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The chairman of the US House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on Wednesday urged the Biden administration to deny a permit for a new low-cost Norwegian carrier to enter the domestic market. Representative Peter DeFazio, in a statement released ahead of a hearing Thursday, urged Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to deny Norse Atlantic permission to enter the US market. DeFazio argued the “airline was ‘Norwegian’ in name only and established itself in Ireland under a flag of convenience to avoid Norway’s strong labor protections.” Last week, Reuters reported the budget airline plans to fly from US destinations such as New York, Los Angeles and Miami to European cities including London, Paris and Oslo. Bjoern Kjos, founder and former CEO of Norwegian Air, holds a 15% stake in Norse Atlantic, which is majority owned by Bjoern Tore Larsen, a co-founder of staffing company OSM Aviation, Norse Atlantic Airways said in a statement announcing the new carrier last week.<br/>

Norwegian long-haul start-up Norse Atlantic is seeking to raise NKr1.28b ($152m) via a private placement and plans to list on Olso’s Euronext Growth exchange. Norse says the price per share for the placement has been set at NKr20, equivalent to a pre-money equity valuation of approximately NKr200m for the airline. The managers of the issuance may elect to over-allot additional existing shares equivalent to up to NKr125m, representing around 10% of the offering size. Norse Atlantic says the net proceeds will be used for lease deposits of $4m on up to 12 aircraft, funding of start-up costs including pre-delivery operational expenditure of $24m, gross working capital of $80m, transaction costs of $9m, and general corporate purposes including licenses and marketing costs of $33m. The placement commenced on 24 March and closes on 25 March, although this timetable can be amended. The first day of trading on Euronext Growth Oslo is set to be on or about 12 April.<br/>

JetBlue Airways has been looking at potentially selling and leasing back 30 owned Embraer 190s as it seeks to transition the aircraft out of its fleet in favour of the Airbus A220, Cirium understands. The US carrier has engaged in bilateral talks with a select number of lessors to divest its fleet of the regional jets, rather than opting for a formal request-for-proposals method. Lease terms of two to six years are on offer depending on JetBlue’s A220 delivery schedule, a leasing source says. Seeking “an exit strategy for the 30 E-Jets that are on their books”, the New York-based airline has been “looking to do a sale-and-leaseback”, adds the source, though they note: “The whole process is on hold at the moment.” Cirium fleets data shows that JetBlue has 60 E190s, half of which are leased from GECAS. The source says JetBlue would prefer to do a deal with one lessor for all the owned aircraft and speculates that GECAS may be well placed to pick up the mandate, as might a well-capitalised Embraer specialist such as Azorra Aviation. “If they could do all 30 E-Jets with one lessor they would be quite happy because then they don’t [have] the hassle obviously of doing redeliveries with five or 10 different lessors,” the source suggests.<br/>

WestJet is restoring some suspended domestic routes beginning in June, as executives hope that a pickup in COVID-19 vaccinations can salvage summer travel, Canada’s second-largest carrier said on Wednesday. While Canada has trailed the United States in the pace of its vaccine rollout, supplies are expected to ramp up over the next two weeks, and Canada’s top vaccine coordinator expects there should be enough to give every citizen a first dose by the end of June. “That’s the type of encouraging news that’s allowed us to make today’s announcement,” Andy Gibbons, WestJet’s director for government relations, told reporters. Onex Corp-owned Westjet would resume flights to five airports serving Atlantic Canada and Quebec, beginning on June 24.<br/>

Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes on Wednesday increased the premium paid to shareholders in its loyalty program Smiles Fidelidade in a proposed incorporation, according to a securities filing. The new proposal offers 0.966 Gol share for each Smile share from a previous proposal of 0.825 share, increasing its offer by 17.1%, it said. Gol will pay Smile’s shareholders in both cash and shares. Under the new incorporation proposal, Gol is offering 8.28 reais per Smile share plus 0.660 Gol preferred share or 21.68 reais plus 0.165 Gol preferred share. Gol added the new offer has the support of 25% of Smiles minority shareholders, the airline added. Gol owns more than half of Smiles and controls its board, but has faced stiff opposition from minority shareholders since it first proposed the merger in 2018. <br/>

Ryanair plans to increase the number of its flights to 80% of pre-pandemic levels by July, as the airline’s chief executive criticised the UK government for warning against booking overseas summer holidays this year. Michael O’Leary said he was “very confident” that Britons would be “going to the beaches of Europe” and that Ryanair would have a “strong summer”, thanks to the UK and EU’s rapid, albeit politically fraught, vaccination programmes. The Irish carrier said it would run about half the number of flights it flew before the coronavirus pandemic in 2019 from April to June but will step up its schedule to 80% during July or August, or 90% if there is sufficient demand. Its optimism for a rapid return of international travel contrasted with the UK government’s cautious view. On Monday, Helen Whately, the minister for social care, triggered a sharp decline in the value of UK travel companies’ shares when she said it felt “premature to be booking international holidays at the moment”. “It isn’t,” O’Leary responded during a press conference on Wednesday, arguing that vaccination rates justified easing travel restrictions. As of Monday, almost 54% of UK adults have received a first dose of the coronavirus vaccine, although the proportion of EU citizens who have been vaccinated is significantly lower.<br/>

