India’s air safety watchdog said IndiGo must do more to fix its aircraft fitted with Pratt & Whitney engines, linked to in-flight shutdowns, as it fears the budget airline may not meet its Jan. 31 deadline to replace them. Deliveries of new planes taken by IndiGo must be used to replace the aircraft that are fitted with the problem Pratt engines, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said Monday. Those planes should then be grounded until their engines are replaced with new ones, after which they can fly again. Indigo is the biggest customer of Airbus A320neo jets. The regulator’s move effectively prevents India’s top airline from expanding its network until it has replaced all the Pratt & Whitney engines. United Technologies’ Pratt & Whitney engines have consistently caused issues since they entered into service in 2016, forcing IndiGo to ground its planes several times. In a recent review meeting with the airline, the DGCA felt that the steps taken by IndiGo so far to replace all the engines “do not instil enough confidence with regard to the timely completion of the said task”. “If left unaddressed, we may find ourselves in a situation, in which, we remain saddled with large number of aircraft with unmodified engines ... and we are left with the only option i.e. to ground them,” the regulator said.<br/>
unaligned
VietJet Air boosted operating profit 12% in Q3, to D1.91t ($90.4m), as revenue and passenger numbers rose. Consolidated revenue was up 6.8% at D13.6t, the Vietnamese low-cost carrier has reported. Net profit edged up 1% to D1.7t. On a nine-month basis, VietJet's operating profit grew 8.2% to D4.18t. Revenue was up 12.4% at D38.1t. Despite the higher profit and revenue, net profit was flat at D3.68t. Cash and cash equivalents at 30 September amounted to D3.17t, down from the D4.89t on the same date last year. In an investor presentation, VietJet statistics show that nine-month passenger numbers were up 11.8% at 19m. Despite the increase in the number of routes operated, to 127, the airline was able to maintain its load factor at 88%. As of 30 September 2019, VietJet operated 67 Airbus narrowbodies. It is also forecasting to end the year with 77 aircraft, and to have transported 27 million passengers across 2019. It is unclear if this number includes Thai VietJet Air, in which the Vietnamese budget carrier holds a 9% stake.<br/>
Regional Express (Rex) is warning that its profits could be down 20-30% for financial year 2020 compared with the previous year due to “a very challenging economic environment ahead”. Despite the profit warning, Australia’s largest independent regional carrier is pursuing four major developmental projects in the belief that it can “weather the downturn and emerge stronger at the other end”, John Sharp, Rex's deputy chairman told investors at the airline’s annual general meeting. Rex has revised its outlook based on a deterioration in trading conditions over the last six months, with the ongoing trade war causing a drastic slowdown in most developed economies. This is likely to lead to “sluggish” passenger numbers, while costs are expected to rise due to an extremely weak Australian dollar, Rex believes. Rex operates around 60 Saab 340 turboprops on regional routes primarily in eastern Australia, more recently adding a number of services in Western Australia. In the financial year ended 30 June, Rex reported a A$17.5m net profit, up from A$16.9m the previous year, with revenues climbing 7.5%. Its total fuel bill, however, leaped 30% to A$9.8m despite hedging efforts. In fiscal year 2019, Rex carried 1.27m passengers, up 3.6%.<br/>
A Tanzanian court declared LCC fastjet Tanzania insolvent and has appointed a liquidator for the carrier, according to local media reports. The small airline was the subject of a management buyout in late 2018 from parent fastjet Group and had little ongoing connection with the larger company, which operates in Zimbabwe and South Africa. Fastjet Tanzania, which licensed the use of the name from the group, suspended services in December 2018. According to Tanzanian newspaper The Citizen, the commercial division of the country’s High Court, sitting in Dar es Salaam, declared the airline insolvent and appointed a liquidator. The company had been trying to restore services throughout 2019 and applied to the Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority earlier in November to operate scheduled and chartered services. However, agency documents show the airline provided no timetable for its planned return to service or the length of the license for which it was applying.<br/>