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Ryanair will announce by around late March how much it will step up its service from Lufthansa's home hub of Frankfurt, CMO Kenny Jacobs said. "We need another 6 to 8 weeks to finish our planning, and then we will announce new routes," he said, adding Ryanair would add routes to new Mediterranean destinations and to cities popular with business travellers. Ryanair has been working on attracting more business customers. CE Michael O'Leary said Wednesday that the carrier aimed to boost the share of bookings in the "leisure plus" and "business plus" categories to 10% from around 4% currently within 5 years. Ryanair had first announced plans to move into Frankfurt in November, stepping up its push into bigger airports and ratcheting up pressure on Lufthansa, which is expanding its own budget flights. <br/>

Southwest Airlines posted a 2016 net profit of US$2.24b, up 2.9% from net income of $2.18b in 2015, marking the second straight year of record profitability for the carrier. It was also the 44th consecutive year of positive net income for Southwest, which noted that sluggish RASM performance is starting to improve. “December business travel was stronger than anticipated leading up to the holiday period,” chairman and CE Gary Kelly said. “Based on current bookings and revenue trends, we estimate Q1 2017 operating unit revenues will be flat to down 1% year-over-year. This represents a continued and sequential improvement from the 2.9% operating unit revenue year-over-year decline in Q4 2016, which is an encouraging start to the year.” <br/>

Southwest Airlines CE Gary Kelly told investors Thursday the carrier won’t offer Basic Economy like its largest rivals because carving up the cabin would only sow confusion among its customers. “There is a huge value in offering all of our customers – 100% of them – a great product,” Kelly said. “We like to say at Southwest, there is no second class.” The question arose on a call to discuss Q4 earnings because Southwest's rivals are offering cheaper Basic Economy fares to compete against ULCCs such as Spirit and Frontier. Delta Air Lines pioneered Basic Economy in March 2015 and continues to expand. American Airlines announced this month it would begin selling its version of Basic Economy in February in select markets. And United Airlines plans to begin selling its version by the end of March. <br/>

Norwegian Air Shuttle said that it will be the first to take delivery of Boeing's new 737 Max airliner, jumping ahead of Southwest Airlines, the carrier confirmed Thursday. Being the first to take possession of the new jetliner is a sign of the carrier's increasing stature among the world's airlines. Norwegian said it will take delivery of the first of its Max jets in May and "then it will take a little time before it enters operation," a spokesman added. The airline has ordered 100 of the jets. But being the first comes with added challenges, as the first operator typically works out the early kinks of a new design. When Norwegian first took its 787 Dreamliner in 2013, its early operations were repeatedly disrupted by reliability issues with the advanced long-range airliner. <br/>

JetBlue Airways earned a full-year 2016 net profit of US$759m, up 12% over net income of $677m in 2015. The airline’s full-year operating margin increased 0.8% year-over-year to 19.8% JetBlue’s 2016 revenue grew 3.4% to $6.6b as expenses increased 2.3% to $5.3b, producing operating income of $1.3b, up 2.3% over $1.2b in operating profit for 2015. Full-year traffic grew 9.4% to 45.6b RPMs on an 8.9% increase in capacity to 53.6b ASMs, producing a load factor of 85.1%, up 0.4 point. Full-year passenger yield decreased 6.7% to 13.18 cents. For Q4 2016, JetBlue posted a net profit of $172m, down 9.5% from $190m in the year-ago December quarter. Operating revenue in the quarter was $1.6b, up 3% year-over-year, resulting in $296m in operating income, down 10.4% YOY. <br/>

JetBlue Airways officials said Thursday they were surprised by Long Beach City Council’s rejection of the airline’s proposal for international flights. The airline spent years negotiating to create a Customs and Border Protection station at the airport. Despite a favourable recommendation from the city administration, the City Council rejected the project Tuesday on an 8-1 vote. “We are extremely disappointed,” JetBlue CE Robin Hayes said. “We’re still taking stock about how we move forward. I don’t rule anything in or out.” The city has a robust noise ordinance for the airport, which sets a limit of 50 flights per day between 7 am and 10 pm, according to Jess Romo, airport director. The airport had about 2.8m passengers last year. The plan was to have 6 to 8 international flights daily within the cap of 50 flights. <br/>

Ukraine International Airlines has taken delivery of the first of 6 Boeing 737-800s, which are scheduled to join the fleet this year. The aircraft will be operated across UIA’s medium-haul route network. The 737-800 accommodates 186 passengers in a 2-class configuration and is part of a large-scale fleet renewal and development program. “As part of our long-term fleet expansion program, we expect to enhance our fleet to over 90 aircraft by 2021,” a UIA spokesperson said. “In 2017, we plan to receive a minimum of 6 modern Boeing 737NG aircraft and decommission 1 737 Classic aircraft.” The next 737-800 is expected to arrive in March. Effective Jan 18, UIA operates 40 aircraft including 22 Boeing 737-800/900s. <br/>

Kenyan authorities have withdrawn their approval for Emirates Airline to operate a third daily flight from Dubai to Nairobi, less than a week after the carrier had announced the service. It is the latest in a growing list of setbacks for the Gulf’s aviation industry and a worrying sign that some countries may do more to restrict Gulf airlines’ access in order to protect their own flag carriers. No reason was given for the withdrawal. Emirates says it will continue to operate its existing 2 flights to the Kenyan city and plans to talk to the Kenyan authorities to try and resolve the issue. A report carried by the UAE’s official WAM news agency noted that the airline was “surprised by the move“ given that the valid air services agreement between the two countries allows Emirates to operate flights to Nairobi without any restriction. <br/>