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The parent of Allegiant Airlines dropped following a “60 Minutes” segment detailing a high number of what the program called “midair breakdowns” at the budget carrier. “Public documents show an alarming number of aborted takeoffs, cabin-pressure loss, emergency descents and unscheduled landings,” according to a report the CBS program aired Sunday evening. The segment included interviews with shaken passengers and prominently featured a former member of the NTSB, John Goglia, who said he discourages family and friends from flying the carrier. Almost 30% of Allegiant’s planes are “antiquated” McDonnell-Douglas MD-80 aircraft, the program said. “We found little in the way of incrementally negative data points concerning Allegiant’s operational challenges over the past few years,” Joseph Denardi , an analyst at Stifel Nicolaus & Co., wrote in a note to investors. “The bottom line is that, true or false, that was 30 minutes of horrible publicity for Allegiant with sound bites that will extend the story.” Allegiant responded that it emphasises safety, meets all federal requirements and that the “60 Minutes” report dealt with old incidents that had been investigated by the FAA. “Safety is at the core of every aspect of our operation, every day,” Eric Gust, the airline’s vice president of operations, wrote to customers. “Allegiant complies with all FAA requirements and participates in numerous voluntary safety programs to ensure we operate at the highest possible standard.”<br/>

WestJet Airlines’ new boss, working to reverse this year’s stock swoon, says he has a lot riding on the carrier’s new discount unit and a fleet expansion with Boeing 787 Dreamliners. The airline has to show investors it’s able to execute both parts of its plan while also managing labor talks with its pilots and flight attendants, CEO Ed Sims said Monday. The budget operation, known as Swoop, is scheduled to start in June. “As we hit each of those milestones, you will see the gap between a good strategy and effective execution close very rapidly,” Sims said. “Our approach, and a more methodical approach to execution, is what’s finally going to restore analysts’ confidence back to what I would believe to be more realistic share-price performance levels.” The busy schedule of the next few months sets up an early test for Sims, who took the reins at WestJet after the sudden departure of Gregg Saretsky in March. Investors are concerned that the airline’s plan to begin Swoop while expanding international flying with its new Dreamliners will stretch management’s capabilities, Cormark Securities analyst David Tyerman said.<br/>

Malaysia’s AirAsia X has no plans to buy the Airbus A350 widebody jet, the airline’s co-group CEO said Monday, despite the airline having 10 of them on order. “The A350 is not an aircraft we will buy,” AirAsia X co-group CEO Tony Fernandes said in a Facebook Live chat from London. “Too expensive. Fares would go up.” AirAsia X, the long-haul arm of AirAsia Bhd (AIRA.KL), placed a firm order for 10 A350s in June 2009. It later ordered 66 A330neos, an updated version of the A330s it has in its current fleet. The A350-900 has a longer range but also comes with a higher list price of $317.4m, compared with the $296.4m price of the A330-900neo. Airlines typically receive large discounts from the list prices. Manufacturers sometimes allow airlines to swap models even though they have placed firm orders and paid deposits, meaning AirAsia X might be able to convert the A350 order to other Airbus jets like the A330neo or A320 family. The AirAsia group is one of Airbus’ largest customers, but AirAsia X has also been talking to Boeing about buying the rival 787-10 jet, according to a source familiar with the discussions.<br/>

Angry passengers and a US senator pressed Sun Country Airlines for answers on Monday after the regional airline left more than 200 people stranded in Mexico after cancelling two flights on Saturday due to a Midwest blizzard. Eagan, Minnesota-based Sun Country, which was scheduled to end its seasonal service to Mexico on that day, refused to put on replacement flights or book passengers on other airlines, as carriers usually do when flights are cancelled because of bad weather. That meant passengers booked on two Saturday flights from Mazatlan and Cabo San Lucas in Mexico to Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport - which was closed when the flights were due to land - had to find their own flights back to the United States. “These were our last flights for the season, so we do not have another flight to re-accommodate passengers on. You will receive a full refund,” the airline wrote to passengers on its Facebook page on Sunday. “Flights will need to be purchased on another carrier. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.” Stranded passengers flooded the carrier’s social media pages, complaining about the cancellations and the airline’s slow response to calls to its customer service line. Sun Country made a fuller apology late on Monday, after the social media backlash.<br/>

Lufthansa subsidiary Eurowings has introduced its first long-haul service from Munich as part of plans to double capacity from the German base in 2018. Eurowings bases three Airbus A330s in Munich, which is also the second largest hub of its parent Lufthansa. The first long-haul flight to Las Vegas began April 16. The route is to be served twice weekly. Eurowings plans to introduce nine more long-haul destinations over the summer, including Cancun, Fort Myers, Windhoek, Mauritius, Varadero, Punta Cana, Montego Bay, Puerto Plata and Bangkok. Overall, Eurowings grows its Munich presence by 15 to 41 destinations. The airline expects to carry 2m passengers to and from Munich. It will be the airport’s second largest carrier after Lufthansa. Eurowings MD Oliver Wagner said the Munich services are “complementary” to Lufthansa and do not create in-house competition. The carrier had decided to move its long-haul flying away from Cologne/Bonn and focus primarily on Dusseldorf and Munich. Wagner made clear that Eurowings has no plans to take over hub feeding for Lufthansa, a step that could lead to lower cost in the group’s European short-haul network, which has returned to profitability after several difficult years. Eurowings is also no longer pursuing the idea of serving the busy Frankfurt-Berlin route.<br/>

Virgin Australia is increasing routes and frequencies to New Zealand following the termination of its alliance with Air NZ, which becomes effective in October. The new flights are needed because Virgin is losing services currently provided by Air New Zealand under their joint venture (JV) agreement. Air NZ sparked the breakup by deciding not to renew the partnership when its authorisation expires in October. Under the JV, the pair coordinated scheduling and shared revenue on routes between the two countries. Virgin’s move to add flights follows a similar step by Air NZ, as the airlines prepare to transition from partners to rivals. The two routes being added by Virgin are between Sydney and Wellington, New Zealand with five flights a week, and between Melbourne, Australia and Queenstown, New Zealand with four weekly flights. They will be operated by Boeing 737-800s from Oct. 28. Virgin is increasing capacity on three of its existing routes into the key Auckland market. It will add eight weekly Sydney-Auckland flights, giving it a total of 19. Melbourne-Auckland flights will increase from 10 to 14 per week, and Brisbane-Auckland will rise from 12 to 14. In comparison, Air New Zealand has up to six flights a day on Auckland-Sydney, and up to five daily flights on Auckland-Melbourne.<br/>