Ryanair has abruptly cancelled 12 of its UK domestic and international routes, following a disagreement with the UK’s regulator that the company said left operation of the flights “impossible” ahead of Brexit. The low-cost Irish carrier secured an operating licence for its UK subsidiary nearly two years ago to allow it to keep UK traffic rights and protect its operations from January 1 when the Brexit transition period ends. The aim was to ensure it could continue to fly domestic routes inside the UK, as well as to countries outside the EU such as Morocco. But Ryanair said the Civil Aviation Authority introduced new regulatory barriers on Sunday evening, just 10 days before the transition ends. The airline did not elaborate on the restrictions, but the CAA said Ryanair was planning to use leased, foreign-owned aircraft on its UK operations. “It has been our longstanding position that a UK airline with a significant presence in the UK, such as Ryanair UK does, should not rely heavily on using wet-leased, foreign-registered aircraft to undertake their operations. Doing so undermines the competitiveness of the UK aviation industry,” the regulator said. Ryanair has only one aircraft listed on the UK’s register, out of the more than 450 in its fleet. The carrier said the changes affect routes from London, Manchester, Liverpool, Edinburgh, Belfast and Derry. “Ryanair UK had agreed Brexit contingency arrangements with the CAA two years ago and cannot comply with its new and impractical requirements at 10 days’ notice,” the airline said. The regulator denied that. “It is incorrect for the airline to state that the UK Civil Aviation Authority has changed its wet-leasing policy at short notice,” it said.<br/>
unaligned
An easyJet board member has resigned following scrutiny over her role at Wirecard, the collapsed German payments company. Anastassia Lauterbach quit on Monday as a non-executive director of the low-cost carrier with immediate effect after less than two years’ service. Her exit came days after influential shareholder advisory group ISS questioned her place on the board, given that she had been a member of the supervisory board of Wirecard, the scandal-hit German company that filed for insolvency in June after revealing a multiyear fraud and a E1.9b hole in its accounts. Lauterbach had joined Wirecard’s supervisory board in 2018. As a non-executive director, she chaired the newly created risk and compliance committee that pushed to improve Wirecard’s internal controls and governance. People familiar with the discussions on Wirecard’s supervisory board said that Lauterbach had been internally calling for the dismissal of Wirecard’s chief executive officer Markus Braun and its operating officer Jan Marsalek months before the company collapsed. She stayed on the supervisory board until it dissolved itself this summer after Wirecard’s insolvency.<br/>
China Southern will inject more capital into its subsidiary Xiamen Airlines, as part of a move to “support the development” of the latter carrier’s business. China Southern discloses that it will pump around CNY2.2b ($336m) into its subsidiary, to be paid in cash and with aircraft assets. Two other shareholders of Xiamen Airlines — Fujian Investment, as well as real estate corporation Xiamen C&D — will also inject fresh capital in cash, at CNY440m and CNY1.4b, respectively. The capital increase exercise is expected to be completed by 30 June 2023, states China Southern. As a result of the capital boost, Xiamen Airlines will now see its registered capital increase to CNY14b, up from the current CNY10b. The additional funds will be used to ease Xiamen Airlines’ cashflow pressure, and to “meet the development needs of its fleet”, says China Southern.<br/>