Aviation Industry (incl Maintenance) 01 (Dec 08 - May 20)

[winston]

Landing row sparks air safety probe

Chinese civil aviation authorities are investigating claims that a domestic airline refused to make way for a Qatar Airways jet that was low on fuel at Shanghai's Hongqiao Airport.

Source: SCMP

[winston]

Air disaster narrowly averted in China: report

A Chinese pilot's refusal to give up his landing slot to a passenger plane that issued a distress call to say it was running out of fuel almost caused a disaster, state media reported Thursday.

China's privately-owned Juneyao Airlines confirmed that one of its pilots refused to give way when a Qatar Airways plane contacted air traffic controllers at Hongqiao airport, asking permission to land immediately.

The pilot of the Qatar plane said it had just five minutes' worth of fuel left after it was diverted from Shanghai, the Global Times newspaper reported, adding that a disastrous accident was only narrowly averted.

The Qatar plane was travelling from Doha to Shanghai when it was ordered to divert due to a thunderstorm on August 13.

Air traffic controllers in Hongqiao, about 45 kilometres (30 miles) from Shanghai, ordered the Juneyao pilot to circle the airport and allow the Qatar plane to land first, but the pilot refused.

The Global Times said the Juneyao pilot claimed he had been waiting "a long time" and needed to land "right now", citing comments posted online.

Shanghai-based Juneyao Airlines, which was founded in 2005, said the pilot and crew had been suspended pending the outcome of the investigation, but that the "rumours on the Internet are far from the truth".

"It remains doubtful whether the fuel on the Qatar Airways plane was really fewer than five minutes," the paper quoted a spokeswoman as saying.

"And why didn't it inform the tower controller earlier?"

At one point, the two aircraft came perilously close for there to be a risk of collision, according to an aviation forum quoted in The Global Times.

"A Mayday is rare and means the plane is in an extreme emergency and may even face the danger of a crash," the paper quoted an unnamed senior air traffic control official as saying.

China's civil aviation authority said in a statement it was investigating the incident and those responsible would be "severely punished".

The Qatar plane landed safely after the incident.

Source: AFP Asian Edition

[winston]

China Airlines

Not vested.

not sure i agree with their analysis as the RMB is stong, Oil is low and Chinese Tourism is growing ..

And GS has a Buy on Air China today.

DJ MARKET TALK: UOB Takes Bearish View On Mainland Airlines

1104 [Dow Jones] STOCK CALL: UOB KayHian cuts China Southern Airlines (1055.HK) to Sell from Buy, Air China (0753.HK) and China Eastern Airlines (0670.HK) to Sell from Hold, with a sector Underweight rating.

It says the downgrades were mainly due to a weaker cargo outlook, slower-than-expected international passenger yield growth, and high non-fuel operating cost for CEA.

UOB says CEA is its least preferred among the three as it will be most vulnerable to a slowdown in cargo traffic and it has the highest operating cost among the three.

As for CSA, UOB says almost half of its earnings depend on exchange gains. The house's target prices on CSA/Air China/CEA are HK$5.03/HK$8.02/HK$3.60. CSA is up 1.0% at HK$5.08, A

Air China is down 0.4% at HK$7.99, CEA is flat at HK$3.60.


Source: Dow Jones Newswire

[winston]

China will need 5,000 new planes by 2030: Boeing

US aviation giant Boeing said on Wednesday it estimated China would need 5,000 new planes worth $600 billion by 2030, as growing wealth among the middle class triggers an air travel boom.

http://www.newsmeat.com/news/meat.php?a ... &buid=3281

[winston]

On History Channel now ...

Predator Drone



Costs only US$4.5m each

Armed with 2 hell-fire missiles that can take out a tank.

It can fly up to 400 nautical miles (740 km) to a target, loiter overhead for 14 hours, then return to its base.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_At ... 1_Predator

[winston]

HKIA Passenger Traffic

Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) announced that passenger traffic in August grew 6.5 percent from a year ago to a record high of about 4.69 million passengers.

Source: WEN WEI PO

[winston]

The One Industry Poised to Profit Most from Lower Oil Prices
By Jeff Clark
Thursday, September 22, 2011


Running an airline has never been a good business.

