Ryanair Holdings will extend its network further east than ever before with flights from Ukraine, targeting a market the low-cost giant says has huge pent-up demand while heightening competition with rival Wizz Air Holdings. Services will begin in October with four routes to the Ukrainian capital Kiev and seven to the western city of Lviv, Europe’s biggest discount airline said Wednesday, predicting that the flights will attract 510,000 passengers a year. Ryanair has been expanding into eastern Europe and parts of the former Soviet Union as western markets become increasingly saturated. CCO David O’Brien said Kiev has about three airline passengers a year per head of population compared with 15 in Dublin, where the company is based. “There is a pretty large potential and fewer connections than there should be,” O’Brien said. “Most Ukrainian traffic as far as I can see goes to Istanbul, Frankfurt or Warsaw.” Kiev will get five flights a week from London Stansted, Ryanair’s biggest base, together with three each from Stockholm, Manchester in northern England and Eindhoven in the Netherlands. Lviv will have three weekly services from the Polish cities of Krakow and Wroclaw and two apiece from Stansted, Eindhoven, Berlin, Budapest and Memmingen, 80 km east of Munich. The push into new markets is increasing Ryanair’s overlap with the network of Wizz, eastern Europe’s largest discount operator, though the Budapest-based company closed a separate Ukrainian unit and cancelled many flights there amid a 2015 recession linked to military conflict in the east of the country.<br/>
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Azul Linhas Aéreas Brasileiras wants to raise as much as US$532m in an IPO in Brazil and the US, the fourth attempt by Brazil's No. 3 commercial airline to list in public equity markets. Documents filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday showed Azul put out a suggested price range for its Brazil-traded shares between 19 reais and 23 reais, and between $18.02 and $21.81 for its American depositary shares. The company wants to sell up to 72m common shares, with a ratio of three Brazilian shares per ADS, according to the filing. The shares will be listed in the São Paulo Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange, Azul said, without giving a exact timetable for the transaction. The IPO underscores the growing allure of Brazilian airlines among foreign investors as the government eases foreign ownership of carriers and the economy begins to show signs of emerging from a deep recession.<br/>
Pakistan has barred the German CE of Pakistan International Airlines from leaving the country due to an investigation into corruption at the loss-making carrier, the interior minister said on Wednesday. Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said Bernd Hildenbrand has been put on the "exit control list" (ECL), which forbids individuals from leaving the country, due to an ongoing probe into the lease of planes from a Sri Lankan carrier. "(Hildenbrand's) name was placed on ECL some two or three days back," Khan told reporters in Karachi, outlining concerns about management of PIA. "Whatever I have seen in the initial report is painful. At one side PIA is drowning financially, on the other side some people, a mafia, are sucking it like leeches," Khan added. Hildenbrand, who had been tasked with stemming losses at PIA so the government can privatize the carrier, said there appears to be some confusion within the ministry about how airplane leases work. "My conscience is clear. I haven’t done anything wrong. There’s no question of any corruption on my part," Hildenbrand said. Hildenbrand said airplane lease prices have come down since the deal was struck with a Sri Lankan airline last year and pointed out "all major transactions were made with the approval of the Board of Directors" and according to the rules.<br/>
In its 45 years of flying, Southwest Airlines has been known for its lean operations and vaunted “20-minute turns” -- the time between a jet getting to a terminal and pulling away for the next flight. The airline’s low-cost, no-frills, single-model fleet and mostly direct service meant Southwest didn’t need the tablet-toting mechanics, bag scanners for ramp workers and other technological advances that swept the industry. That’s about to change as the airline says goodbye to its antiquated systems. Southwest is spending as much as $300m to bring new technology to the airport ramp and other operations. That adds to the $500m the airline has devoted to a new reservation system -- the airline’s biggest tech update ever. Southwest expects to recoup its investments by 2020. “We’re looking for minutes,” COO Mike Van de Ven said. “How do I save a minute here, a minute there? In 2017, we are more deliberate in our continuous improvement efforts.” Those efforts have become more critical over the past five years as Southwest has acquired another airline, begun flying larger planes, started overseas flights, built international terminals and expanded service at its home airfield in Dallas. The changes have added complexity, doubling the carrier’s turns to a costly 40 minutes. And this year, Southwest will add $700m in expenses from two new labour contracts and a third under negotiation, according to a JPMorgan Chase & Co. estimate. “Southwest’s approach was so successful for so long that it has taken them time to recognize where there’s room for improvement,” said Samuel Engel, aviation VP at consulting firm ICF International. “Sometimes you look back and realize, ‘There have been innovations and we need to catch up.’” The new domestic reservation system will replace 30-year-old technology this year, giving Southwest the same ability as rivals to accept foreign currency, recover faster from storms, and more easily change prices and schedules. Southwest also will be able to tighten the timing of flights for connecting passengers, which have increased 11% since 2012. On the tarmac, mechanics and other workers will get tablets that receive real-time information so they can start addressing problems in the first five minutes of an aircraft’s turn. Other tools will let Southwest better match airport staffing to flight-schedule changes. <br/>