Between labour strife, high fuel costs and competition, WestJet Airlines CE Ed Sims has faced strong headwinds in his first year at the helm, including, for the first time in 13 years, reporting a quarterly loss. His turnaround plans were well underway this spring as WestJet pursued its scaled-back expansion plans after landing its first collective agreement with its newly unionised pilots through binding arbitration. But then Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashed minutes after take-off, resulting in the aircraft’s grounding worldwide. WestJet parked its 13 Max 8s, 7% of its fleet, affecting more than 100,000 WestJet customers in the 6 weeks since, But Sims has no plans to cancel orders for 37 more 737 Max aircraft. <br/>
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EasyJet has banned the sale of nuts on flights to help protect passengers with allergies. The airline will also ban passengers from eating nut products if somebody on board has an allergy to them. Nut policy among airlines differs. British Airways and Ryanair, ask passengers to refrain from eating peanuts if a fellow passenger has an allergy. At present there are no rules governing the serving of nuts during flights. A proposed UK passenger charter, which could include rules for protecting allergy sufferers, is currently under consultation. The plans are part of the govt's Aviation 2050 strategy. Outlining the new policy, EasyJet said: "We recommend that passengers inform us of their allergy at the time of booking which enables us to pass this information onto the cabin crew operating the flight." <br/>
Air Italy will stop flying to Los Angeles, San Francisco and Toronto this winter in favour of serving what it terms "counter-seasonal" destinations: the Maldives, Mombasa, Tenerife and Zanzibar. The carrier will continue to operate its transatlantic services to Miami and New York from Milan Malpensa. A service to Bangkok has already been axed. The airline's new business-class product was rolled out on the Milan-LA route at launch earlier this year. The offering is to be made available on flights to the Maldives, Miami, Mombasa, New York, Sharm el-Sheikh and Zanzibar. Air Italy is planning to base a number of aircraft at overnight "outstations" in Cagliari, Catania, Lamezia Terme, Naples, Palermo and Rome this winter, in order to facilitate "optimised" daily frequencies between those cities and Malpensa. <br/>
Faroese carrier Atlantic Airways is aiming to commence a seasonal transatlantic service to New York in the autumn of this year. The airline had previous indicated ambitions to serve the US gateway. It has given little further detail on its plans in its newly-released annual report but says the “direct” flight from Vagar will complement a network of 10 European destinations. These include the airline’s new Paris route, which will commence with thrice-weekly services July 1. Atlantic Airways will also operate to Copenhagen, Billund, Aalborg, Bergen, Reykjavik, Edinburgh, Barcelona, Mallorca, and Gran Canaria. Last year it generated a full-year net profit of US$2.4m, a substantial improvement on the previous year’s figure. The airline says it expects a financial result “on the same level” this year. <br/>
Norwegian Air has agreed with Airbus and Boeing to reschedule delivery of aircraft to cut capital spending, the loss-making carrier said Wednesday. The airline has shaken up the long-haul market by offering cut-price transatlantic fares, but its rapid expansion has left it with hefty losses and high debts. In total, the announced restructurings and postponements of Boeing and Airbus aircraft delivery will reduce capital expenditure for 2019 and 2020 by US$2.1b, the company said. Norwegian said it would provide updated total capex guidance Thursday, when it reports Q1 results. The company said its Dublin-based subsidiary Arctic Aviation Assets DAC had reached an agreement with Boeing to postpone delivery of 14 737 MAX aircraft which were originally due in 2020 and 2021. <br/>
Fastjet Group is aiming to establish a branded operation in South African in 2020 as a result of its investment in charter operator Federal Airlines. The group has a total of 4 ERJ-145s, which are operating for its Zimbabwe and Mozambique operations, following an overhaul of its activities and the divestment of its Tanzanian division. Fastjet Group says its fleet is “now optimally-sized” for the markets it serves. It has transferred 1 of its Embraer ERJ-145s to the South African register, placing it on the Federal Airlines air operator’s certificate as part of the preparation to create a South African division. Federal Airlines, which turned in a US$1.1m net profit last year, has a fleet of 14 smaller aircraft including Pilatus, Cessna and Beechcraft types, of which 4 are owned. <br/>