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Ryanair has lured its former flight operations director Peter Bellew back to the fold from Malaysia Airlines. Bellew worked for Ryanair between 2006 and 2014 and was latterly responsible for building a new team and developing the processes to operate the carrier’s expanded fleet on the back of a bumper plane order. His experience could be key for the Irish airline, which has endured a torrid couple of months after cancelling 2,100 flights in September and October - up to 50 a day - due to an error over pilot holiday rosters. It delivered a further blow this month when it said an extra 18,000 flights for the winter season were cancelled - a move that will hit 400,000 bookings. Bellew, who now runs Malaysia Airlines, will take on responsibility for all of Ryanair's flight operations, ground operations and engineering. But, the company added, he would have a “specific responsibility” for pilot production, training and career development with a “mission to ensure that the pilot rostering failure which Ryanair suffered in early September will never be repeated”. Ryanair CE Michael O’Leary said Mr Bellew had “unrivalled knowledge” of its business model and growth plan. Bellew will arrive on December 1. He took on one of the toughest jobs in aviation in April 2016, becoming the CE of Malaysia Airlines, the carrier which was struck with the double tragedies of flights MH370 and MH17.<br/>

Eurowings should get a revenue boost of more than E1b a year from parent Lufthansa’s deal to buy part of Air Berlin, Eurowings CE Thorsten Dirks said Tuesday. Lufthansa signed a E210m deal last week to take over 81 of Air Berlin’s roughly 130 planes to cement its position in Germany and expand budget brand Eurowings. With the deal, Eurowings’ fleet will grow to 210 aircraft from 160, and its workforce will increase to about 10,000 people from 7,000, Lufthansa has said. Dirks said the deal should lift Eurowings’ annual revenues to more than E5b. But it still needs regulatory approval and the CEO said he expected the EC to demand measures to address competition concerns on some routes. Dirks said Eurowings could also absorb Alitalia’s short-haul business if Lufthansa struck a deal to buy parts of the ailing Italian flag carrier.<br/>

Hawaiian inter-island regional carrier Island Air filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Oct. 16, in what the carrier called “an effort to continue normal operations while navigating through legal challenges recently presented by the lessors of its aircraft.” Island Air said it had been in the process of negotiating its aircraft leases with its lessors, when “on Oct. 12 … Island Air was very surprised that the lessors served them with notices of termination of the leases and demands to surrender its airplanes.” “The bankruptcy filing was caused by threats of legal action to ground the aircraft and strand hundreds of passengers,” Island Air said. “The filing prevents the threatened action and allows Island Air to continue interisland service for its customers … continuing to operate under the protection of the US Bankruptcy Court will allow Island Air to maintain its service to its customers, provide continued employment to its more than 400 employees and ensure a revenue stream so its vendors are paid.” Island Air’s all-leased operating fleet comprises five 78-seat Bombardier Q400 turboprops. Three of the Q400s are leased from Elix Aviation Capital.<br/>

EasyJet won't enter the rapidly growing low-cost, long-haul market given its abundance of options to buy parts of failed European airlines, CEO Carolyn McCall said Tuesday. In the last week, easyJet has confirmed its interest in parts of Air Berlin and Alitalia, which went into administration earlier this year, and McCall said easyJet was also interested in airport slots of failed airline Monarch after it went bust at the start of October. EasyJet has also agreed a long haul connection service with Norwegian Air Shuttle. But asked if easyJet had any interest in getting involved in long haul directly, McCall said no. "From a board perspective, that's not on the agenda. There's so much organic growth. If you look at the consolidation, Monarch, Alitalia, Air Berlin, we are talking to all of them," she said. She said negotiations over Air Berlin were ongoing, without elaborating, after easyJet on Friday said it was interested in operating 25 of the German airline's planes at Berlin's Tegel airport.<br/>

Central and Eastern European LCC Wizz Air has established a UK company and is reviewing the process to acquire a local air operator’s certificate (AOC), as the UK prepares to leave the EU. “We can confirm that Wizz Air has established a company in the UK and we are reviewing the process for a UK AOC, which will allow us to continue operating flights to and from Britain in the event that no aviation deal is agreed,” a Wizz Air spokeswoman said. “Wizz Air’s main concern is to protect the interest of its customers, investors and employees.” Wizz Air operates 79 routes from nine airports in the UK, covering 41 destinations. Over the past year, the airline has carried more than 7m passengers on those routes, up 14% year-on-year. “Wizz Air stays committed to the UK and believes in enhancing connectivity of the UK with destinations in Europe and beyond,” the carrier said.<br/>

Europe's largest tour operator TUI is putting on extra flights to make up for capacity lost after this month's collapse of Monarch, TUI's UK and Ireland boss said Wednesday. Shares of leading travel companies and airlines rose after Monarch went bust, with investors betting that intense competition in the sector could ease. At an event to announce TUI's rebranding of its UK operation to TUI UK from Thomson, the company's UK and Ireland Managing Director Nick Longman said it had already laid on extra flights and is looking to add more. "There will be an opportunity to look at putting some new routes on to the market. We've already done that a little for this winter," Longman said, adding that TUI is also looking at more routes for next summer. Unlike British Airways owner IAG and budget airline easyJet, TUI is not interested in acquiring Monarch slots at UK airports, Longman said, adding that extra capacity could be obtained from TUI's existing slot base and by working with other airline partners.<br/>