Virgin Australia said Tuesday it had delayed delivery of its order of 48 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft over safety concerns, following two deadly crashes. The 737 MAX has been grounded worldwide since mid-March following the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines flight and an earlier Lion Air crash in Indonesia, which killed a total of 346 passengers and crew. Virgin Australia said in a statement that it was deferring delivery of its first batch of planes from November 2019 to July 2021. "Safety is always the number one priority for Virgin Australia. As we have previously stated, we will not introduce any new aircraft to the fleet unless we are completely satisfied with its safety," Virgin CE Paul Scurrah said. "We are confident in Boeing's commitment to returning the 737 MAX to service safely and as a long-term partner of Boeing, we will be working with them through this process." Virgin also said it was shifting some of its orders of 737 MAX 8s to Max 10s while keeping the total at 48 planes. <br/>
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China Southern Airlines recorded a modest 1.8% rise in its Q1 operating profit of CNY3.55b (US$378m). Revenue for the three months to the end of March climbed 10.4% to CNY37.6b, while operating costs rose 11.8% to CNY34.7b. The Guangzhou-based carrier’s attributable net profit increased 4.1% to CNY2.65b. Its cash and cash equivalents at 31 March was CNY5.54b, down from the CNY6.19bi posted at the same time last year. <br/>
Scoot will suspend services to four cities in its network, citing weak demand and aircraft shortages. The low-cost arm of Singapore Airlines says the four cities affected are Lucknow, Kalibo, Quanzhou and Male, all operated by the airline’s Airbus A320. The airline explains the aircraft shortage arose after SilkAir halted plans to transfer its 14 Boeing 737-800s to Scoot during the 2019-2020 financial year, as a result of the worldwide grounding of the Boeing 737 Max. Scoot was due to take delivery of the first SilkAir 737-800 in May. This was in line with previously announced plans for Scoot to take over 17 routes flown by SilkAir. Scoot flies from Singapore to Lucknow, Kalibo and Quanzhou on a thrice-weekly basis, while the Singapore-Male route is served four-times a week. The last flight to Lucknow and Kalibo will depart on 29 and 30 June respectively. Flights to Quanzhou will end on 24 August, while that to Male will end on 25 October. The carrier stressed that it "will continue to undertake the routes" that SilkAir plans to transfer to Scoot, and that those plans will remain unaffected by the service suspensions.<br/>
Emirates will report "positive" full-year results next month but they will not be as good as in previous years due to higher fuel costs and unfavourable currency moves, the company's president said Monday. The Dubai state-owned carrier, which last year warned of a tough second-half, will report results on May 9. "It has not been easy, in terms of the results," Tim Clark said. "We've managed to come ahead with positive results, although it's not as good as it has been in the past." He said the airline was satisfied with its performance given the headwinds it has faced over the past year. First-half profit plunged 86% to its lowest in a decade and Emirates warned in November that relentless downward pressure on margins and uncertain economic and political realties around the world would make for a difficult second-half. Clark said on Monday the airline was no longer growing at the pace it used to due to geopolitical issues in the Middle East and elsewhere.<br/>