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Lufthansa has cut its growth plans for the year citing a lack of planes and crew after reporting a 70% jump in profit for 2017 on Thursday. The airline group plans to increase capacity by 9.5% this year, down from plans in January for a 12% increase. Lufthansa has seen delays to deliveries of the Airbus A320neo plane, following engine problems at maker Pratt & Whitney. It has 10 A320neos in its fleet compared to expectations for 20. There have also been delays to deliveries of the Bombardier CSeries. Like other carriers such as easyJet, Lufthansa is seeking to fill the gap left in the German market by the collapse of Air Berlin last year. Lufthansa gave up a plan to acquire leisure carrier Niki from Air Berlin due to competition concerns and is instead expanding its Eurowings budget unit. However, retraining crews takes time and with other carriers expanding, there is little spare capacity in the market available to rent via wet leases. “We have a nice problem - too many passengers and too few planes,” CE Carsten Spohr said. Lufthansa is in final talks with Niki Lauda on leasing crewed planes from his Laudamotion airline, Spohr said. Lufthansa reported 2017 adjusted earnings before interest and tax of E2.97b, topping the E2.84b expected by analysts in a Reuters poll. That marked a third record year in a row but Lufthansa expects profits to slip this year due to fuel price increases. Lufthansa said it expected stable pricing this year and that so far it was “slightly positive” in Q1 and H1 2018. Unit revenues rose 1.9% in 2017, and were up 2.3% in Q4.<br/>

Lufthansa cashed in on the collapse of rival Air Berlin last year, but warned that 2018 will be a whole lot tougher as foreign competitors target the German market. Operating profit that jumped 70% in 2017 is set to slide, snapping a three-year run of record annual earnings, Lufthansa said Thursday. The company will also trim its capacity plans as a splurge on seating among European carriers risks flooding the market.Lufthansa is adopting a more cautious approach after EasyJet and Ryanair used the failure of Air Berlin to jump-start their operations in Germany. Air Berlin’s collapse was largely responsible for Lufthansa’s fastest revenue growth in seven years in 2017 as a lack of flights bolstered fares and it secured grounded jets to add flights. It also bought the whole of Brussels Airlines. “Competition is becoming more intense,” Lufthansa said. Though a number of carriers have folded, there has been “an even greater number of entries,” and the company’s business will therefore experience “significant fluctuations” in the year ahead. Lufthansa plans to increase capacity 9.5% in 2017, less than the 12% previously planned, with much of the gain stemming for a full year of operations with ex-Air Berlin planes and ownership of Brussels Air. <br/>

Lufthansa is ending services between Berlin and New York, and it has nothing to do with tariffs, trade wars or Donald Trump. Lufthansa will stop linking the German capital with the US city’s John F. Kennedy airport after failing to bag optimal landing times needed to fill planes and turn a profit, CEO Carsten Spohr said Thursday.Lufthansa introduced the JFK service following the collapse of Air Berlin last year, serving the route five times weekly with an Airbus SE A330 wide-body jet. Trouble is, the flight departs Berlin’s Tegel airport at 5:35 p.m. and doesn’t arrive in the US until after 9:30 p.m. local time. The return service leaves at 11:20 p.m. and lands in Germany around noon the next day. Spohr looked at switching the New York route to Lufthansa’s no-frills Eurowings arm, which has a lower cost base, but the carrier was unable to secure more-attractive landing slots even after scouting out Newark airport in New Jersey. Lufthansa will retain a New York link of sorts, selling seats to Newark on flights operated by partner United Airlines, though people who want to stick with the German carrier will have to travel via Frankfurt. With the summer timetable travellers can also fly direct from Berlin with Delta.<br/>

