Brussels Airlines aims to reduce costs by 8% to 12% to achieve an operating margin (EBIT) of 8% in 2022. CE Christina Foester said that's the level of profitability the company needs to finance its own investments. “We need a margin of 8% to self-finance our current and planned investments in fleet renewal, network expansion, and people development” according to an internal communication from management to staff Thursday. Although the memo does not mention any concrete measures, such as possible job losses, it points out that the cost savings may be even higher depending the inflation or falling yields. Also, rising fuel prices may require additional measures. Foester's 8% EBIT margin target would bring Brussels Airlines in line with the Lufthansa target—of between 7% and 9% in 2019—for its network airlines unit. <br/>
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The Federal Court has ordered Air Canada to pay a total of C$21,000 to 2 francophones for repeated violations of their language rights, including seatbelts on which the instruction to “lift” the buckle was marked only in English. Michel Thibodeau and Lynda Thibodeau filed 22 complaints in 2016 with the commissioner of official languages for alleged offences under the Official Languages Act. The pair complained that planes’ emergency exit door signs were either in English only, or the English words were in larger font than the French ones. They noted seatbelts were engraved with the word “lift” with no French-language equivalent. And they complained that a French-language boarding announcement made at the airport in Fredericton was not as detailed as the English-language one. <br/>
Avianca will look to increase the number of passengers it can fit into a plane without enlarging its fleet as part of its efforts to overcome ongoing financial problems, its CE said Thursday. A video was released on social media this week showing president of the board Roberto Kriete telling employees that the airline was "broke." The airline said the video was obtained illegally and denied that it was in a bankruptcy or insolvency process. "We do not want to enter Chapter 11, obviously the negotiations on which we have focused seek to avoid having to ask for help from the courts or help from regulators and simply to reach deals that...allow us to pay everyone who we owe," CE Anko van der Werff said. Avianca is asking investors to exchange US$550m in bonds that come due in 2020, part of a plan to change its capital structure. <br/>
SAS reported a net income of SEK1.16b (US$122m) for Q3, down 26% from SEK1.57b in the year-ago period. SAS president & CE Rickard Gustafson said the “disappointing” Q3 results were mainly attributed to increased fuel costs, the Swedish krona’s continued weakness against the US dollar, and pilot strikes at the beginning of the quarter. The pilot strike between April 26 and May 2 led to some 4,000 canceled flights, affecting more than 370,000 passengers. Revenue for the quarter rose 3% year-over-year to SEK13.6b, while expenses increased 7.4% to SEK10.5b. SAS said it would look at additional cost-cutting measures. Capacity, measured in ASKs, declined 1% YOY to 13.3m, while RPKs dropped 3% to 10.5m, resulting in a 79% load factor, down 1.6 points. <br/>