Travellers and local airlines have been bewildered by the Philippine government's sudden banning of charter flight services to the country's famous resort island of Boracay. According to Air Busan and tour agencies here, Tuesday, the Philippine government sent an official statement to a number of international airlines the previous day to say it was revoking permission for all charter flights to the Island immediately. The targeted airlines are those that did not fly to Boracay during last winter, and Air Busan is the only Korean carrier included on the list. The Philippine government announced Monday it would suspend all non-scheduled flights to Boracay. In Korea, Air Busan is subject to the ban. According to an Air Busan official, it was notified of the ban last Friday. "Our staffers visited the country's aviation office to negotiate over the ban Friday, but we received official notification from the Philippine government on Monday," the official said. "We asked for a two-week grace period, so we can bring tourists who flew there on our flights back to Korea. But the request was denied." Travellers who were planning to come back to Busan from Boracay on Monday on an Air Busan flight will fly back to Busan with AirAsia Zest, a Philippine budget carrier. "The Philippine government did not even clarify the reason for this suspension, but we assumed it is related to the closure of the island last year in order to protect the environment." <br/>
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AirAsia Group has decided to convert 253 orders for Airbus' A320neo planes to the larger A321neo model, making AirAsia the world's largest customer for the A321neo, but is not yet ready to order the new longer-range version. "The change will enable the airline to offer higher capacity in response to ongoing strong demand across its network," Airbus said Tuesday. Reuters last month reported the Malaysian low-cost carrier was in negotiations to buy the new longer-range version of the A321 passenger jet, citing two sources familiar with the matter. Airbus launched the A321XLR, which has a range of up to 4,700 nautical miles, at the Paris Airshow on Monday. Asked on the sidelines of the show about the A321XLR, AirAsia Executive Chairman Kamarudin Meranun said that "negotiations are ongoing."<br/>
Icelandair has pulled out of Tampa International Airport because the grounding of the Boeing 737 Max jets has left it short of planes. The airline said Monday that it was immediately halting flights from Florida. It said the grounded planes made up 14% of its fleet, and adjustments had to be made. The redesigned planes were grounded by all carriers worldwide earlier this year after crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia killed 346 people. Icelandair had been offering multiple flights per week to Reykjavik from Tampa. It earlier cut flights from Cleveland and Nova Scotia.<br/>
Jaime Bautista retired from his position as president and COO of Philippine Airlines on 18 June. In the interim, the carrier named executive vice-president treasurer and chief administrative officer Vivienne Tan as its officer-in-charge, taking on the responsibilities now vacated by Bautista. Tan is the daughter of PAL's chairman and CEO Lucio Tan, and has held positions within the airline in various capacities since 2011. She also held a range of positions within the Lucio Tan Group. She holds board positions with a number of group companies, including Philippine National Bank and holding company LT Group.<br/>