United says it is now passing the full impact of higher fuel prices to its customers, helping the nation's third-biggest carrier boost Q3 profit by 30%. Parent company United Continental Holdings said Tuesday that it earned $836m, as rising revenue more than offset a 40% jump in fuel spending. United doesn't disclose average fares, but an approximation — revenue for every seat flown one mile — rose a surprisingly steep 6.1% from a year ago. CEO Oscar Munoz declared it a "stand-out third quarter performance" that "is proof that United is building momentum." The company raised its forecast of full-year earnings per share. United shares rose more than 4% in the first hour of late trading after the report was released. United has struggled to keep up with rivals. To turn things around, Munoz's executive team has added flights from its mid-US hub airports in Chicago, Denver and Houston, where many passengers connect to other destinations. Executives say those are now among United's strongest operations in growth of revenue per seat. Revenue jumped $1.1b, or 11%, to $11b, slightly higher than the $10.96 forecast from analysts in the Zacks survey. Labour costs remained United's top expense, but fuel ran a close second and is expected to keep rising. Still, United said that thanks to higher fares, it captured "approximately 100%" of the increase in fuel prices over the same period last year.<br/>
star
Ethiopian Airlines will resume regular flights to Somalia’s capital Mogadishu on Nov. 2, its first in four decades, the state-owned carrier said Tuesday. One of the biggest carriers in Africa, Ethiopian Airlines suspended its operations in Somalia following the outbreak of hostilities between the neighbours in the late 1970s. Conflict in Somalia which erupted in subsequent decades and continues to the present day has prevented air carriers from returning. An Islamist militant group has been waging an insurgency in Somalia since 2007. “Our flights will quickly grow to multiple daily flights given the huge volume of traffic between the two sisterly countries and the significant traffic between Somalia and the rest of the world,” said Tewolde GebreMariam, Ethiopian Airlines’ CE. Turkish Airlines is the only other major international carrier that flies to the country.<br/>
Air NZ is on a credible journey to try and be "the world's least unsustainable airline", said the chair of the national carrier's Sustainability Advisory Panel, Jonathon Porritt. He said airlines around the world face an "existential challenge" in responding to climate change. Porritt acknowledged his comments were "not really what you describe as Luxon language", referring to the airline's CE, Christopher Luxon. He has committed Air NZ to a challenging target of achieving carbon-neutral operations by 2020. "Christopher would much rather go to 'most sustainable airline', but we are living in a very real world when it comes to knowing what sustainability really means." Porritt praised Air NZ for standing out among global aviation operators. Given the scale of the global challenge represented by climate change "what will it require from here on in for an airline to resecure its social licence to operate year on year?" Airlines are major greenhouse gas emitters, so they would need to be "the best in procuring efficiencies for every kilometre flown" in "an industry that is not familiar with particularly sophisticated leadership". They would have to be the best at exploring new technological breakthroughs, such as in bio-fuels, and "the best in terms of partnering with civil society and with governments to make things happen much, much faster than they are at present". <br/>