Virgin Australia, Australia's second biggest airline, scrapped plans to potentially go private Wednesday, sparking concerns that a major Chinese shareholder, HNA Tourism, may be about to exit, and leading to a sharp fall in its share price. The surprise decision overshadowed the airline's best underlying half-yearly profit in a decade. Small shareholders have stuck with their investments in hopes the company would make good on plans to buy them out at a premium. Just 10% of Virgin's stock is openly traded on the share market but analysts watch its register carefully since it includes Richard Branson, with 10%, and Singapore Airlines, Etihad Airways and China's Nanshan Capital Holdings and HNA Tourism Group, which each hold about 20%. HNA, part of an aviation-to-services conglomerate, has been selling assets to alleviate severe financial strain after a $50b acquisition spree over two years sparked scrutiny of its opaque ownership and use of leverage. "Following discussions with the major shareholders the board has decided not to privatise the company," chairwoman Elizabeth Bryan said Wednesday. Bryan did not give a reason for the company's decision to reverse a move it flagged in 2017. The company meanwhile posted a 142% jump in H1 underlying profit and swung to an interim net profit for the first time in two years as more Australians chose to fly and fewer seats enabled it to charge higher fares. The airline added that it expected an improvement in underlying performance in H2 of fiscal 2018.<br/>
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Malaysian low cost airline AirAsia reported a 20% slide in quarterly net profit on Tuesday hurt by higher operating expenses and tax charges. Its fuel expenses rose 66% while maintenance and overhaul increased threefold, a financial statement filed to the bourse showed. Part of that reflected growth as AirAsia expanded its fleet by 17% to 123 aircraft. Its fuel consumption increased 19% while fuel prices rose 8%. Higher current and deferred tax charges weighed on the airline’s profits, as well. Net profit for the three months to December 31 fell to 372.6m ringgit (US$95.39m) from 465.3m a year earlier. Revenue rose 37% to 2.66b ringgit from 1.94b, although revenue per available seat km fell 4%. Load factor rose 1 percentage point to 88% in the quarter while total passenger volume was up 17% to 10.4m to outpace 16% growth in capacity. The group said it expects to have an average load factor of 87% in Q1 2018, based on current forward booking. The group is also planning for a net increase of five aircraft through operating leases in Q1 of 2018 to meet growing demand in the region, it said in a bourse filing.<br/>
Ryanair will close its base at Glasgow International Airport in Scotland because of the UK’s high passenger taxes, and will transfer routes to Edinburgh, some 45 miles to the east. “Ryanair regrets these cuts in the weaker Glasgow market where efforts to stimulate low fare demand are severely hampered by the continuing burden of APD [Air Passenger Duty],” the airline CCO David O’Brien said. The UK’s departure tax, or APD, is one of the highest in the world and UK airlines have for years complained it has a depressing effect on the market. “As a result, we will transfer our Glasgow International-based aircraft to Edinburgh in November where we will offer 11 new routes … and deliver over 3.5 million passengers per annum at Edinburgh Airport,” O’Brien said. A single Boeing 737-800 is based at Glasgow International; Ryanair is maintaining its base at Glasgow Prestwick Airport. A Glasgow International spokesman said the airport is “bitterly disappointed” at Ryanair’s decision, which would affect the connectivity of the city and the surrounding area, and result in the loss of around 100 jobs.<br/>
Namibia’s state-owned airline faces collapse with banks refusing to grant the carrier credit to fund day-to-day operations after it failed to publish annual reports for over 10 years, The Namibian newspaper reported Tuesday. Acting managing director of Air Namibia Mandi Samson said the company was suffering severe cash shortages, made worse by the recent decrease of government funding, with the southern African nation slashing spending to fend off ratings downgrades. “We’re looking for financing from other countries such as South Africa, which brings the complication of currency exposure. It is not ideal, but if the entire country says they cannot assist us ... we have to look elsewhere,” Samson was quoted saying by the newspaper. Air Namibia is one of a host of state firms dependent on government bailouts for survival, and has received over 6b Namibian dollars (US$516m) since 2000. The airline’s spokesman Paul Nakawa said it was difficult to say how much Air Namibia owes or the amount of funds it needs as the company has not published financial statements in years.<br/>
