A Myanmar pilot safely landed a passenger jet without its front wheels Sunday, after landing gear on the Myanmar National Airlines plane failed to deploy, the airline and an official said. It was the second aviation incident in Myanmar this week, after a Biman Bangladesh Airlines plane skidded off the runway during strong wind in Yangon Wednesday, injuring at least 17 of those on board. An official praised the pilot for bringing the Embraer 190 aircraft in to land at Mandalay airport Sunday morning despite the technical failure. No one was hurt. Video of the landing shows the plane touching down on its rear wheels before lowering its nose. The aircraft travels some distance along the runway on its nose, kicking up smoke, before coming to a halt. The crew then performed an emergency evacuation. <br/>
unaligned
Emirates CCO Thierry Antinori has resigned, a spokeswoman said Sunday, days after the airline announced its weakest profit in a decade. Antinori, also an executive VP, was responsible for commercial operations, products, the frequent flyer program and cargo division. The spokeswoman declined to comment when asked why Antinori resigned and when it was effective. Antinori spoke to media in his capacity as an Emirates executive April 24 in Dubai and was seen at the Emirates stand at a travel exhibition in Dubai April 29. Adnan Kazim, divisional senior VP, strategic planning, revenue optimisation & aeropolitical affairs, has been appointed acting CCO, the spokeswoman said. Emirates reported a 69% fall in full-year profit last week, its lowest in 10 years as soaring fuel costs and a strong dollar took a toll on earnings. <br/>
IAG's budget carrier Level has performed below expectations in Paris and Vienna, group CE Willie Walsh admitted Friday. Level operates long-haul flights out of Paris and has a short-haul base in Vienna, adding to a long-haul base in Barcelona. While the Barcelona operation has performed well, the situation in Paris and notably Vienna has been tough, Walsh said. Vienna has over the last year become a battleground for Europe's biggest LCCs. "Vienna has seen huge increase in capacity, so that has had a big impact on yields in the Vienna market, which are behind what we had planned," says Walsh, though he adds that volumes and customer reaction have been better than expected. "It's a market where... the airport is certainly making money and customers are getting good offers but it is challenging for the airlines," he says. <br/>
Allegiant Air’s fast-tracked shift to an all-Airbus fleet is paying dividends, according to numbers from its first full quarter since it parked its last McDonnell Douglas MD-80. Despite seeing its average fleet size drop to 80 from 91 year-over-year, Allegiant’s Q1 metrics included a 4.8% increase in total departures and a 17% increase in aircraft utilisation. Spare aircraft dropped from 11 to 4, further bolstering operations. “For the March quarter, we produced an industry-leading completion factor of 99.2%,” Allegiant CFO and COO Scott Sheldon said. “Despite significant headwinds from weather-related delays and cancellations, we reduced our regular ops cost by US$2m and over $14mon a trailing 12-month basis.” Allegiant parked more than 30 MD-80s in 2018, speeding up a retirement schedule to help address reliability problems. <br/>
Irelandia Aviation has secured a US$50m investment from New York-based private equity firm Cartesian Capital Group for its Latin American LCC Viva Air Group, in exchange for an unspecified stake in the airline. The investment will pave the way for Viva to be publicly-listed in about 2 years, Irelandia managing partner and Viva's chairman Declan Ryan said. He declines to specify the stake that Cartesian holds in Viva, but says: "It's a good stake. Irelandia is maintaining control." Viva Air will be Cartesian's second airline investment in its current portfolio. It is a shareholder in Argentina's Flybondi, and previously invested in Brazil's Gol. Viva has airlines based in Medellin and Lima, but is considering launching a third carrier in the region, although it has not committed to a location. <br/>
Emirates Group’s newly-released annual report lists 234 future aircraft deliveries, but makes no mention of the Boeing 787-10s for which Emirates signed in 2017. These 234 aircraft comprise 40 Airbus A330-900s and 30 A350-900s – a commitment disclosed in February this year – plus 14 remaining A380s and 150 Boeing 777X twinjets. But the fleet plan omits the 40 787-10s and the annual report notably does not refer at all to the 787 model. Emirates unveiled a US$15b agreement for 787-10s at the last Dubai air show, stating that the aircraft would be delivered in 2022. But the airline has not made an engine selection for the 787s and they are not included on Boeing’s order backlog. The carrier had listed the 40 787-10s in its previous annual report, for 2017-18, declaring them as “authorised and not contracted”. <br/>