unaligned

Air Berlin’s insolvency administrator is suing Abu Dhabi’s Etihad, its former owner, for damages of up E2b ($2.26b), a Berlin court said Friday. Etihad Airways’ decision to withdraw funding for Air Berlin sent Germany’s then No.2 carrier into insolvency. The administrator said previously that Etihad did not meet its financial obligations towards Air Berlin. “The claims are for payment of 500 million and the establishment that the defendant is obliged to pay further damages. The Chamber has provisionally set the amount in dispute at up to E2b,” the court said Friday. Etihad’s spokesperson confirmed the company had received a claim filed at the Berlin Regional Court by the insolvency administrator of Air Berlin. “We believe that the claim is without merit and will defend ourselves vigorously against it,” the spokesperson said, adding that they would not make further public comment on the issue at the present time. The airline has until the end of January to respond to the suit, according to the court.<br/>

A renewed search for the cockpit voice recorder of a Lion Air jet that crashed into the Java Sea on Oct. 29 has been delayed for two days due to bad weather hampering the arrival of a specialized ship, the airline said. The crash, the world’s first of a Boeing Co 737 MAX jet, killed all 189 people on board and the main wreckage and second ‘black box’ were not recovered in an initial search. Lion Air said that it was funding a 38b rupiah ($2.6m) search effort using the offshore supply ship MPV Everest, which had been expected to arrive in the search area on Monday. Bad weather and heavy rain at the port of Johor Bahru in Malaysia interfered with the equipment and crew mobilization process, delaying the ship’s arrival at the crash site until Wednesday, the airline said late on Sunday. Lion Air’s decision to foot the bill for the search is a rare test of global norms regarding search independence, as such costs are typically paid by governments. A spokesman for the transportation ministry said its obligation was to fund the investigation. The search for the cockpit voice recorder was the airline’s responsibility, he said. Lion Air on Sunday said the search for the cockpit voice recorder was the “duty and responsibility” of Indonesia’s transport safety committee. The airline on Monday issued a revised statement removing that reference. <br/>

The crash of a Boeing plane that killed 189 people in Indonesia is spiraling into a $22b feud between the aircraft maker and one of Asia’s most influential aviation bosses. In a rare public dispute between the planemaker and one of its biggest customers, the head of Lion Mentari Airlines has threatened to cancel an order for billions of dollars worth of jets because of what he says is Boeing’s unfair reaction to the crash. The man standing up to the US aviation giant is Rusdi Kirana, Lion Air’s owner, and while he was little known to the public outside Southeast Asia before the crash, he’s something of a legend in the industry. Eighteen years after he and his brother rented a Boeing 737-200 to start a service from Jakarta to Bali, Kirana, 55, has turned Lion Air into Indonesia’s largest airline, with one of the biggest order books in the world. “He is, by virtue of the significance of Indonesia, right now probably the most important aviation figure in Southeast Asia,” said Shukor Yusof, founder of aviation consultancy Endau Analytics in Kuala Lumpur. Kirana’s undiminished appetite for expansion -- he wants to start flights to destinations as far a field as London and Dubai -- has made him a key customer for both Boeing and Airbus. Lion Air is the third-largest buyer of Boeing’s updated 737. But seven weeks after a two-month-old 737 Max jet operated by the carrier plunged into waters off Jakarta, Kirana has started a public spat with the planemaker. Lion Air is drafting documents to scrap its $22b dollars of orders with Boeing because, Kirana says, the manufacturer unfairly implicated his airline in the disaster. “I was in a tough situation and they decided to beat me up,” Kirana said in Jakarta, referring to Boeing’s response to Indonesia’s preliminary report into the accident. “They have been behaving unethically, they have been acting immorally in this relationship, so we just go our separate ways.” Boeing wouldn’t comment on the discussions with Kirana, but said in a statement that “Lion Air is a valued customer and we are supporting them through this difficult time.” <br/>

A breakaway union of Virgin Atlantic pilots that called strikes during the Christmas and New Year’s holidays extended the job action to the first eight weekends of 2019, according to a statement. The Professional Pilots Union sought help from the conciliation service ACAS to resolve the dispute, but Virgin Atlantic Airways won’t negotiate until it calls off the strikes, according to the union statement. A hearing is set for Thursday, two days before the first strike on Dec. 22 — the weekend before Christmas. The PPU said it called the action over its exclusion from talks on changes to pilot benefits. Virgin Atlantic plans to challenge the strike action by seeking an injunction, the airline confirmed. The PPU represents over a third of the 965 Virgin Atlantic pilot workforce, according to its statement. Virgin Atlantic said 16% of its pilots have voted to strike.<br/>

