Air Berlin bondholders are unlikely to recover more than 1% of outstanding debt following the airline’s insolvency, Frank Kebekus, an Air Berlin administrator, said according to German weekly WirtschaftsWoche. Air Berlin’s bonds are worth a total of E2.1-2.2b (US$2.5-2.6b), he said. That compares with the airline’s scant funds, which include E25m it is to receive from the sale of unit LGW and possible damages from part-owner Etihad, he told a creditors’ meeting on Wednesday, according to WirtschaftsWoche. Air Berlin filed for bankruptcy in August after Etihad, the owner of almost 30% of Air Berlin, withdrew funding following years of losses. Another Air Berlin administrator, Lucas Floether, said damages from Etihad of E15-18m could be realistic, the magazine said.<br/>
unaligned
Southwest says it is re-routing calls to reservations after a boiler-room fire at a Chicago facility. An airline spokesman said Wednesday that no one was injured and the midmorning fire did not affect flights on the busy travel day before Thanksgiving. The fire was reported in a boiler room in the call centre at Midway Airport. The spokesman says workers were evacuated and Southwest hopes they are able to return to work Thursday. The airline has several other call centres.<br/>
Could an artist create the perfect air travel experience? Chinese-American artist and choreographer Qinmin Liu believes she can. Her new airline, Angelhaha airlines, will, from December, carry passengers to art events around the world, guaranteeing the “most positive energy” to its customers in the process. It’s a bold claim but as the airline’s slogan promises: “Fly with Angelhaha. Fly with happiness.” The maiden flight will take off on 6 December – flying to Miami for the city’s Art Basel event – from New York on a small private jet seating just nine passengers. At the time of writing four seats are still available, with one-way tickets from $2,700-3,500 (perhaps making it more suitable for those with the budgets to invest in art, too). After that Angelhaha will be flying (one way only) to events in New York, Hong Kong, Venice, Berlin and Paris, and the plan is to have one large aircraft, so future flights will be more affordable. According to the artist, prices will range from $300-$3,000, depending on the itinerary. She offers reassurance that yes, the airline is real and yes, it’s definitely happening. Taking on the role of CEO, airline representative and chief flight attendant, Liu explains that passengers will be getting a piece of herself as part of the experience.<br/>
A Hainan Airlines Boeing 787-8 has completed China’s first intercontinental passenger flight with sustainable fuel produced from waste cooking oil from restaurants in China by Sinopec. According to Xinhua News Agency, Hainan Airlines flight 497 flew from Beijing to Chicago O’Hare International Airport Nov. 21 after flying more than 11,000 km. The biofuel flight was part of a cooperation project on green aviation between China and the US. In 2015, the Haikou-based carrier launched China’s first biofuel passenger flight on domestic routes operated by a Boeing 737-800. <br/>
The first of Thai Lion Air's (TLA) three Airbus wide-body jets arrived in Bangkok on Wednesday to herald its new strategy -- entry into medium- to<br/>long-haul flight services. The arrival of the A330-300, flown straight from Airbus' Toulouse facility, spotlighted TLA's aggressive growth plan that was rolled out a few months ago. TLA is due to take delivery of two other new A330-300s next month, strengthening its fleet of narrow-body aircraft comprising 27 Boeing 737-800s and 737-900ERs. Aswin Yangkirativorn, CE of the budget airline subsidiary of Indonesia's Lion Group, reaffirmed the company's intention to add at least five new B737 MAXs to TLA's fleet next year. TLA will initially deploy its first A330-300 on heavy-traffic Thai domestic routes to cities like Phuket and Chiang Mai on route-proving missions as<br/>required by authorities, perhaps starting as early as next month. Aswin said that the airline expects to start flying its new A330-300s internationally in Q1 next year with PhuketShanghai, currently being served by TLA on a charter basis with B737 aircraft, being the first route on a regular basis. The mission of the A330-300s will be largely to strengthen TLA's Chinese footprint, especially on the cities more distant from Thailand.<br/>
Ryanair will add 18 routes to its Italian summer schedule next year, including 13 from airports serving Milan. The budget carrier says it will operate from Bergamo to Burgas, Frankfurt, Lappeenranta, Plovdiv, Poznan, Tangier and Tel Aviv, and plans to base an additional aircraft at the northern Italian gateway. Ryanair also intends to extend its connecting product at Bergamo such that the number of routes available increases by 31 to 131. Six destinations are to join the airline's Milan Malpensa network: Alicante, Katowice, Lamezia Terme, Liverpool, Palermo and Valencia. Ryanair will also add three new routes from Rimini, to London Stansted, Kaunas and Warsaw Modlin, and two from Pescara, to Malta and Warsaw Modlin. <br/>
Chinese carrier Okay Airways has finalised an order for five Boeing 787-9s. The agreement, which was first announced as a memorandum of understanding at the Paris air show earlier this year, is valued at $1.4b at list prices. No delivery timeframe was disclosed. "We are committed to investing in our aircraft fleet in order to keep growing ahead of the market and enhancing our customers’ flying experience," says Okay's president Li Zongling. Flight Fleets Analyzer shows that Okay Airways operates 23 Boeing 737-800s and -900ERs.<br/>
Collapsed airline Monarch has won an appeal against a court decision that had stripped it of rights over valuable airport slots, in a boost to administrators who are hoping to recover money for creditors. Adminstrators at KPMG hope to raise capital by transferring the slots at London’s Gatwick and Luton airports to other airlines. “We are delighted with the ruling,” said Blair Nimmo, partner at KPMG and joint administrator. “We will now progress the slot exchange transactions we have underway, whose buyers will be announced at completion.” Monarch collapsed suddenly at the start of October, immediately ceasing operations, forcing the repatriation of over 100,000 customers by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). The High Court’s initial ruling on Nov. 8 said that as the airline had no planes and retains just three trained pilots, who currently hold management positions, the Airport Coordination Limited (ACL) - an independent slot co-ordination company - had no duty to assign it slots for summer 2018. The CAA subsequently revoked Monarch’s operating licence. However, the Court of Appeal ruling found that despite this, Monarch was still an air carrier when slots fell to be allocated last month and in fact remains one. “It may be a failed air transport undertaking but that need not stop it being an air transport undertaking,” judge Guy Newey said in the ruling. ACL said it would not appeal, but was concerned about the implications of the ruling.<br/>