Ryanair Holdings will double operations in Berlin and add bases in Hamburg and Nuremberg as it seeks a fourfold expansion of its share of the German airline market at the expense of Air Berlin and Lufthansa. Four additional aircraft will be stationed at Ryanair’s base at Berlin Schoenefeld Airport, bringing the total there to nine, and its passenger numbers in Hamburg will double as two planes are assigned to that city in November. Ryanair is sticking to plans to account for 20% of Germany’s aviation market in coming years compared with about 5% currently, CMO Kenny Jacobs said Wednesday. The carrier, Europe’s biggest discount airline, ranks third in passengers in Germany. It’s drawing customers from the two larger competitors as Lufthansa’s efforts to develop its Eurowings low-cost brand have sparked labor walkouts, while Air Berlin scales back its route network to stem losses. “It’s the perfect time to expand in Germany,” with Air Berlin contracting and Lufthansa battling “several distractions,” Jacobs said. “We are committed to Germany.”<br/>
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A plane heading to San Diego was diverted to Denver after witnesses say a passenger started yelling threats. Passengers told KMGH-TV that a man brought his own alcohol on the Alaska Airlines flight from Boston on Tuesday night. When he wasn't allowed to drink it, he yelled, "I'm not a terrorist," and later shouted, "We're all going to die. You're all going to die." Passenger Claire Conroy said that the situation was unnerving but passengers realized the man was just very drunk.<br/>
Flydubai reported on Wednesday a 59.7% drop in profit for 2015 that it blamed on challenging business conditions, including the strong dollar. The airline made Dh100.7m (US$27.4m) in the 12 months to December 31, 2015, down from a Dh240m profit in the previous year. Revenue increased 11% to Dh4.9b from Dh4.47b in 2014. Weakening economic conditions in overseas markets, including in Russia where passenger numbers fell 22%, combined with a dollar that surged in 2015 put its yield under pressure, flydubai said. It also said service disruptions, including flight suspensions and reroutes due to conflict in the Middle East, and launching 18 new destinations that are yet to mature, added more stress. “The overall trading environment has remained challenging,” flydubai CE Ghaith Al Ghaith said Wednesday.<br/>
Virgin Australia Holdings nearly doubled earnings in its domestic division in H1 of the financial year as a result of its ability to charge 9.1% more for the average airfare as it attracted more corporate and government business. The airline, which last week had revealed an eightfold rise in H1 underlying earnings to A$81.5m, reported underlying earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) of A$130m in its domestic division, up from $69.7m a year earlier. Virgin's revenue per available seat kilometre rose by 7.1% in the domestic market. Virgin said it remained on track to meet its target of 30% of domestic revenue from the corporate and government market by the end of financial year 2017.<br/>
Spirit Airlines has been one of the USA’s fastest-growing airlines during the past few years. But it’s also become one of the most-complained about. Now, however, it appears the Florida-based “ultra low-cost carrier” is ready to adjust its course. That’s according to CEO Bob Fornaro, who took over at the carrier just last month after the unexpected ouster of previous CEO Ben Baldanza. Spirit has drawn the ire of many customers not only for its long list of fees, but also for recent operational struggles. Delayed and cancelled flights and mishandled bags have been particularly challenging.<br/>Fornaro said there are no plans to change Spirit’s fee-heavy business model, but he did say it's time to “focus on continuing to improve operational reliability and customer service.” “That is part of our business structure,” Fornaro said about the carrier’s strategy of rock-bottom fares with add-on fees. “The kind of complaints we want to remove is when we lose the bag we don't recover. Or when we have a four-hour delay and we don't get the customer where they need to go.”<br/>