In a country where women travellers face myriad dangers, one Indian airline has an idea: chivalry, and no middle seats. With its Woman Flyer service, Vistara has begun offering to help women flying solo with their bags, escort them to and from their ground transportation, and give them preferred window and aisle seats on their flights—no middles. The airline says between 75 and 100 women use the complimentary service each day. It is believed to be the first airline to offer such a service. Sanjiv Kapoor, Vistara’s chief strategy and commercial officer, said the airline began offering it after noticing women seeking help after their planes had landed. India is forecast to become the world’s sixth-largest business travel market by 2019, but it’s gained an international reputation for being unsafe for women. <br/>
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Alaska Air Group—parent of Alaska Airlines, Virgin America and Horizon Air—earned US$296m in net income in Q2, up 13.8% over a net profit of $260m in the 2016 June quarter, which does not include Virgin America’s 2016 Q2 figures. Alaska’s $4b acquisition of Virgin America closed in Dec 2016, so the company calculated a $505m adjusted pre-tax profit for the combined company in the 2017 Q2, excluding $24m in merger-related costs. That compares to a $493m adjusted pre-tax profit for Alaska and Virgin America combined in the 2016 Q2. The combined revenue of Alaska and Virgin America rose 10% year-over-year in Q2 to $2.1b while combined expenses rose 13% to $1.6b, producing an operating profit of $493m, up 1% over combined operating income of $489m for the two companies in the 2016 June quarter. <br/>
Philippine Airlines has hinted that its search for a strategic investor is likely to continue into 2018, a push-back from its previous target of closing a deal by the end of the year. The carrier confirmed a local news report quoting president Jaime Bautista saying that should the operating environment "remain challenging", the airline will wait for the situation "to improve" before it seals a deal with a foreign airline investor. Bautista had previously said that PAL is offering up to a 40% stake for sale, and that it is in advanced talks with an airline investor. It wants a strategic investor to help with its next stage of growth. The article, however, said that the investor may take a stake of between 10% and 40%. Issues being discussed include PAL's valuation, and whether the investor should take a stake in PAL or its listed parent PAL Holdings. <br/>
Flybe has posted improvements to its Q1 load factor and yield, but new CE Christine Ourmieres-Widener said further work is still needed. “There remains a lot to be done, but we have the firm foundations needed to progress our plans for the business. In the second half of 2017-18, given the planned capacity reductions, there will be an increased focus on efficiency to improve operational performance and manage unit costs,” Ourmieres-Widener said, reflecting on her first 6 months in the role. During Q1, Flybe’s capacity growth slowed to 3.5%, but the airline carried 2.4m passengers—7.1% up on the prior-year period. This pushed the quarter’s average load factor up 2.5 points to 72.5%. Revenue for the 3-month period rose 11.7% to GBP174m (US$226.8m). <br/>