Ryanair is in talks with Boeing about the possibility of acquiring more planes. Its CMO, Kenny Jacobs, said that the company likes the 737 Max 200 “a lot”. Ryanair has ordered 100 of those craft and has said several times that it will take up an option to buy a further 100. This will bring its fleet to 520 by 2024, when the airline believes it will fly more than 160m people. Ryanair uses 737-800s, of which it has more than 300. It has 183 more on order. Ryanair’s Boeing 737-800s can carry 189 passengers; the Max can carry close to 200. Its CE Michael O’Leary recently said that it was considering buying small numbers of extra craft from Boeing. Ryanair is understood to have regular contacts with the manufacturer. Jacobs also called on the EU and the UK to draw up a new bilateral aviation agreement this year, to prepare for a soft Brexit. <br/>
unaligned
The UK govt’s possible shift to a softer position on Brexit that would prioritise the economy over immigration curbs has failed to assuage concerns at Ryanair and EasyJet about the impact of the split from the EU. Europe’s top budget airlines called on politicians to make aviation a key focus when formal Brexit talks start next week. As things stand, Britain will exit an accord granting EU carriers free movement across the bloc, forcing the industry to fall back on restrictive bilateral deals and potentially grounding flights, Ryanair warned, even if both carriers labelled as “positive” a potential change in prime minister Theresa May’s stance after losing her parliamentary majority. “A softer Brexit doesn’t guarantee the continuation of open skies,” Kenny Jacobs, Ryanair’s marketing chief, said. <br/>
EasyJet passengers can now travel like billionaires – at least to as far as the steps of the plane – following the launch of a new venture to allow the airline’s customers to use the private jet terminal and facilities at Luton airport. Passengers can pay GBP475 to be checked in and clear security while relaxing in a luxury lounge, before being driven across the airfield to the plane in a private car and returning to bleak reality on-board. The partnership will allow passengers travelling from the headquarters of the airline to use Luton’s new Signature terminal, opened in Dec 2016. Whether passengers who may have booked flights for as little as GBP9.49 will think GBP475 is a price worth paying to effectively bypass Luton airport remains to be seen. <br/>
EasyJet could look at buying more Airbus A321neo aircraft instead of smaller A320neos, the carrier's CE said Wednesday, as the firm tries to reduce costs and increase capacity on busy European routes. EasyJet announced last month that it had arranged to convert part of an Airbus order to larger planes to cut costs per seat, and was also postponing some orders of smaller planes as it reported a bigger-than-expected half year loss. The airline took delivery of its first A320neo jet Wednesday, its 300th plane, with new, more fuel efficient engines. EasyJet has already switched 30 of its 130 A320neo orders for larger A321neo's, which seat an additional 49 passengers and are set to bring the cost per seat down by 8-9% compared with the smaller plane. <br/>
Allegiant Air has signed a 12-year lease with Kuwait-based ALAFCO Aviation Lease and Finance for 13 Airbus A320s. The carrier said the 8-year-old aircraft are expected to enter service beginning in Q1 of 2018. The agreement includes an option to purchase at the end of the lease term. The A320s will be configured with 186 seats and will be powered by CFM International’s CFM56-5B engines. Allegiant called the agreement “another important step” toward the ULCC’s planned transition to an all-Airbus fleet by 2019. Allegiant chairman and CE Maurice Gallagher said the fleet transition “will not only bring the benefit of operating efficiencies in training, scheduling, maintenance and more, but will also mean key economic advantages through greater fuel efficiency and higher seat capacity." <br/>
Nigeria's aviation industry has suffered a prolonged spell of violent turbulence. <br/>The nation's leading carrier was recently taken over by the govt to prevent it collapsing. A crumbling runway closed the capital's international airport for 6 weeks. The whole sector has been battered by Nigeria's recession that has driven up costs and made foreign currency scarce. But despite the gloomy conditions, a new and ambitious airline is being cleared for take-off. JetWest could make its maiden voyage in December, and the team behind it is aiming high. The venture's founder is Dikko Nwachukwu, a serial entrepreneur with a background in aviation. His mission statement is simple. "The guiding vision for JetWest is to make air travel accessible for more people," says Nwachukwu. "We are about democratising the skies." <br/>
China's civil aviation authority has fined Emirates and barred it from adding new destinations and aircraft in China for 6 months after 2 incidents of "unsafe operations", the state news agency Xinhua reported Thursday. The Civil Aviation Administration of China says crew from the airline were responsible for an April 17 incident in which an aircraft flew at a wrong height and another May 18 when a plane temporarily lost contact with air traffic control. Both happened over China's far western region of Xinjiang, it said. CAAC fined Emirates CNY29,000 (US$4,270) and said it had summoned senior officials from the airline for a meeting, Xinhua reported without further details. <br/>
Emirates, hoping to shake off budget airlines coveting its long-distance customers, has set its sights on goggles. The carrier is studying ways to equip staff with augmented reality glasses that display a passenger’s name and travel habits, allowing more personalised service, Emirates’ chief digital and innovation officer Christoph Mueller said. Travelers may also be given eye-wear to help them navigate airports or browse food menus. “We could enhance customer service tremendously,” said Mueller, who was appointed last year to help modernise airline. “The consumer will want to interact in a completely different way.” Emirates president Tim Clark has warned the company faces a “gathering storm” from budget rivals which are expanding their north-Atlantic routes and threatening to erode the Gulf carrier’s market leadership. <br/>