Régional

With the American regional aviation model broken, consolidation is the answer

The old regional airline, capacity-purchase model is well and truly broken and airlines must evolve to find a more profitable model, Dahlman Rose analyst Helane Becker said in her latest briefing in a harsh evaluation of the sector based on losses and current efforts to restructure.

Regionals have been evolving, expanding capacity purchase portfolios or acquiring branded operations such as Republic’s acquisition of Midwest and Frontier to form Frontier Airlines. Even so, that doesn’t seem enough simply because they are still so many aircraft in a vastly shrinking regional airline system.

IATA notes speed bump in a gradual post recession traffic improvement

Air traffic growth softened in Jun-2011, under pressure from rising jet fuel prices and higher tax rates in some countries. However, the trend for passenger travel remains upwards, but at a slower pace than the post recession rebound, which was at an annual rate close to 10%, IATA noted.

Premium traffic improves but outlook less than clear: IATA

Global premium travel rose 9.5% year-on-year in May-2011, but concern about slowing economic activity in key premium travel markets in North America and Europe, combined with a steady deterioration in business confidence, leave reason for caution. IATA has warned that the latest monthly growth may be exaggerating the underlying rate of growth and a significant fall-back to lower rates could bee seen in the Jun-2011 data.

Chinese airlines report decline in cargo volumes in May-2011

The spectacular rebound in China’s airfreight demand of 2009 and 2010 has slowed notably in 2011. Chinese mainland airlines reported year-on-year declines in cargo volumes in May-2011, marking the second month of year-on-year reductions so far this year. The two reductions in 2011 follow a period of continuous cargo growth that commenced in Jun-2009, as the country’s manufacturing sector recovered at a cracking pace after the global financial downturn.

Tibet Airlines preparing for Jul-2011 launch; CAAC sets limit of three new airline approvals p/a

Tibet Airlines, Tibet’s first airline, on 20-Jun-2011 received its public air carrier's licence from CAAC, after receiving approval from the aviation authority in Mar-2010. Tibet Airlines will be the first and only airline based in Lhasa when it launches operations next month and will benefit from the booming Tibet market.