Pratt & Whitney’s agreement with Volaris to provide the Mexican airline with engines and their maintenance for 80 new Airbus A320neo aircraft is worth around $4.9b, Volaris CEO Enrique Beltranena said Thursday. After factoring in the time the company had the aircraft, the deal with Pratt & Whitney, a division of Raytheon Technologies Corp, would run through until at least 2040, Beltranena said. “Together with this maintenance agreement, it’s somewhere around $4.9b,” Beltranena said. Volaris will take delivery of the A320neo planes from 2023-2027, a purchase it first announced in late 2017, he noted. Low cost airline Volaris has fared better than Mexican competitors during the coronavirus pandemic, expanding its market share inside Latin America’s second-biggest economy. Beltranena said that restrictions on activity due to the pandemic had made for a “much more complicated” start to 2021 than the company had anticipated. But he was upbeat about the prospects for business during the Easter holidays. The carrier reported January passenger traffic was at 97% capacity of the same month in 2020, and Beltranena said that figure could dip in February to “80-something” percent. Bookings for Mexico’s Semana Santa, or Holy Week, during the turn of March-April looked “very strong” and reservations for the summer were also healthy, the CEO said.<br/>
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Debt-laden Air Namibia, which cancelled all flights earlier on Thursday, has been placed into voluntary liquidation, Finance Minister Iipumbu Shiimi said, calling the state-owned airline “unsustainable”. Government said it had considered all other options, which included potential investment from other airlines and turnaround strategies, before it decided to file for liquidation. “The country’s economy, can no longer afford to perpetually provide financial support to Air Namibia at the expense of supporting economic growth and critical social services,” Shiimi said. Air Namibia, which employs 644 workers, is buckling under mountains of debt. It has failed to produce financial statements in recent years despite regular state bailouts over the past two decades. “It is therefore important for the nation to understand that the current debt of Air Namibia is unsustainable and will jeopardise the economic recovery plan,” Shiimi said.<br/>
A federal investigator says Southwest Airlines pilots on a flight into Burbank, California, overshot the ideal touchdown point and should have aborted the landing before the plane skidded off a wet runway in December 2018. The findings by an expert in aircraft performance were included in documents posted Thursday by the NTSB, which is investigating the incident. The plane was stopped by absorbent material shortly before a fence and a street bordering Hollywood Burbank Airport. None of the 117 passengers and crew on the flight from Oakland, California, were injured. The investigator’s report is only one part of the NTSB probe. It could be several months before the board determines probable cause for the overrun. Burbank has relatively short runways, and air traffic controllers warned the pilots of heavy rain at the airport. A small jet before them had aborted a landing.<br/>
Emirates airline has temporarily suspended flights from Nigeria to Dubai until February 28. Passengers from both Abuja and Lagos will not be accepted for travel prior to or including this date. Those who have been to - or connected through - Nigeria in the last 14 days are not allowed entry into the UAE, said the airline. However, Emirates flights from Dubai to Lagos and Abuja will continue to operate as per the normal schedule. Emirates has been restoring its connectivity since all travel came to a halt in March 2020. The airline is currently flying to about 120 destinations, compared to 157 before the pandemic.<br/>
US transportation officials have complained to Israel about its flag carrier having exclusive rights to make emergency flights to New York City, which are scheduled Thursday to return stranded Israeli citizens. The US DoT lodged the complaint with Israel's Civil Aviation Authority about granting the emergency flights to El Al, its national carrier. The Israeli agency gave El Al the bid to operate the flights and additional emergency trips between Tel Aviv and Dubai. Two flights arrived in New York City on Tuesday and are scheduled to return to Israel Thursday. Thousands of Israelis are believed to be stranded in locations around the world after Israel closed its borders to inbound flights on Jan. 25. American carriers including Delta and United, meanwhile, have not been given clearance to fly from the United States to Israel. The DoT said in its complaint that the El Al deal violates an existing US-Israeli travel agreement concerning emergency flights.<br/>
Norwegian start-up Flyr will apply for a listing on the Oslo stock exchange’s Euronext Growth market as it seeks to raise NKr600m ($70m) from private equity investors. The airline has already secured NKr165m from cornerstone investors, giving the airline an initial valuation of NKr750m. Investors already committing funds comprise Nordea Investment Management (NKr60m), Tycoon Industrier, a company controlled by Oystein Spetalen (NKr50m), Sissener (NKr30m); and Apollo Asset, a company controlled by Arne Fredly (NKr25m). The price per share in the private placement will be NKr5. In addition, the airline says it has received “significant indications” of interest from other investors. Founder and chairman Erik Braathen states: “The reception from the private investor community has been very positive. With a highly-experienced management team and no legacy debt, we are in a unique position to secure modern aircraft at a historic low cost.”<br/>