Ryanair expects to receive its first Boeing 737-8200 Max jets in April and to operate 16 of the type during the peak summer season, based on certification of the high-density variant being secured in the coming days. “We’re hoping that… the 8200 will be certified by the FAA some time later this week and then by EASA later this week or early next week,” Ryanair’s group CE Michael O’Leary said on 24 March, referring to the variant being procured by the airline, which features increased accommodation of 197 seats and an extra pair of exit doors. If certification is secured in the coming days, “we would expect to take probably our first Max delivery… in April”, O’Leary says, with Ryanair as launch customer for the variant. He notes that the carrier “had hoped to take our first Max delivery in late March” this year, having originally expected to receive its first of the type in April 2019 before the pandemic devastated the global air travel market. In total, O’Leary expects the carrier to receive eight 737-8200s in April and the same number in May, with no further deliveries planned during the summer peak season.<br/>

Latvia's airBaltic will launch new flights between Riga and Dubai, starting from September 1,2021. The carrier has scheduled to connect both cities with four weekly flights. "Dubai for years has been one of the most significant unserved destinations from Riga," said Martin Gauss, CEO of airBaltic. "Now, with the Expo 2020 starting in October, we will offer a direct connection from Riga, which will be appreciated by many passengers across the Baltic region and Scandinavia," he added.<br/>

Aer Lingus has confirmed moves to launch its first transatlantic flights from the UK after disclosing plans to begin services from Manchester to New York JFK and Orlando this summer. Aer Lingus plans to launch the New York and Orlando routes from 29 July as part of wider expansion which will see the IAG carrier add flights from the UK airport to Barbados in October and to Boston the following summer. The carrier will deploy single-aisle Airbus A321LRs on the New York and Boston flights, while using Airbus A330-300s for the leisure routes to Orlando and Barbados. Measures restricting international travel from England remain in place, though the UK government will next month update timelines on the potential lifting of these restrictions. Aer Lingus has extended until the end of the year the waiving of fees to change bookings. Manchester Airport managing director Karen Smart says: “Pre-pandemic there were more than 5.5m passengers who crossed the Atlantic each year via Manchester and so to be able to offer these services with a new carrier is great news.”<br/>

Aer Lingus is asking staff in Ireland to move to Manchester where the company is expanding air services, the Dáil has been told. Sinn Féin transport spokesman Darren O’Rourke said the airline is also considering transferring routes from Cork and Shannon to Belfast. And Labour transport spokesman Duncan Smith warned that jobs are being lost in “dribs and drabs” with positions as baggage handlers, fuellers and other roles going in “ones, twos, sixes and dozens”. O’Rourke said it was “very concerning” that employees were being asked to base themselves in Manchester on Manchester terms and conditions. The Meath East TD said this was happening because there is “such uncertainty” in the Government’s response and commitment to the aviation sector.<br/>

Air Baltic CE Martin Gauss has reaffirmed the carrier’s commitment to an IPO, and expressed confidence that its strategy to become an all-Airbus A220 operator makes it “well-positioned” to emerge from the Covid-19 crisis. The airline has also announced that it will begin flights from Riga to Dubai in September. The service will be operated four times a week and will replace Air Baltic’s Riga-Abu Dhabi route. Gauss said Air Baltic’s single-aircraft fleet means it is “well-positioned to fly out of this crisis” because of the A220’s lower operating costs and flexibility to operate both short- and longer-range routes. The carrier has 25 A220-300s – two of which are listed by Cirium as being in storage – and a further 25 on order. It has options and letters of intent on an additional 30 of the type. Air Baltic in November appointed Jetcraft Commercial to sub-lease 11 of its De Havilland Canada Dash 8-400 turboprops, as part of its plan to become an all-A220 operator. The A220 is “the right size” because it makes it “much easier to open up a route again” as travel restrictions ease, and it can be used to operate high-frequency short-haul routes, such as Vilnius-Tallinn, as well as longer-range routes, like Air Baltic’s upcoming Dubai service, says Gauss.<br/>

The $3b financing deal signed on March 18 by Saudi Arabian Airlines Corporation will go toward its largest fleet expansion ever, with both Boeing and Airbus as the beneficiaries. The move signals the escalating competition among airlines in the Middle East, with carriers poised for a travel recovery. The agreement, which will partially finance the purchasing of 73 new jets the corporation previously announced, came together under the financial guidance of HSBC Saudi, the airline’s investment agent in this transaction with the six Saudi banks. The financing couldn’t have come at a better time for the airline, which has been aiming to capture a portion of the tourism and pilgrimage market as it recovers from the travel standstill induced by the global pandemic this past year. This agreement will contribute substantially to the country’s long-term economic growth and development, said Transport Minister Saleh bin Nasser Al-Jasser. “Saudi Arabian Airlines Corporation’s fleet expansion will boost tourism and its allied sectors, generate substantial employment opportunities, significantly improve air connectivity, and enhance the flow of foreign investments, in addition to supporting the kingdom’s efforts to diversify the economy by strengthening the key sectors,” he added.<br/>