Airlines have been put on notice that they must be fairer with travellers over refunds, with Jetstar facing an almost $2m fine for misleading its customers about their legal rights. All four of Australia's major airlines have entered court-enforceable undertakings with the consumer watchdog to change their refund policies after they were caught lying to customers about access to refunds when a flight was delayed or cancelled. “For too long the airlines have been ignoring consumers' rights for refunds,” said Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chair Rod Sims. “You cannot say there are no refunds - no matter how cheap the ticket is, no matter what ticket you buy.” Each airline said it would reassess customer complaints that had earlier been knocked back for refunds and the ACCC urged travellers who had been refused a refund to contact their carrier. Sims said Jetstar was the worst offender, making claims on its website that consumers could only receive a refund if they bought a more expensive fare, and that standard consumer guarantees did not apply to its flights. The ACCC took Jetstar to court over its breaches and the pair have agreed on a $1.95m fine, which has been submitted to the Federal Court for approval. Under the law, consumers may be entitled to a refund if a flight is significantly delayed or cancelled for a reason within the airline's control and the airline cannot put the passenger on an alternative flight in a reasonable time.<br/>

Jet Airways' 69-year-old founder Naresh Goyal, who started out as an assistant in a travel agency, wove together charm, persistence and consummate dealmaking to build India’s biggest full-service carrier. Now, his penchant for control has emerged as a major obstacle as the indebted airline tries to negotiate a rescue deal, several people who have worked closely with him or known him over the years said. “He was a visionary in his day but those days are behind us,” said a senior aircraft financier who has done deals with Goyal. “This is the moment of truth for Naresh Goyal.” The rising dominance of low-cost carrier IndiGo in a price sensitive market as well as high oil prices, hefty fuel taxes and a weak rupee have left Jet strapped for cash and unable to pay employees and lessors on time. The 25-year-old airline, which Goyal set up with his wife at a time when state-run Air India was the only real formidable opponent, has outstanding dues of about $400m. Jet, which has a mainly Boeing fleet, has delayed pre-delivery payments to the Seattle-based aircraft maker as well as to Airbus, and is overdue on its repair and maintenance contracts, two sources aware of the matter said. Although the Indian air travel market is the world’s fastest growing, at about 20% a year, it is also hobbled by cut-throat competition and chronically low fares. To stay afloat, Jet is cutting flights on some non-profitable routes and trying to raise cash by monetizing assets.<br/>

The South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) has suspended regional carrier CemAir from operating, following what it called “unacceptable and intolerable behavior” that posed a threat to safety. The airline’s Part 121 and Part 135 air operator’s certificates (AOCs) have been suspended, with the SACAA recommending to the country’s director of civil aviation the AOCs should be revoked. The suspension became effective at around 15:30 local time on Dec. 13, when the airline was notified of the SACAA’s decision. The airline said it “adamantly rejects the reasons offered by the CAA for their decision” and accused it of “malicious intent … to bring CemAir to its knees.”<br/>

Windowless airplanes. Sleeping pods on Airbus aircraft. That may well be the future of air travel. But for budget carrier flyadeal, the future is in the cargo compartment — if you take them at their (online) word. Saudi Arabia’s flyadeal pranked social media users by saying it will install seats in its cargo compartment, allowing passengers to fly with cargo for cheaper air fares. The airline proceeded to provide details, saying that tickets will be available for sale on the so-called cargo passenger class from January 1, 2019. In a series of tweets and in an ad posted on the airline’s official website’s home page, flyadeal went on to say that passengers must be between a height of 145 to 180 centimetres, and should weigh between 40 and 90 kilograms in order to meet the requirements for the seats. The carrier added that height and weight measurements will be taken at time of check-in, and that no refunds or upgrades will be offered to passengers exceeding the limits. The airline later posted a tweet explaining its ad campaign and saying, “You don’t have to go to this length to fly for less. It was a joke!” <br/>

Air Astana has issued Airbus and Boeing with a request for proposals to provide new-generation narrowbodies for nascent low-cost unit FlyArystan. The Kazakhstan carrier's CE Peter Foster said the airline was considering either the A320neo or 737 Max for the new unit, set to begin operations in the first half of 2019. He did not divulge the number of aircraft being sought. FlyArystan is scheduled to start flights with four A320ceos provided by Air Astana, but Foster says there is no reason that those aircraft could not be returned to the parent airline if Boeing was chosen through the RFP process, programmed to conclude in the first quarter of 2019. "We obviously have high hopes for the low-cost airline, and we think it's right to evaluate both manufacturers at the inception of the carrier," he adds. Foster does not divulge the routes that FlyArystan is set to operate, but does say that within two years it will have a "very extensive" domestic network from four bases in Kazakhstan. One of these will be in the south of the country, one in the west, and the other two "in and around where we live and where we sit" – a reference to Astana and Almaty. He says Air Astana has taken a "strategic and management decision" to allow the low-cost airline to develop "in isolation", because there have been too many examples of parent carriers interfering in their low-cost subsidiaries. <br/>