Southwest canceled at least 300 additional flights Friday as the airline continued to deal with lingering disruptions following its systemwide technology breakdown Wednesday. The cancellations were primarily the result of displaced flight crews, Southwest said. “Our technology systems have been fully restored and we continue to focus on getting customers and their baggage to their destinations safely,” Southwest said. “Because this a network problem , it becomes very complicated,” a Southwest official said. Southwest has extended customer rebooking through Tuesday. <br/>
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Kazakhstan flag carrier Air Astana is aiming to boost its connecting traffic between Asia and Eastern Europe by up to 24,000 passengers by the end of 2017, following the opening of a new Almaty-Teheran route earlier this month. Air Astana said it was particularly looking to boost connecting traffic from Almaty through to China, with up to 60% of the passengers taking the connecting services through from Teheran onward to Beijing, China. An Air Astana official said the airline also offers significant connectivity to other Asian destinations, such as Urumqi and potentially Ulan Batur, Mongolia, following the ASEAN Summit in Laos in July 2016. The airline also plans for transit traffic element to make up a majority of the numbers on other routes throughout the Central Asian Republics. <br/>
A North Korean Air Koryo plane made an emergency landing in China's northeastern city of Shenyang Friday after smoke appeared in the cabin. The plane was flying to Beijing from Pyongyang when it made a forced landing because of smoke in the cabin, the airport said. The aircraft made a safe landing,and "nothing abnormal" was found in its condition. Skytrax lists Air Koryo as the world's only 1-star airline for poor quality standards, though it does not measure safety. The North Korean state-owned airline uses mainly Russian-built Tupolev aircraft on international flights. <br/>
Mexican ultra-low-cost carrier Volaris posted net income of MXP935m (US$50m) for Q2, more than doubling its MXP351m net profit reported in 2Q 2015. Volaris said its 2Q results were driven by rising passenger traffic (up 24%) and non-ticket revenue growth (up 34.7%). “These results reflect our ability to stimulate demand with low base fares, successfully switch bus passengers to air travel and further unbundle our product offering,” CE Enrique Beltranena said. Volaris said lower fuel prices during the quarter (down 8.6%) were challenged by the ongoing depreciation of the peso to the dollar. US-dollar dominated costs such as aircraft and engine rent experiences, international airport costs and maintenance expenses put pressure on Volaris’ revenues during the quarter. <br/>
Tianjin Airlines plans to expand its long-haul Airbus A330 fleet to 10 aircraft as it accelerates its international expansion pace. Airline president Liu Lu said the carrier plans to open more international routes to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Vancouver, Melbourne, Auckland and other European cities over the next five years. The Tianjin-based carrier operates one A330 and is expected to introduce two more A330s this year. Launched in 2009, Tianjin is formerly a regional carrier that operated only Embraer E190s and E195s. In 2011, it introduced A320s on trunk routes to slow operating losses. The airline operates a fleet of nearly 90 aircraft on more than 160 domestic routes and 15 international routes. <br/>
Hawaiian Airlines reported a Q2 net profit of US$79.6m, up 62.9% from $48.8m in the year-ago quarter. CE Mark Dunkerley said the results were driven by “moderate industry capacity through the majority of our network [and] lower fuel costs.” Operating revenue was up 4.1% to $594.6m while expenses were down 0.9% YOY to $475.7m, producing operating income of $118.9m, up 30%. RASM for the quarter was 13.06 cents, up 1.6% YOY. Traffic increased 7.2% YOY to 3.85b RPMs on a 2.5% YOY increase in capacity to 4.55 billion ASMs. Passenger load factor was 84.5%, up 3.79 points YOY. Yield was down 3.2% YOY to 13.48 cents. <br/>
Alaska Airlines announced a “significant expansion to the NYC area” that will see it add four additional flights and three new routes at Newark Liberty International. The airline's new routes to Newark will be from its West Coast bases in Portland, Ore.; San Diego and San Jose, Calif. Alaska also will add an additional daily flight from Newark to its main hub in Seattle, giving it three daily round-trip flights on that route. Alaska is able to expand at Newark thanks to the FAA’s recent decision to ease “slot” restrictions there. A number of new airlines have rushed in with new Newark service following the change. “We thank the FAA… for their efforts to increase competition in the New York metro area,” an Alaska VP said. <br/>