All articles by Lewis Harper – Page 28
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Airline BusinessJetBlue is last Spirit suitor standing but hurdles still ahead
When it was announced in February that Frontier Airlines intended to buy Spirit Airlines, analysts saw plenty of logic in the move. The airlines share similar business models and fleets, they observed, and might be small enough to avoid too many complications when it came to competition oversight. Crucially, Spirit’s ...
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NewsAir France enjoys Paris yield boost from Norwegian long-haul exit
Norwegian’s exit from the long-haul sector is helping to drive “very impressive yields” for Air France at its Paris Charles de Gaulle hub. The Scandinavian carrier announced it would drop its long-haul services in January 2021 – formally scrapping a host of pre-Covid US services from Paris in the process ...
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NewsAir France-KLM records Q2 net profit in ‘very exceptional times’
Air France-KLM recorded a quarterly net profit for the first time since 2019 in the second three months of this year, driven by resurgent revenues and high yields as Covid-related travel restrictions fell away. The result comes despite the “severe operational disruption” being seen in the group’s markets, it says, ...
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NewsAir France-KLM chief expects operational challenges to last ‘many years’
Air France-KLM chief executive Ben Smith sees some of the operational disruption in airline markets as a years-long issue, amid a lack of near-term fixes. Smith was speaking as Air France-KLM revealed it was profitable on a net and operating basis in the second quarter of 2022, driven by a ...
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NewsEthiopian Airlines converts four A350 orders to -1000 variant
Ethiopian Airlines will take four A350-1000 twinjets, having confirmed the conversion of outstanding orders for the -900 variant. The carrier’s chief executive Mesfin Tasew had said during the Farnborough air show on 20 July that Ethiopian was in the “final stage” of negotiations to take the larger version of the ...
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NewsIAG orders 37 more Airbus A320neo-family jets
British Airways and Iberia owner IAG has ordered a further 37 Airbus A320neo-family twinjets, as its single-aisle modernisation effort continues. Announcing the deal on 28 July, IAG says 12 of the A320neo options it took in August 2013 – which covered up to 220 single-aisle jets – have been converted ...
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NewsEtihad claims transformation ‘paying off’ as it swings to first-half profit
Etihad Airways claims that its profitable performance in the first half of 2022 shows that its years-long transformation effort is beginning to produce results. The six-month operating profit of $296 million comes with the Abu Dhabi carrier more than four years into a major restructuring programme, under which it has ...
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NewsBaffled Ryanair vows to appeal EU ruling on €8.4m in ‘illegal’ state aid
Low-cost group Ryanair has vowed to appeal what it describes as a “bizarre” ruling by the European Commission that it benefited from illegal state aid relating to France’s La Rochelle airport between 2003 and 2010. In approving the financial aid provided by the French government to La Rochelle and Beauvais ...
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NewsLufthansa cancels more than 1,000 flights as ground staff strike
Lufthansa has cancelled more than 1,000 flights on and around 27 July in response to a “warning strike” by members of the Verdi trade union over a pay dispute. The action involves around 20,000 ground staff from across the Lufthansa Group’s German units and comes with the mainline carrier already ...
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NewsEasyJet takes £133m disruption hit but says operations now ‘normalised’
EasyJet recorded a loss before tax of £114 million ($137 million) for the three months ending 30 June 2022, as operational disruption had a £133 million cost impact. Providing a fiscal third-quarter trading update on 26 July, the UK-based low-cost carrier lamented capacity caps imposed by London Gatwick and Amsterdam ...
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NewsCondor orders 41 Airbus A320neo-family jets
German leisure carrier Condor has ordered 41 Airbus A320neo-family aircraft as its fleet renewal focus shifts to short- and medium-haul jets. The announcement marks another Airbus order win from the carrier, which is already set to receive its first A330neos from late 2022 as it replaces its previous-generation A330s and ...
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Airline BusinessLack of Farnborough order bonanza reflects airline industry mood
While Qatar Airways was doing its best to change the narrative on the usually quiet fourth day of Farnborough air show on Thursday, it remained the case that the event did not bring the order bonanza some had expected. Notably, all the pre-show discussion about a flurry of Asia-Pacific orders ...
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News‘We don’t need to make a lot of noise’: Scherer on Airbus at Farnborough
Airbus chief commercial officer Christian Scherer has defended Airbus’ aircraft order performance at this week’s Farnborough air show by highlighting its announcements across the year so far. Speaking as EasyJet firmed an order for 56 Airbus A320neo jets at the show on 20 July, Scherer insisted “it’s not a quiet ...
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NewsEthiopian Airlines signals intent to convert Dash 8-400s into freighters
Ethiopian Airlines has signed a tentative agreement to purchase two Dash 8-400 Freighter – Large Cargo Door (F-LCD) conversion kits from De Havilland Canada, with two options.
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NewsEthiopian Airlines on verge of converting four A350-900 orders to -1000 variant
Ethiopian Airlines is at the “final stage” of discussions to convert four of its Airbus A350-900 commitments to the larger variant of the twinjet. The carrier’s chief executive Mesfin Tasew made the observation during the Farnborough air show on 20 July, where he was marking the signing of a landing-gear ...
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NewsITA Airways set to welcome A220s and A320neos in Q4, A330neos in 2023
Italian carrier ITA Airways expects to receive its first Airbus A220s and A320neos in the fourth quarter, as it continues to ramp-up operations following its October 2021 launch. The Alitalia successor’s chief executive Fabio Lazzerini outlined the carrier’s fleet plans during a briefing at the Farnborough air show on 19 ...
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NewsITA Airways has ‘very nice and creative ideas’ for Alitalia brand
Italian carrier ITA Airways insists it is committed to establishing its brand on the international stage, even as it develops plans to leverage ownership of its predecessor operation’s name. ITA – which now says its name is pronounced as ‘eeta’, rather than being an abbreviation of Italia Trasporto Aereo – ...
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NewsUK transport secretary says ’permission to fly’ at stake as he launches net-zero strategy
UK secretary of state for transport Grant Shapps has warned that the aviation industry will lose its “permission to fly” if it does not act to address its environmental footprint. Shapps was speaking at the Farnborough air show on 19 July, where he launched the UK government’s “pitch to get ...
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NewsGE successfully tests high-power, high-voltage hybrid-electric engine at altitude
GE Aviation has successfully proved operation of a megawatt-class and multi-kilovolt hybrid-electric propulsion system at 45,000ft, meaning the research programme can move on to flight-testing in the coming years. The tests of the high-power, high-voltage system – including electric generators, power converters, power transmission and power control systems – demonstrated ...
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NewsJapanese start-up Feel Air signs for up to 36 ATR turboprops
Start-up Japanese company Feel Air has signed a tentative commitment for 36 ATR turboprops.