launched a substructure package tender for the airport project. A contract is scheduled to be awarded in 1Q2019. [more - original PR]

Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) approved (18-Oct-2018) a maximum USD2 billion, 28 year contract for LA Gateway Partners to design, construct, finance, operate and maintain the consolidated rent-a-car (ConRAC) facility at Los Angeles International Airport. The ConRAC will consolidate more than 20 rental car locations in and around the airport into one facility located adjacent to the 405 freeway. It will feature 6600 ready/return parking stalls, 10,000 idle vehicle storage, 1100 rental car employee parking spaces, and more than 2500 parking spaces for badged LAWA employees. The facility will be connected to the automated people mover, which will eliminate the need for rental car shuttles to access the central terminal area. [more - original PR]

Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) in partnership with AIG Travel, released (18-Oct-2018) details of its 'Perceptions of Safety for Female Business Travelers' survey, finding 83% of women reported experiencing one or more safety related concerns or incidents while travelling for business in the past year. Other key findings include:

• 90% say concern about safety has an effect on activities pursued during personal time while on business travel;
• 86% report an impact on booking behaviour, such as booking only daytime flights or a central lodging location;
• 84% cite an impact on where they travel for business;
• 81% indicate their travel frequency for business has been impacted by safety concerns;
• 80% say safety concerns have impacted their productivity on business trips. [more - original PR]

Honeywell revised (19-Oct-2018) its 2018 full year guidance to reflect the strong operational performance in the first three quarters of 2018. The guidance revision also reflects the completion of the 01-Oct-2018 spin off of Garrett Motion and the expected completion of the spin off of Resideo Technologies on 29-Oct-2018. Revised outlook comprises:

• Sales: USD41.7 billion to USD41.8 billion, down from previous guidance of USD43.1 billion to 43.6 billion.
• Organic sales growth: 6%, up from a previous range of 5% to 6%;
• Segment margin: 19.5% to 19.6%, up from previous guidance of 19.4% to 19.6%;
• Adjusted earnings per share: USD8.10 to USD8.20, up from USD7.95 to USD8.00;
• Earnings growth: 13% to 15%, up from 11% to 12%;
• Adjusted free cash flow: USD5.6 billion to USD6.2 billion, down from USD5.8 billion to USD6.2 billion;
• Adjusted free cash flow growth: 13% to 26%, down from 18% to 26%.

The new guidance range takes into account USD0.27 per share of net earnings dilution from the separation of the Garrett and Resideo businesses, partially offset by a USD0.07 increase to reflect the company's improved 4Q2018 outlook. [more - original PR]

Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport reported (19-Oct-2018) the following traffic highlights for Sep-2018:

• Passengers: 3.6 million, +0.4% year-on-year;
  • Domestic: 2.3 million, -0.5%;
  • International: 1.3 million, +1.7%;
• Top 10 nationalities travelling through Sydney Airport:
  • Australia: +0.1%;
  • China: +0.2%;
  • New Zealand: +1.7%;
  • US: +8.3%;
  • UK: +2.7%;
  • South Korea: -5.6%;
  • India: +13.6%;
  • Japan: +15.7%;
  • Malaysia: +12.2%;
  • Indonesia: -0.9%. [more - original PR]

France's General Directorate for Civil Aviation (DGAC) reported (21-Oct-2018) the following traffic highlights for Sep-2018:

• Passengers: +6.0% year-on-year;
  • Domestic: +4.4%;
    • Within Metropolitan France: +3.5%;
    • Metropolitan France to French overseas territories: +8.0%;
    • Within French overseas territories: +9.9%;
  • International: +6.3%;
    • From Metropolitan France: +6.4%;
      
      • EU28: +5.7%;
      • Europe excluding EU28: +7.1%;
      • America: +11.2%;
      • Asia Pacific: +6.3%;
      • Africa: +5.2%;
    • From French overseas territories: +5.2%. [more - original PR - French]

Embraer reported (19-Oct-2018) 134 jet aircraft were removed from its firm order backlog in 3Q2018. The majority of the aircraft belong to an order placed by SkyWest Airlines for 100 E175-E2s and were removed largely due to IFRS accounting changes. Embraer stated that given current timing and uncertainty of the scope clause changes in the US market to allow the heavier E175-E2 to be flown by regional airlines under capacity purchase agreements for mainline airlines, the company has "proactively adopted best practices to align with the latest IFRS principles and remove the order from backlog given its conditionality terms". Embraer also stated Skywest remains committed with the E175-E2 order and its terms are unchanged. The other 34 jets are related to cancellations, including an order for 24 E190s cancelled by JetBlue Airways following its recent fleet renewal decision. [more - original PR]

German Airports Association (ADV) reported (19-Oct-2018) the following traffic highlights for Sep-2018:

• Passengers: 24.3 million, +3.8% year-on-year;
  • Domestic: 4.4 million, -1.9%;
  • Europe: 16.0 million, +5.9%;
  • Non-Europe: 3.9 million, +2.5%;
  • Transit: 25,549, -40.1%;
• Cargo: 418,472 tonnes, -0.7%;
• Aircraft movements: 225,305, +4.3%. [more - original PR - German]