Adria Airways plans to open a base at German’s Paderborn-Lippstadt Airport from winter 2018-19. The airline said the German region of Ostwestphalen Lippe will be connected with 11X-weekly flights to Zurich (Switzerland), 4X-weekly service to Vienna (Austria) and 3X-weekly to service London Southend (UK). All routes will be operated using Saab 2000s, which the airline will take delivery of 6 this year. Adria Airways CCO Christian Schneider said opening the base is of “great importance” to “increase our footprint in the German market by adding Paderborn as our fifth destination in Germany.” After delivery of the 6 Saab 2000s, Adria’s fleet will grow to 21 aircraft, comprising 3 Airbus A319s, 9 Bombardier CRJ900s and 3 CRJ700s, operating to 25 destinations. <br/>
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Ethiopian Airlines said the number of passengers it carried grew by 21% topping the 10m mark for the first time in the airline’s history, reaching 10.6m passengers. This was contained in its financial performance covering its operations, commercial and customer services for the 2017/2018 fiscal year. During the period under review, the airline introduced additional 14 new aircraft; averaging more than 1 aircraft per month; The airline, according to Group CE Tewolde GebreMariam, opened 8 new international destinations. Operating revenue, he affirmed, grew by 43% from previous fiscal year to culminate at ETB89.1b (US$3.2b). Net profit, he said stood at ETB6.8b. He said: ” During the fiscal year, the airline was given for the first time in its history a 4 Star rating by SKYTRAX... putting it on par with other global airlines." <br/>
A United Airlines flight attendant is accusing the airline of failing to protect her from sexually explicit pictures that a pilot posted of her online, according to a lawsuit filed in a San Antonio, Texas, federal court. The lawsuit, filed by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), said United failed to prevent and correct the pilot's behavior, even after the flight attendant made numerous complaints. United said that it had reviewed the allegations in the complaint and disagreed with the EEOC's description of the situation, without providing further detail. "United does not tolerate sexual harassment in the workplace and will vigorously defend against this case," A spokeswoman Erin Benson said. She said the airline could not comment further. The EEOC could not be reached for a response. <br/>
Copa Holdings posted a Q2 2018 net profit of US$49.9m, down 15% from $58.6m in Q2 2017. The results reflect the combined effects of rising fuel costs, weakened currencies in Brazil and Argentina, and a 90-day halt on all Copa flights to Caracas, Venezuela, the company stated. The company reported $634.1m in revenue for the quarter, up 10.5 year-over-year on capacity growth of 11.2%. Expenses, however, were up 16.6% to $577.1m, including a 47.1% YOY rise in fuel costs related to rising prices and increased capacity. CASM increased 4.8% YOY, leading to a 0.7% slide in PRASM compared to Q2 2017. Passenger yields came in 2.2% below last year. Copa’s operating income for the quarter came to $57.1m, down 27.3% YOY; the company’s Q2 operating margin was 9%, down 4.7 points from a year ago. <br/>