A face-off between the US and EU over jetliner tariffs risks making travel more expensive for passengers, Emirates has warned. Tit-for-tat import duties on Boeing and Airbus planes would ultimately increase the cost of the aircraft and hence also fares, Emirates president Tim Clark said Monday. “In the end, the prices of what we get charged as a result of tariff imposition will be passed through as they have to, to consumers, so prices are likely to rise,” Clark said. The US has said it will introduce a 10% levy on European jetliners following a WTO ruling that Airbus benefited from illegal state aid. The WTO is considering a similar case against Boeing that’s due to be decided next year and the EU says it will introduce tariffs of its own if the US acts now. <br/>
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Emirates doubts it will receive any of the 115 Boeing 777-9s it has ordered next year, its president said Monday, as the planemaker grapples with challenges in building the jet. Emirates, a launch customer of the world’s biggest twin engined jet, was to receive its first 777-9 in 2020 but the manufacturer has suspended load testing of the plane. “By the end of next year we were to have 8 of them. Now it doesn’t look like we will have any,” Tim Clark said. Boeing suspended load testing of the new widebody in September when media reports said a cargo door failed a ground stress test. There have also been issues with GE’s new GE9X turbine engine that will power the jet. Boeing has said it expects to hold the initial flight test in 2020 and is aiming for the 777X to enter commercial service in the same year. <br/>
Condor is preparing restructuring initiatives as it emerges from the collapsed Thomas Cook Group, having been cleared by European regulators to receive a bridge loan to support its development. The loan of E380m is being provided by German state bank KfW. Condor faces an "acute liquidity shortage" as a result of the Thomas Cook collapse, says the EC, and has had to write off "significant" claims with respect to other companies associated with the tour operator. It adds that the backing for Condor – strictly limited to 6 months – will help with ensuring "orderly continuation" of flight services. Once the 6-month time limit is up, the airline must have already fully repaid the loan, or will undergo a comprehensive restructuring aimed at restoring itself to long-term viability. The German govt has committed to these conditions. <br/>
Vietnam’s Bamboo Airways expects a market capitalisation of as much as US$1b at its planned listing in Q1 next year. The startup carrier plans to list about 400m shares on either the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange or Hanoi Stock Exchange as early as January, Deputy CE Nguyen Khac Hai said. Bamboo Airways expects to set the initial price for its trading debut in the range of US$2.59 per share, he added. “We expect the stock market to do well from now until next year as the macro-economic conditions are very positive,” Hai said. In Vietnam, companies often sell shares months before a listing in an exchange. Bamboo, however, plans to list shortly after the share sale. The airline, which joined Vietnam’s crowded skies last January, seeks to tap into the nation’s growing middle class. <br/>
The Boeing 737 Max won’t return to service at Southwest Airlines until February at the earliest, the union that represents the airline’s pilots said Monday. That would be a month later than the carrier currently expects. Boeing is scrambling to finish software changes and put them in front of govt regulators for review to get the manufacturer’s bestselling plane flying again. Boeing has estimated it would receive this approval in Q4, but regulators say they don’t have a firm timeline. Southwest said Monday: “We continue to assess return to service timing based on information from Boeing and FAA but do not currently have a target date that we are working toward.” An airline spokeswoman said the carrier took the planes out of its schedule until Jan 5 based on the information it has now. <br/>
Thousands of travellers heading for Spain for half-term have been told their flights have been abruptly cancelled. Hundreds more, who are already away, may need to cut short their trips and pay again to get home. Three weeks after Thomas Cook collapsed, a company called Flylolo has told customers that the flights they had booked in good faith will not take off. The “paper airline”, which operates only by selling flights with other carriers, sold seats to the Canaries for flights over 3 successive weekends. Thursday the firm told travellers on the flights from Scotland they would not be flying. Flylolo’s founder and CE, Paul Dendle, said: “The issue was the aircraft we thought we had a firm agreement on was withdrawn." <br/>