Ireland’s civil aviation regulator has granted an air operator’s certificate to start-up Emerald Airlines, the carrier set to take over as an Aer Lingus regional franchise partner. Emerald Airlines conducted an ATR 72-600 proving flight on 3 September – operating from Dublin to Cork – and the aircraft has since been transferred to Exeter. “We are now able to progress towards the launch of scheduled services, which will be rolled out progressively as our aircraft are delivered and market conditions allow,” says Emerald chief Conor McCarthy. “We will be working very closely with Aer Lingus on this now that we have our AOC in place.”<br/>
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Boeing faces a standoff with one of its biggest customers after Ireland’s Ryanair said it had ended talks over a purchase of 737 MAX 10 jets worth tens of billions of dollars due to differences over price. The rare decision to go public over big-ticket airplane negotiations comes after months of wrangling that had already delayed a deal for the largest version of the 737 MAX when Ryanair re-ordered a smaller model in December. A large new Ryanair order would provide a boost to the U.S. plane maker as it rebuilds confidence in the MAX, grounded for 20 months until November after two fatal crashes. It would also speed a tentative industry recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Europe’s largest budget carrier is already the region’s largest MAX customer with 210 of the 197-seat MAX 8-200 on order. It has dangled a fresh order potentially worth $33b at list prices for up to 250 of the 230-seat MAX 10. Even after steep industry-wide discounts such a deal would still be worth well over $10b, analysts estimate.<br/>
Philippine Airlines will delay or cancel the delivery of over a dozen Airbus planes, company officials said on Monday, adding that the distressed flag carrier is looking to emerge from bankruptcy protection by year-end. The airline was supposed to receive 13 narrow-body aircraft from European manufacturer in the next five years, until the coronavirus pandemic hammered the aviation industry. "We were able to get the support of Airbus to basically postpone those deliveries and give us an option to cancel some of those aircraft beyond 2026 to 2030 ... depending on how this recovery shapes up," Nilo Thaddeus Rodriguez, the airline's CFO, said Monday. Philippine Airlines on Sept. 3 filed a "pre-arranged" Chapter 11 petition in the U.S. state of New York. The first hearing is set for this week, and the carrier aims to emerge from the bankruptcy process by the end of the year, airline president Gilbert Santa Maria said in the same briefing. "Once we exit before the end of the year, we're done. We will have a lighter balance sheet. We will have new capital, and our cost structure will be a lot lighter," Santa Maria said. "I don't anticipate anything other than, you know, an asteroid hitting Manhattan to stop us from exiting," the president said.<br/>