A Boeing 737 airliner with 94 people on board made a hard landing in northwestern Russia on Sunday, carrier UTair said, but no one was badly hurt. It said the airliner, arriving at Usinsk airport in the Komi Republic about 1,500 kilometers from Moscow, made the hard landing because of wind shear. The plane’s main landing gear was damaged in the landing but the crew managed to bring the aircraft to a halt on the runway, UTair said. All passengers and crew safely left the airliner.<br/>
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US aviation investigators have arrived at the site of a fatal plane crash in Istanbul, Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency reported Saturday. A team from aircraft manufacturer Boeing and the US civil aviation authority inspected the wreckage of the Pegasus Airlines Boeing 737 that skidded off a runway at Sabiha Gokcen airport on Wednesday evening, killing three people. The aircraft, which split into three pieces in the accident, will later be dismantled and removed by crane, Anadolu said. The US team is looking to see if there were any technical factors that could have contributed to the accident. Investigators are examining many possible causes, including the plane's speed and the weather at the time of the crash. On Thursday, Pegasus Airlines CEO Mehmet T. Nane said the plane's black boxes had been recovered and the data from them was being deciphered. A report on the crash, in which 180 passengers and crew members were injured, is expected in a month's time.<br/>
Almost 20 years after the first JetBlue Airways flight, the New York-based company has filed an application with the DoT to launch a new airline, US media reported. Flights for the new carrier — named Breeze Airways — could take off by the end of the year, JetBlue founder David Neeleman said. Breeze aims to become “the world’s nicest airline” and will focus on mid-sized US cities “abandoned by our current air transportation network,” JetBlue said in its application, which was filed on Friday. The leisure-focused, low-cost airline would initially use Embraer 195 planes sublet from Brazil’s Azul, another of Neeleman’s companies. Airbus A220s are scheduled to begin arriving in April 2021 for use.<br/> “We’re going to fly where no one else is flying,” Neeleman said, adding he was considering about 500 city pairs, allowing travellers to bypass connection hubs.<br/>
Employees of Cathay Dragon have urged the company to suspend mainland China flights and are considering strikes or protests to press their demands. Staff of the Cathay Pacific Airways unit gathered Saturday for an extraordinary general meeting where about 89% out of 467 votes supported “industrial action,” said Kim Lam, a representative of the Cathay Dragon’s Flight Attendants Association executive committee. Protests and strikes are among options to be discussed in the future, he said. Cathay Pacific, Hong Kong’s flagship airline, has asked employees to take three weeks’ unpaid leave to preserve cash. The call for collective action by Cathay Dragon staff follows a strike by medical personnel this week to demand more protection against the coronavirus outbreak. Cathay Dragon still operates flights in four mainland cities -- Beijing, Shanghai, Xiamen and Chengdu. Cathay Pacific CEO Augustus Tang said he was disappointed about the possibility of a strike at the unit, and said the action would be “disruptive and unfair,” the Hong Kong Economic Times reported.<br/>
Air Arabia posted an 80% surge in 2019 net profit, aided by higher passenger numbers from its four hubs in the UAE, Morocco and Egypt. The budget carrier posted a net profit of Dh1b for the year ending December 31, 2019 after recording a year-ago loss, when it was hurt by a significant impairment charge linked to its exposure to collapsed private equity firm Abraaj. The firm said full year turnover rose by 15% to Dh4.75b and 16 new routes were added to the airline group network. The airline proposes a dividend distribution equivalent to 9 fils per share. The full year financial results were backed by growth in passenger demand with Air Arabia serving more than 12m passengers from its four hubs in the UAE, Morocco and Egypt, up 10% compared to the 11m passengers carried last year, Air Arabia said. The average seat load factor for the full year increased 2% to 83%, the airline said.<br/>
Jet Airways India, once the nation’s biggest by market value, faces fresh warning signs as a deadline to avoid liquidation looms. Creditors will likely be forced into extending a Feb. 17 deadline for the sale of the airline as the shortlisted bidders have yet to form bidding groups, according to people familiar with the matter. Time is tight as creditors may have to push the company into liquidation if there is no resolution by around mid March. In a stunning fall, the Mumbai-based airline was forced to suspend operations last year after it fell victim to a cut-throat price war initiated by a slew of budget carriers. It has missed payments to banks, staff and lessors. The two shortlisted bidders Synergy Group and Prudent ARC had both submitted expressions of interest in January, but haven’t yet cobbled together bidding groups. Synergy is seeking a local partner for its bid, while Prudent is looking to team up with a company with international aviation experience, the people said.<br/>
Myanmar’s largest private-sector airline said the novel coronavirus outbreak is likely to have an impact on its operations until April. The airline, Myanmar Airways International-Air KBZ Group, has suspended all routes to mainland China as well as Taiwan, Commercial Director Tanes Kumar said. “We had to shift some priorities within our strategy due to the virus outbreak,” he said, adding that once China flights resume the carrier should be able to make up the losses expected in the first four months of the year. Kumar said the airline will continue to invest in fleet expansion and that its goal is to become a “local champion” like VietJet in Vietnam or Lion Air in Indonesia.<br/>
Stobart Group sold off a majority shareholding in the airline that operates the Aer Lingus Regional franchise to the carrier’s 450 employees last year to ensure the operation complied with EU rules following Brexit. An employee benefit trust owns a 51% stake in Stobart Air, which operates 19 routes between Irish and UK regional airports for Aer Lingus. The remaining 49% is owned by Connect Airways, the airline group that also owns Flybe, the distressed UK regional carrier. Stobart Group transferred Stobart Air, formerly Aer Arann, to Connect Airways in return for a 30% shareholding in the new airline group last February. At the same time, Connect also took control of the heavily loss-making Flybe.<br/>
Spanish airline Air Nostrum, a unit of IAG, has become the second foreign airline to seek permission to operate domestic flights in Brazil, civil aviation regulator ANAC said Friday. If and when it obtains authorization, flights would start in the second half of this year under a new airline name, ANAC said. Air Nostrum, based in Valencia on Spain’s eastern coast, is owned by flag carrier Iberia.<br/>
Icelandair Group estimates that the Boeing 737 Max grounding has had a net negative effect of $100m on the company’s EBIT to date. Describing 2019 as a “challenging year”, CE Bogi Nils Bogason said that the grounding of the 737 Max since March had “an unprecedented negative impact on Icelandair’s operations, resulting in lost revenue, increased expenses and restricted utilisation of the company’s fleet and crew”. Management’s key focus has been on “minimising the impact” on the business, the airline said. Prior to the grounding, Icelandair had planned for its 737 Max jets to provide 27% of passenger capacity in 2019. Icelandair has five 737 Max 8s and one Max 9 in storage, and orders for another 10 aircraft. Instead of having a planned fleet of 36 aircraft – including nine 737 Max jets – at its disposal, the airline operated 33 aircraft during last year’s peak holiday season.<br/>