Indian business conglomerate Tata Group has held preliminary discussions to buy a large stake in debt-laden Jet Airways, the Times of India reported on Thursday. Tata has sought management control of Jet, seeking at least 26% initially and another 26% via an open offer later, the paper said. Jet Airways has been facing a financial crunch amid rising oil prices and a depreciating rupee. In a bid to revive itself, Jet said in August it will inject funds and cut costs to turn around the business, without elaborating further. Tata Sons is the holding company for the Tata Group which already has two aviation ventures in India - Vistara with Singapore Airlines and AirAsia India with the Malaysian budget carrier AirAsia Group. Jet Airways Chairman Naresh Goyal is the majority owner of the airline in which Etihad Airlines also owns a stake. The struggling airline has also not been able to pay salaries to the employees on time.<br/>
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Cobalt, a low-cost carrier operating flights out of Cyprus since 2016, suspended operations indefinitely on Wednesday, a statement on it website said. Reports in several Cypriot media outlets this week suggested Cobalt’s mainly Chinese backers had difficulty channelling funds to the airline, which operated with six leased Airbus planes. The airline had expanded rapidly to about 20 destinations since its launch, adding a business class and, recently, a frequent flyer programme. It was not immediately clear what would happen with passengers with future bookings. Cypriot transport minister Vassiliki Anastassiadou said alternative arrangements would be made, the semi-official Cyprus News Agency reported. Cobalt's website cobalt.aero/ stopped showing its schedule and prices at around 2300 local time (2000 GMT) on Wednesday. A later statement there said it was cancelling all flight from the end of Wednesday “due to indefinite suspension of Cobalt’s operations”. The airline has a staff of about 200, and had sought to fill a gap in Cypriot air transport following the demise of Cyprus Airways in early 2015, a state-controlled carrier that dominated mainly short routes from the island.<br/>
A hard Brexit could ground UK flights for up to three weeks but would be survivable for Ryanair, the Irish budget airline's CEO Michael O'Leary said ahead of a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels Wednesday. "You can ground aircraft for a week, two weeks, three weeks. It would be very painful," O'Leary told Reuters in Berlin. "But we are a big company, we can survive." O'Leary had warned last month that there were no assurances that an agreement would be in place enabling flights to continue after Britain exits the European Union next March. O'Leary said he did not expect Ryanair to grow in Germany next year, after closing its bases in the northern city of Bremen and at Weeze near Duesseldorf. "Our traffic will be flat," O'Leary said.<br/>
Flybe issued a profit warning Wednesday citing weakening demand, higher fuel costs and a weaker British pound, sending shares in the British regional airline lower. Shares in Flybe, whose routes include London to Cornwall as well as connections between smaller UK cities and French regional cities, slumped 38% to 19.8p at 0917 GMT Wednesday. Flybe, which has in recent years tried to reduce its fleet size and cut costs, forecast a pretax loss of around GBP22m for the current 12 month period, substantially worse than a current company-supplied consensus for a loss of GBP3.5m. However, a GBP10m pound benefit from the ending of an onerous lease will help cushion the blow, putting the 78-aircraft strong company on track to post a loss of GBP12m over its financial year which runs to March 31 2019. Flybe said that in recent weeks, consumer demand for travel in Britain and Europe had weakened, and that would combine with higher fuel prices and weaker sterling to drag on its performance in the second half period. The winter season is always tougher for airlines as fewer Europeans take flights to go on holiday, and that comes at a time when the oil price is hovering at a near four-year high. Flybe will announce half-year results on Nov. 14th, when it is expected to detail further cost cutting plans.<br/>
Brazilian airline Gol Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes’ planned takeover of its loyalty program unit Smiles Fidelidade through a share and cash deal will force Smiles’ minority holders to receive Gol shares with weakened voting rights, according to documents related to the transaction and five people with knowledge of the matter. Smiles shares slumped 40% on Monday after the buyout was announced, with minority holders facing the uncertainty of being forced to accept a yet-to-be determined price. They traded slightly up on Wednesday at 34.52 reais. Smiles is listed on the Bovespa exchange’s Novo Mercado segment, which bars listing preferred shares with no voting rights and reserving voting shares for controlling shareholders. Under the deal structure devised by Gol, whose voting shares are all controlled by the family of Gol founder Constantino de Oliveira Junior through an investment vehicle called Volluto, the airline’s stock will shift to the Novo Mercado segment.<br/>
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau is investigating an engine failure involving a Scoot Boeing 787-9 that occurred on 11 October. The aircraft, registered 9V-OJE, was descending into Perth during a flight from Singapore when there was "an uncommanded in-flight shutdown of the right engine." The crew continued the descent and landed safely at 19:21 local time. Scoot said that a component in the engine was replaced, and it returned to service on 13 October. It adds that the problem encountered by the aircraft "is not related to any known issues regarding the Rolls-Rolls Trent 1000 engine." The ATSB is planning to complete its investigation during Q1 2019.<br/>