India’s Jet Airways Tuesday set out to reassure investors it was taking measures to cut costs and boost revenue, a day after the beleaguered airline reported its second consecutive quarterly loss. Jet has been facing financial difficulties but has said it is confident it can slash costs and keep flying, dismissing reports it had told staff it was running out of cash. India is the world’s fastest-growing aviation market, but rising fuel prices, a weaker rupee and price competition has pulled down airline profitability.“The Indian aviation sector, although witnessing steady and robust traffic growth, has been passing through a tough phase,” Jet’s CEO Vinay Dube said. “Airlines have been unable to pass through this increased cost to consumers by increasing fares,” Dube said, adding the industry could not sustain such low fares in the long run especially with fuel prices rising. Dube said the company and its auditors were not in disagreement over the financial results, and that Jet’s account with its lenders was “standard” - indicating there had been no delay in meeting loan obligations. Jet, on Tuesday, also said it would invest in its business, cut costs in excess of 20b rupees ($285m) in two years, and planned to raise funds by selling a stake in its frequent flyer program. Some of the savings will come by reducing its maintenance and interest costs, sales and distribution expenses and rationalizing its fleet.<br/>
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A Chinese passenger plane with 166 people on board made an emergency landing with two wheels missing at Shenzhen airport on Tuesday, after the pilots aborted landing at nearby Macau and declared “Mayday”, aviation authorities said. The flight, which had taken off from Beijing, was operated by Capital Airlines, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said. Capital Airlines is a unit of Hainan Airlines. The crew also reported a fault in one of the Airbus A320’s engines, according to CAAC. Capital Airlines said it suspected the flight encountered wind shear while attempting to land in Macau and the crew “concluded that landing gear may have been damaged.” It said there were 157 passengers and nine crew on board. The airport at Shenzhen, about 40 kilometres (25 miles) northeast of Macau, shut one of its runways for three hours to accommodate the emergency landing. CACC said five passengers reported physical discomfort during the incident.<br/>
Ryanair signed its first-ever union contract, granting Italian pilots perks such as severance pay and parental leave in a deal the airline hopes to repeat across its network to quell a protracted labor dispute. The agreement also commits Ryanair to making contributions to national health care and social-security funds, the Italian pilots union ANPAC said Tuesday in a statement. A “wide majority” backed the agreement after eight months of negotiations, it said. Winning over Italian pilots should bolster Ryanair’s hopes ahead of similar negotiations with unions elsewhere in Europe, and limits the extent of any future industrial action that has already led to more than a thousand cancellations this summer. A similar so-called collective labour agreement has been put to flight-deck crew in Ireland for approval after a breakthrough in negotiations last week. “We welcome this first CLA with our Italian pilots and hope that it will be shortly followed by a similar agreement covering our Irish pilots,” Ryanair Chief People Officer Eddie Wilson said. “We have invited our UK, German and Spanish unions to meet with us in the coming days.”<br/>
Virgin Australia has sunk to a net statutory loss of A$653.3m despite its strongest underlying profit in a decade and record revenue. The after tax loss for the year June 30 followed came after the airline was in the red by A$185.8m last year. The airline, which is expanding operations in this country following a bust up with Air NZ, said the heavy loss was due to major accounting adjustments following a review of the group's asset values in accordance with accounting standards. "As a result of the review, approximately A$4521m in deferred tax assets have been derecognised and there has been a A$120.8m impairment of the assets of the Virgin Australia International business," said Virgin CE John Borghetti. Underlying profit before tax was A$109m, an improvement from last year's A$3.7m loss. During the past year the group faced a A$45m fuel headwind. Group revenue was up 7.4% to A$5.4b, a record. Borghetti said the Virgin Australia domestic business recorded its highest earnings margin results since domestic segment reporting began. The domestic business makes up about two thirds of the airline's revenue.<br/>
