Ryanair boss Michael O‘Leary on Thursday scrambled to placate pilots and reassure investors as the airline’s annual general meeting was dominated by the cancellation of 2,000 flights in a “cock-up” that exposed major staffing issues. The often outspoken CEO told investors that no more flights would be cancelled because of rostering issues and that the company’s profit margin would not be affected by the problems that sparked customer outrage and a wave of negative media coverage across Europe. O‘Leary told shareholders he took personal responsibility for the staffing issues and the way the company broke the news to customers, adding that Ryanair’s pilot pay levels may have been too modest in the past. However, he also used the meeting to outline a stick-and-carrot approach to dealing with pilots after some prepared a letter demanding new contracts. “Will there be squabbles with pilots? There may be. They have been happening for about 30 years,” he said. Captains at four under-pressure bases have been offered an extra E10,000 a year in addition to an offer of a E12,000 bonus for those who work an extra 10 days before the end of the year. o'Leary also said he was considering forcing pilots to change their holiday plans and warned that any pilot who failed to show up for work as a form of industrial action would be frozen out of pay talks and denied promotion.<br/>
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The United Arab Emirates’ civil aviation regulator is investigating why an Emirates Airbus A380 superjumbo flew dangerously low when approaching Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport last week. The General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) said its air accident investigation unit is treating the Sept. 10 episode as a “serious incident”, an internationally recognized category which means an accident “nearly occurred”. The GCAA said Emirates flight EK131 “descended below the glideslope on approach”, meaning that the aircraft flew below the recommended height as it came into land. The Aviation Herald reported that the aircraft descended to 400 feet at 8 nautical miles from the runway, before pulling out of the approach and later landing safely, but only after a second unsuccessful attempt. The typical height for a passenger jet at that distance would be more than 2,000 feet, an aviation expert said. A spokeswoman for Emirates, which says it operates two daily flights to Moscow, confirmed the flight was under investigation, but declined to comment further.<br/>
German leisure carrier Condor and Lufthansa's Eurowings will launch flights to the Caribbean from Dusseldorf from Sept. 25, following the closure of airberlin’s long-haul routes to these regions. Condor will wet lease one Airbus A330-200 on flights from Dusseldorf to Punta Cana and La Romana (Dominican Republic), Cancun (Mexico), Montego Bay (Jamaica) and Barbados, from November. “We have spent a lot of effort to find a quick solution to keep air traffic ongoing for holiday-makers [to the Caribbean] and we quickly came to the conclusion that this measure is an important step to secure leisure business with the Caribbean,” CEO Ralf Teckentrup said. Eurowings will launch 4X-weekly services from Dusseldorf to Punta Cana from Nov. 8; a weekly service to Varadero (Cuba) starting Dec. 16; weekly service to Puerto Plata (Dominican Republic) from Dec. 14; and 2X-weekly service to Cancun beginning Dec.18.<br/>
WestJet is gearing up for delivery of its first Boeing Dreamliner 787 by breaking ground on a new $50m hangar at the Calgary International Airport. The company announced in April it had placed a firm order for 10 of the Boeing 787-9 widebody jets, which will allow it to serve new destinations in Asia, South America and Europe with higher-end offerings like lie-flat seating. The new hangar will occupy 125,000 square feet and stand eight stories tall, with two floors of office space. WestJet says only one Dreamliner at a time will fit into the hangar, although it will be big enough to hold four Boeing 737s. WestJet’s Dreamliners are to be delivered between 2019 and 2021 and it has the option of buying another 10 between 2020 and 2024.<br/>
Nok Air has deferred the acquisition of eight new Boeing 737 Max 8 jets and will phase out seven existing aircraft as part of a fleet rationalisation. The latest move is part of an ongoing business rehabilitation as the cash-strapped budget airline looks to turn around its balance sheet after combined<br/>losses of 4.93 billion baht from 2014 to June 2017. The fleet rationalisation is aimed at shedding existing aircraft capacity and curbing additional capacity to match traffic demand. The exercise appears to be high on the agenda of newly appointed CE Piya Yodmani, who succeeded long-serving Patee Sarasin. Nok Air has already secured an agreement from US plane maker Boeing to postpone taking delivery of the eight B737 Max 8 jets without the deferment being considered a breach of contract.<br/>
Norwegian Air “is not long for this world,” says Michael O’Leary, the CE of Ryanair, itself in turmoil thanks to a pilot-staffing pinch that’s killed travel plans for hundreds of thousands of customers. “That’s just nonsense,” says Norwegian CEO Bjorn Kjos. Norwegian is under investor scrutiny given its large order of more than 200 aircraft, split roughly between Airbus and Boeing, to support a global growth spurt. Industry observers caution that even with low fuel and labor costs, a glut of competitive capacity and cheap fares may well injure Norwegian’s long-term financial health as it digests all the new planes. Especially if economies on either side of the Atlantic hit a rough patch. So, despite only a modest overlap of routes and facing their own unique challenges, these two CEOs are now engaged in a very public spat. The bad blood comes just as Ryanair and Norwegian ended talks on a deal to transfer passengers on connecting flights, and as Norwegian began recruiting pilots from Ryanair. Norwegian instead announced a deal with easyJet Plc to transfer passengers at London’s Gatwick Airport. <br/>
Brazil's Azul has agreed to lease five Airbus A330-900neos from Avolon, to further expand the airline's network to the USA and Europe. Deliveries will begin in late 2018, says the airline, which will be the first in South America to operate the A330neo. Azul will configure the aircraft with 298 seats, comprising 34 in business class, 108 economy extra seats and 156 economy seats. The airline's current A330s have 27 fewer seats. "We are very excited to start growing again. These new planes will play a key role in the expansion of our international markets supporting our strategy of having a modern and fuel-efficient fleet," said Azul CE John Rodgerson.<br/>