US airlines continue to report historically strong profits – albeit off their peaks in some cases – but investors continue to be unexcited. They are seeing the year-old trend in drooping unit revenues getting worse, not better, and are interpreting it as a sign of relatively weak – and perhaps weakening – demand for travel amidst a soft and weakening global economy. US airlines are solidly in the middle of an historic run of profitability. That’s the result of the combination of a 50% decline in fuel prices from 2 years ago and improved capacity and pricing discipline following significant consolidation over the past decade. But airline shares currently are mediocre performers. That’s largely because they continue to be viewed, for the most part, as trading stocks as opposed to long-term, buy-and-hold investments. <br/>
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Reports that Bombardier is involved in launching an airline in Iran are inaccurate, the plane maker said, although it confirmed it was in talks for sales as its executive chairman visited the country. Bombardier chairman Pierre Beaudoin led a delegation of company aviation and rail executives to Iran last week, but no deal has been reached yet on sales with Iranian customers, a company spokeswoman said. Aviation Iran reported Saturday that Bombardier signed a memorandum of understanding with officials from Iran's Qeshm Free Zone on establishing an airline. The spokeswoman said Bombardier did not plan to launch and run a new airline, but she could not say specifically whether the company was holding talks to sell aircraft to an Iranian start-up. <br/>
India is planning to ease rules for domestic airlines to start international flights, a move that will benefit the local affiliates of SIA and AirAsia, 3 people familiar with the process said. Under new rules, local carriers won’t have to wait for at least 5 years to qualify for an overseas permit, the people said. The cabinet may consider the new policy as early as Wednesday although an official agenda isn’t ready yet and delays are usual, the people said. The govt is still debating whether to keep the minimum number of aircraft an airline should have in its fleet at 10 or 20, they said. Existing rules mandate that airlines must have a fleet of 20 planes to fly abroad. A change will enable carriers to start flying overseas immediately if they meet the minimum fleet requirement. <br/>
The Indian DGCA has issued an advisory that it could change regulations to allow aircraft up to 18 years old to be imported into the country. The current regulations put a 15-year-old cap on the import of commercial aircraft. The proposed revision has a caveat that aircraft can only be up to 18 years old if it has completed no more than 50% of its specified design life or operating cycle. If it has exceeded that, or has exceeded 45,000 pressurisation cycles, then the 15 year limit will still apply. The DGCA said it made the decision in the light of studies that “have not clearly established that there is a correlation between accident rate and aircraft age up till 18 years.” It said the move was a “cautious relaxation” and that it would apply to commercial air transport jet aircraft [that] could still have an effective economic useful life of decades. <br/>
The Malaysian Transport Ministry is to upgrade the Miri Airport in Sarawak, Malaysia, to handle the increasing numbers of international passengers. The MYR285m (US$72m) upgrade will see the construction of separate departure and arrival halls, and the provision of further covered walkways and apron extension. Malaysian transport minister Liow Tiong Lai said the upgrades will enable the airport to handle up to 4m passengers annually, up from the present 2m design capacity. “The [upgrade] project is waiting for approval from the Finance Ministry. If it is given a green light, it will be implemented next year,” he said. The airport sees more than 60 scheduled flights a day by AirAsia, Emirates and by MASwings. Liow said the upgrade would be relatively easy as Miri already had most of the requirements for international passenger handling. <br/>