South Africa-based regional carrier CemAir is gradually restoring its schedules after the country’s civil aviation regulator lifted its suspension of the airline’s Aircraft Maintenance Organization. The South African CAA (SACAA) ended the suspension on Feb. 24, three weeks after it began. The SACAA also grounded 12 of CemAir’s fleet. The company operates a mixture of Bombardier CRJ100 and 200s and is introducing the CRJ900. It also operates Bombardier Dash 8 Q400s and Beech 1900 commuter aircraft. The regulator said Feb. 24 the AMO suspension was lifted after CemAir completed “a five-phase certification process that included … document evaluation and demonstration phases.” In its statement, however, the CAA noted the 12 affected aircraft had not yet been declared airworthy and released back to service. “Notwithstanding, the lifting of the AMO suspension is a step in the right direction and means that the operator is now in a position to officially maintain their own as well as other operators’ aircraft for which they are approved. “This also means that CemAir is now in a position to hopefully speed up the process of getting more of their aircraft ready for inspection by SACAA officials. The aircraft will be released back into operation once they are certified as airworthy.”<br/>
Bangkok Airways plans to build a new airport maintenance service centre and offer more popular routes to ensure the company's revenue reaches 30b baht this year. Puttipong Prasarttong-Osoth, president of Bangkok Airways, said the plan is to enhance the company's overall performance. "We are planning to build a new hangar at the Sukhothai airport that can accommodate aircraft maintenance up to C-check levels," he said. Puttipong said the airline will still focus on expanding its network to cover the most important destinations throughout Asia to aid its passengers and codeshare partners. Examples are Chiang Mai-Hanoi, scheduled to start from March 25, and Phuket-Yangon, expected to launch in the fourth quarter of 2018, he said. For Samui, the company plans to offer some new charter services to mainland China such as Samui-Xian and Samui-Changsha. Increased frequency is also scheduled for the airline's popular domestic and international routes such as Bangkok-Phuket, which will be increased to 66 flights a week, Bangkok-Vientiane, rising to 14 flights a week, and Bangkok-Mandalay, up to 11 flights weekly.<br/>
After a routine flight Friday from Houston to Colorado Springs, a United Express regional jet began heading northwest. Way, way northwest. It flew all the way to China, making many stops along the way. The regional jet’s far-flung destinations caught the attention of aviation enthusiasts and led to speculation on Twitter. It turns out the plane’s manufacturer, Embraer SA, is leasing the 76-seat E175 as a demonstration for a prospective Chinese customer. United Continental agreed to the short-term lease by its regional operator, Mesa Air Group, and expects the aircraft to return to regular US service by the end of the week, a spokesman said Tuesday. Mesa flies a fleet of 53 of the aircraft for United. The plane departed from Colorado on its way to Seattle and then on to Anchorage on Friday evening, according to Flightradar24 and FlightAware. On Sunday, it headed to Russia for stops in two cities before landing at the port city of Vladivostok on Tuesday. From there, the next stop was Hohhot, west of Beijing, where it arrived early Wednesday. A Chinese company is considering purchasing the type of Embraer aircraft, Mesa CEO Jonathan Ornstein said. <br/>
Confusion between groundhandling staff resulted in a Jetstar Airbus A320 sustaining minor engine damage after ingesting a clipboard that had been left in one of its cowlings. The incident occurred during the evening of 27 October 2017 and involved A320 VH-VGY, which was operating a service from Auckland to Sydney. After loading the last cargo container in the aircraft’s cargo hold, a leading hand placed a clipboard containing paperwork into the right-hand engine cowling to protect it from rain, with the intention of retrieving it later. He then went to the flight deck to pass on other paperwork to the crew, before returning to co-ordinate the aircraft’s pushback. Story has more details about the incident. In its final report on the incident, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau found that the dispatcher did not follow company policy of notifying a supervisor or the leading hand about the clipboard. Jetstar and its groundhandler Aerocare subsequently issued safety notices outlining that foreign object debris also includes items that may be accidentally left behind. Jetstar also updated its dispatch procedures to include more detail on checks and responsibilities, as well as how to communicate with flight crew in non-normal situations.<br/>
Scandinavian operator TUI Nordic has taken delivery of its first Boeing 737 Max, the second to be received by the tourism group. The airline conducted the Max 8 delivery flight – from Seattle to Stockholm – using a 30% blend biofuel. "This was one of the most carbon-efficient flights ever accomplished by this aircraft type," claims the carrier. TUI previously collaborated with Boeing on its 'ecoDemonstrator' programme, which included biofuel testing. TUI introduced its first 737 Max a month ago when the initial jet was delivered to its Brussels-based division TUI Belgium. Seventy-two aircraft, a mix of Max 8s and Max 10s, are due to be delivered to TUI's airlines by 2023 as the company revamps its fleet. It will receive a total of nine aircraft, all Max 8s, this year. They will be distributed among its Belgian, Swedish, UK and Dutch operations. Germany's TUIfly operation will take its first in early 2019.<br/>