Southwest said a drop in travel bookings that followed its first passenger fatality could cost the carrier as much as $100m. The slide in ticket sales will drive revenue from each seat flown a mile, a gauge of pricing power, down by 1 to 3% in the current quarter, the discount carrier said Thursday. Southwest blamed as much as two percentage points of the decline on weak sales after an engine exploded in flight April 17, piercing the plane and killing a passenger. The sober outlook contrasted with those of rival airlines, which have predicted increases in the revenue gauge of as much as 5 percent. Southwest also faces pressures from aircraft retirements and fare battles with competitors. United Continental Holdings Inc. has been boosting seating capacity in some domestic markets where it faces off against Southwest. Southwest CEO Gary Kelly said the weak bookings were expected, partly because the airline halted marketing efforts after the accident. The airline set the value of the lost sales at $50m to $100m. “I don’t expect the softness to last very long,” he said. “We will be getting back to the market this week and we’ll be preparing for our normal booking campaigns.” Logan Purk, an analyst at Edward D. Jones, said weak pricing is a bigger concern.<br/>
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WestJet Airlines' new CEO is facing his first major test as the Canadian carrier's pilots weigh strike action and larger rival Air Canada Thursday offered to accommodate travellers if there is a disruption. WestJet CEO Ed Sims, who stepped into the top job in March, said earlier this month that he aimed to reach a first agreement with unionized pilots this year. WestJet pilots voted in May 2017 to join the Air Line Pilots Association union. ALPA said it intends to begin intensive talks with WestJet starting Friday. Management agreed to meet for only 14 days of bargaining during a 60-day conciliation process, the union said in a Wednesday statement. "We are committed to negotiating for the next two weeks straight," said Captain Rob McFadyen, chairman of WestJet’s ALPA Master Executive Council. "Our focus is on getting an agreement." McFadyen said the two sides remained apart over issues like outsourcing and compensation. He said WestJet pilots are looking for compensation "comparable to other pilots in our segment of the industry," which includes Air Canada.<br/>
Ryanair announced plans Thursday to open a base at Duesseldorf’s main airport in its latest expansion into its key target market of Germany in the wake of the collapse of rival Air Berlin. The airline said it will base one aircraft at the Duesseldorf Airport from June to service routes to Spain. Tickets for 12 routes from the same airport operated by Laudamotion, a new airline formed from Air Berlin subsidiary Niki and acquired in March by Ryanair, will also be sold by the Ryanair web site. The move is the latest challenge by Ryanair to Lufthansa, which last year overtook the carrier as Europe’s largest by passenger numbers.<br/>
Norwegian Air Shuttle said it has attracted interest from other potential suitors since the revelation that BA parent IAG may bid for the company. Norwegian received several inquiries after IAG disclosed that it was building a stake and might make a formal offer, it said Thursday. CEO Bjorn Kjos said that the approaches come from “very serious, professional” airline groups. In a softening of his stance on a takeover, Kjos announced the appointment of a steering committee and financial and legal advisers to handle the situation, adding that while the board may not back a deal at Norwegian’s current value, “there’s a saying that if the price is right, everything is for sale.” The comments mark a shift from Kjos’s outright rejection of the overtures from IAG, whose CEO Willie Walsh he described as “one of the best guys in the industry.” The additional inquiries disclosed by Norwegian “may not be as serious” as those from IAG, but could drive any acquisition price higher, Davy Holdings analyst Stephen Furlong said in a note to clients. Kjos said he’s happy to have IAG as an investor and intends to act in the best interests of all shareholders.<br/>
Two Iranian carriers, Iran Aseman Airlines and Iran Airtour, have reached preliminary agreements to acquire a modified version of the Sukhoi Superjet 100. The memoranda of understanding, reached during the Eurasia air show in Antalya, each cover the delivery of 20 aircraft. Sukhoi's civil aircraft division says that the twinjets will be a slightly-modified version, which it describes as "Russified". It has designated the aircraft as the SSJ100R or Superjet 100R. This development involves updating a number of aircraft systems to feature Russian-produced components. "Russian engineering and manufacturing companies are already invited for participation," says the airframer, adding that it intends to improve the aircraft's operational performance and open new markets for the type. Deliveries of the aircraft to the two Iranian airlines would commence around the end of 2019 or beginning of 2020.<br/>
Sudan Airways’ workers union condemned plans to cut most of the troubled national carrier’s staff as employees started receiving dismissal letters. “This plan is unfair and we will appeal to the council of ministers, courts and human-rights organizations,” union Chairman Ala Aldien Babikir saud Thursday. A Sudanese state minister said last week the airline may dismiss 1,200 of its 1,500 employees as it tries to overcome difficulties in international banking transactions and importing spare parts. Babikir said a first group of 207 employees have now received dismissal letters.<br/>
Allegiant Travel, parent of ultra-LCC Allegiant Air, reported 2018 Q1 net income of $55.2m, up 31% from $42.2 million in the 2017 Q1. Operating revenue was $425.4m, up 12% from the year-ago quarter. Allegiant’s ambitious plan to fast-track the retirement of its MD-80 fleet remains on track, and the associated efficiency gains along with expanded use of revenue management tools has executives bullish on the company’s revenue-generation potential. Allegiant ended Q1 with 32 MD-80s in its 88-aircraft fleet. It plans to park five this quarter, eight in Q3, and the last 19 in the final quarter. It will add 26 Airbus narrowbodies—20 A320s and six A319s—as part of its transition to a single fleet type. “Our second-quarter activity, which has 16 Airbus inductions from six different operators and five MD-80 retirements, is more than we would typically take on and accomplish in an entire year,” CFO Scott Sheldon said.<br/>
Virgin Australia will make more flights across the Tasman following its breakup with Air New Zealand, but says it will not need additional aircraft. The airline says a fleet simplification programme that began two years ago was also aimed at more efficient use of its planes, including the 737-800s used to fly across the Tasman. When the seven-year partnership with Air New Zealand finishes at the end of October, the Australian airline will fly two new transtasman routes and increase the number of seats on existing ones, aiming specifically at the business market. Air New Zealand is also stepping up its transtasman flights. Virgin has more than 80 Boeing 737s. A small number of them need extra checks of their CFM engines following a global alert, but these will not affect schedules. Virgin Airlines group executive Rob Sharp said the restructuring came as the mining boom ended. The airline's Embraer E-Jets have gone from the fleet. "One of the core strategies is to use our 737-800s - the utilisation has historically been lower than what it could have been. We're not acquiring new aircraft but we're using capacity that we had within our fleet." The Australian airline says its transtasman capacity will increase by 13%, with 43,000 extra seats from October 28. <br/>