Turkish Airlines recorded a net loss of TRY1.894m (US$644m) for the first half-year ended June 30, compared to a profit of TRY1.035m for the same period a year ago. The carrier had experienced “challenging conditions” in the tourism sector, including a series of terrorist bombings in Turkey, which depressed yields further due to decreased local demand, Turkish Airlines reported in its consolidated balance sheet statement. In Q2, the carrier posted a net loss of TRY656m, compared to a TRY661m profit for year-ago period. Turkish Airlines said lower fuel prices and increased capacity continued to put pressure on yields. Newly opened long-haul routes decreased yields further. Half-year revenue was up to TRY13.5b compared to TRY12.3b YOY, producing an YOY operating loss of TRY1.2m compared to a TRY517m profit. <br/>
star
Such a decision would have been unthinkable a few years ago. But today’s airline business is more hard-nosed than ever and weekend reports in the Sonntagszeitung suggest that Swiss may withdraw from Geneva in 2018. Why? It is because Swiss continues to lose money on its Geneva short-haul operations. And Swiss is under pressure to save money wherever it can. According to the airline’s staff in Geneva, a business plan is being drawn up which would see its operations being taken over by Eurowings with its lower [than Swiss] operating costs. The problem that Swiss faces in Geneva is that its market share is small compared to its budget rival EasyJet. And Geneva is EasyJet’s base in Switzerland. EasyJet’s low fares mean that Swiss is under considerable pricing pressure in the Geneva market. <br/>
Air NZ will spend NZ$100m upgrading its premium seat offering. Air NZ said Monday night that it would spend the money on increasing the number of premium seats on its Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners and refurbishing its Boeing 777-300 fleet in response to customer trends. That investment meant the 3 Dreamliners scheduled to be delivered from Oct 2017 will already have the new cabin layout, boosting the number of business premier seats from 18 to 27 and premium economy seats from 21 to 33. From February of next year, the carrier's entire Boeing 777-300 fleet will enter into the refurbishment programme which will include an inflight entertainment upgrade to match that available in the Dreamliners and an interior overhaul. That refurbishment programme is scheduled to be finished by the end of 2017. <br/>
Avianca Holdings, the parent of 7 Latin American passenger airlines including Avianca, posted a US$23.2m net loss for the 2016 Q2, deepened from the company’s $22.8m loss in Q2 2015. Excluding a one-time gain ($2m) and loss ($6.4m) related to the sale of a pair of aircraft during the quarter, plus a $7.7m accounting loss on adjustment of aircraft reasonable value, Avianca reported an adjusted net loss of $4m for Q2, lower than the company’s adjusted net loss of $24.8m in Q2 2015. Avianca’s total operating revenue for the quarter was $966.2m, down 9% YOY. Adjusted expenses fell 12.1% YOY to $928.6m. Avianca’s unadjusted operating income for the quarter was $25.5m, compared to $0.8m in Q2 2015. The company’s adjusted operating income for Q2 was $37.6m, a 7-fold YOY increase. <br/>