AirAsia Group CE Tony Fernandes says the group has no plans to establish new subsidiaries over the next 3 years, apart from a unit in Vietnam. Fernandes says the carrier will focus its efforts on launching AirAsia Vietnam, as well as making Indonesia AirAsia and AirAsia Philippines "very profitable". Last December, AirAsia signed a memorandum of cooperation with Thien minh Travel for a Vietnamese joint venture. Meanwhile, AirAsia's Indonesia and Philippines units, which have suffered losses over the years, have had their financials incorporated into the Group since the start of 2017. AirAsia has said that it is planning for a secondary listing for its Indonesia operations in fiscal 2019. Fernandes is also expecting AirAsia India and AirAsia Japan to be profitable by 2021. <br/>
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JetBlue Airways CE Robin Hayes says the airline will make a decision on the Airbus A321LR in 2019, almost 3 years after it took up the option of converting some deliveries to the long-range variant. Hayes said in a message to employees: "In 2019 we will announce our decision on the long range version of the A321. This aircraft could open up new and exciting markets for us." A JetBlue spokesperson says: "We have not committed to the LR, or to adding Europe to our network, but that is certainly an environment that JetBlue competes well in." She adds that JetBlue continues to have the option to take delivery of the A321LR. JetBlue added that option in July 2016, when it announced an order for 30 additional A321s split evenly between the A321neo and A321ceo. <br/>
Southwest has changed its mind about adding Cuba routes, saying it will instead focus on getting its Hawaii service off the ground, the airline said in a letter to the US DoT. Southwest previously said it would seek to add another route from Tampa to Havana, Cuba, if the American Airlines route between Charlotte and Havana became available for bid. But in a letter to the DoT dated Dec 20, Southwest said its priorities have shifted. "After further internal analysis, Southwest has decided to focus its expansion efforts on inaugurating service to Hawaii, where we hope to begin operations the Q1 2019," the airline wrote in its letter. Southwest had previously said it hoped to offer Hawaii tickets by the end of 2018, but a few days into the new year, customers still can't buy Hawaii tickets. <br/>
A US airline operating services on the west coast has grounded all its flights, blaming a shortage of pilots. California Pacific Airlines says it is a temporary suspension but has not indicated when or if it will resume operations. The carrier only launched 2 months ago with flights out of Carlsbad, California to San Jose, Reno, Las Vegas, and Phoenix. "All air carriers are feeling the impact of the shortage in some fashion. We have been fighting this new reality and managed to reduce the impact on our customers until recently," said COO Fernando Pineda. The airline said all tickets booked for flights throughout January will be automatically refunded within the next 10 days. CPA had to cancel several flights in December due to mechanical issues. <br/>
Russian regional Severstal Aircompany received its first Sukhoi Superjet 100 Dec 26, 2018. The aircraft, which seats 8 passengers in business and 85 in economy class, will operate its first flight in January, the airline said. Cherepovets-based Severstal is leasing the SSJ100 from State Transport Leasing (STLC), which plans to deliver 3 more of the type in 2019. The carrier operates a fleet of 6 50-seat Bombardier CRJ200s and one 32-seat Yakovlev Yak-40. The airline serves domestic and international routes; in 2017, it carried 240,892 passengers, up 8.8% year-over-year. In October 2018, the Russian govt provided a US$146.2m subsidy to STLC. <br/>