unaligned

Global Crossing Airlines, a start-up charter carrier based in Miami, booked 175 operating hours and $1.4 million in revenue during its first month in business. In an investor update on 1 September, CE Ed Wegel says the carrier, which calls itself “GlobalX”, now has two Airbus aircraft and anticipates adding four in the coming months. He expects GlobalX will have 10 Airbus jets by the end of 2022. In early August, GlobalX received Federal Aviation Administration clearance to operate under Part 121 rules, which apply to large scheduled airlines. Its first charter flight took place on 7 August. GlobalX gained foreign operator authority on 27 August, meaning it can fly internationally. Wegel says GlobalX will conduct its first international flight “next week”. In its first month of operations, GlobalX signed 40 contracts to operate charters, including with the US government, a “major” Caribbean airline, a California-based resort and two universities, says chief marketing officer Mark Salvador.<br/>

Icelandair has reined-in its capacity forecast for the winter season, as a result of continuing constraints on demand caused by travel restrictions. The airline says it expects to operate 65% of its production for the winter schedule, measured against 2019 levels. It had previously estimated that it would reach a level of 70-80% for the fourth quarter of this year. But it is still predicting a “steady” ramp-up over the quarter and into next year, and Icelandair puts its Q1 2022 capacity at 75% of pre-crisis levels. “We expect this [ramp-up] development to continue into the winter although we have adjusted our schedule to current demand,” says Icelandair Group chief Bogi Nils Bogason. Icelandair and will operate 25 international destinations with 160 weekly departures. The airline states that its August 2021 capacity was half of August 2019’s.<br/>

Air Antilles has resumed commercial flight operations after a follow-up audit by the French civil aviation authority showed the carrier's safety and maintenance oversight to be in compliance with regulations. As previously reported, the Guadeloupe-based operator was grounded on August 24, after the French civil aviation safety regulator suspended its CAMO (continuing airworthiness management organisation) certificate citing lapses in several areas of oversight and record keeping. Air Antilles was then given the opportunity to explain itself to the regulatory body pending more severe sanctions.<br/>

An airline has said it will require its flight crews to be vaccinated against Covid-19 by December. Wizz Air is implementing the policy for all pilots and cabin crew as part of its commitment to “protecting the health and safety of its passengers and crews”. The Hungary-based carrier, which serves 11 UK airports, added that the measure will support “smooth and continued operations of its flights in the long term”. Wizz Air Group CE Jozsef Varadi said: “At Wizz Air, our number one priority is the health and safety of our passengers and employees. “We have a responsibility to protect crew and passengers on board by mitigating the risks of Covid-19, and vaccines play a vital role in this.” There will be some cases in which staff will be able to prove they are not infected by taking antigen or PCR tests rather than being vaccinated, but the airline did not specify what those circumstances would be. <br/>

Ryanair chief Michael O’Leary insists the airline is still interested in recruiting UK-licensed cockpit crews, although he suggests the value of a UK licence has deteriorated in the wake of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. UK cockpit union BALPA recently urged the government to restore mutual recognition of pilot licences between the UK and EU, a status ended by the post-Brexit withdrawal agreement. Ryanair operating subsidiary Lauda Europe recently sought crews for a UK base but required European Union Aviation Safety Agency licences. O’Leary points out that the carrier still needs to hire UK-licensed pilots to operate non-EU routes from its UK bases, and adds that the company is also “growing” the Ryanair UK division it set up to cope with Brexit disruption. “UK licences are not that valuable,” he said during a briefing on 31 August at which Ryanair unveiled a winter route expansion from London’s Luton and Stansted airports. “But, frankly, we don’t care whether [pilots have a] UK licence or EU licence, we can operate with both. What we want is well-trained, hard-working pilots and cabin crew.”<br/>

Defunct UK carrier Flybe has moved a step closer to an unlikely resurrection after beginning a recruitment drive for key training personnel. The carrier in its original guise went bust in March 2020, with its remaining business and assets acquired in April by Thyme Opco, a company affiliated with Cyrus Capital, an investment firm which held a stake in the carrier prior to its collapse. Announcing the purchase of the assets, Thyme Opco, which subsequently changed its name to Flybe, said that subject to the relaxation of travel restrictions it planned to “launch a new and much improved Flybe sometime this summer on many of our former routes”. Although the summer season is coming to an end with no sign of a restart, there are indications that the airline is still moving in that direction. Job adverts recently appeared on the LinkedIn website for a variety of positions, including: type-rating instructors, line training captains, ground training officers, cabin crew trainers, cabin crew managers, and cabin crew line trainers.<br/>

