Lion Air's owner threatened to cancel US$22b in aircraft orders from Boeing, saying the planemaker’s response to an accident report for a recent deadly crash unfairly implicated his carrier. “I feel betrayed,” the carrier’s co-founder, Rusdi Kirana, said Wednesday. “I’m preparing documents to propose cancellations. Everything is still under consideration now.” The rupture between airline and planemaker is particularly striking since a Lion subsidiary was the launch customer for the Max, taking the model’s initial delivery in May 2017. Lion is the third-largest buyer of the updated 737, behind Southwest Airlines and Flydubai. The carrier is slated to get 7 of the jetliners next year, followed by 24 in 2020 and 35 the following year. “Lion Air is a valued customer and we are supporting them through this difficult time,” Boeing said. <br/>
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Pilots flying Boeing 737 MAX jets in India should be trained on a simulator that replicates the suspected scenario that led to the Lion Air crash, India's aviation regulator said Thursday. While India's DGCA recommended more training, it said Jet Airways and SpiceJet, which operate 737 MAX jets in India, have not had problems with the aircraft. "Even though Indian operators have not experienced such major concern ... following decisions were taken as interim precautionary safety measures till such time Boeing issues more detailed information or clarification," the DGCA said. An interim Indonesian report did not give a cause for the crash but focused on airline maintenance and training and the response of a Boeing anti-stall system to a recently replaced sensor. <br/>
AirAsia Group has moved forward with plans to establish an LCC in Vietnam by signing an MOU with a Vietnamese businessman, reaffirming an earlier joint venture agreement. The carrier and Tran Trong Kien inked the MOU Thursday. Tran is CE of Hai Au Aviation Joint Stock Co, Gumin Co and Thien Minh Travel Joint Stock Co. Under the agreement, Gumin and HAA will hold 70% of the JV, with AirAsia owning the remaining 30%. The new airline will accelerate the connectivity of Vietnam to the rest of South East Asia, Fernandes said. AirAsia has carried 12m passengers to and from Vietnam since entering the market in 2005. Tran said Vietnam’s international arrivals have doubled over the last 3 years and the country needs more connectivity for the tourism sector to reach its full potential. <br/>
A Southwest Airlines jet rolled off the end of a California runway as it landed in the rain, skidding to a stop on a crushable concrete surface designed to hinder out-of-control aircraft. No one was injured in the incident that occurred about 9:05 am local time. Flight 278, carrying 112 passengers and five crew, had just landed in Burbank on a flight from Oakland. The Boeing 737-700 rolled into the area known as the Engineered Material Arresting System, according to Southwest and the FAA. The incident occurred on the same Burbank runway where 43 people were injured in March 2000 after a Southwest 737-300 overshot its landing. That jet ploughed through a fence before skidding to a stop in the middle of a street, 39 feet from a gas station. The crushable concrete surface was installed after that accident. <br/>
Norwegian Air struggled to fill its aircraft in November as capacity growth far outpaced demand, while a loss on fuel hedge contracts added to the airline's woes, sending its shares down 9% Thursday. The company has ramped up its transatlantic business but has also said that growth will slow as it prioritises profitability over expansion. "Several of our summer routes have been extended into November, which has affected the load factor," CE Bjoern Kjos said. While the airline's capacity grew 34% year-on-year in November, revenue-generating passenger kilometres increased by 26%, lagging a forecast of 33.7% in a Reuters poll of analysts. The load factor fell to 78.8% for the month, the lowest since May 2014. That fell short of a forecast of 82.7% and was down from 83.7% a year ago. <br/>
Virgin Atlantic has no immediate plans to join SkyTeam, despite being part-owned by Delta Air Lines and Air France-KLM being in the process of buying a stake in the carrier. “There might be a time when it makes sense,” CE Craig Kreeger said. Kreeger said Virgin’s deep bilateral partnerships with airlines such as Delta drive more value than alliance membership. “That strategy is working fine,” he said. Once the potential from these partnerships has been exhausted, he said Virgin might consider joining SkyTeam. Air France-KLM is still going through regulatory clearances to secure its stake in Virgin Atlantic. Kreeger said the process remains on track for completion in the first half of 2019. He added the Air France-KLM partnership offers “the same kind of benefits” as the Delta deal. <br/>
The airline division of Thomas Cook Group weathered summer European aviation disruptions to post a 37% profit growth to GBP129m (US$150m) for the financial year ended Sept 30. “The European aviation market was marked by disruption in summer 2018 caused by delays of the registration of new aircraft, shortage on spare parts, and an air traffic control system that was not fully prepared for the strong growth,” the group said. These events resulted in irregularity costs more than doubling to GBP101m compared with 2017, the group said. Irregularity costs include EU-mandated passenger-compensation, welfare, sub-charter and denied-boarding costs. The group operates two airline brands: Thomas Cook Airlines (UK, Scandinavia and Balearics) and Condor (Germany). <br/>
French all-business class transatlantic airline La Compagnie will begin operating seasonal flights between Nice and New York-Newark Liberty International from May 5, 2019. The move will increase to 2 the number of routes operated by the carrier. La Compagnie’s service to Newark from Paris Orly is its only transatlantic route, following a decision in 2016 to axe flights between London Luton and Newark. La Compagnie will operate the Nice service 5X-weekly between May and October, using a Boeing 757-200 configured with 74 lie-flat seats. The airline’s fleet will increase to 3 aircraft when it takes delivery of 2 Airbus A321neos in April. The A321neos, which will be equipped with 76 lie-flat seats, will be used to expand the carrier’s Paris-New York flights, a spokeswoman confirmed. <br/>