Vietnam’s Bamboo Airways completed its long-delayed maiden commercial flight on Wednesday, heightening competition in the aviation sector of the Southeast Asian nation that is emerging as a popular tourist destination. The inaugural flight of the airline, owned by property and leisure firm FLC Group, landed at Hanoi’s Noi Bai Intl airport at 0830 local time after taking off from Ho Chi Minh City, Bamboo Airways said in a statement. It carried 180 passengers and five crew members. The start-up airline secured an Air Operator Certificate from the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam earlier this month, allowing it to start services after having postponed its launch date twice. Bamboo Airways becomes the fifth Vietnamese airline, at a time aviation competition in the country is heating up while its aviation infrastructure is getting overloaded. <br/>
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The consortium led by Virgin Atlantic and Stobart Group has been forced to rush through an injection of cash into Flybe, after the struggling regional airline failed to mollify banks that were withholding money. Virgin Atlantic, which is still part-owned by billionaire Richard Branson, Stobart and investment house Cyrus announced the GBP2.2m bid for Flybe Friday, under the banner of Connect Airways, a joint venture. Connect also pledged to inject £80m for investment and GBP20m in a loan to keep Flybe’s operations running. However, Connect on Tuesday announced that Flybe had not satisfied its conditions for the loan, prompting a need for an urgent injection of capital. It is understood that Flybe failed to persuade the banks that take card payments on its behalf to pass on the much-needed cash. The banks were withholding the money in case Flybe collapsed and defaulted. The airline had on Friday acknowledged a “rapid and significant tightening on Flybe’s liquidity from the card acquirer market”. Connect will now buy Flybe’s main trading company, Flybe Ltd, and its website company, Flybe.com Ltd, for GBP2.8m. As part of the latest deal, GBP10m of the GBP20m loan will be injected on Tuesday, while “improved agreements” have been reached with Flybe’s banks. Story has further details.<br/>
Alaska Air Group says it plans to add more than 3,000 jobs this year, with three-fourths of the positions opening in Washington state. The Seattle Times reports the Seattle-based airline group says the new jobs will include maintenance technicians, airport operations, customer service, cargo specialists, flight attendants and pilots. The company says most of the openings will not require previous airline experience. A study commissioned by the airline found that employment at Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air grew by about 35% at the Seattle hub between 2013 and 2017. The company says it recently hired its 10,000th employee in Washington state. The company employed about 8,500 people in California, Oregon and Alaska in 2017, with a total nationwide workforce of 21,300.<br/>
The authorities have requested that Hong Kong Airlines further clarify and provide information about its financial situation, casting fresh doubt over the troubled carrier’s business viability. On Monday, the Air Transport Licensing Authority (ATLA) said it had reviewed the finances of the city’s third largest airline at a meeting that day, prompting a follow-up inquiry. “ATLA requested that Hong Kong Airlines provide further clarifications and provide supplementary information,” a statement from the Transport and Housing Bureau (THB) said, signalling dissatisfaction with the airline’s initial explanation in its financial presentation. The beleaguered company had already put forward a financial plan and business case, as demanded last month by ATLA. A government statement on Monday added that the airline licensing body would “continue to assess the financial situation” of Hong Kong Airlines “and will keep in view the development and take follow-up actions as necessary”.<br/>