Tag: boosted

New Zealand to Benefit from Improved Northland Line

January 18, 2021 / WIL BALDWIN

The re-opening of the rail line between Whangārei and Swanson in West Auckland is a significant achievement and has immediately boosted KiwiRail’s ability to deliver freight services for New Zealanders.

The track opened last week and today KiwiRail will begin receiving some of the containers unloaded from the ANL vessel Tianjin Bridge which berthed at Northport on Friday. These will be trucked to the rail line in Whangārei and taken to Auckland by train, while the rest of the containers will be moved south by road to their destination.

Fewer trucks on roads also means less congestion, lower road maintenance costs, and greater road safety.

It also means fewer emissions. Every tonne of freight carried by rail produces 70 per cent fewer greenhouse gas emissions than the equivalent freight carried by road.

The project to improve the North Auckland line, which was in a poor state after years of under-investment, began only a year ago. Funded by the Government’s Provincial Growth Fund, the work included replacing five bridges and lowering tracks in 13 tunnels in just seven months, to allow the passage of hi-cube shipping containers in and out of Northland by rail. These hi-cube containers are standard in international shipping.

All the new and rehabilitated structures have clearance through the tunnels for electrification to be added later, which helps to further improve the network’s resilience over time.

More than 400,000 hours went into the construction phase of the project, which marked its completion with the running of a test train last week carrying trial hi-cube export size containers. The train ran successfully along the length of the line, following an early morning blessing in Whangarei and by late last week, freight trains were again running.

KiwiRail does not yet have a spur directly to Northport but the PGF funding has allowed us to begin buying land along the route. In the meantime, freight is trucked from the port to the rail line in Whangārei, then carried by rail, south to Auckland and other destinations.

With freight volumes in the region expected to increase from 18 million tonnes a year currently to 23 million tonnes by 2042, rail is a crucial part of developing an efficient, integrated transport system for Northland. Across New Zealand, KiwiRail is working hard to support importers and exporters, and to increase its share of the freight market.

ATR Releases 2019 Results

May 14, 2020 / WIL BALDWIN

ATR performed well in 2019. We received 79 orders and delivered 68 aircraft for a book-to-bill of more than one. The turnover for the year was $1.6 billion and was boosted by a strong performance from our Services.

In 2020, the aviation industry is facing an unprecedented challenge that will last well beyond the current year. It is too early to understand the full impact on our backlog, however we have not had any cancellations to date.

Currently, 40% of ATR aircraft around the world continue to fly, playing a vital role in humanitarian missions and the transportation of essential goods to the remotest areas.

Naturally, during this time, ATR continues to support airlines 24/7.

Cargo is becoming increasingly important and we have developed a solution allowing airlines operating ATR aircraft to quickly and temporarily convert to a light freighter configuration, allowing them to unlock potential operations.

During this crisis, ATR is not standing still. While our major concern is always the safety and health of our employees and subcontractors, our manufacturing sites have never closed, and we have implemented a very strict health protocol that has allowed us to continue critical activities. We remain committed to the delivery of our new programmes, the ATR 72-600F freighter and the ATR 42-600 STOL. The first deliveries of our new cargo variant will happen this year.

ATR believes that regional aviation will resume its activities faster than international air traffic, because it will have a huge role to play in the recovery of the global economy, connecting communities around the world with necessary supplies.

United Lifts 2019 Profit Target on Strong Travel Demand

October 15, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

Oct 15 (Reuters) – United Airlines on Tuesday topped Wall Street estimates for quarterly profit, boosted by higher fares and lower fuel costs, and lifted its 2019 profit target despite the continued grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX.

Chicago-based United is one of three U.S. airlines that have each had to cancel more than 2,000 monthly flights through the end of the year as Boeing Co’s 737 MAX remains grounded following two deadly crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia.

The flight cancellations have weighed on airline profits and costs, but strong travel demand, despite concerns of a global economic slowdown, continued to offset MAX headwinds and disruption in Hong Kong and China.

As a result, United raised its 2019 adjusted diluted earnings per share guidance to $11.25-$12.25 versus $10.50-$12.00 previously.

United shares, which closed up 1% at $87.88 before the earnings release, were about 1% higher in after-hours trading.

Total operating revenue rose 3.4% to $11.38 billion, underpinned by the airline’s three-year strategy to build up flight connections through its main U.S. hubs.

But closely watched unit costs excluding fuel and profit-sharing expenses, a concern for investors, rose 2.1%.

The airline, which is in talks with Boeing over 737 MAX compensation, did not provide any details on the estimated financial impact of the grounding.

Adjusted net income rose to $1.05 billion, or $4.07 per share, in the third quarter, from $834 million or $3.05 per share a year earlier.

Analysts on average had forecast $3.95 per share, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

United management will host a conference call to discuss results on Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. EDT (1430 GMT).

Fellow U.S. MAX operators Southwest Airlines and American Airlines, which have both warned of a pretax profit hit from the MAX grounding, are due to report quarterly results next week.

United, Southwest and American are all scheduling without the MAX until early January.

(Reporting by Tracy Rucinski in Chicago and Sanjana Shivdas in Bengaluru Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and Matthew Lewis)

New Zealand to Benefit from Improved Northland Line

ATR Releases 2019 Results

United Lifts 2019 Profit Target on Strong Travel Demand

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