oneworld

Qatar Airways, whose state owner has been blockaded by neighbouring Gulf countries, posted an increase in annual profit as it expanded its wide-body jet fleet to send more long-haul travellers through Doha, added destinations and bought stakes in key partner airlines. Net income for the year ended March 31 rose 22% to QAR1.97b (US$538.7m), the carrier said Sunday. Revenue rose 10% to QAR38.9b. The carrier added 10 destinations and carried 32m passengers, up from 26.6m a year earlier. The airline expects to get its first Airbus A350-1000 in 2017 and add 29 A350-900s and 37 A350-1000s over the next 5 years. However, the airline’s ambitious growth plan could be stunted amid an unfolding diplomatic spat over Qatar’s alleged support of extremism. <br/>

American Airlines reported higher passenger traffic in May, with international flights leading the way. American carried 17.43m passengers during the month, essentially flat from May 2016, but RPM traffic was up 2.6% overall. The airline said the 19.9b RPMs recorded for May was a record high. Available seat miles capacity rose by 2.3%, producing a 0.2 percentage point lift in load factor. International routes saw the biggest growth with a 10.6% jump in RPM traffic. Of that, the Pacific market returned a 23.3% increase, followed by Atlantic routes on 13.6% growth. In comparison, domestic flying contracted 1.5% in RPM terms. Capacity growth broadly matched the increase in traffic with American adding 22.3% ASM capacity on Pacific region flights. Domestic capacity was pared back by 0.8% in May. <br/>