Iran’s Ministry of Roads and Urban Development has reported that Iran Air closed on a contract calling for 20 new ATR 72-600s and said that the state airline will take the first 4 airplanes over the next 15 days. Plans call for delivery of 9 more by the end of the year and the remaining 7 next year, it added. However, ATR said that negotiations toward a firm order continue. “Similar to contracts with Boeing and Airbus, this contract is financed and besides the aircraft, post-purchase services including engine maintenance are directly provided by ATR based on terms explicitly stated in the contract,” the ministry said. Separately, Iranian deputy minister of international affairs Fakhrieh-Kashan confirmed that the first Boeing 777-300ER ordered by IranAir will arrive in Tehran next month. <br/>
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IAG plans to expand its new low-cost, long-haul airline Level to other European cities, after a successful first month that has seen bookings of the service top 100,000. The airlines group launched Level March 17, offering flights from Barcelona to the Americas in response to rising competition on transatlantic routes. IAG's CE Willie Walsh said ticket sales in the first month had been "incredible" and the airline would be expanded over the next year. "This is just the start. In summer 2018 we will have more aircraft and will operate more destinations from Barcelona," Walsh said. "We're also planning to expand Level operations to other European cities." Level currently has just 2 Airbus A330s in its fleet, but IAG is looking to expand the service to fend off Norwegian Air Shuttle and Wow Air. <br/>
Alaska Air Group reported its March and Q1 2017 traffic numbers Monday, including its Alaska Airlines and Virgin America units. March saw a 5.4% increase in revenue passengers carried by the group at 3.74m, with Alaska up 7.3%, but Virgin America had a more modest 1.4% increase on March 2016. For the quarter to end March, the group flew just over 10m passengers, a 4.4% increase on the previous year. Alaska carried 5.95m, up 5.5% and Virgin America 1.83m, a 3.8% increase. Regional operations at Horizon, SkyWest and Peninsula Airlines accounted for the remaining 2.23m passengers carried by the group in Q1 2017. In RPK terms the group saw a 5.5% increase in March, on ASM capacity increase of 5.7%. Load factor edged down 0.2 percentage points to 85.4% as a result. <br/>
Danish entrepreneur Lars Thuesen, who is 100% owner and chairman of Danish wet-lease operator Jet Time, has acquired 20% of airBaltic from German businessman Ralf Dieter Montag-Girmes. Private investor Montag-Girmes, who has a background in corporate finance, originally acquired the 20% stake in 2015 following a 4-year privatisation process. Montag-Girmes already knew former Scandinavian Airlines CFO Thuesen indirectly and he said the sale, which was completed last week, was “very straightforward.” Jet Time already performs Boeing 737 wet-lease work for airBaltic under a contract that was secured independently of the ownership change. AirBaltic is looking to become the reference carrier for the Baltic region under its Horizon 2021 strategy. <br/>
Pegasus Airlines is forecasting a cautious recovery this year, but expects real growth from 2018. Pegasus experienced a difficult 2016, with the combination of geopolitical events and terrorist attacks within its home country, leading to a sharp downturn in tourism. However, the LCC still succeeded in increasing passenger numbers by more than 8% to 24.1m, but posted a loss of TL136m (US$36.4m). “Despite all the challenges of the past year, we achieved operational growth in 2016 and we are hopeful for 2017, but the real growth will come in 2018 and beyond,” CE Mehmet Nane said April 10. “While the international flight market shrank by 15.5% we recorded growth of 3.9%,” he added. Fleet utilisation averaged 12 hours daily. <br/>
Azul said it raised US$571.2m in an initial public share offering Monday in Brazil and in the US, and will begin trading Tuesday morning. Azul sold 85.4m preferred shares for 21 reais each and ADSs for $20.06. Shares will trade on Brazil’s B3 stock exchange, until recently known as the BM&FBovespa, and on the New York Stock Exchange. The airline was quickly able to reverse the sale’s suspension last Thursday by Brazil’s financial market regulator, just as banks leading the IPO were setting the price for the shares. The market regulator, known as CVM, cited an irregular release of information related to the offering as the reason for the suspension, and asked for a correction for those problems. The CVM didn’t provide details on the released information. <br/>
A US judge has settled a bankruptcy dispute between Republic Airways Holdings and aircraft lessor Residco, a move that brings Republic one step closer to exiting bankruptcy protection. The decision, which related to 7 formerly leased Embraer ERJ-145s, also exposes the degree to which small regional jet values have declined in recent years. Judge Sean Lane of the US Bankruptcy Court of the Southern District of New York upheld Republic's bankruptcy reorganisation plan against an objection by Residco, a company composed of Wells Fargo Bank Northwest and ALF VI. Though the move brings Republic closer to exiting bankruptcy protection, the company has not updated a timeline. Republic, which filed for bankruptcy protection in Feb 2016, had said it planned to exit bankruptcy in Q1 of 2017. <br/>
Russian regional carrier RusLine will increase its international network from St. Petersburg by offering several new routes for the summer season. RusLine will launch a 13X-weekly Tallinn, Estonia service May 22; 2X-weekly Bergen, Norway, service June 1 and weekly Palanga, Lithuania service June 10. Also for the summer season, RusLine plans to continue St. Petersburg-Oslo service with frequencies varying from 3X- to 5X-weekly. The carrier will resume 5X-weekly St. Petersburg-Vilnius, Lithuania, service from May 29. From July 13-Aug. 17, these flights will be transferred to Kaunas, as Vilnius International Airport closes for renovation. The airline began developing its St. Petersburg base in 2010. During Q1 2017, it carried 10,200 passengers from St. Petersburg Pulkovo Airport, up 3% year-over-year. <br/>
Hawaiian Airlines announced Monday its system-wide traffic results for March and Q1 of 2017. Passenger numbers were up 2.6% in March at 943,363. For the quarter, Hawaiian carried 2.7m people, a 2.2% increase on 2016. RPM traffic was up 7.2% in March on ASM capacity increase of 4.5%. Load factor increased 2.1 percentage points to 85%. For the quarter to end March, Hawaiian’s RPM traffic also rose 7.2%, with capacity up 3.5%, resulting in a 2.9 percentage point improvement in load factor to 84%. Hawaiian raised its expectations for Q1 with CASM excluding fuel and special items guidance increased to between 6 and 8% from the previous guidance of 3 to 6%. Operating revenue per ASM guidance was also revised up to between 6.5 and 8%, from 4 to 7% previously. <br/>