Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary has said that the airline is on course to usurp Air Berlin as the second largest player in the German market behind Lufthansa. O’Leary said that so-called low fares rivals in the country are only going in the opposite direction. He predicted Lufthansa will ultimately close down Eurowings which is “doomed to fail because it cannot compete on price with us”. O’Leary also said he believes Air Berlin will be sold to Lufthansa by Etihad Airways in the next couple of years and that he hopes there will be a price war in the German air travel market. Last year Ryanair said it would begin focusing on the German market as a means of fuelling short-term growth, at the expense of long-haul routes to the likes of Russia and Israel. <br/>
unaligned
CityJet became the first western European airline Tuesday to take delivery of the Russian-designed passenger jet that Vladimir Putin hopes will compete internationally with planes made by the likes of Embraer and Bombardier. The first of 15 Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircraft leased by CityJet was delivered in Venice, the airline said, with the option for 16 more in a deal worth more than US$1b including servicing. The 89-seat Superjet 100 is the first Russian-designed passenger jet to be built since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union in a project championed by Russian president Putin. Sukhoi announced the deal with CityJet last year, describing it as a "significant milestone" for the project. CityJet said it expects to take delivery of 3 Superjets this year, with the remainder arriving from 2017. <br/>
AirAsia X is optimistic about its 2016 earnings after swinging back to profit for a second straight quarter. Better fares, a strengthening ringgit and lower fuel costs during the quarter helped boost earnings, CE Benyamin Ismail said Tuesday. The airline, which had reported 8 consecutive quarters of losses before the turnaround, is counting on rising incomes in the region to spur air travel. “We’ve spent quite a bit on branding and visibility in China and Australia,” Benyamin said. “Japan is our next target to build. It’s going to be a good year.” The airline Tuesday reported a net income of MYR179.5m (US$44m) for the 3 months through March, compared with a loss of MYR125.9m a year ago. Revenue rose 25% to MYR970.7m in Q1. The ringgit’s 10% gain against the dollar in the quarter helped boost earnings during the period. <br/>
UTair Airline is expanding domestic and international services from Surgut to 28 destinations this summer. It launched daily Surgut-Tomsk-Krasnoyarsk ATR 72-500 service May 20. According to UTair, it will add Irkutsk to the route from July 2. The carrier has bases in the Siberian cities of Tyumen and Surgut, as well as Moscow Vnukovo. “Development of point-to-point routes that connect Siberian cities has good prospects. Without Moscow connections, passengers reduce traveling time significantly,” UTair president-passenger airline Alexey Budnik said. Because of the airline’s network development peculiarities in Russia, most of the country’s regions are better connected with Moscow than among themselves. UTair operates a fleet of 60 aircraft. In Q1 2016, it carried 1.2m passengers, up 17.8% year-over-year. <br/>
Norwegian Air will continue to seek more Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft for its long-haul fleet after signing a deal with CIT Aerospace to lease 2 aircraft from 2018. Norwegian currently has 10 787s in operation and 32 on order following the CIT deal, and options to buy a further 10 from Boeing. "It's no secret that we are still looking for new Dreamliners and this leasing agreement shows that it is possible to achieve," a Norwegian Air spokeswoman said. "A larger Dreamliner fleet will make us even more competitive and better positioned for growth," she added. <br/>
Scoot launched its operations in India Wednesday with flight services to Chennai and Amritsar from Singapore. The airline will operate a daily direct service to the Tamil Nadu Capital from Singapore with a 335-seater Boeing 787-800 aircraft while Amritsar would have 3-times-a-week operations service with a 375-seater B787-900 plane. Scoot has already announced to launch services from Jaipur from October this year. On the Chennai-Singapore route, Scoot will take place of Tigerair which has been operating 12 flights a week. "India is one of the fastest growing aviation markets in the world. Guests from India can now fly to...destinations in our Asia-Pacific network through the Singapore hub, as well as onward with SIA, SilkAir and Tigerair in the SIA Group portfolio," CCO for Scoot and Tigerair, Leslie Thng said. <br/>