Kan Air, one of 4 Thai-registered airlines alleged by the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand to be in financial trouble, will file a lawsuit against authorities for defamation. Somphong Sooksanguan, president of Kannithi Aviation, which operates Kan Air, said Tuesday that the CAAT's public disclosure of the debts was unethical and critically damaging to the commuter airline's creditability. He confirmed that the airline had paid back in full the THB10.2m it owed to Aeronautical Radio of Thailand, the air navigation service provider known as Aerothai, and THB1.11m to Airports of Thailand. "Debt is part of doing business, but my question is was the money we owed such an enormous amount by industry standards to suggest a financial disaster? The answer is no," Somphong said. <br/>
unaligned
Two days after Ratan Tata's complaint that older carriers were lobbying for protection against newer airlines, his rivals launched a strong joint counterattack, accusing the Tata Group of not conforming to guidelines. AirAsia India and Vistara, in which Tata Group has stakes, were set up in the past 2 years. The older carriers say overseas stakeholders, AirAsia and SIA, respectively, are managing the two airlines, in contravention of the rules, which stipulate that control has to be local in nature. IndiGo founder Rahul Bhatia said: "They are subverting the law of the land." SpiceJet chairman Ajay Singh said the group "is wilfully allowing them (overseas stakeholders) to break Indian law". Sunday, Tata said the older airlines were lobbying for protection and preferential treatment for themselves against the new airlines. <br/>
Spring Airlines has a message for Airbus -- produce more planes because China needs them. “Airbus isn’t producing fast enough,” Stephen Wang, VP of Spring Air said Tuesday. “There isn’t overcapacity in China. For the Chinese aviation industry, there’s still at least 10 golden years, that is 10 years of big growth.” Spring Air, which ordered 60 Airbus A320neos with a list price of US$6.3b in December, said it wants more aircraft than it has ordered because of rising demand in a country projected to become the world’s biggest air travel and aerospace market in 2 decades. To meet that demand, Airbus already has a final assembly facility in Tianjin. Spring Air is willing to take early slots for plane deliveries that might become available if another airline decides to defer or cancel an existing order, Wang said. <br/>
Norwegian Air International (NAI) has delayed plans for new services from Cork Airport in the Irish Republic to Boston in the light of the continued delay by the US DoT in granting a license for NAI flights. NAI’s plans are still in limbo, some 2 years after it applied for permission from the DoT to operate transatlantic routes. Objections have been raised by US carriers and trade unions, which argue that Norwegian has based NAI in Ireland to avoid Norway’s more rigorous labour laws. Norwegian denies this. NAI said it was frustrated that clear demand for transatlantic services from Cork was being thwarted. It aimed to start Boston services in May, followed by New York in 2017. It planned initially to operate Boeing 737-800s on the Boston route, followed by Boeing 787s as it accepted more of the twin-aisle type into its fleet. <br/>
Emirates Airline marked the upgauging of its daily service between Dubai and Washington Dulles (IAD) Tuesday with ceremonies at IAD and VIP tours of one of its 76 Airbus A380s. The carrier began service to IAD in Sept 2012, operating Boeing 777-300ERs. Emirates SVP-North America Rob Gurney said the transition to the A380, was made because of “impressive demand” that had made the IAD-Dubai route “one of our most successful.” Gurney also said Emirates service brought “tangible economic benefits” to the Washington DC area—which he valued at US$326m per year—and across the US—$1.9b a year. Other US cities where the carrier operates A380s include New York, San Francisco and Houston. Beginning July, Emirates will double its A380 Los Angeles service to twice daily. <br/>