Zimbabwe’s troubled national airline has failed to secure outside investment, dealing a blow to govt plans to sell state-owned assets and secure much-needed revenue. The airline, which in Oct 2018 was placed under administration, a form of bankruptcy protection, received expressions of interest from 10 international investors and had short-listed 3 bidders. “A process to solicit for a strategic partner or investor was undertaken, but none of the parties that expressed interest and submitted bids were successful,” the airline’s administrator, Reggie Saruchera, said Thursday, without identifying the bidders. The airline has outstanding debt of about US$370m, and Saruchera recommended this be settled before seeking fresh investment. <br/>
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Gol continues to suffer from the fallout of the grounding of its 7 Boeing 737 Max aircraft, reporting Q4 net income that was almost half of that reported for the same period in 2018. Net income in Q4 fell 47% to R352m (US$80.1m) from R675m, even as revenue rose 18.8% to R3.8b in the quarter. CE Paolo Kakinoff attributed the revenue increase to the company’s low-cost model and “sophisticated fleet management”. Full-year operating revenue at the airline rose to R13.8b ($3.15b) from 11.4b in 2018, up 21.5% for the year. Kakinoff says the company expects its revenue to climb further in 2020, to R15.4b. While the airline is still Brazil’s largest in terms of market share, it has been unable to benefit from the more efficient new-generation Max aircraft in its network. <br/>
Three pilots who were found not to have defamed Ryanair in an email circular have urged the Court of Appeal to uphold a High Court jury’s decision in the case. Evert Van Zwol, John Goss and Ted Murphy. members of the Ryanair Pilots Group, emerged victorious after a 7-week trial in 2017 in which they contested Ryanair’s action seeking damages against them. The airline had claimed that, in issuing an RPG email in 2013 entitled “Pilot update, what the markets are saying about Ryanair” to 2,289 Ryanair pilots, the 3 had defamed the airline. Ryanair has urged the CoA to overturn the jury verdict on grounds including the trial judge had irredeemably infected the jury’s thinking in a ruling during the trial. That ruling related to an email that was not disclosed in advance of the trial as required by court rules. <br/>
A partially crowdfunded Swiss airline named “FlyBair”, to be headquartered in Switzerland’s capital Bern, says that it has partnered with regional carrier Helvetic Airways ahead of beginning service to European vacation destinations from May 2020. FlyBair made headlines last November when it launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise money for a carrier that would connect the Swiss capital to several holiday destinations in Spain, Italy and Greece during the peak summer travel season. No commercial airlines serve the airport in the Swiss capital. Passengers must travel to the airports at Geneva, 93mi to the southwest, or Zurich, 75mi to the northeast, in order to reach any other destination by air. All FlyBair flights will be carried out by a Helvetic Airways’ Embraer E190 aircraft, the new airline says. <br/>
Hong Kong Airlines employees made redundant this week are demanding transparency and fair severance packages in the wake of the airline’s decision to dismiss more than 160 people in a cost-cutting move. Nearly 80 airline staff members attended closed-door sessions with company representatives Thursday to get details of the lay-offs and their expected payouts. The company, which earlier this month said it planned to eliminate 400 jobs, notified employees Wednesday that they would be made redundant after the airline’s “recent review of its operational requirements”. This came as a Bloomberg report suggested the airline’s parent company, HNA Group, could be taken over by the mainland authority, which is likely to sell off its airline assets. <br/>