UK regulators have 10 aircraft ready to pick up Monarch Airlines holidaymakers if it halts flights, according to the Sunday Times. Two of the planes, which were all leased from Qatar Airways, are at London Stansted, the newspaper reported, without saying where it got the information from. A spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority declined to comment on the report Sunday. A Monarch spokesman said its flights were operating as scheduled. As many as 100,000 travellers could be stranded if Monarch halts flights. The closely held carrier is facing renewed financial pressures, after a last-minute rescue last year, prompting a strategic review and regulatory concerns about its future. The CAA granted the airline a 24-hour extension to its Air Travel Organiser’s Licence Saturday. <br/>
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EasyJet is set to trial on-board intranet-based IFE, supplied Immfly, from this fall and is evaluating Inmarsat’s European Aviation Network (EAN) for future full Wi-Fi connectivity. EasyJet announced the move during its annual Innovation Day, alongside the main announcement that it had partnered on a commercial electric aircraft venture. The on-board intranet product, branded as Air Time, will initially be deployed on 5 Geneva-based EasyJet Switzerland aircraft, which will each be equipped with 3 local area network access points and an on-board server. This sub-fleet was selected as the Swiss operation is smaller and easier to monitor than EasyJet’s UK fleet. The Air Time system will be free to access, with no registration. It is sponsored by internet services firm Rakuten and American Express. <br/>
London Gatwick could in 2018 see a flurry of drone activity, with both the facility's operator and EasyJet looking to employ unmanned air vehicles for inspection tasks. EasyJet has for several years been trialling the use of UAVs, in conjunction with UK firm Blue Bear Systems, to perform aircraft inspections to check for damage following events such as lightning strikes. Gary Smith, head of engineering at the carrier, says the technology has been "successfully tested". In 2018 it will roll out the system to its 2 UK maintenance hangars at London Gatwick and Luton, he says, following initial trials conducted with the UK Civil Aviation Authority. If the roll-out in the UK proves successful, it will look to adopt the system at its 3 other in-house facilities at Geneva, Milan Malpensa and Berlin Schoenefeld. <br/>
Embattled Ryanair will take a E200m hit to its potential revenue over the coming months because of the wave of cancellations it has been forced to implement. The airline said the first set of 2,000 flight cancellations that came as a shock to passengers last month would cost it E25m, largely in compensation payments to many of the 300,000-plus customers impacted. But a second batch of 18,000 flight cancellations announced last week is likely to see a much greater amount of revenue foregone. Close to 3.4m seats have been withdrawn from sale between now and March. Ryanair flights, on average, fly 97% full, but allowing for lower 90% winter-time loads, the 18,000 cancelled flights would have carried 3m customers. Monthly growth will slow from 9% to 4% between November and next March, the airline said. <br/>
Norwegian Air Shuttle probably isn’t about to go bust. However, whether the airline’s high-risk business model can withstand more difficult market conditions appears doubtful. Michael O’Leary, CE of Ryanair , told journalists in London last month that “Norwegian will go in 4 or 5 months.” Norwegian flatly denied it had financial problems, and more recently identified a motive for O’Leary’s accusations: Its mushrooming long-haul business has poached pilots from Ryanair. Crew shortages have forced the carrier to cancel thousands of flights over the coming months. Norwegian’s growth model has showed signs of strain this year. Like Ryanair, Norwegian has faced crew shortages in short-haul, partly because its own pilots have also defected to long-haul. <br/>
SpiceJet firmed its order for up to 50 Bombardier Q400 turboprops Sept 29, the largest single Q400 order to date, valued at US$1.7b if all purchase rights are optioned. Notably, the aircraft is in the Q400’s new 90-seat configuration, and on delivery will make SpiceJet the world’s first operator of a 90-seat turboprop. SpiceJet signed its initial LOI for 25 Q400s plus purchase rights for an additional 25 aircraft at the Paris Air Show June 20. At the time, the order was for the 86-seat extra-capacity NextGen variation of the Q400, which are being flown by Philippine Airlines (in a dual-class configuration) and Nok Air. The airline is looking to expand coverage of India’s domestic and international regional market and hopes the 90-seat Q400 will meet increasing passenger demand. <br/>
Eurowings has taken on its first Air Berlin pilots, after attracting a wave of job applications since Air Berlin filed for insolvency last month. Lufthansa is bidding for some of Air Berlin's assets, including holiday airline Niki, regional carrier Luftfahrtgesellschaft Walter, and talks are set to run until Oct 12. Eurowings has in the meantime moved to attract experienced crew amid stiff competition. Rivals EasyJet, Norwegian, and Wizz are in the midst of record recruitment drives, with pilot hiring in the spotlight after a rostering problem at Ryanair left it short-staffed. Eurowings said Friday that more than 2,000 people had applied for jobs, after it advertised for over 1,000 pilots, cabin crew and ground staff. <br/>
The body that licenses airlines in Hong Kong has warned of possible action against Hong Kong Express over its raft of late-notice “golden week” cancellations. That came as the carrier admitted the debacle was partly due to an exodus of safety trainers 2 months ago, that had affected its number of qualified crew members and pilots. The Air Transport Licensing Authority demanded a report, explaining the disruptive cancellations, from the airline within a week. Transport minister Frank Chan Fan, who criticised HK Express for having acted “irresponsibly”, also hinted the airline could have breached the terms of its licence. The carrier made a public apology Sunday, 2 days after it emerged it had pulled 18 regular flights between Hong Kong and Osaka, Nagoya and Seoul, scheduled to fly from Oct 1 to 8. <br/>