InterGlobe Aviation Ltd’s IndiGo has pushed back plans to own Airbus A320neo planes to preserve cash and will continue to lease them, its interim CEO said on Wednesday after the company posted its first quarterly loss since 2015. Higher fuel prices and a weaker rupee have pushed up costs at Indian airlines including IndiGo, the largest domestic carrier by market share, while intense competition has limited its ability to raise fares, putting pressure on yields. “At times when there is a little uncertainty we want to be prudent with cash, so right now we are holding off buying any A320s with cash and continuing to rely on sale and leaseback,” Rahul Bhatia said. IndiGo already owns ATR planes using free cash and had plans to own some A320neo aircraft as well but has now put the decision on hold and will review it in future, Bhatia said. India is the world’s fastest-growing aviation market but the surging fuel prices, weak currency and competition is putting pressure on airlines’ ability to make money despite 20% annual growth in domestic air traffic. InterGlobe reported a loss of 6.52b rupees ($89.1m) for the quarter ended Sept. 30 - its first since listing on the stock exchange in November 2015 - while revenue from operations rose 16.9%. Total expenses soared 58.2% to 75.02b rupees, with aircraft fuel expenses surging 84.3% and foreign exchange losses widening over seven-fold.<br/>
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Ryanair has agreed to recognise the Spanish pilots' union SEPLA and expects to start talks on a collective labour agreement in early November, the company said Wednesday. The airline has struggled with labour relations since it bowed to pressure to recognise unions for the first time almost a year ago. Labour tensions contributed to a rare profit warning this month, and the prospect of worse to come if strikes continue. On Friday, Europe's largest low-cost carrier said it had reached an agreement with British, Portuguese and Italian pilots on contentious seniority and home base issues. "These signed agreements with our pilot unions in Spain, Portugal, the UK and Italy again demonstrate the considerable progress we're making in concluding union agreements with our people in our major EU markets," Ryanair Chief People Officer Eddie Wilson said Wednesday. "We expect that these agreements will encourage the cabin crew unions in both Spain and Portugal in particular to remove competitor airline employees who have been blocking progress," he added.<br/>
JetBlue Airways, reacting to a 37% YOY increase in fuel prices, doubled down on its plan to “improve our earnings, particularly in the areas we can control,” CEO Robin Hayes said in a Q3 earnings call Tuesday. “We are taking actions to recapture higher fuel costs through price, both with fare increases over recent months and through higher ancillary revenue initiatives,” Hayes said. “We are on track to hit our 2018 CASM ex-fuel guidance, despite pulling capacity in both the third and fourth quarters to adjust to higher fuel prices.” JetBlue EVP-commercial & panning Marty St. George said the airline’s flown capacity for Q3 grew by 8.7% and Q4 capacity growth is expected to be between 7.5% and 9.5%. “Given the 2.9 points of lost capacity from hurricanes in the fourth quarter of 2017, our schedule-to-schedule capacity growth is approximately 6% for the fourth quarter of 2018,” St. George said. “[It] includes a previously announced 2 point ASM growth reduction to mitigate the impact of higher oil, [which] follows the 0.5 point reduction related to the third quarter.” The airline posted a $50m net profit for Q3, down 72.1% from a $181m net profit in the Q3 2017. While total revenues increased 10.5% to $2b, JetBlue’s operating expenses rose 28.1%, to $1.9b, with fuel and related taxes rising 48.4% YOY, from $347m to $515m. <br/>
Hawaiian Airlines reported a Q3 net profit of $93.5m, up 31% compared to net profit of $71.6m in the same period a year earlier. Hawaiian CEO Peter Ingram described this as a “solid” performance, but still short of expectations mainly because of severe weather events in Hawaii and Japan that affected operations. Operating profit fell 31.5% to $115.8m. Revenue for the quarter was up 6% to $759m, with passenger revenue up 4.3%. Operating costs rose 17.6% to $643.3m. Hawaiian’s capacity increased by 8.1% in Q3, with yield down 1.7% and passenger unit revenue dropping 3.6%. The carrier expects Q4 capacity to be up 4.5%-6.5%, and full-year capacity is forecast to grow by 5.5%-6.5%. For next year, capacity growth is expected to be less than in 2018. Hawaiian said its A321neo deliveries have caught up to their planned timetable following delays earlier this year, which will allow the airline to phase out its remaining Boeing 767s in early 2019.<br/>