KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 27 — AirAsia Bhd recorded a pre-tax loss of RM662.357 million for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2008, compared to a pre-tax profit of RM450.152 million in 2007.

Revenue, however, rose to RM2.640 billion from RM1.933 billion previously, due to higher passenger volume achieved and higher contribution from ancillary income, the low-cost carrier said.

During the year, passenger volume grew by 22 per cent compared in 2007, it said in a filing to Bursa Malaysia today.

AirAsia’s core operating profit was 19 per cent lower at RM171 million compared to RM211.147 million in 2007, largely due to a 47 per cent rise in the average jet fuel price.

The airline also recorded an exceptional item amounting to RM641 million which related to the provisions for unwinding its fuel and interest rate swap derivatives structures.

This was on view that the restructuring of derivative structure would safeguard the company from onerous mark to market swings, frees up equity and provide a stable cashflow, AirAsia said.

The unwinding cost is estimated to be fully recovered within eight months through savings derived from purchasing fuel and paying interest rates at spot market prices, it said.

On prospects, AirAsia said that despite that the current global economic crisis, it has managed to maintain its strong passenger traffic growth momentum as more passengers switched from full service carriers and used the airline as the primary air travel option.

The airline expects to carry 15 to 20 per cent more passengers this year, to be supported by the launch of new international services to destinations in India, China and Singapore. — Bernama

Source : TheMalaysianInsider.com

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Big loss is big

By Yvonne Tan

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia Airline System Bhd (MAS), despite the challenging times that has seen a number of airlines going bust, has posted a net profit of RM46 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2008 (Q4).

Profit was 81% lower than the same quarter in 2007 due to the challenging environment compounded by volatile oil prices and slowing demand.

Revenue came in at RM3.70 billion.

For the corresponding period, it had reported a net profit of RM241.92 million on the back of RM4.07 billion in revenue.

The company reported Thursday that Q4’s profit was the tenth quarter of profits for the airline after it instituted changes backed by dynamic pricing, managing costs and innovation.

Source : The Star

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Very good since airlines around the world are having losses. Keep it up MAS!

By Harro ten Wolde

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A Turkish Airlines passenger plane with 135 people aboard crashed in light fog while trying to land at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport on Wednesday, killing nine, a local official said.

Haarlemmermeer acting Mayor Michel Bezuijen said 50 people were injured, 25 severely, when flight 1951 crashed at 10:31 local time (4:31 a.m. EST) short of a runway at Schiphol, Europe's fifth-largest by passenger volume.

The cause of the crash was still not clear, Bezuijen told reporters.

Dutch television showed what appeared to be covered bodies on the ground near the crashed single-aisle Boeing 737 jetliner.

The crumpled plane lay in three parts, with the tail section of the fuselage broken off, and a wide crack in the fuselage just behind the cockpit. The airliner had not caught fire.

"We are in the middle of a field now, approximately 5-6 km from the airport," Survivor Mustafa Bahcecioglu told Turkish broadcaster Channel 24.

"The majority of the passengers are injured but there are people who are not injured. Around 30 ambulances have come," he said.

Airport officials said the crashed aircraft was a Boeing 737-800, flight TK 1951 from Istanbul.

The plane, on a flight from Istanbul, broke up when it hit the ground north of a runway at Schiphol, which is 20 km (12 miles) southwest of Amsterdam's center.

At Schiphol airport, 10 flights were delayed and 10 were canceled, but otherwise operations were as usual.

Survivor Huseyin Sumer told CNN Turk by telephone: "The plane split into three parts. We are calling people to say the situation is not very serious but there might be casualties on the front side of the plane."

The crash appeared to be the worst since an El Al cargo plane crashed into high-rise apartment blocks in a southeastern suburb of Amsterdam in October 1992, killing 43 people, 39 of them on the ground.

The 1992 cargo plane was a Boeing 747. It plowed into the buildings, setting them on fire, shortly after takeoff after two engines had broken off.

(Writing by Reed Stevenson; Additional reporting by Niclas Mika, Gilbert Kreijger, Catherine Hornby in Amsterdam, Philip Blenkinsop, Paul de Bendern in Istanbul and Ibon Villelabeitia in Ankara; Editing by Giles Elgood)

© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved

Source : Reuters



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There's been a lot of crashes lately :/

PETALING JAYA: AirAsia Bhd yesterday sealed a deal in London mandating Barclays Capital to fund the purchase of 15 new A320-200 aircraft worth nearly US$700mil (RM2.5bil) for delivery largely in 2009 despite global banks clamping down on lending.

After yesterday’s deal, AirAsia needs another RM13bil to fund 104 aircraft orders it has placed from 2010 to 2014.

It is learnt that AirAsia is also in talks with BNP Paribas to secure more funding for 14 new A320 aircraft whose deliveries are in 2010.

But beyond that, can it secure all the funding it needs to take delivery of all the orders it has placed?

“We are thrilled to have secured the funding. It is not easy to raise money in (current times). The fact that we are able to do it shows the confidence of the financial community in our business model as it is the worst period for the credit market.

