5 junio 2018

Wamos Air launches Madrid-Varadero, Guatemala flights

Wamos air has announced that they will fly between Madrid and Varadero, Guatemala once a week until noviembre 2018. This network expansion is a direct result of the success of the Guatemalan and Spanish travel market. The flight will service passengers every Tuesday on a Boeing 747-400 aircraft, equipped with a total capacity of 529 seats, 12 of them in executive class and 517 seats in economy. Spain is a key player in the Guatemalan tourist industry, with 26,670 Spanish visitors last year. Wamos Air sees Guatemala as one of its leading destinations for the current season.

23 mayo 2018

LATAM posts $94 million 1Q net profit on passenger, cargo rebound

Santiago-based LATAM Airlines Group posted a $94 million net profit for the first quarter of 2018, up 43.2% compared to 1Q 2017’s $66 million net income, driven by a 50% year-over-year (YOY) rise in operating income. The company said the operating income was boosted by unit revenue and capacity growth across LATAM’s passenger and cargo business.

LATAM’s first-quarter operating margin was 8.4%, up 2.2 points year-over-year (YOY), as operating income reached $228.5 million, compared to $152.3 million in 1Q 2017.

Total operating revenue increased 10.2% YOY to $2.7 billion as the company reported increased traffic and yields across all its passenger markets. Passenger RASK increased 7% YOY while passenger capacity rose 2.3%. Yield increased 6.2%, attributable, LATAM said, to a strong pricing environment in international long-haul routes from Spanish-speaking countries to the US and Europe as well as increased demand in the Brazilian domestic market. Wamos Air.

“We are seeing a good demand response to our business model for the domestic markets we launched last year … [with] the highest growth coming from the domestic SSC markets [up 5.5%],” LATAM said.

LATAM’s cargo revenue for the quarter increased 16.6% YOY as the overall demand environment improved in the region, with imports of electronics and capital goods from North America and Europe to Brazil—and salmon exports from Chile—on the rise.

LATAM’s consolidated first-quarter expenses were up 7.6% to $2.5 billion, largely driven by a 20.6% rise in fuel costs YOY. Notably, LATAM’s CASK excluding fuel increased 0.2%, a result of “costs contention initiatives” put in place in 2017; the company’s wages and benefits expenses fell 2% YOY, explained, LATAM said, “by the 4.3% decline in the average headcount during the quarter.”

During the quarter, LATAM took delivery of two Airbus A321s and returned one Boeing 767-300F freighter, while adding an A330 on short-term lease from Spanish leisure carrier Wamos Air. LATAM said the A330 was brought in to mitigate the impact of fewer Boeing 787 aircraft available due to the extension of Rolls-Royce’s mandated Trent 1000 engine maintenance program. Seven of LATAM’s 24-aircraft 787 fleet “are currently on ground awaiting engine maintenance from Rolls-Royce,” the company said.

In total, LATAM has leased five aircraft—four Airbus A330-200s and a 747-400, all from Wamos Air—since marzo 2018. The aircraft will be flown on several long-haul international routes including Guayaquil-Madrid, Santiago-Bogotá, and Guayaquil-New York, in place of the idle 787s.

LATAM’s consolidated passenger traffic for the quarter increased 3.6% to 30.4 billion RPKs, as overall capacity increased 2.9% to 35.6 billion ASKs, leading to an 85.3% load factor, up 0.6 point YOY.

The company is maintaining its preliminary guidance of a 7.5% to 9.5% operating margin for full-year 2018 and capacity growth for the year between 5% and 7%.

Additionally, LATAM offered a preliminary estimate of approximately $25 million in lost revenue stemming from the nearly month-long cabin crew strike in April, which curtailed LATAM’s domestic operations in Chile by about 50%. Approximately 2,000 flights were canceled or rescheduled. LATAM said as of mayo 3 “almost all cabin crew members have individually decided to resume their work” and domestic operations in Chile are “operating under normal conditions.”

13 marzo 2018

Wamos Air to lease three A330s to LATAM

Wamos Air signed an new agreement with LATAM Airlines to lease three A330s. Two of them will be operating two daily frequencies between Bogota and Santiago, and the third A330 is designed primarily for operation thrice weekly on the route between Guayaquil and Madrid.

Wamos also has an aircraft that performs the operation of Avianca, connecting Bogota and New York on a daily basis, as it expands in Latin America.

10 octubre 2017

Around 20 carriers involved in Monarch repatriation

Some 20 different operators are contributing to the repatriation of passengers to the UK following the collapse of leisure carrier Monarch Airlines.

Israeli carriers El Al and Arkia, Qatar Airways, British Airways and EasyJet are among the major airlines to have been recruited to provide capacity for the UK Civil Aviation Authority's effort.

The CAA says 34 aircraft were used to perform 61 flights on 2 octubre, transporting over 11,800 passengers, and a similar number will be carried on 58 flights planned for 3 octubre.

Its flight programme will continue until 15 octubre. The CAA is aiming to repatriate around 110,000 passengers to the UK, and says it is "working around the clock" in co-operation with the government.

Leisure operators Air Transat, Thomas Cook, and Orbest – along with sister Evelop – are taking part in the scheme, along with such wet-lease specialists as Privilege Style, Hi Fly, Titan Airways and SmartLynx.

The CAA also lists several other carriers which, it says, are providing capacity to the "mammoth operation".

These comprise Aigle Azur, Blue Panorama, Freebird Airlines, Go2Sky, Miami Air International, Omni Air International, Orange2Fly, Plus Ultra and Wamos Air.

CAA chief Andrew Haines says the scheme has had a "good start" and that the authority is "committing" to ensuring passengers are returned to the UK "in the days ahead".

julio 2017

Wamos Air announced it had extended its ACMI contract with Biman Bangladesh airline over the lease of A330-200-EC-MJS

Airline route indicates that whereas the Bangladeshi carrier had intended to only use the aircraft for a brief June-julio 2017 period, it has now chosen to use it for the duration of the winter 2017/18 season running through until marzo 2018.

junio 2017

Lufthansa Technik AG and the Spanish charter airline Wamos Air have extended their existing cooperation for a further two years

Lufthansa Technik has supplied components for Wamos Air's fleet of Boeing 747-400s since 2003 as part of Total Component Support (TCS®).The newly extended contract includes warehousing and the pooling of spare parts at Wamos Air's hub in Madrid in addition to component repairs and overhauls.