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Ryanair will open a new base at Toulouse as part of its winter 2019 schedule, stationing 2 Boeing 737-800s there and more than doubling the number of routes it operates from the southwestern French city. The LCC also plans to increase its Marseille and Bordeaux bases with an additional 737, bringing the total at each to three, and substantially expand its networks from both locations. Ryanair routes from Toulouse will increase from 9 to 20, with 8 of the 11 new services being international. “Our growth will deliver 1.1m customers per annum at Bordeaux Airport, 2.4mi customers at Marseille, and 1m customers at Toulouse, while creating 240 Ryanair jobs across the 3 bases and supporting over 3,000 ancillary jobs in the regions,” Ryanair CCO David O’Brien said. <br/>

Italy's antitrust authority Thursday slapped fines on Ryanair and WizzAir over their cabin baggage policy. Both carriers allow small bags into the cabin free of charge only if they can be stowed under the seat in front of passengers. Bigger bags of up to 10 kilos require a luggage fee, or a fee-paying priority boarding pass. Ryanair was fined E3m (US$3.4m) and WizzAir E1m. The Italian antitrust agency said that most passengers expected to travel with a larger carry-on bag and that by imposing an extra payment of between E5 and E25 the airlines were raising ticket prices in a "non-transparent" manner. Ryanair rejected the Italian decision, saying its policy was transparent and helped flight punctuality as it speeded up boarding. <br/>

Southwest Airlines' flight woes continue, with nearly 400 Thursday flights canceled due to maintenance issues and winter weather. Southwest had canceled 389 flights, or 9% of its schedule, as of 1:15 pm ET. That is the highest number of cancellations by any carrier and accounts for 51% of flight cancellations within, into or out of the US. Southwest attributed the high number of cancellations to weather challenges and continuing maintenance issues that have a pulled a higher-than-usual number of aircraft out of service. Southwest did not detail how many of Thursday's cancellations were due to maintenance and how many were due to weather. Tuesday, the airline said about half of its nearly 200 cancellations were due to maintenance issues. <br/>

Malaysia's AirAsia X recorded its third consecutive quarterly loss Thursday, dragged down by an impairment provision while rising fuel costs also dented its performance in the October-December period. The long-haul offshoot of AirAsia Group said it provided an impairment due from a joint venture amounting to US$5.89m during Q4. The airline's average fuel price rose 29% from $69 to $89 per barrel during the period, and it also accounted for higher deferred tax. AirAsia X said it will be adding up to 5 aircraft through operating leases this year, via its Thai operation. The airline expects its prospects to remain encouraging, it said, with forward booking trend and average fares in Q1 of 2019 performing within expectations. <br/>

Boosted by a sharp increase in passengers, Jazeera Airways posted a 2018 net profit of KD8.7m (US$28.6m), up 5.7% compared to a net income of KD8.2m in 2017. The airline carried 2m passengers in 2018, a 42.8% increase year-over-year, and load factor was up 1.3 points to 75.2%. Operating revenue rose 45.5% YOY to KD82.4m compared to KD56.6m in the previous year. Fuel prices climbed 30% YOY, with Brent crude reaching a peak of $86 per barrel, the airline said. The carrier said it also faced stiff competition in the region. “Jazeera Airways remained resilient despite these challenges and maintained zero debt by year end,” chairman Marwan Boodai said. Jazeera added 7 destinations in 2018 to serve a growing customer base, especially in the Indian subcontinent. <br/>

Berlin-based logistics company Zeitfracht Group has acquired German regional airline LGW from the Lufthansa Group. LGW, which operates under Lufthansa’s Eurowings brand, will continue to operate for the LCC through a long-term wet-lease agreement. Terms of the deal, which takes effect April 1, were not disclosed. “The move to Zeitfracht Group strengthens the future viability of LGW,” Eurowings MD and COO Michael Knitter said. Lufthansa acquired LGW, a subsidiary of bankrupt Airberlin, in 2017. LGW operates 17 Bombardier Dash 8 Q400s for Eurowings. Zeitfracht’s acquisition of LGW “is also an important step for Eurowings toward a uniform Airbus A320 fleet structure in the short- and medium-haul business,” Knitter said. <br/>