Copa Holdings Wednesday reported fourth-quarter profit of $88.3m. The Panama City-based company said it had net income of $2.23 per share. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs, came to $4.49 per share. The results topped Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of four analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $4.09 per share. The holding company for Panama’s national airline posted revenue of $890.6m in the period, also topping Street forecasts. Five analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $883.8m. For the year, the company reported profit of $348.1m, or $8.58 per share. Revenue was reported as $2.97b.<br/>
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Deutsche Lufthansa is returning to normal flight operations after widespread software problems linked to damaged Deutsche Telekom broadband cables grounded hundreds of planes. The situation at Lufthansa’s main base in Frankfurt is normalizing, a spokesman said Wednesday. Lufthansa expects the IT issues that affected systems including check-in operations to be fully resolved by early evening. Still, more travel disruption is around the corner. Ground staff at Lufthansa’s Frankfurt and Munich hubs are planning strikes on Friday in a move that’s likely to lead to hundreds of additional flight cancellations. The Verdi services union has called the one-day walkout due to slow progress in talks over pay and conditions for security and other staff. The strikes complicate travel for delegates attending the Munich Security Conference, a major annual event for defense and foreign-policy makers. Wednesday’s disruption, caused by damage to broadband cables at a rail location in northern Frankfurt, forced Europe’s biggest airline by fleet size to ground hundreds of flights worldwide. Lufthansa’s global flight operations center is located on the outskirts of Frankfurt’s airport, so damage to the communications links there ripples through Lufthansa ground IT systems across the world. In Germany, air traffic control had to divert landings in Frankfurt to prevent an overflow. Deutsche Telekom spokesman Peter Kespohl said that since Tuesday, four broadband fiber cables had been damaged at a Deutsche Bahn Railtrack by drilling work neither commissioned nor conducted by the telecommunications company. Deutsche Telekom has repaired two of the cables and is working on the others, Kespohl said, adding the company couldn’t immediately say how long it will take to finish the repairs. In total, Lufthansa has around 700 aircraft. <br/>
As global aerospace savours a record Air India 500-plane deal cheered by world leaders, it is the turn of leasing companies to line up for a piece of the action. Experts say the mainly Dublin-based lessors, who rent jets out for a monthly fee, could play a significant role in financing the Tata-owned airline's Airbus and Boeing spree. They are the out-riders to the planemakers and engine firms that take the headlines, standing ready to buy jets from the airline the moment they are delivered and rent them back - a potentially profitable deal for both sides if conditions work. "The large majority of these aircraft are likely to be financed through sale-and-leasebacks with perhaps 20% of the financing come from the (Western) export credit agencies," said aviation adviser Bertrand Grabowski. Air India had no immediate comment. For airlines, sale-and-leasebacks have been a popular way to generate liquidity and ease balance sheets. Airlines with credible proposals can negotiate bargain prices for the eye-watering numbers of planes needed to keep up with GDP and rising incomes in some emerging economies. They then aim to sell them at a profit to lessors at the expense of agreeing to pay a rent. Because of the bulk discounts available to the airline, the idea is the lessor can afford to pay a fair price and still leave the airline a profit. "It's a cheap and often tax-efficient way for the airline to raise finance," said an aircraft finance source. "Many airlines would rather pocket $5m or so now and pay maybe $25,000 a month more in rent."<br/>
The parent company of All Nippon Airways (ANA) is working to “maximise profitability” of its airline business amid a rebound in travel demand, as part of a newly-unveiled corporate strategy that targets “further growth” beyond recovery in the long-term. In a three-year strategy disclosed 15 February, ANA Holdings outlines its plans to “cover a wide range of global demand” though its airline businesses, which comprise mainline premium brand ANA, low-cost carrier Peach, and AirJapan, a mid-market medium-haul unit due to launch this year. The ten-page disclosure comes after the group undertook a major business shake-up in October 2020, after being battered by a collapse in travel demand from the Covid-19 pandemic. “Now with recovery in demand becoming clear, ANA Holdings sets sight on a brighter future, as we position the airline business at our core and expand into new realms to strengthen the ANA ecosystem, with the aim to shift to a growth trajectory toward 2030,” the group states. Under the mid-term plan, mainline operator ANA will focus on “restructuring” its existing network, resuming and increasing international flights to and from Tokyo’s Narita and Haneda airports. Domestic operations will now only “focus on core routes”, says ANA Holdings. Low-cost unit Peach, meanwhile, will “capture demand from leisure travel”, as well as visitors to Japan from Asia. Story has more.<br/>
ANA Holdings’ airline units expect to expand their fleet beyond pre-pandemic numbers by 2030, with Boeing 787s expected to have a significant presence in the future fleet. In fleet plans disclosed alongside a three-year business strategy announcement, ANA Holdings says it expects to operate a fleet of at least 100 Boeing 787s by 2030, or about 35% of the group’s total fleet. The airline group has a fleet of 79 787s in its fleet currently, with orders for 19 more examples, according to Cirium fleets data. By end-March, ANA Holdings, which comprises mainline carrier All Nippon Airways, low-cost unit Peach, as well as soon-to-launch medium-haul carrier AirJapan, will operate a fleet of 267 aircraft, down from the pre-pandemic fleet size of 300 aircraft. In fiscal 2025, which starts in April 2024, the three carriers will see their fleet size increase up to 295 jets, led by an increase in narrowbody and mid-sized aircraft. At the height of the pandemic in 2020, ANA said it would cut the number of large aircraft – made of up 777s and Airbus A380s – from its fleet, amid a collapse in international travel. The airline group’s large aircraft fleet by end-March is forecast to be 33 aircraft, nearly half of pre-pandemic numbers. Mid-sized aircraft, which includes its 787s and 767s, remains stable at 103 jets, but is expected to grow to about 110 jets over the next year. Narrowbody aircraft, meanwhile, will grow from the current 107 jets to 115 by April 2024. <br/>
Singapore Airlines (SIA) was Tuesday named Airline of the Year in the 49th Annual Air Transport World Airline Industry Achievement Awards. The recognition honours SIA’s swift and decisive response to the Covid-19 pandemic, which enabled it to re-enter the market strongly when borders reopened, said industry publication ATW. The panel of judges lauded SIA’s response to global travel restrictions. The airline raised $22.4b in fresh liquidity - the most by any airline during the pandemic. “In addition, multiple cost-cutting and innovative initiatives kept the company on a strong footing,” said the judges, comprising editors and analysts at ATW, airline magazines Routes and Aviation Week, and aviation consultancy Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation. Indeed, the airline has seen its passenger load factor, which represents the percentage of available seats filled, soar as it quickly restored passenger capacity to capture the pent-up demand in the second half of 2022. In December 2022, the group had its highest passenger load factor in its history, at 89.7%. In January 2023, its passenger load factor was 85.9%.<br/>