Virgin Atlantic reported a loss for 2017 Thursday, compared with a year-ago profit, due to a weaker pound, industry-wide engine supply issues and as hurricanes disrupted operations in the US and Caribbean. The airline, partly owned by US carrier Delta, said loss before tax and exceptional items was GBP28.4m for the year ended Dec. 31. It earned GBP23m a year earlier. Virgin Atlantic said total group revenue fell 1% to GBP2.7b last year. The company said it flew 5.3m passengers in 2017, 0.1m fewer than in 2016, while its load factor slipped to 78.3% from 78.7%. <br/>
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Ryanair added Turkey to its list of destinations on Thursday, continuing an expansion from its traditional European markets by dipping a toe into a large market where the tourism sector is showing signs of recovery. The carrier, which this month began flying from Jordan for the first time, will operate two new routes weekly from Dublin and Bratislava to the southwestern Turkish resort of Dalaman from June. Turkey's tourism industry has suffered in recent years as travel companies and airlines switched their attention to Spain after militant attacks and a failed military coup affected demand for travel to Turkey. The resulting competition put pressure on prices and was one of the reasons behind the demise of airlines Air Berlin and Monarch last year. However Europe's largest travel group TUI said last month that bookings for Turkey had picked up, echoing rival Thomas Cook which also saw increased demand. Hoteliers have predicted that tourism in Turkey will make a major comeback this summer as Germans and Russians flock back to its beaches.<br/>
AirAsia plans to expand its BigPay debit card and mobile app recently launched in Malaysia to other countries in the region and to add remittance and lending products, its group CEO said, as the budget airline group taps new revenue sources. BigPay is one of the businesses AirAsia, a pioneer of low-cost flying in Asia, has been developing to help gain more data on customers and to increase earnings from income streams other than selling tickets. “We are going to cut exchange rates. We will also disrupt the remittance market. And finally we will get into the money lending business,” AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes said. The company has also been selling physical assets, like its leasing business and pilot training centre, as it focuses more on digital business development. Corrine Png, CEO of transport research firm Crucial Perspective, said in a Feb. 28 note to clients that AirAsia was making “marked progress” on digitalisation and could ultimately triple in value if it is able to monetise its data.<br/>
Bangladesh is mourning those who died in the crash of a plane from Dkaha as it was landing in Kathmandu, Nepal. Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has ordered national flags be flown at half-staff at all government buildings at home and at embassies across the world, while special prayers are planned for Friday at all mosques across the country during weekly prayers. The US-Bangla Airlines plane was carrying 67 passengers and four crewmembers. It crashed into a field Monday following a confused conversation between the control tower and the pilot in which they discussed which direction the plane should land on the airport's single runway. Forty-nine people died. Most of those on board were from Bangladesh and Nepal. Both governments have launched investigations into the crash. The airline has blamed air traffic control officials, but Kathmandu officials said it was not their fault.<br/>
Ugandan authorities have confirmed that a flight attendant has been injured after falling from a parked Emirates aircraft at Entebbe. Emirates operates Boeing 777-300ERs to Entebbe from its base at Dubai. The Ugandan civil aviation authority has disclosed that the incident occurred on 14 March, after the aircraft had arrived and parked. It says a member of the cabin crew "appeared to have opened the emergency door" and that she "unfortunately fell off". She was taken to a medical facility, the authority says, adding: "Contrary to some social media posts, the lady is alive." An unverified image purporting to show the aftermath, carried by some Ugandan media, suggests the event centred on a left-hand exit aft of the wing. There is no evidence of the presence of boarding stairs and no indication that aft exits were being used for boarding or disembarkation, and the civil aviation authority says it is investigating the circumstances of the incident.<br/>
No US airline has disrupted the premium market recently more than JetBlue Airways, the first carrier to bring (somewhat) affordable lie-flat seats to domestic routes. While the product has been more successful than JetBlue executives expected, don’t look for it to expand to all routes. JetBlue only wants to put it on longer flights where customers will reliably pay for it, executives said. “Once you get to about 2,000 miles, I think we’re in good shape from there,” said Marty St. George, the airline’s executive VP of commercial and planning. “Under 2,000 is a little bit challenging. We’ve had a lot of customer demand to fly in places like New York to Palm Beach, New York to Fort Lauderdale. But we think it’s just too short a flight actually to justify that square footage of cabin.” JetBlue began flying its 16-seat premium cabin, called Mint, in 2014, putting it on the two obvious routes — New York to San Francisco and New York to Los Angeles — as a strategy to try to turn the flights from revenue laggards into top performers. Almost immediately, the economics on the key transcontinental routes changed for every airline, as industry-wide advanced purchased fares dropped considerably. Travelers could buy business class for as little as $599, a steal when most carriers charged at least $1,000. Entry-level fares are a higher now — often about $759 — but across all carriers, they’re far cheaper than pre-2014.<br/>
Growing trade tensions spurred by US President Donald Trump's increasingly confrontational trade policies may affect the airline industry, but the CEO of Hawaii's largest airline said the impact would likely be limited. "We worry from the standpoint that anything that's bad for the global economy is bad for the airline industry," Peter Ingram, the president and CEO of Hawaiian Airlines told CNBC. "I would say that from our standpoint, it's a little bit more muted," he added. Ingram attributed his statement to the fact the company is "based in Honolulu," that it is a "leisure-focused airline," and that many people view family vacations as a "basic right in the world today." "Leisure travel has been continuing to grow, and I think it has proven — through economic downturns in fact — to be more resilient than business travel, where corporations are able, in time of need, to really cut things down," Ingram said. Technology has made traveling more specialized, and airlines need to develop to cater to a wider range of customers, the CEO said. The CEO said he expects carriers like Hawaiian Airlines to continue developing different products to serve the growing range of clients with "different needs."<br/>