Eurowings has pushed back the start of some long-haul routes as it grapples with costly delays that have grabbed headlines in Germany. Eurowings will commence routes to Boston and Miami from Cologne in June, a month later than originally planned, a spokesman said Wednesday. A planned route to Tehran in Iran has also been put on hold. While Eurowings is mainly aimed at the short-haul market, the carrier is also offering cut-price flights from Germany to further-flung tourist destinations such as Cuba, Thailand and Mexico. But with a fleet of only 2 long-haul jets, delays have been stacking up when technical problems occur, including one incident that resulted in a delay of over 60 hours on a flight from Cuba. Lufthansa has temporarily taken control of a route to Dubai while Eurowings works on stabilising the operation. <br/>
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Virgin Australia has posted an 8-fold rise in underlying profit before tax in the first half to A$81.5m as a result of ongoing fare increases in the domestic market and better conditions in the international market. On a bottom line basis, Virgin reported a $62.5m profit in the first half, up from a $47.8m loss in the same period the prior year. It did not reveal how much the lower fuel price had contributed to the result, but the carrier has previously flagged relatively lesser benefits from the oil price fall than rival Qantas. Virgin will not unveil its detailed half-year financial figures until Feb 11, but it provided information on its December quarter results Thursday because major shareholder SIA is obliged to disclose its share of Virgin's earnings each quarter. <br/>
Despite strong competition from Ryanair, Aer Lingus has hardly been a failing airline. It has registered decent profits using a niche strategy. But following last year’s takeover by IAG and with new-technology aircraft soon available, the airline sees much greater growth potential, particularly on transatlantic routes. “We had a robust, independent business case,” CE Stephen Kavanagh says. “But we would not have been able to grow as fast. We would have been successful but smaller.” Now the company is looking at accelerated growth. In Q3 of 2015, traffic grew 11.7% on an 8.9% capacity increase. Unit revenues were up 3.7% as unit costs were essentially flat. The airline targets an average annual capacity increase of 7.7% until 2020 at an operating margin of more than 10%. <br/>
A US official said Wednesday that it appears a low-tech bomb was detonated on a passenger jet over Somalia earlier this week. No terror group has claimed responsibility for Tuesday's blast. The explosion blew a hole in the jetliner shortly after take-off and left one man missing. The plane landed safely in Mogadishu. Residents of a town about 18 miles north of Mogadishu found the body of a man who might have been blown out of the Airbus 321. Govt officials also said no evidence had been found so far of a criminal act. Mohammed Ibrahim Yassin, CE of Daallo Airlines, did not rule out that a bomb planted on the aircraft was responsible. The pilot said he and others were told the explosion was caused by a bomb. Had the blast occurred at a higher altitude, it could have led to explosive decompression on the plane. <br/>
Air travel across Pakistan has been badly disrupted by a strike against plans to privatise Pakistan International Airlines. PIA said none of its scheduled flights took off from anywhere in the country. Staff stepped up their industrial action after 2 employees were shot dead during clashes with security forces in Karachi Tuesday. The strikers have been threatened with the sack if they hinder efforts to reform the loss-making airline. Wednesday dozens of PIA's national and international flights were cancelled amid demonstrations by striking staff. Staff are angry at proposals to complete a partial sale of the airliner by July. PIA was once a source of pride for Pakistan but in recent years its reputation has been hit by losses, mismanagement and cancelled flights. <br/>
Emirates is feeling the pinch of the strong dollar despite the reprieve from lower fuels costs, shaikh Ahmad Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chairman and CE of Emirates airline and Group, said Wednesday. “We have currency issues,” he said. Emirates is exposed to every major market and currency with flights to over 240 international destinations South America to Europe. Shaikh Ahmad warned the strong dollar could impact the airlines income this financial year, which for the airline ends next month March 31. “We are a dollar-based company and a lot of our revenue is in different currency,” he said. Asked if the airline was hurting from a strong dollar, Shaikh Ahmad said “yes.” The dollar railed against major currencies in 2015 with the index 6% stronger today than it was in mid-May last year. <br/>
Flydubai will eventually move to Al Maktoum International at Dubai World Central (DWC), shaikh Ahmad Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chairman and CE of Emirates airline and Group and chairman of Flydubai, said Wednesday. Flydubai has previously avoided confirming it will one-day move to the new airport, despite it being widely spoken of among Dubai's senior aviation executives and officials for over 18 months. But Wednesday, chairman shaikh Ahmad confirmed the airline would be shifted to DWC from its current base at Dubai International’s Terminal 2. “We’re slowly moving Flydubai to that side,” he said DWC is Dubai’s future mega-hub with a slated capacity to one day handle as many as 240m passengers a year. It is currently capable of handling up to 7m passengers a year. <br/>