WestJet Airlines says it has cancelled orders for 15 Boeing 737 Max aircraft as the industry-wide downturn in aviation continues. WestJet has 27 Max aircraft remaining on order, the company says. In January, WestJet was the first Canadian airline to return the Max to service, after Transport Canada lifted a nearly two-year grounding order for the aircraft. WestJet has since returned three out of its 14 Max aircraft to service, the company says. <br/>
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Norwegian has sent its plan for financial restructuring to the Irish and Norwegian courts, as it seeks permission from creditors and shareholders to continue the remodelling of its business and initiate a capital raise. The examiner in Ireland will now present proposals for the restructuring based on the plan, which will then be passed to the Irish High Court for approval. Norwegian is hopeful that the Irish court will make its decision within the next couple of weeks, after which the plan will be dealt with by the reconstruction process in Norway. It has previously warned that without a successful exit from the process it would be “highly likely that the company will enter into liquidation and/or bankruptcy proceedings during the second quarter of 2021”.<br/>
Icelandair Group is bringing its regional carrier Air Iceland Connect under the single brand of the parent airline, in a bid to simplify its operations. The integration will take effect from 16 March, says the company, with the international network of Icelandair being combined with domestic links and the regional services to Greenland. Icelandair Group had already disclosed, a year ago, that it intended to integrate the two carriers’ operations and their supporting sales, marketing, finance and other functions – a decision which also involved discontinuing the Air Iceland Connect managing director role. As part of the integration all sales and marketing efforts are being unified under the Icelandair brand.<br/>
Dubai’s Emirates has told employees to take a free coronavirus vaccine or pay for tests to prove they are not infected with the deadly disease, cautioning that an unvaccinated workforce could create operational issues. In an internal email, the airline told cabin crew that starting March 15, those not vaccinated must pay for a test valid for seven days to the start of flight or standby duty. “Certain countries may in the future differentiate entry criteria between those who have taken the vaccine and those who did not. Keeping this in mind, having a vaccinated workforce has become essential not just from a health and safety angle but from an operational one too,” the email says. Those due for their second vaccine dose, have registered to take their initial dose, have a valid medical reason, or have been recently infected or are infected are exempt, it says. The policy applies to all employees in the United Arab Emirates, an Emirates spokeswoman said.<br/>
VietJetAir has approved a proposal to sell all 17.77m of its treasury shares, equivalent to 3.28% of its charter capital, to generate funds to support its expansion in 2021 once the pandemic recedes, the airline revealed March 8. The expected implementation time for the measure is the first or second quarter of this year, not exceeding 30 days after being approved by the State Securities Commission of Vietnam. With the privately-owned low-cost carrier’s shares closing at VND136,000 dong (US$5.88) on March 8, the company would earn over VND2.4t (US$104m) from the deal, VietnamFinance reported. VietJetAir acquired the shares in August 2019 for VND132,063 (US$5.72) each, thus transforming them into treasury stock.<br/>