Armenia’s newly-created national budget carrier is to be branded Fly Arna, following an open canvassing of the country’s citizens for suggestions. Fly Arna is being established by the Armenian National Interests Fund through a joint venture with Middle Eastern low-cost operator Air Arabia Group. Its name is an acronym for ‘Armenian National Airlines’. The carrier is set to apply for an air operator’s certificate in the next few weeks, says Air Arabia, and operate from a base at Yerevan. It has yet to disclose details of its fleet and network, as well as the timeframe for starting operations. Air Arabia says over 500 suggestions for the new carrier’s name were received after the competition opened in July and the airline’s board made the final selection. It states that the name was considered to be the “most inclusive” and “reflecting the spirit” of the company’s effort to “transform” Armenia’s aviation industry.<br/>

Emirates will receive its final A380 jetliner six months early, ending an Airbus superjumbo program that proved too big to compete in a changing air-travel market. Three more aircraft will be delivered by November, the Gulf carrier said Wednesday, speeding a timetable that had targeted June 2022. "We’ve come to an agreement with Airbus to bring forward the delivery of our remaining A380 orders and have secured financing for these units,” Emirates President Tim Clark said. Its A380 fleet will reach 118, including six with premium-economy seats that are proving popular with leisure travelers as the Covid-19 pandemic sinks demand for first-class and business-class seats. Emirates, operating out of its hub in Dubai, has long been the most important customer for the A380, making it the cornerstone of its all wide-body fleet. But the four-engine plane, developed to transport more than 500 people between major international destinations, was mismatched for an aviation market that’s shifted toward point-to-point service with smaller, more efficient jets. Airbus said in February 2019 that it planned to end the program after Emirates trimmed back its order. The pressure increased after the pandemic hit a year later, forcing Emirates to ground the bulk of its fleet and lay off tens of thousands of workers. The airline said last week that it plans to ramp up services to Europe and other destinations. It plans to keep operating the plane for another two decades, it said Wednesday. Models with premium economy seats are currently operating on London and Paris routes.<br/>

Russian budget carrier Pobeda proved profitable over the first half of this year, riding the sharp recovery in the country’s domestic travel market. Passenger numbers more than doubled to 6.4m in the first six months compared with 2020, and July 2021 passenger figures were 46% higher than the pre-crisis July 2019 level. Aeroflot Group says the budget airline’s revenues, as a result, more than doubled to Rb28.3b ($387m) under international accounting standards. It generated an operating profit of Rb4.87b and a net profit of Rb2.5b, recovering from last year’s interim net loss of Rb2.4b. Pobeda was operating a fleet of 44 Boeing 737s at the end of July. The airline stationed 10 737s at Moscow Sheremetyevo at the beginning of this year’s summer season. It is offering 17 destinations from the airport – of which 11 are through codeshares with Aeroflot – including an international route to the Turkish resort of Antalya.<br/>

Indonesia AirAsia’s parent company slightly narrowed its losses in the first half of the 2021 calendar year, despite a dramatic decline in revenue for the period. For the six months ended 30 June, AirAsia Indonesia reported an operating loss of Rp1.05t ($73.5m). This compares with the Rp1.06t loss it made during the same period in 2020. Group revenue for the period plunged 66% year on year, to Rp453b, outpacing a 37.4% drop in costs to Rp1.5t. AirAsia Indonesia posted a net loss of Rp1.17t, widening the Rp909b net loss it posed in 2020. The company had significantly lower cash and cash equivalents at the end of the period, though it burnt cash slower than in 2020. It ended the half-year with Rp15.5b in cash and cash equivalents, compared to Rp18.7b at the start of the year. In comparison, the company started the 2020 calendar year with Rp312 billion in cash and cash equivalents, and ended the half year with just Rp34.4b.<br/>

Embattled low-cost carrier Nok Air plunged deeper into the red for the 2020 calendar year, as revenue evaporated amid a collapse in passenger travel demand during the coronavirus pandemic. The carrier, which is currently undergoing a court-led business rehabilitation process, was also found to have liabilities exceeding assets by Bt16.2b ($501m), and a capital deficiency to the tune of just over Bt8b. The dire financial state of the airline prompted auditors to withhold their opinion on the carrier’s full-year financial results, which had been delayed for over six months. Citing other reasons such as the carrier’s restructuring process and the coronavirus pandemic, auditors from Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Jaiyos Audit say that they had “not been able to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence to provide a basis for an audit opinion”. Nok posted a Bt7.4b operating loss for the year ended 31 December 2020, widening the Bt3.1b full-year loss it reported in 2019. Revenue for the period nosedived more than 66% year on year to Bt6.7b, as flying activity reduced amid travel restrictions both within and out of Thailand. Passenger revenue for the year fell 65% to Bt5.8b, with ancillary and service revenue also on the decline.<br/>