Air NZ has been named the airline of the year by safety and product-rating website AirlineRatings.com with the way it has responded to engine problem fallout winning praise from judges. It is the sixth time Air NZ has taken the crown for what the Australian-based editors of the site said were for its multi-award-winning in-flight innovations, operational safety, environmental leadership and motivation of its staff. "These factors have stamped the airline as a clear industry leader." The AirlineRatings.com award for 2020, which was judged by seven editors with over 200 years' industry experience, combines major safety and government audits. Most of the other slew of awards in the airline industry are judged by passenger polls which favour the bigger carriers. AirlineRatings.com considered 12 key criteria, including: fleet age, passenger reviews, profitability, investment rating, product offerings, and staff relations. Editor in chief Geoffrey Thomas said Air New Zealand came out number one in most of the audit criteria, which is an outstanding performance when it is up against carriers with more resources and scale. The airline achieved the top ranking as it battled fallout from Rolls-Royce engine problems that have at times grounded some of its Dreamliner fleet. Thomas said this made the award even more deserving.<br/>
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Air NZ resumed its flights between Korea and New Zealand after a 22-year break on Saturday. The airline first launched operations in the mid-1990s between Auckland and Seoul, but halted services in 1997 following the Asian financial crisis. "We have flown here before, but unfortunately due to the Asian financial crisis, the number of passengers fell from 100,000 to 20,000, so we had to step back at that point. But now we are seeing the number of passengers grow and grow," Jeff McDowall, acting CE of Air NZ, said Monday. Around 90,000 Koreans visit New Zealand annually and that number is expected to grow even further in the next decade. So far many Korean tourists have had stopovers in Japan or Australia, due to a small number of direct flights. On Saturday, Air New Zealand flight NZ75 departed Auckland International Airport for Korea's Incheon International Airport for the first time in more than two decades. The airline offers three flights a week, departing Incheon on Monday, Thursday and Saturday with a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. It is scheduled to increase the frequency temporarily to five times a week in December for the winter peak season.<br/>
Aegean Airlines reported a 2019 Q3 net income of E90.2m, down 4% from E94.7m in the year-ago period, as a result of higher fuel costs. The airline and its Olympic Air subsidiary saw consolidated revenue rise 6% year-over-year (YOY) to E512.5m. Pre-tax earnings decreased to E123.7m, down 8% YOY. Fuel costs were up 12% to E97.8m for the quarter. For the first nine months, the Athens-based carrier posted a net profit of E77.1m, down 4.7% from a E80.9m net profit for the year-ago period. Aegean Airlines CEO Dimitris Gerogiannis said the company “managed to improve all our operational figures in the 2019 nine-month period and welcomed more than 12% international passengers on board despite the marginal increase in inbound tourism flows into the country.” He said the group was able to mitigate the increase in the effective fuel unit costs.<br/>
Turkish Airlines has again shuffled its short-haul fleet expansion, with fewer Airbus A321neos arriving in 2020 and additional Boeing 737-800s being introduced. The carrier's fleet plan at the end of June indicated it would have 39 A321neos in 2020. But the latest revision, for Q3, shows that this figure has been cut by nine to 30 aircraft. The A321neo fleet will realign with the earlier forecast in 2021 when it rises to 59. Airbus has been struggling with A321neo deliveries as a result of industrial production obstacles. The carrier says it will receive 22 during 2019-20, rather than the 37 previously expected. Turkish Airlines also shows a hike in the number of 737-800s in its 2020 fleet, to 88 aircraft from the previous figure of 75. The changes increase the overall 2020 short-haul fleet from 274 to 278 aircraft. <br/>