HNA Group’s minority stake in airline Virgin Australia is drawing interest from potential bidders as the Chinese conglomerate offloads non-core assets to reduce debt, according to people familiar with the matter. The approximately 20% stake could attract bids from existing shareholders in the company as well as other airlines and investment funds if HNA decides to pursue a sale, the people said, asking not to be identified because the deliberations are private. While the group is open to offers, it isn’t actively working on selling its holding, one of the people said. Singapore Airlines and Nanshan Capital, which each control about a fifth of Virgin Australia’s shares, are among the companies weighing a bid, the people said. The Australian airline has a market value of about A$1.9b after its shares dropped about 20% this year through Thursday. More than 90 percent of Virgin Australia’s shares are controlled by five investors, according to the company’s last annual report. <br/>
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Hainan Airlines Group posted an operating profit of CNY683m ($100m) for H1 2018, a 55% year-on-year decline from the same period last year. Revenue for the six months to 30 June rose 16% to CNY32.9b. Attributable net profit fell by 52.2% to CNY548 million, down from the CNY1.15b figure recorded last year. During the January-June period, Hainan Airlines group carriers transported 39.3m passengers, a 14.8% annualised increase. <br/>
AirAsia Group reported a surge in Q2 net profit on the back of a tax benefit, but operating profit fell sharply as fuel and maintenance costs increased. The Malaysian budget carrier said on Thursday that net profit for April-June rose by 147% to 361.8m ringgit. However, that was mainly thanks to a one-off tax benefit from the sale of aircraft last year and masked underlying challenges, particularly for long-haul arm AirAsia X, which swung into the red. While group revenue rose 10.3% in Q2 from a year earlier to 2.62b ringgit, net operating profit fell nearly 18% to 324.8m ringgit. AirAsia's load factor fell by 3 percentage points to 86 percent on average at its operations in Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines that are consolidated for accounting purposes. Capacity at those airlines expanded by 12%, outpacing growth in passenger volumes.<br/>
Norwegian Air has sold six Boeing 737-800 airliners as part of fleet renewal plans that could see it sell up to 140 planes. "The prices are well above the debt on the aircraft," CFO Geir Karlsen said Thursday, without disclosing numbers. The sales proceeds will be used to repay debt and increase liquidity. Norwegian Air has a fleet of more than 150 aircraft and has commitments to acquire a further 210 by 2020 as it looks to rapidly expand in Europe and on transatlantic routes. Its aircraft commitments are worth $12.36b, Norwegian Air said in a June rights issue prospectus. With an equity ratio at the end of June of just 7%, the plan is to ease its commitments going forward. "We have said we will renew our fleet and sell our oldest aircraft. We have 22 Boeing 737NG and they are a target to be changed with new Boeing 737 MAX aircraft." "In theory we could sell as many as 140 aircraft," Karlsen said.<br/>
Less than four months ago, start-up airline OneJet announced it was buying a charter operator to more than double its flights to 400 a week. This week, OneJet suspended all operations. The operator of Pittsburgh International Airport this month sued the three-year-old company, which has a base at the airport, alleging One Jet did not fulfill the requirements for a $1m incentive it gave the airline to expand its operations. Rick Pawlak, managing director of Ultimate AirShuttle, a unit of Ultimate JetCharters, said it terminated its acquisition agreement with OneJet and it has stopped flying for the upstart. Matthew Maguire founded OneJet in 2015, going after business travellers for companies like FedEx in midsize cities that large carriers retreated from in a wave of megamergers over the last decade. OneJet had been flying on an operating certificate held by Ultimate JetCharters. OneJet is now pursuing its own certificate from the FAA and will suspend scheduled services during that process, OneJet's CEO Maguire said. "The result of this transition will be a more robust and reliable operation for our customers from the fourth quarter forward." <br/>
Swiss regional SkyWork Airlines ceased operations Aug. 29, after fleet renewal efforts failed to improve the business after seven years of operations. “After failed negotiations with a possible partner, the economic conditions are no longer given to continue the operation,” the airline said. The company voluntarily returned its air operator’s certificate (AOC) to the Swiss Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA) and must notify the bankruptcy judge to pay any outstanding debts. The next steps are now with the judge. SkyWork said this move also marks the closure of the last real Swiss-owned scheduled airline.<br/>
Indian low-cost carrier GoAir will launch its first international services with Airbus A320s, linking the cities of Mumbai and Delhi with Phuket and Male. CE Cornelis Vrieswijk said flights to Male will begin on 14 October, with a twice-weekly Delhi-Male and thrice-weekly Mumbai-Male service. The twice-weekly Delhi-Phuket and thrice-weekly Mumbai-Phuket flights will begin at a later date. Vrieswijk said that Phuket and Male will subsequently be connected from Bengaluru "in the very near future." The plan is to also "increase frequencies significantly from all three originating airports in India".<br/>
Primera Air intends to operate North American services from Berlin Tegel next summer. Services to New York JFK, Boston and Toronto will be launched in June 2019 and operated with Boeing 737 Max jets, says the carrier. New York flights will be conducted daily from 7 June. A four-times-weekly Boston service will begin on 9 June and a thrice-weekly Toronto one the following day. "Berlin has been one of the key bases in our strategy, as it is one of the major European cities and we can bring a lot of tourists from North America, who otherwise could not afford to travel there," states Primera Air CCO Anastasija Visnakova. Primer will add new long-haul services from Brussels to Boston, Newark and Washington next summer, also operated with Max jets. The airline suspended its long-haul flights from Birmingham to New York and Toronto this summer as a result of the late delivery of an Airbus A321neo.<br/>