Spirit Airlines is planning to start training new pilots and flight attendants as early as next month as the budget carrier positions itself for a travel rebound after the pandemic slump. “We’ll be a big hirer again,” CEO Ted Christie said Thursday. “Growth in the airline industry is going to be at the leisure end, and we’re the primary server of that guest.” Christie said the airline plans to hire for other positions as well this year. Spirit last trained a class of new pilots in May and new flight attendants last February, a spokesman said. The carrier declined to say how many employees it plans to add this year. It ended last year with 8,756 employees, including 2,497 pilots and 4,028 flight attendants, according to a securities filing. The airline is also calling back some workers who took leaves of absence, programs that helped avoid involuntary furloughs of unionized workers, who make up the bulk of its staff. Some of those employees, like pilots, will also need to meet federally mandated training requirements before returning to the job. “Our training footprint can only handle so much, so it has to be phased,” Christie said of the company’s hiring plans. “Vaccine deployment, lowering total Covid case numbers should lead to more confidence from the traveling public and a loosening of restrictions,” Christie said.<br/>
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El Al is considering raising further capital as part of its efforts to secure loan financing. The airline says it is “examining the possibility” of raising capital to “strengthen” the company’s equity position. El Al says this reinforced equity is a condition of the Israeli ministry of finance and other institutions for providing a state-backed loan to the carrier. The airline says it is still negotiating with financing sources to obtain the loan.<br/>
Oman Air, the state-run carrier, has abandoned a planned expansion and now aims to reduce its fleet and focus more on code-sharing with other airlines as restrictions to curb the pandemic slash demand for flights. “Going to 70 aircraft, the risks would have been quite high for the country and the airline,” company chairman Mohammed Al-Barwani told local website WAF Oman. Instead the carrier will target a fleet of 36 planes, down from the current 50. Last month, Oman decided to dissolve its air transportation services company, Oman Aviation Group, and divide its operations between the national carrier and the country’s airport management firm.<br/>
Jazeera Airways, the Kuwaiti budget carrier, announced that it will be launching direct flights between Kuwait and the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo twice a week. The first flight is set to take off on February 21. “We are now able to serve the Sri Lankan community in Kuwait as well as tourists to Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka has also in place strict health and safety measures against the Covid-19 pandemic which travelers should abide by and confirm before traveling,” Rohit Ramachandran, CEO of Jazeera Airways said. The move will increase transport accessibility to the larger number of Sri Lankan’s, around 100,000, that work and reside in Kuwait.<br/>
United Nigeria Airlines commenced operations from Lagos on February 12 after completing its certification drive at the beginning of the month. The inaugural flight was scheduled to take off from Lagos to Enugu, the airline's operational base, from where it proceeded to Abuja before returning to Lagos, airline spokesperson Achilleus-Chud Uchegbu told Nigerian media. He said the airline would operate daily rotations between: Lagos – Abuja, Enugu, and Asaba; and Abuja – Lagos, Enugu, and Asaba. Flights to Owerri and Port Harcourt Omagwa will follow soon. “Our short term is to consolidate. You can see we have a base in Enugu. And we have to consolidate, establish all our routes and then work about expanding. We want to expand beyond Nigeria, starting from the West Coast; just for a start. We have a big plan," Uchegbu told This Day newspaper.<br/>
Peach Aviation has begun offering free PCR tests for its passengers ahead of domestic flights from Kansai and Narita international airports, the firm announced on Feb. 10. Passengers flying with the airline between Feb. 21 and March 31 are eligible for the free test. The kit will be sent to passengers, so they can take the test wherever they like in the days before heading to the airport. Applications will be accepted until March 21. The move comes amid drastic flight cuts due to the coronavirus pandemic. "We'd like to guarantee that our flights are safe and strive to revitalize regional economies," an airline representative commented.<br/>