Cheaper jet fuel and slightly higher fares helped United Airlines boost Q3 profit 23% to US$1b. The results released Tuesday were better than Wall Street expected, and United raised its forecast of full-year profit. United indicated that demand for leisure and business travel is holding up well despite concern about the slowing global economy, although there are pockets of weakness such as China. The worldwide grounding of the Boeing 737 Max led to thousands of canceled flights and lost revenue for United, although the company did not provide figures. The airline has removed the Max from its schedule until Jan 6 and dropped nearly 8,300 flights between October and early January. Investors worry that when the grounded planes return to United, Southwest and American, there will be more seats for sale and fares will drop. <br/>
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SWISS grounded its fleet of Airbus SE A220 jets after a “serious” engine problem forced a London-Geneva flight to land in Paris. The carrier, the world’s biggest operator of the narrow-body aircraft, said it canceled about 100 flights Tuesday in order to carry out inspections of the Pratt & Whitney engines. Some A220s have returned to flight following successful checks, and full operations are expected to resume Thursday, SWISS said. The incident marked yet another headache for the airline, which has 29 of the new planes in its fleet. A July 25 SWISS flight from Geneva to London experienced engine failure after part of the turbine disintegrated over Paris, while one from Zurich to Dusseldorf had to turn around earlier the same month because of a turbine problem. <br/>
Air India Tuesday became the first airline in the world to use a 'TaxiBot' on a A320 aircraft with passengers on-board. 'TaxiBot' is a robot-used aircraft tractor for taxiing an aircraft from parking bay to runway and vice versa. The carrier's chairman and MD Ashwani Lohani said: "The use of TaxiBot on the Air India aircraft at Indira Gandhi International…is the first such usage on any Airbus aircraft worldwide. Really an achievement to be proud of. A giant step forward towards a cleaner environment." An Air India spokesperson said, "TaxiBot saves precious fuel and reduces engine wear and tear. The ignition will be turned only when the aircraft reaches the runway." The spokesperson said the usage of 'TaxiBots' will significantly bring down the consumption of fuel by as much as 85% used during taxiing of an aircraft. <br/>
South Africa’s embattled state-owned airline is open to outside investment and in talks with a number of potential partners, president Cyril Ramaphosa said Monday. The economy of the African continent’s most industrialised nation has come under ever growing pressure as the govt grapples with lacklustre growth, high unemployment and a heavy debt burden, especially from state-owned enterprises such as SAA and power firm Eskom. “We are on record as saying we are open to the participation of the private sector. As we speak now, we’re talking to a few interested parties when it comes to SAA,” Ramaphosa said. In September, the airline said a govt cash injection of US$372m had been approved for the 2019/20 financial year but that it still needed more money. <br/>