Early last month, flight cancellations surged at Spirit as a long-running dispute between management and pilots boiled over. Tens of thousands of travelers' plans were disrupted. Near the end of the saga, there was even a brawl at the Spirit check-in counter in Fort Lauderdale. Up until last week, it wasn't clear whether this setback would damage Spirit's chances of returning to unit revenue growth soon. In an investor update, Spirit acknowledged that demand fell off during the peak of the crisis. However, booking levels are already returning to normal. Spirit still expects to record a solid 4%-5% increase in RASM this quarter. That's down by just 0.5 percentage points since late April. <br/>
unaligned
JetBlue reported an increase in passenger traffic in May of 3.8%. The New York-based carrier flew 3.4m passengers during the month, a 4.9% increase from last year’s 3.24m. Traffic in revenue passenger miles (RPM) was up 3.8%, on an available seat miles (ASM) capacity increase of 3.7%. Load factor edged up 0.1 of a percentage point to 84.7%. For Q2 of 2017 JetBlue said it continues to expect RASM to increase by between 4.0 and 6.0% compared to Q2 2016. <br/>
South Africa-based TAAG Angola Airlines continues to struggle in a difficult operating environment in Africa, CCO William Boulter said. “Angola is very much tied to the oil industry. For TAAG, the biggest single issue is the lack of foreign exchange in investment,” he said. Because of its financial situation, Boulter said TAAG is not able perform necessary passenger cabin upgrades. The carrier’s three 10-year-old Boeing 777-200ERs would need such a cabin upgrade, he said. “We still do not have the money. Cost reductions will continue.” However, Boulter said TAAG’s two latest brand-new 777-300ERs—which operate on the flagship route to Portugal—have enabled the carrier to win market share from TAP Portugal. <br/>
Greek airline Sky Express and Romanian low-cost carrier Blue Air have signed a codeshare agreement to facilitate travel between Greece and Cyprus. Blue Air will offer its Cyprus-originating passengers the opportunity to travel to the Greek islands via Sky Express, while passengers in the opposite direction booking with Sky Express will be able to fly to Larnaca in Cyprus via Blue Air through Athens or Thessaloniki. Crete-based Sky Express has a series of routes connecting Greek islands to the mainland. The Cyprus flight market is heating up, as several new airlines have started operations recently, following the demise of national carrier Cyprus Airways some years ago. <br/>