There are high labor costs, high fuel costs, large capitalization expenses, tons of regulations, and intense competition. If you add up all the cumulative earnings of all the airline companies ever, you come up with a negative number.

Sure, there have been a few years when the airlines have turned a profit. But those years pale in comparison to the decades of red-ink-stained income statements.

So… could it really be different for airlines this time?

Well, airlines have done a bang-up job getting expenses under control and squeezing every last penny out of the typical traveler. Think about it…

Ticket prices are high. We pay an additional fee to sit in an exit row or near the front of the plane for extra leg room. We buy the airline food. We rent pillows and blankets.

Airlines have closed unpopular routes. They routinely cancel flights and cram those passengers into unfilled seats on later flights. They charge exorbitant fees for anyone who dares to change their own flights.

For the typical passenger, airline travel is miserable. But for the airline industry, misery equals profit. We put up with the high fees, the no frills, and the runaround we get at the airport because there is no faster way to get from here to there. We have to fly. We are captive customers.

The airlines have finally figured that out. All the cutbacks in services and all the extra fees flow right through to the bottom line.

Yet profits have still been inconsistent – at best – because there's one major cost the airlines can't directly control… oil.

Fuel is the No. 1 expense of the airline industry. At $90 per barrel for oil, it doesn't matter how many expenses get cut back or how much extra revenue gets raised for incidental items. Airlines aren't going to make money. The price of fuel is just too expensive.

But as the price of oil comes down, the new, lean, mean airline industry should become a profit-producing machine. Oil is already down sharply from its late-April high above $110 per barrel. And based on the following chart, it could easily fall another 20% over the next few months…

Oil bumped up against resistance last week at about $90 per barrel and turned back lower. Now, the price is headed down toward support at $80. If that level doesn't hold, it could be a quick trip down to the next support line at $70.

Lower oil prices are good all around for most industries. But there's no industry more poised to benefit from a drop in the price of oil than airlines. If and when oil drops below $80 per barrel, airline profits should soar.

As a general rule, airlines have almost always been bad investments. But if the price of oil keeps falling, the stocks may make for a good trade.

Source: Growth Stock Wire

[winston]

IT'S HARD TO BELIEVE, BUT AIRLINES ARE RALLYING

Despite the increasing chances of a U.S. recession… despite the euro debt crisis… and despite being some of the worst businesses in the world, airline stocks are actually rallying.

Earlier this month, we noted how airlines sport razor-thin profit margins, are subject to wild swings in fuel costs, and require lots of capital expenditures to stay running. This makes them horrible long-term investments.

But from a trading viewpoint, it's worth noting that airlines go through big "boom and bust" cycles. These cycles can be traded for big profits.

Airlines spent this summer in "bust mode." Most of the big airlines lost 30%-50% of their share values in just a few months. But the sector has recently "dug in" a tradable bottom… and could be due for a "bad to less bad" rally.

In our initial write-up, we displayed a chart of Southwest Airlines (LUV) and noted shares had put in at least a short-term bottom.

Today, we note how LUV's competitor, US Airways, sports a similar bottom… and just reached its highest high in over a month. It's a "hard trade" to buy airlines right now… which leads us to expect profits ahead.

Source: Daily Wealth

[winston]

not vested

DJ MARKET TALK: China Airline Shrs Sharply Down; CNY Weakness Weighs

1427 [Dow Jones] Shares of China-based airline companies are sharply lower, on concerns over the weakening economic outlook, while recent weakness in the Chinese yuan (the USD/CNY spot rate hit its upside limit for the third straight session today) has also led to a selloff in these stocks, as these companies have high proportions of U.S. dollar-demoninated debts, says UOB KayHian sales director Steven Leung.

"These stocks are likely to fall further if the Chinese yuan remains weak ahead."

News that China opposes the European Union's plan to include airlines in its system to limit greenhouse-gas emissions, is likely taken as neutral as no immediate impact expected from this going forward, he adds.

Within the sector, China Eastern Airlines (0670.HK) is down 8.1% at HK$2.50, China Southern Airlines (1055.HK) is down 8.4% at HK$3.72 and Air China (0753.HK) is down 8.8% at HK$5.48.

Source: Dow Jones Newswire

[winston]

China Airlines Up; Aug Passengers Growth, Higher CNY