Shares of US airlines tumbled Thursday after Delta Air Lines forecast slightly lower revenue growth, following downbeat sales projections from Apple that stoked concerns of a global slowdown. Delta shares fell nearly 9%, their steepest percentage decline in more than 6 years. Delta warned investors before the market opened that its unit revenues in the last 3 months of the year likely rose 3%, down from a previous forecast of 3.5%. The said yield growth from last-minute bookings “was more modest than anticipated” in December. The selloff presents airline executives with a tough crowd to please when they start reporting earnings this month. Investors have been sceptical of the sector, even though it’s heading for its ninth year in a row of profitability. <br/>
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A Korean Air Airbus A220-300 suffered a failure to its left Pratt & Whitney PW1500G engine Dec 27. The carrier said that the aircraft registered HL8314, was operating as flight KE753 on the Busan-Nagoya route with 64 passengers on-board. On the day the incident happened, the aircraft departed Busan Gimhae International for Nagoya, where the engine failure was detected 25 minutes later. It subsequently made a return for Busan, and safely landed at Gimhae airport 59 minutes after departure. While the airline was unable to comment on the damage suffered by the Pratt & Whitney PW1521G powerplant, a picture circulating on social media purportedly indicates severe damage to the blades of the low pressure turbine. <br/>
Vietnam Airlines Group kept profits stable in 2018 despite higher fuel costs, and the carrier plans to take delivery of more new-generation widebody and narrowbody aircraft in 2019. The group reported a pre-tax profit of VND2.8t (US$121m), about the same as in 2017. Revenue rose to VND102t compared with VND88.4t in the previous year. Operating profit margin was 4.38%. The group includes parent carrier Vietnam Airlines as well as regional subsidiary VASCO and LCC Jetstar Pacific. For the parent carrier alone, pre-tax profit increased to more than VND2t from VND1.85t in 2017. Vietnam Airlines received 2 Airbus A350s and its first 3 A321neos in 2018. The airline had been scheduled to take delivery of 9 A321neos in 2018, but deliveries were delayed. <br/>