United has announced it will issue special bag tags for animal carriers and prosecutors have launched an investigation to determine if criminal charges are warranted following the death of a French bulldog puppy that was forced into an overhead bin on a United flight. The airline said a flight attendant who ordered the passenger to put her pet carrier in the overhead bin aboard a Houston-to-New York flight Monday didn't know there was a dog inside. "To prevent this from happening again, by April we will issue bright colored bag tags to customers traveling with in-cabin pets," United said. The family that owned the dog and other passengers contradicted the airline's account, saying the dog's barks were audible from inside the bin. Eleven-year-old Sophia Ceballos said that her mother told the flight attendant "'It's a dog, it's a dog,' and (the flight attendant) said we have to put it up there," in the bin. Other passengers backed up the family's account. Late Wednesday, the Harris County, Texas, district attorney's office said its animal cruelty division is working with the county's animal cruelty task force on a criminal investigation about what happened on the plane.<br/>

Singapore Airlines has an open mind about making an initial bid for a stake in state-run Air India, the head of the Singaporean carrier’s India business said Thursday. India said last week it would invite initial bids this month for a stake in the flag carrier. The cabinet approved the sale last year after successive governments poured billions of dollars into the indebted airline. “India is a strategic market for Singapore Airlines. We have an open mind,” said David Lim, GM for India, when asked whether Singapore Airlines would bid. He did not elaborate. Several companies have expressed an interest in buying some of Air India’s businesses. India cleared a proposal in January to allow foreign investors to own up to 49% of Air India, opening the way for global airlines to bid. SIA operates 98 flights a week to India and plans to increase that to 104 by summer. Its low-cost airline, Scoot operates 46 flights to India, while Vistara is expected to launch its first international flights this year.<br/>

Aegean Airlines increased full-year net earnings by 87% on an improved load factor and higher sales in a strong tourism year, Greece's largest carrier said Thursday. Aegean said net profit jumped to E60.4mlast year from 32.2m in 2016. The airline grew sales revenue by 11% to E1.127b, improving its load factor to 83.2 from 77.4% a year earlier. "The achievement of an 83% load factor, given the seasonality of demand in Greece and rising competition, shows our maturing capacity in managing our route network and ticket pricing," said CE Dimitris Gerogiannis. The airline said it flew a total of 13.2m passengers, up 6% on the previous year, with traffic on international flights performing strongly, up 9% year-on-year.<br/>

Asiana Airlines is in talks to sell its headquarters building in Seoul, a spokesman at its parent Kumho Asiana Group said Thursday. Kumho Asiana Group is in talks to sell the headquarters building for around 400b won (US$375.83m) in order to cut debt generated by aircraft purchases and competition with budget carriers, South Korea’s Maeil Business Newspaper reported earlier Thursday. The spokesman declined to comment on further details, including the counterparty for talks or potential price. <br/>

Air Canada’s recently announced plans to increase frequencies on several North American leisure routes next winter includes swapping rouge-branded Boeing 767-300s to mainline flying with 737-8s. The service changes affect a total of seven routes linking Western Canada—five out of Vancouver (YVR) and two out of Calgary (YYC)—with Hawaii and Mexico. Current daily flights in the YVR-Honolulu and YVR-Maui markets will be upgraded to double-dailies. Weekly frequencies between YVR and Ixtapa, Mexico, will be upgraded to 3X-weekly. Twice-weekly frequencies in the YVR-Kona and YVR-Cancun markets will be increased to 4X-weekly. The carrier’s YYC-Maui route will see one additional weekly frequency, for a total of four. Air Canada also plans to change from Rouge 767s to mainline 737-8s on its 3X-weekly YYC-Cancun route. Rouge’s 767-300s are configured with 282 seats, while its 737-8s have 169 seats.<br/>

“Obese” passengers will no longer be allowed in Thai Airways’ business class on flights serviced by Boeing 787-9s, airline officials announced Friday, due to seatbelt limitations. “Due to safety regulations, we reserve the right of booking tickets to passengers who have waists wider than 56 inches and passengers with lap-held infants,” said airline safety official Capt. Prathana Patthanasiri. By obese, the airline means passengers with waistlines exceed 56 inches, who cannot fit inside the seatbelts equipped in that jet’s business section. Those riding in the other classes can still be as wide as they please. People planning cradle their babies in business class must also opt for a coach ticket or pay for baby seat instead since the new belts cannot accommodate lap-held infants. Thai Airways said it is complying with US FAA regulations since business class seat belts on this model of plane are equipped with mandatory airbags.<br/>