Flydubai said on Tuesday it had sacked a pilot who last month failed an alcohol test before being due to operate a flight to the United Arab Emirates from Nepal. The captain was found to have a blood alcohol level over the legal limit and deemed unfit to operate the July 29 Kathmandu to Dubai flight after colleagues raised concerns. “Flydubai confirms that the pilot’s employment has been terminated. The safety of our passengers and crew is our priority,” an airline spokeswoman said. The pilot, who was tested before boarding the plane, has not been identified by the airline. The flight, operated by a replacement crew, arrived in Dubai 10 hours and 30 minutes later than originally scheduled.<br/>
A Chicago federal judge has tossed a proposed class-action lawsuit alleging Southwest Airlines violated the law by requiring that certain employees use fingerprints to sign into and out of work. The Chicago Daily Law Bulletin reports that Judge Marvin Aspen concluded a courtroom wasn't the proper venue to resolve what he deemed a relatively minor dispute between unionised workers and a company with a collective bargaining agreement. He said in a decision posted last week that the right place was arbitration. Several Southwest agents filed the lawsuit in federal court this year. They argued that the use of fingerprints violated the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act. It sought both an injunction halting the practice and an order forcing the airline to destroy any biometric data it gathered.<br/>
SpiceJet says it has operated the country's first flight using biofuel on 27 August. SpiceJet deployed a Bombardier Q400 on the Dehradun-Delhi route, which carried a blend of air turbine fuel (75%) and biofuel (25%). Made from jathropha crop, and developed locally by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research-Indian Institute of Petroleum, the biouel met the specification standards of Pratt & Whitney and Bombardier for commercial application in aircraft, states SpiceJet. Such blends could potentially reduce its carbon footprint by 15%, it adds. “SpiceJet is delighted to operate the first 'BioJet' fuel flight in India. This fuel is low-cost and helps in significantly reducing carbon emissions. It has the potential to reduce our dependence on traditional aviation fuel by up to 50% on every flight and bring down fares. India is the fastest growing aviation market in the world today and it is our responsibility to grow using clean and sustainable technologies,” says Ajay Singh, SpiceJet's chairman and managing director.<br/>
Icelandair president & CEO Björgólfur Jóhannsson resigned Aug. 27 as the group further lowered its EBITDA guidance for 2018 to $80-$100m, down by about 50% since the beginning of the year. The Icelandic company was originally expecting a $170-$190m full-year EBITDA, but on July 10 lowered the guidance to $120-$140m. Jóhannsson said the updated forecast is “mainly based on the fact that the company’s revenue will be lower than anticipated.” Icelandair is still expected to increase average fares during the final months of the year. “Now, we expect the average fare increase to occur later, that is not until in 2019,” Jóhannsson said. Structural changes at the company’s sales and marketing department, which were made in the summer of 2017—such as a new fare structure—were not successful enough. In addition, changes in the company’s route network have resulted in an imbalance between Europe flights and North America flights. As a result, Icelandair estimates passenger revenues will be 5%-8% ($50-$80m) lower than expected this year.<br/>
Air Astana carried more than 2m passengers in H1 2018, up 10% year-over-year, as revenue rose 17% compared to the same six-month period in 2017. The Kazakhstan flag carrier reported international passenger traffic was up 22% YOY. International transit traffic grew by 75% YOY to 320,000 passengers. The share of transit passengers reached 30% of Air Astana’s international traffic, up from 21% YOY. Air Astana president & CEO Peter Foster said, “Passenger numbers continue to be strong for international traffic and network business. Domestic and regional routes face tough pricing and cost headwinds.” Capacity grew 8% as a result of the introduction of new flights.<br/>
The first nonstop flights from McCarran International Airport to Mexico from a US-based air carrier were announced Tuesday when representatives of Frontier Airlines said they would start air service to two Mexican resort cities in December. Frontier will become the first airline in more than a decade to offer international service to Canada and Mexico from Las Vegas when flights to Cancun and Los Cabos begin Dec. 15. Most international service to McCarran is provided by foreign air carriers. Flights to Cancun will leave Las Vegas Mondays and Fridays at around 10 a.m. with the return flight arriving at McCarran at around 8 p.m. The Saturday Cabo flight will leave Las Vegas at around noon, returning at 7 p.m. Fares will start at $79 one way.<br/>