Airlines & Routes

Continental Airlines reported a February consolidated (mainline plus regional) load factor of 76.0%, 1.0 point below the February 2007 consolidated load factor. Continental reported a consolidated traffic increase of 4.5% and a capacity increase of 5.8% as compared to February 2007.

Alaska Air Group reported the completion of a $100 million stock repurchase program authorized by its board of directors on Sept. 13, 2007. Under the program, the company repurchased 4,113,782 shares of its outstanding common stock, or 10% of the outstanding stock at the start of the program, at an average price of $24.31 per

United Airlines reported its preliminary traffic results for February 2008. The company reported a February passenger load factor of 74.4% a decrease of 3.1 pts compared to the same period last year. Traffic decreased in February by 0.5% on a capacity increase of 3.7% compared with the same period in 2007.

It is much easier now to discover China with the new China Airpass from the Star Alliance network which was launched February 28th. Creation of this new tariff product (Alliance

On June 1, 2008 Alitalia Airlines returns to Los Angeles with nonstop service to Rome, Italy. The flight will operate five days per week and will be the only nonstop service between California and Italy.

Finnair and its oneworld alliance partner Cathay Pacific start code-sharing on flights between Hong Kong and the three Australian cities Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, and also to Bangkok in Thailand. The code-chare flights are operated with both Finnair and Cathay Pacific flight numbers. At the moment Finnair flies to Hong Kong four times a week.

Iberia reported that traffic for January grew by 1.0% and capacity increased by 1.4%, leading to a load factor of 77.3%, similar to January 2006 (77.6%).

Ryanair announced its 26th European and fifth Spanish base in Reus Barcelona. From October, Ryanair will invest $140 million in 2 new aircraft and 12 routes that will deliver 1,000 jobs and over 1million passengers p.a. for Tarragona.

Forward Air Corporation reported results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended December 31, 2007. Operating revenue for the quarter increased 22.8% to a record $114.5 million from $93.2 million for the same quarter in 2006. Income from operations was $20.0 million, compared with $18.9 million in the prior-year quarter, an increase of 5.9%.

SkyWest reported a 3.4% increase in traffic for January, while capacity increased 5.1% compared to the same period last year. Load factor was down 1.2 percentage points to 71.0% compared to 72.2% for the same period last year.