Comair expects its full year headline earnings per share (HEPS) to rise by more than 20%, boosted by a US$78m payment from embattled South African Airways, it said Thursday. HEPS, the main profit measure in South Africa, came in at 69.5 cents in the previous year. Excluding the settlement, HEPS is expected to be 20% lower, the owner of low-cost airline Kulula.com and franchise partner of British Airways said. SAA was ordered to pay Comair $78m to settle an antitrust case in February after travel agent incentive schemes were deemed anti-competitive by a competition body, paving the way for a damages claim by Comair. Comair said that it is still assessing the full impact of the settlement, which will be disclosed in its financial report for the year ended June 30 2019. But it expects the award to increase HEPS by 277.43 cents. <br/>
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Following a series of runway excursion incidents this week involving SpiceJet flights, the DGCA conducted an unplanned audit of the budget carrier’s premises at Gurgaon, which led to discovery of lapses on the airline’s part, a senior official said, adding that 4 senior executives of the airline have been issued show cause notices by the aviation regulator. SpiceJet executives who have been served notices are its SVP (operations), chief of flight safety, accountable executive and head of training. The DGCA official said that the SpiceJet executives have been found breaching certain safety standards, such as the operations department not taking any remedial action on safety violations it was given by the flight safety department. <br/>
The DGCA has grounded 12 pilots and served show-cause notices on them after the 6 recent cases of aircraft veering off runway or taxiway, a senior official said Thursday. SpiceJet, Air India Express and GoAir have been involved in 3, 2 and 1 such incidents, respectively, in the past few days, prompting the DGCA to take action. The action comes even as the main runway at Mumbai airport remained shut after a SpiceJet plane from Jaipur veered off it while landing amidst heavy rains Monday night and got stuck in the adjacent grass area. June 30, another SpiceJet plane from Bhopal veered off the runway at Surat airport due to heavy rainfall and wind. A SpiceJet spokesperson said that the “pilots involved in both incidents — which happened in Mumbai and Surat — have been suspended as per the directions of the DGCA”. <br/>
Norwegian Air filled more seats on its planes than expected in June, compensating for a dip in passenger numbers due to the ongoing grounding of Boeing's 737 MAX jets, sending its shares higher Thursday. The carrier has curbed its rapid growth this year to focus on cutting costs and turning a profit. It has also raised NOK3b (US$351m) from shareholders to boost its finances. The airline's load factor rose to 91.5% from 90.5% in June 2018, and topped the 90.7% forecast by analysts in a Reuters poll. Its yield rose to 0.45 crown from 0.42 crown, just ahead of the 0.44 crown seen by analysts. "The efforts of closing down unprofitable routes are obviously starting to pay off, in addition to the fact that existing routes are becoming more mature and thereby perform better," Danske Bank analysts said in a note. <br/>
Australian regulators have given interim approval to a partnership between Virgin Australia and Virgin Atlantic that will see them cooperate in the Australia-UK market. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission decision will allow the two airlines to partner on flights that meet at “mutual midpoints” in Hong Kong, Los Angeles, and “any other future mutual connecting points.” They already codeshare, but the airlines wanted to coordinate more closely on pricing, inventory and marketing strategy. “We do not think this enhanced cooperation is likely to lessen competition on the routes between Australia and the British Isles,” ACCC commissioner Sarah Court said. The interim authorisation “will remain in effect while the ACCC considers the application for authorisation in more detail,” the agency said. <br/>
Despite the recent flurry of takeover activity within Canada’s airline industry, the executive chairman of Porter Airlines Inc. says the business is not for sale. “It’s not the first time there’s been consolidation, but there is a fair bit of it going on right now. … On our part, we just keep our head down and keep doing what we’re doing,” said Robert Deluce, who is a former CE of the airline, Thursday. Deluce’s comments come 1 week after Transat’s board of directors approved a C$520m takeover offer by Air Canada, and less than 2 months after WestJet Airlines said it agreed to be acquired private equity firm Onex Corp. But Deluce said Porte is currently well-positioned in the industry, and that the airline isn’t having any discussions around consolidation. <br/>