ANA and Lufthansa apply for antitrust immunity; Air New Zealand reports profitable first half
Asia Pacific shares were generally weaker in the face of further climbs in oil prices, with WTI crude trading briefly above the USD100 benchmark yesterday. Cebu Pacific shares closed the day 5.5% lower, the heaviest decline for the day. Garuda Indonesia shares gained 1.9%, while Thai Airways was up 1.3%.
All Nippon Airways filed an application with the Japanese Government for antitrust immunity to launch a JV with Lufthansa on routes between Japan and Europe. Subject to approval of the application by Japan's MLIT, the Star Alliance partner airlines will be able to jointly manage their Japan-Europe operations in areas such as scheduling, pricing and sales.
Also in alliances news in North Asia, EVA Airways Corp President Chang Kuo-wei stated the carrier has applied to join the Star Alliance.
China Eastern Airlines signed a strategic agreement with China Development Bank covering CNY50 billion (USD7.6 billion) in financing over the next five years. The carrier will use the funds to purchase and lease aircraft as well as infrastructure projects between 2011 and 2015). CNY20 billion (USD3 billion) will be given in the form of medium-term notes, short-term bonds or corporate debts, with CNY30 billion (USD4.6 billion) in loans. The carrier also issued CNY500 million (USD76 million) in medium-term notes, which is the first batch of the total CNY1.2 billion (USD182 million) of medium-term notes it registered for issue recently.
Air New Zealand financial highlights for the six months ended 31-Dec-2010:
- Revenue*: USD1668 million, +9% year-on-year;
- Operating costs: USD1368 million, +9.7%;
- Fuel: USD394.5 million, +15.5%;
- Labour: USD388.6 million, +5.9%;
- Profit before tax: USD85.8 million, +36.9%;
- Net profit: USd73.1 million, +75%;
- Passenger numbers: 6.8 million, +7.8%;
- Long-haul: 880,000, +2.9%;
- Short-haul: 5.9 million, +8.6%;
- Load factor: 84.2%, +2.6 ppts;
- Long-haul: 84.6%, +1.3 ppt;
- Short-haul: 83.7%, +4.5 ppt;
- Yield: USD 9.70 cents, +3.0%;
- Long-haul: USD 7.23 cents, +7.2%;
- Short-haul: USD 12.98 cents, -1.5%;
- Total assets: USD3620 million, +6.3%;
- Total liabilities: USD2373 million, +4.5%.
* Based on the conversion rate USD1 = NZD1.34082
Selected APAD daily share price movements (% change): 23-Feb-2011
