American Airlines Group said Wednesday its teams were working to re-book customers due to fly on Boeing’s 737 MAX as quickly as possible after the US banned the aircraft. Europe and other nations had already stopped the planes flying due to safety concerns, following an Ethiopian Airlines crash on Sunday, five months after a Lion Air crash involving the same jet. American, the largest airline in the world, operates 24 737 MAX aircraft. Southwest, which has the world’s largest 737 MAX fleet with 34 jets, said it was waiving any fare-difference charges for customers who were seeking to switch to another aircraft following bans across much of the world. The low-cost airline already does not charge a fee for changing tickets. The company said it is also waiving charges for fare differences following customer concerns about traveling on the jets. American said it was notified by the FAA of its decision to ground the jets earlier on Wednesday.<br/>
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The Cathay Pacific Group posted an operating profit of HK$3.6b ($459m) in 2018, after two years of consecutive losses, as it saw the positive impact from its transformation programme. The result is a sharp improvement from the HK$1.45b loss logged in 2017. Revenue rose 14.2% to HK$111b, boosted by increases in the passenger, cargo and catering businesses. Expenses meanwhile grew 7.9% to HK$107b. Fuel was the most significant cost for the group as prices rose and it flew more, increasing by 31.1% before taking into account fuel hedging. Fuel hedging losses were reduced, however, leading to fuel costs rising 8.9% from 2017. Attributable net profit came in at HK$2.35b, reversing the HK$1.26b loss in 2017. Chairman John Slosar says that capacity in the passenger market resulted in intense competition during the year, especially with airlines from mainland China. This put pressure on yields on key routes, especially in the second half of the year. The passenger business however benefited from capacity growth, a focus on customer service and improved revenue management. This led to load factors keeping even and yield improving despite competitive pressures.<br/>
There’s always been something grimly appropriate about the world’s most unequal rich society being home to one of its least affordable aviation sectors. Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways has historically been so resistant to the idea of budget airlines that the city’s dominant carrier once fought (and won) a three-year regulatory battle to stop Qantas Airways from setting one up in the territory. That era seems over, with the company saying last week that it was in talks to buy a stake in Hong Kong Express Airways, the discount carrier owned by cash-strapped HNA Group. Asked what had prompted the shift after annual results Wednesday, Chairman John Slosar seemed to be paraphrasing a remark attributed to John Maynard Keynes: “You have to be willing to change when events change, when opportunities present themselves,” he said. So what facts have changed? For one thing, Cathay’s business model is already looking more and more like that of a budget carrier. It’s working its fleet harder, with each plane in 2018 carrying out an average of 386 flights, compared with 366 in 2012. That’s still not close to the productivity achieved by the likes of Ryanair and AirAsia, but it’s heading in the right direction. More to the point, the company is making an ever-growing share of its money from selling things other than passenger and cargo tickets, a turn in the direction of the likes of AirAsia.<br/>