Ryanair is adding 10 new aircraft to its Italian network in a move that scales back growth in the UK after its vote to exit the EU. The move follows Italian PM Matteo Renzi’s decision Wednesday to scrap a planned increase in municipal taxes on airline tickets and a relaxation of restrictions on the use of regional airports, in line with EU rules. Ryanair initially planned to base the planes in the UK. The new Boeing Co. 737s will add 3m travellers a year on 44 routes serving Rome, Milan and smaller Italian cities. The extra capacity will lift Ryanair’s annual Italian passenger tally to about 35m next year, the carrier said. Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary credited Italy’s government with taking steps to improve the country’s competitiveness. “All of this growth would have been lost to other EU countries if the municipal tax increase had not been reversed and the airport guidelines had not been redrafted to comply with EU rules,” he said. Ryanair has said it will move about 50 jets due for delivery this year to markets other than the UK to offset the impact of an expected travel slump after the Brexit vote and the drop in the value of the pound. The airline cut prices 10% in the latest quarter to try to fill seats, a task that was made more difficult by a string of terror attacks in Europe.<br/>
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El Al Israel Airlines reported a doubling of net profit for Q2 to US$35m. Operating revenue for the quarter rose 5.3% to US$537m, up from US$511m in the same period last year. The revenue increase was caused partly by the timing of Passover, which occurred in the second financial quarter this year. Revenue was adversely affected by increased competition caused by the continuing trend of lower ticket prices as oil prices dropped, El Al said. Jet fuel costs, including the impact of hedging, declined by US$26.3m, a drop of 21% compared to the previous year period. Load factor for the quarter was 82.3%, up 1.2 percentage points, even as seat availability increased by 10% on last year. For cargo the picture wasn't as rosy with revenue down 14.6%, mainly due to a drop in yield and a decline in the amount of capacity flown.<br/>
China will limit the operations of North Korean carrier Air Koryo after one of its aircraft made an emergency landing in a northeastern Chinese city last month, and has told the airline to improve training and maintenance. The plane, a Russian-built Tupolev TU204-300, was flying to Beijing from Pyongyang when it made a forced landing in Shenyang because of smoke in the cabin. The plane landed safely and there were no casualties. China’s civil aviation regulator Wednesday said an investigation had found smoke had come from a call button located under the luggage rack on the right hand side of the cabin between rows 20 and 27. The regulator said they had found three problems that happened during the emergency that the airline now had to fix. The airline has to improve training on how to handle such an incident, how communicate with air traffic control and improve aircraft maintenance, it said. The airline also needs to improve training on handling burst tyres, engine fires, emergency decompression and traffic collision avoidance system warnings, the regulator added. China will take “corresponding measures to limit operations” for Air Koryo, it said, without giving details.<br/>
One day next June all Southwest employees will show up for work wearing the new uniforms that a specially selected group of their colleagues designed. While not yet officially in the sky, the uniform collection was shown off in a recent in-flight fashion show during a delivery flight from Everett, Wash., to Dallas. During the flight, employee-models walked down the aircraft “runway” to DJ-spun music onboard a Boeing 737-800 aircraft sporting the carrier’s new “Heart” interior and the new employee-designed galley. That aircraft was the seventh aircraft delivered from Boeing in this configuration, but the first on which the complete collection of new uniforms was on display. The new uniforms incorporate Southwest’s Bold Blue and Signature Red brand colors and were designed by a committee of 43 employees from across the company. <br/>