Norwegian is ramping up, as Björn Kjos, CE, and founder, says, for the future. In 2012 it had 68 aircraft flying 330 routes within Europe, where it is the third largest LCC. The same year, Norwegian announced it would be offering a no-frills long-haul service as well. This year the airline by passenger is adding 11 787-9s and 12 737 MAXs to its existing fleet of 145 or so aircraft. By the end of 2019, it will have grown its total fleet to more than 190 planes as the airline pushes its transatlantic routes to North America and Argentina. Generating a profit, however, is not as easy. Norwegian recently announced that it expects to lose NOK2.6b before tax in Q1 2018, compared with NOK1.8b in the same period last year. Meanwhile Norwegian is buying so many planes that net debt is growing too; increasing over the past year to NOK22b. <br/>
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EasyJet CE Johan Lundgren said that the airline has counted about 1m additional passengers in the Swiss market annually, and anticipates continued growth thanks to a combination of targeted advertising and larger planes. EasyJet flights are mainly active in the Swiss airports at Geneva and Basel Mulhouse, and Lundgren said he anticipates growth potential, particularly toward the French and German borders. “In Alsace and in Baden-Württemberg we advertise – unlike many competitors – specifically for passengers. We can skim off these markets and increase capacities relatively easily, for example by using larger [aircraft],” Lundgren said. The CE also said he was not concerned about attempts by more expensive carriers, like SWISS, to “copy” elements of EasyJet’s low-cost, low-service business model. <br/>
Recently, two of Europe’s leading discount airlines started targeting new business opportunities in the Middle East. In Feb 2018, Ryanair announced it was expanding in the Middle East with its first flights to Jordan. Last month, the airline flew its inaugural routes between Cyprus and Amman, initially offering prices at around US$25 a ticket. The airline says it will add additional routes between Amman and several European markets later this year, as well as starting flights to Aqaba, Jordan’s Red Sea resort town. Ryanair said it expects to transport almost 500,000 customers per year on its new routes to Jordan. Meanwhile, EasyJet also recently revealed it was exploring new opportunities in the Middle East as part of its long-haul connections program Worldwide by EasyJet. <br/>
A video showing an angry bunch of SpiceJet air hostesses accusing the airline of strip searching them at Chennai airport has gone viral, with the airline denying the claims. The crew alleged that they were searched after de-boarding on the suspicion that they were swindling cash collected from the sale of food and other items on-board. While SpiceJet confirmed that their security teams undertook “random pat-down searches” at a few of the stations Wednesday and Thursday as part of security and safety standard operating procedures, the airline rejected the allegation that the crew was strip searched. A SpiceJet spokesperson said the searches were conducted as per the laid down procedures in closed rooms by well-trained employees of same gender. <br/>