Emirates is facing a cabin crew shortage and is struggling to fully staff some flights after a spate of resignations and other workforce constraints, according to several employees. Seven Emirates employees said the airline was operating flights with fewer cabin crew than usual and increasingly reassigning flight attendants to other routes at the last minute to enable them to operate. Emirates' fleet of Airbus A380 and Boeing 777-300 jets requires more cabin crew per flight than smaller aircraft and to meet the requirements of long-haul routes. The airline denied it had a cabin crew shortage and said it had slowed down recruitment across the company last year, including for crew, but had recently started actively recruiting crew again. The cabin crew staffing issue follows on from a pilot shortage at Emirates. <br/>
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Emirates Airline has posted 124% profit growth for its most recent financial year, delivering a AED2.8b (US$762m) profit despite “strong competitive pressure across all markets” and higher fuel prices. For the 12 months ended March 31, passenger numbers rose 4% to 58.5m, pushing load factor up 2.4 points to 77.5%. “The increase in passenger seat factor compared to last year’s 75.1%, is a result of successful capacity management in response to political uncertainty and strong competition in many markets, despite a moderate 2% increase in seat capacity,” Emirates said May 9. Emirates had to adjust fare levels because of this difficult backdrop, but revenues still grew 9% to AED92.3b. The airline said revenues are “well-balanced,” with none of its 6 regions contributing more than 30% of overall revenues. <br/>
China Express Airlines reported a 2018 Q1 net profit of CNY82.3m (US$13m), up 6.3% compared to net income of CNY77.4m in the year-ago quarter. Operating revenue jumped 35.4% year-over-year to CNY991.3m against a 43.5% YOY increase in operating expenses to CNY798.3m. The carrier credited its business scope expansion and continuous domestic market demand growth as main reasons for the results. However, industry analysts pointed out govt subsidies also played a role as Chinese domestic carriers are collectively experiencing financial difficulties on regional route operations because of higher operating expenses, lower load factors and more taxes. China Express, which received CNY105m in govt subsidies from January to March, did not release traffic figures for the quarter. <br/>
WOW Air appears to be on the verge of announcing flights to India, firming up plans for a strategic shift toward Asia. WOW Air currently serves 38 destinations across Europe, North America and Canada. WOW Air CE Skuli Mogensen said he would be announcing new flights to Asia in May. A WOW Air press conference has been scheduled May 15 as the date for the Indian launch announcement. A related Twitter post suggests that WOW Air’s initial Indian route will be Reykjavik-New Delhi. April 26, Mogensen said he sees WOW Air serving 14-15 destinations in Asia, matching the airline’s 14 North American destinations, as he seeks to position Iceland as “the Dubai of the north.” Mogensen is seeking a counter-cyclical hub outside Iceland to redeploy WOW Air’s excess capacity during the slower winter season. <br/>