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Airlines have been invited to apply for slots between London and the USA, as part of interim measures imposed to address concerns over transatlantic routes operated under the Oneworld alliance’s joint business arrangement. UK competition regulators have directed American Airlines, British Airways, Iberia and BA-Iberia parent IAG to make available, at either London Heathrow or Gatwick, slots to operate up to seven round trips per week on each of the London-Boston, London-Dallas/Fort Worth and London-Miami city pairs. Slots are to be made available for up to four consecutive IATA seasons, starting with summer 2022. Information on the process was posted by slot co-ordinator ACL. Airlines have a 1 July deadline to inform the trustee, Mazars, of their intention to apply for slots. The transatlantic market is set to gain a new entrant this year, as New York-based JetBlue Airways plans to launch London flights.<br/>

American Airlines says business travel is returning more quickly than originally expected, and leisure bookings will continue to remain strong through the coming months. The Fort Worth-based carrier says on 3 June that 47 of its top 50 corporate accounts have announced a full return to travel by the end of the year. “We are starting to see some encouraging signs that when travel restrictions are eased, [business] travel returns quickly,” the carrier’s president Robert Isom tells the Bernstein Strategic Decisions investor conference on 3 June. “We are encouraged by what we are seeing.” Earlier in the day, in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the airline reported “continued strength in net bookings and load factors”. “As of June 2, the company’s seven-day moving average of its net bookings was approximately 90% of the level experienced in the same period of 2019,” the airline writes in the filing. “In addition, the company’s domestic load factor for the month of May was approximately 84% and greater than 88% over the Memorial Day holiday.” The Memorial Day long weekend, which is the last weekend of May, is traditionally one of the year’s strongest travel weekends, and kicks off the summer holiday season in the USA.<br/>

Latam Airlines CE Roberto Alvo, seeking to stave off an overture from rival Azul, said the bankrupt air carrier’s Brazilian operations aren’t for sale. Santiago-based Latam, which has now been in US bankruptcy for more than a year, has its sights set on a strong Chapter 11 exit -- not a piecemeal sale of the business, Alvo said in an interview Wednesday. The carrier’s shares briefly slumped last week after it denied reports that Azul planned to buy Latam’s Brazilian subsidiary. While Alvo said he is “absolutely not” selling the Sao Paulo-based unit to the low cost competitor, Azul is now waiting to evaluate Latam’s bankruptcy exit plan and may propose the acquisition offer directly to Latam creditors, according to a person familiar with the matter. Azul has unsuccessfully floated to Latam executives the idea of carving out the domestic Brazil network, according to the person. Under the proposal, Latam, the largest airline in Latin America, would have been left to focus on business elsewhere in the region while maintaining links to the route network in Brazil, the person said. “We are not considering in any way, shape or form, any sale of any of our assets at this point in time,” Alvo said Wednesday. “We take this more as a sign of concern of Azul, as they understand we will be a very challenging competitor” after exiting bankruptcy, he said.<br/>

Airbus faces "industrial repercussions" if it fails to resolve a dispute that has driven a wedge between the European planemaker and major customer Qatar Airways, the airline's CE said on Thursday. Raising the stakes of a dispute potentially affecting airplane deliveries, which became public, CE Akbar Al Baker urged the Airbus board to intervene directly. "(Airbus) need to get real and they need to know that this problem will create industrial repercussions for them," Al Baker said. "The ball is in their court to fix the problem we have with them, and it is up to them to resolve this as soon as possible before things can get a bit out of hand," Al Baker added. He declined to give specifics, but denied a Reuters report that the dispute concerned A350 paintwork. "I think now is a time for the Airbus board to get involved and look at what is going on," Al Baker said. An Airbus spokesman said the planemaker regularly held talks with its customers and that these remained confidential. The airline says its exacting standards reflect its premium brand, though aerospace executives have accused it of seizing on such details in the past to delay taking deliveries or gain leverage in other negotiations, a suggestion it has denied.<br/>

Qatar Airways is weighing a multibillion-dollar investment with a potential order for 30 or more freighters, attracting interest from Boeing, which has begun offering a freighter version of its future 777X jetliner, the airline’s CE said. In April, the Gulf carrier said it was interested in a 777X freighter but had not been told by Boeing of any plans to launch one. But speaking to Reuters on Thursday, CE Akbar Al Baker said a cargo 777X was now on the table as the airline ponders a freighter order from Boeing or Airbus. “Qatar Airways is very interested in purchasing a large fleet of freighters because we have to now start replacing our old freighters,” he said. “We have our programme of replacement over several years and we would be very keen to place an order with Boeing or with Airbus, it all depends on how things proceed.” Qatar Airways’ cargo fleet currently consists of 30 freighters, all made by Boeing, according to its website. Al Baker has raised the prospect of a 777X freighter launch amid an unspecified contractual dispute with Airbus. Airbus is also gauging airline interest in a freighter version of its A350 passenger jet, which if launched would target a market key to Boeing, Reuters reported in March. <br/>

Russian operator S7 Group’s engineering division is to construct a new aircraft maintenance centre at St Petersburg capable of performing checks on both Russian-built and Western aircraft types. S7 Technics says the centre is intended to service aircraft from the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 families as well as the new Irkut MC-21 and Sukhoi Superjet 100. It will be established at St Petersburg’s Pulkovo airport and will offer a broad range of light and heavy checks, modifications, repairs and maintenance. Construction will commence in 2023 and the centre, which will employ 400 personnel, will be operational by 2025. S7 Technics chief Vladimir Perekrestov says the facility will conduct some 35-40 heavy maintenance operations – comprising C-checks and D-checks – plus around 200 lighter A-checks annually. The centre will “strengthen our position” in the market for domestic and foreign-built aircraft maintenance in Russia, he adds. It will be the fourth technical base for the company after Moscow, Novosibirsk and Mineralnye Vody.<br/>