Philippines’ Cebu Air has finalised the purchase of 16 long-range Airbus A330 neo jets worth $4.8b at list prices, the airline said Monday. The budget carrier, which operates 74 aircraft, mostly Airbus A320s, under the brand Cebu Pacific, is turning to larger and fuel-efficient jets for expansion, despite limited slots at the main gateway in the Philippine capital. Scheduled to be delivered between 2021 and 2024, the 16 A330neo aircraft will be deployed on routes in the Philippines, Asia, Australia and the Middle East, Cebu Air said. Reuters first reported that Cebu Air was close to buying A330neo or Boeing 787 aircraft in May. In June, Cebu Air signed a signed a memorandum of understanding to acquire 16 A330neos, 10 A321XLRs and five A320neos, worth about $6 billion in total at list prices, during the Paris Air Show.<br/>
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Italy is set to ban flights by Iran’s Mahan Air, an Iranian industry official said on Saturday, as the United States seeks action against the airline accused by the West of transporting military equipment and personnel to Middle East war zones. Germany and France have both already banned flights by the airline, and Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio told U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in early October that Rome was set to make a decision on whether to follow suit. Italy’s air authority ENAC said in a statement that the ban on Mahan’s flights to Rome and Milan would take effect in mid-December. The Association of Iranian Airlines (AIA) confirmed the news of the ban. “Along with their pressure on our country, the Americans have pressed Italy to stop Mahan Air flights to Rome and Milan,” Maqsoud Asadi Samani, secretary of the AIA, was quoted as saying by the semi-official news agency Mehr.<br/>
India said all Airbus A320neo jets operated by IndiGo, the model’s biggest customer, must get fixes for their Pratt & Whitney engines by Jan. 31 or be grounded. There have been four incidents involving IndiGo-operated jets with Pratt engines in the past week, India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation said in a statement Friday, expressing its “serious concern.” That compares with 15 for all Indian operators in three years through August. “Four successive events have not happened ever before,” it said. “We need desperate measures to put things in order.” The move marks a further setback for Pratt, a unit of United Technologies Corp., which has suffered delivery delays and groundings in India. IndiGo, which has close to 100 A320neo-family jets and is adding them at a rate of more than one a week, said it will work with the engine maker and Airbus so that it has enough modified spare turbines to meet the requirement. The engine makers may need to provide 100 to 150 new turbines or spares in the next three months, representing a “significant additional burden,” Morgan Stanley analyst Andrew Humphrey said in a note. The Indian move could require compensation payments and risks impacting airline operations, he said. Indigo has 98 A320neo planes, with around 45% of its engines modified. The airline said it was confident of meeting the stipulations of an earlier directive, while describing efforts to comply with the expanded requirements as “mitigation.” The flying schedule remains intact in the meantime, it said.<br/>
China’s Hainan Airlines Group posted net income of CNY108.4m ($15.4m) in the Q3, down 40% from Q3 2018, as costs outpaced operating revenue but were offset by other income. Operating revenue rose 10.4% year-over year (YOY) to CNY21.4b, while costs increased 10.8% to CNY21.8b. Non-operating revenue of CNY330.3m, however, help push the group into the black. Flagship carrier Hainan Airlines saw a 10% increase in revenue to CNY11.8b and a 22.6% rise in expenses to CNY10.6b. The carrier recorded a net loss of CNY83m in the quarter. For the first nine months, the group’s operating costs continued to outpace revenue. Costs rose 8.4% YOY to CNY58b and revenue was up 7.9% to CNY56.5b. Net profit declined 16.1% to CNY611.8m. Hainan Airlines will begin codesharing with Iberia, placing its code on the Spanish carrier’s Madrid-Shanghai service and to 20 Iberia destination in Europe. Iberia in turn will add its code to Hainan’s Madrid-Shenzhen route and six other Chinese cities via Shanghai.<br/>
Icelandair Group has reached a second agreement with Boeing regarding partial compensation for the 737 Max suspension. The company disclosed the agreement during a Q3r financial results briefing. It had previously reached a partial compensation pact with the US airframer, which it mentioned in September. "This was recognised partially as increased passenger revenue and partially as decreased aircraft lease expenses in aviation expenses," says Icelandair Group. The company adds that a second agreement was reached on 31 October, the details of which are confidential. But it says the estimated net earnings impact from the 737 Max suspension is "still significant" and the company remains in discussion with Boeing over the financial losses. Icelandair Group had expected to have nine 737 Max jets in its fleet this year, accounting for 25% of its fleet and 27% of available seats. Suspension of the type has "created imbalance" in the Icelandair route network, it says, adversely affecting load factors and average fares.<br/>
Seeing increased demand between Singapore-Kuala Lumpur, AirAsia Group plans to add two more daily flights, this time using the Airbus A330-300. The widebody aircraft belongs to the LCC’s long-haul subsidiary AirAsia X, which will add 377 more seats per sector, an increase of 197 seats. Currently, all 9X-daily Singapore-KUL services are flown with the group’s A320, which seats 180 passengers. This year, the LCC has carried over 1m passengers on Singapore-KUL sector—24% are Singapore passport holders—and recorded a 4% year-on-year increase. “As part of the effort to ease overwhelming demand, AirAsia [is doubling] up the seating capacity with the addition of close to 400 seats per day through the operation of its widebody aircraft,” AirAsia said.<br/>
After 48 years, El Al is retiring its 747 fleet -- and to say goodbye, Israel's national carrier used a flight tracker to "draw" the plane in the skies over the Mediterranean Sea. Departing from Rome at 10am local time on Sunday, the Boeing 747 Jumbo took a one-time flightpath to create the shape commemorating El Al's final commercial 747 flight. According to the airline, Flight LY1747 began "painting" two hours after take-off, as the plane flew above southern Cyprus. Flight LY1747 descended to 10,000 feet to begin the artwork, according to flight tracking service FlightRadar24, which documented the trip in a series of images posted to its Twitter feed. The aircraft flew for just under four hours before landing in Tel Aviv, according to the tracker. El Al said it had flown many different 747 models in its five decades using the jet, but is now replacing them with a new fleet of 787 Dreamliners.<br/>