unaligned

Wizz Air expects to replace Ryanair as the airline with the lowest costs in Europe over the next year or so, according to its CE. Jozsef Varadi said its rival's costs were creeping up as it flies to more primary airports and invests in customer service. "Our costs keep coming down, their costs creep up, so I think in the course of the next year or so, the lines will cross," he said. Varadi was relaxed about Ryanair's plans to open up a base in Timisoara airport in Romania, from November. "Ryanair has been in central and eastern Europe for seven years," he said, adding he thought there was plenty of space in the eastern European market for them both. "Competing with Ryanair just makes us more formidable as a competing force." As part of its growth plans, Wizz Air floated in London last year and has ordered 110 Airbus A321neo aircraft, which will be delivered from 2019. The carrier will also take delivery of over 40 A321ceo aircraft, between now and mid-2018. "With regard to the ceo aircraft we would finance on the basis of sale and leaseback, but with the neo we would take a more diverse view of financing," Varadi said.<br/>

French prosecutors Monday said they recommended the closing of an open case on the 2004 crash of a Boeing 737 flying from the Egyptian resort of Sharm El Sheikh to Paris as they ruled out a terror attack could have caused the crash. The decade-long investigation carried out by the prosecutors of Bobigny, which have jurisdiction over the Charles de Gaulle airport, found no evidence the plane crashed because of “a deliberate act of destruction” and attributed the crash to pilots’ errors and bad decisions, prosecutors said Monday. Since the pilots died in the crash, the prosecution recommends ending the process altogether. The Flash Airlines Boeing 737 crashed into the sea on Jan. 3, 2004, moments after taking off from Sharm El Sheikh killing all 135 passengers, six crew members and seven other airline employees. The results of the investigation on the 2004 plane accident show the process to establish the exact causes of a crash can take years.<br/>

Hainan Airlines’ four subsidiaries have formed a partnership being hailed as the world’s first low-cost carrier alliance. The U-FLY Alliance brings together Hong Kong-based Hong Kong Express Airlines, Kunming-based Lucky Air, Urumqi-based Urumqi Airlines and Chongqing-based West Air. Member carriers said that under the U-Fly Alliance they will deepen their cooperation and optimize slots connection. Together, they operate a total of 67 aircraft on 168 routes with 298 daily departures covering 85 Asian destinations. “With the launch of the first low cost airlines alliance in the world, air transport market will enter into a new era when passengers can fly to more diversified destinations and enjoy more secure flying experience with much lower air fares.” U-Fly Alliance chairman Ma Zhimin said. Meantime, U-Fly alliance also promoted special launch fares on certain routes. The alliance said it plans to attract more member airlines to expand its route network in the coming days, but there was no mention of shared frequent flier or loyalty benefits.<br/>