“This financing takes care of our 2009 and part of 2010 deliveries. Getting more guarantees for 2010 will not be an issue as our model is strong and it enables us to raise the money,’’ group chief executive officer Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes said in London yesterday evening.

He added that “this financing (via Barclays Capital) and the one (being negotiatied with BNP Paribas) will take us till end of 2010.”

“If people cannot get credit after that, i.e. in 2011, it would mean that the aviation sector will really be in difficult times.

“If by then we are not able to get credit, then we will have to cancel our aircraft orders but we hope we will not have to get to that stage. I think two years is a long time and we will cross the bridge when we get there.

“In the immediate horizon we have two years worth of financing (to see us through). We dare say we have achieved what not many airlines could have achieved in current times,’’ he said.

The signing ceremony was held in London to formalise the facility and it was attended by Fernandes, Barclays Capital, Airbus (the aircraft manufacturer) and BayernLB.

The funding via Barclays Capital – the investment banking division of Barclays PLC – comes three months after AirAsia secured a facility for US$336mil (RM1.21bil) to fund eight new A320 aircraft purchases.

The lead arrrangers for that earlier deal was BNP Paribas and Natixis Transport Finance.

The signing yesterday also confirmed a StarBiz report on Nov 13 that AirAsia was then close to securing a deal to purchase aircraft worth about US$1bil.

AirAsia has ordered 175 aircraft with an option of 50 more. Thus far, it has taken delivery of 56 aircraft and will take delivery of 14 and 24 aircraft this year and in 2010 respectively.

The budget airline is on an expansion trail even though many carriers globally including full service carriers are grounding aircraft on many of their routes in the current economic slowdown.

“We will continue to grow and launch new routes. Dhaka will be our next new launch route. We are also seeing growth from the corporate sector, a sector which is new to us,” Fernandes said.

Asked why AirAsia had a sale and leaseback arrangement with Doric for its last two aircraft deliveries and whether it would do similar arrangements for the current order of the 15 new Airbus A320-200 aircraft, Fernandes said: “Doric was a unique arrangement where there were clear tax advantages. Our aim is to own aircraft.’’

Source : The Star

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That's a lot of job opportunities, hehe

Last week my batch went for 2 exams at DCA Putrajaya, Human Performance and Limitations (HPL) and Type Tech for Piper PA-34 Seneca. Yup, I'm doing twin rating even though I have 20++ hours in PPL single-engine (yea... I know) . Anyways, KLIFA is going to get Piper PA-44 Seminole (that's what they said), so I don't really see the point in doing Seneca rating but since the exam ain't that "hard" I'll just do it.

HPL started at 1100 but from the schedule I downloaded from DCA's website it stated 1130. At 1100 I was still lazying myself (biasela.. pemalas) at my dad's office. Suddenly I got a message from my friend that exam is commencing at 1100. I was like..........
I'm effin' late!! I arrived at DCA at 1115 and got into the exam hall at 1120. Good thing the invigilators are nice enough to let me take the exam (although the supposed time from the schedule is 1130.. hmm). My batch mates were all coming out already, but good thing the exam was what I expected (they never change) and finished the paper in 10 minutes. Next was the type tech paper. Same like what I practised but the answer I got was wrong.....



p/s : I got 100 for HPL and 88 for Type Tech. Mug-ups did the charm :D

Ok, here's the story. Apple's software 2.0 was introduced quite a while now. I, have been owning an Ipod Touch 1st gen for more than 6 months, but I never updated it since I thought that I only use the Ipod for listening musics, watching videos and surfing the web. Few weeks ago I have updated(yes, I'm a slowpoke :P) and was really blown away on what I could do with it. I'll be probably doing some reviews on the apps that I have(just to fill in my blog posts, haha!)


Covered in leather Boomwave and paired with EP-630 in-ear earphones

Solo is an early point in most cadet pilots flying experience, in which they have gained enough trust from their instructor to fly the aircraft all on their own, from taking off, climbing, turning, straight and level, descending, radio call until the most challenging part, landing. I got mine after 12 hours of flying. It was during a hot afternoon and third week of Ramadhan just to make it more challenging, I was (of course) hungry as I was fasting. But, ignoring what my body felt was what I did as(you know), going for first solo was a big thing for most newbie flyers. The solo went fine as the only thing that bothered me throughout the solo was nerves(yessss.... big ol' nerves).

The next day was my solo bath. I did the bath with a friend of mine who also went for his solo that day. Some people don't want to do it as it was downright disgusting(duh.. mud water and "special" ingredients that was up to our friends to put which usually is really really nasty).

Started off with Major Radzi(principal at that time) writing "something" on my forehead for teh lulz.









With this also is came up with the name "The Underage Flyer" as I was 17 1/2 when I got cleared for first solo. This happened 6 months ago.

p/s : I never wore that shirt again :P

1st post.... to start things up, I'll be telling what to expect in this humble blog of mine. I'll be posting about the aviation world, beside(of course) my own personal aviation experiences and also some random stuffs that I found entertaining. I hope I don't bore you to death! :P

p/s : This is not a personal blog, so you won't be seeing me posting lovey dovey things, unless I can't help myself :p