Ryanair has reiterated warnings over “Brexit complacency” in aviation and said it was still preparing to sell tickets with caveats from September, despite hopes a transitional deal for the UK’s departure from the EU was nearer. The airline’s CMO, Kenny Jacobs, said: “Everyone is saying it’ll be all right on the night once we get closer to April 2019. I don’t think you can take that for granted.” Unless a transition deal is signed, from September 2018 the airline will include the warning on its tickets: “This flight is subject to the regulatory environment allowing the flight to take place.” Jacobs added that a transition deal would not guarantee full market access for UK airlines to the EU, and vice-versa, after 2021. “That is less certain and the signals on that are more negative than we would like.” <br/>
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All 15 Boeing 787 Dreamliners operated by Virgin Atlantic are affected by faults with Rolls-Royce engines that power the wide-body planes, according to the carrier. Grounding the Trent 1000 turbines for fixes has been “seriously disruptive,” forcing Virgin to find a number of workarounds, including calling on partner Delta Air Lines and leasing extra aircraft, Shai Weiss, the company’s CFO said. As many as 3 of the 258-seat 787-9s have been taken out of service at one time. Durability issues with components used in the Dreamliner engine and the Trent 900 that powers Airbus A380 superjumbos cost Rolls-Royce GBP227m (US$314m) in charges last year and wiped GBP170m pounds from cash flow, the manufacturer said Wednesday. The cash impact could double this year as maintenance activity peaks. <br/>
Norwegian Air Shuttle plans to fly to Brazil from Argentina and London to boost its month-old operations in South America, CE Bjorn Kjos said. The airline has already received authorisation from the Argentine govt to operate flights to 13 Brazilian cities. Norwegian is evaluating flying in other Latin American nations, Kjos said, declining to give more details. "South America is our focus in 2018," said Kjos Wednesday. "There are other countries with priority in South America that are not that well served.” The airline is entering a busy market, and will need to push its low-cost flights to stand out. Those flying to Europe already include Latam Airlines TAP and Air France-KLM, the latter two of which are backed by local operators Azul and Gol, respectively. <br/>
Eastar Jet has been hit with a class action lawsuit from passengers forced to remain on-board a plane for nearly 15 hours last December. A law firm said Friday 177 passengers filed a class lawsuit against Eastar Jet, demanding US$1,400 compensation per person. The passengers on-board flight ZE605, departing from Incheon International headed to Narita International were trapped inside for 14 hours and 20 minutes after take-off was delayed due to bad weather. The passengers were not briefed on the situation and were only notified after being on-board for more than 14 hours. Many passengers suffered financial losses because they could not get refunds for their accommodation. Some passengers showed panic attack symptoms from being trapped in an enclosed area for such a long time. <br/>
SpiceJet has signed a US$12.5b deal with CFM International for engines and a 10-year services contract for an incoming fleet of more than 150 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. SpiceJet has agreed to buy the LEAP-1B engines and spare engines from CFM the two companies said March 10. The deal also includes a 10-year services contract for maintenance of the CFM engines, which will be billed on an hourly basis. The deal provides engines and maintenance that will underpin SpiceJet’s existing $22b order for 155 Boeing aircraft, marking the carrier’s biggest expansion plan yet. SpiceJet already deploys CFM engines in its current fleet. “From what we have seen so far, the LEAP-1B is living up to its promises for efficiency and reliability,” Ajay Singh, SpiceJet’s chairman and MD, said. <br/>
Pegasus Airlines’ predicted rebound from 2016’s losses materialised in 2017, with the carrier recording a TL501m (US$131.5m) net profit, compared to a loss of TL136.2m in the previous year. It achieved the result on revenues that increased 44% to TL5.3b. Pegasus, like other Turkish carriers, was hit by a series of geopolitical events in 2016, including a freeze in its inbound Russian tourism market following the shooting down of a Russian military aircraft by Turkish forces. Tourists were also scared off by a series of terrorist attacks, including one on Istanbul Ataturk Airport in June 2016, and an attempted military coup the same year. The tourists started to return from the important Russian market in 2017. Partly as a result of this, Pegasus added 4 new Russian destinations to its route map, taking the total to 7. <br/>