Southwest has canceled more than 500 weekend flights and delayed more than 2,500 others, the continuation of a rough month for the nation's largest domestic carrier and its passengers. The operational woes come amid a spike in flight attendant sick calls, but the airline says bad weather across the country is to blame. Southwest canceled 287 Saturday flights, or 8% of its flights, as of 5:30 p.m. ET, after canceling 254 Friday flights, or 6% percent of its flights, according to flight tracker FlightAware. It had the most cancellations of any US carrier, in total and as a percentage of flights, each day. Tardy flights are a big issue, too: Southwest delayed nearly 1,600 Friday flights, or 43% of its flights, more than any US airline, and so far Saturday has delayed 960 flights, or 28% of its flights, according to FlightAware. The cancellations and delays come a week after Southwest canceled or delayed hundreds of flights due to two separate technology issues and a week after American Airlines struggled with operational woes during the busy Father's Day travel weekend and said it would proactively cancel nearly 1,000 July flights to give it more breathing room when weather and other issues crop up. <br/>
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Republic Airways, which operates regional flights for the three largest US carriers, is exploring going public as soon as this year, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The company is working with underwriters including Raymond James Financial Inc. as it prepares for an IPO as soon as Q3, the people said. Its targeted valuation couldn’t immediately be learned. Founded in 1974, Indianapolis-based Republic is led by CEO Bryan Bedford. It operates flights through fixed-fee agreements for American Airlines Group, Delta, and United under the brands American Eagle, Delta Connection, and United Express, its website shows. With a fleet of more than 220 Embraer SA planes, the company ferries passengers from small and mid-sized cities to major airport hubs where they often catch other flights. It emerged from a bankruptcy restructuring in April 2017, with ownership stakes totaling 61% at that time held by American, Delta and United.<br/>
Budget airline Grupo Viva Aerobus SAB is planning a US IPO as soon as this year, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The Mexico City-based carrier is working with Barclays, Goldman Sachs Group and JPMorgan Chase & Co. on a listing, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing private information. With coronavirus vaccines continuing to be rolled out globally, the resumption of travel has boosted airline stocks. The Bloomberg World Airlines Index has risen 7.1% this year and is up 41% from a year ago. Viva is now Mexico’s third-largest airline by passengers, according to May travel data, the latest available. In the domestic market alone, Viva Aerobus has surpassed legacy carrier Grupo Aeromexico SAB, which is dealing with a Chapter 11 filing. The airline said in a statement this month that its passenger count in the first five months of the year rose 35% to 1.34 million from the same period last year, topping pre-pandemic levels.<br/>
Johan Lundgren, CEO of British airline EasyJet, is urging the UK government to further ease restrictions on European travel due to progress on vaccination rates. “We never anticipated it was going to be, you know, a straightforward recovery. We always knew there was going to be bumps along the way,” Lundgren said Monday. “But clearly with the successful rollout for the vaccination, we believe that much of European travel could be opening up in a safe way.” While the UK’s high rate of vaccination has significantly weakened the link between recorded infections and people becoming severely sick from the disease, the country is seeing a spike in Covid cases largely attributed to the delta variant, which originated in India. That prompted PM Boris Johnson to push back England’s next reopening phase to July 19 from the planned June 21. In response to that delay, the U.K.’s travel industry held a “day of action” Wednesday calling on the government to relax certain restrictions, especially for fully vaccinated people, in time for the summer months. <br/>
Singapore Airlines' subsidiary Scoot will debut new Airbus A321neo jets to serve Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines from Monday, as it tries to position itself for an anticipated post-pandemic rebound in Asian travel. The low-cost carrier said the first flights using the planes will serve its Singapore to Bangkok route on Monday. The A321neos will then be rolled out for travel from the city-state to Cebu in the Philippines and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam from August. Scoot has 16 of the aircraft on order from Airbus, and will own six of them while leasing the rest. The carrier made the commitment to refresh its fleet with the jets in 2019, before the world was hit by COVID-19 -- which plunged global aviation into a severe downturn. But vaccination campaigns to reverse COVID's damaging effects in Asia have offered a glimmer of hope to airlines like Scoot, which have activated plans to prepare for a revival of air travel in core markets within the 10 countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the wider region. "We're quite excited, as the pandemic recovery continues, at the new opportunities that the 321 opens up," the carrier's CEO Campbell Wilson said Monday.<br/>
The IATA forecast for global air travel to return to pre-pandemic levels by around end-2023 is “about the right timeframe”, said the CE of budget carrier Scoot on Monday. Campbell Wilson was asked by reporters at a virtual press conference for his prognosis of the hard-hit aviation industry and he replied that he “won’t choose to second guess” projections by the global industry body. In a report last month, IATA said passenger numbers would recover to 88% of pre-pandemic levels next year and surpass pre-pandemic levels by 5% in 2023. “Obviously this will differ by geography and potentially by business model but at least from our assessment, I personally think that's about the right timeframe,” said Wilson.<br/>
Vietnam's budget airline VietJet Aviation is seeking shareholder approval for its plans to sell a stake of up to 15% via a private placement, and to raise $300m through a bond sale on international markets, the company said Tuesday. VietJet said it is targetting a 20% rise in revenue this year to 21.9t dong ($951.35m), adding it will hold a shareholders' meeting later on Tuesday.<br/>