EasyJet raised GBP1.2b in a stock sale, cash that will help the low-cost UK carrier weather the slow winter and prepare for a rebound in leisure travel. Existing investors purchased 93% of the 301m shares available in a rights offering at a discounted price of 410 pence each, EasyJet said Tuesday in a statement. Underwriters were working to place rest. EasyJet said earlier this month it would raise the cash to go it alone rather than sell itself at a depressed price to suitor Wizz Air. At the time, the UK airline said it was undervalued in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and UK travel rules hindered a recovery. EasyJet also said at the time it would borrow GBP400m from lenders. <br/>
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Ryanair expects a large deal with Boeing on an order for the 737 MAX 10 “will come our way eventually” as cancellations put pressure on the U.S. planemaker, but the airline is in no hurry, a senior executive said on Tuesday. “We believe that it will come our way eventually,” Eddie Wilson told Newstalk Radio when asked about the deal, citing the number of cancelled orders that Boeing has suffered. “We’re not in a hurry to do something,” said Wilson, CE of Ryanair DAC, the largest airline in the Ryanair Group, speaking weeks after the Irish airline earlier this month abruptly ended talks citing a price rise.<br/>
Ryanair is restoring all pre-Covid flights from Cork Airport from next summer, while it will add services to Birmingham and Edinburgh from December. The airline confirmed it planned to restore its two-aircraft base at Cork after striking a deal on charges with State airport company DAA, which is extending airline incentives there to October 2022. However, the airline warned that a Government failure to fund a similar extension at Dublin Airport would leave the capital with fewer than two-thirds of its pre-pandemic services next summer. Ryanair’s move at Cork means that from December it will begin flying to destinations in Spain, including Alicante and Malaga, Poznan and Gdansk in Poland, several London airports and Liverpool for winter. Ryanair is adding services to Birmingham and Edinburgh, previously flown by Aer Lingus Regional carrier Stobart Air, which folded in June, bringing its winter routes to 12. Next summer the carrier will fly 20 routes to Britain, France, Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain, including Carcassonne, Faro, Lanzarote, Milan Bergamo and Tenerife.<br/>
The boss of British airline Jet2 expects ticket prices to rise because of environmental demands but believes travel demand will stay robust as consumers prioritise holidays and find alternative ways to live a greener life. After COVID-19 brought many airlines to the brink, the industry has refocused on an even bigger risk: climate change and an expected barrage of environmental taxes, legislation and new related costs over the next decade. "I think a lot of things in life are going to become more expensive and we've got to accept that that will be the case," Jet2 CE Steve Heapy said. Demand will return to pre-COVID levels despite rising environmental consciousness and "flight shaming," he said, referring to social pressure to avoid flying over emissions concerns. "Maybe people will give up red meat twice a week to have an annual holiday. It's all going to be about choices," he said.<br/>
Kazakhstan’s Air Astana is to acquire its first full-flight simulator through an agreement for an Airbus A320 device manufactured by L3Harris. The simulator is scheduled to be delivered to the airline in the second half of next year. It will support a new pilot-training centre for the carrier – and its subsidiary FlyArystan – which is situated at Kazakhstan’s capital Nur-Sultan airport. L3Harris claims the modular A320 trainer, part of its RealitySeven product line, will be the full-flight simulator in the country. “This new simulator will play an important role in the continuous high-quality training we offer our pilots,” says Air Astana chief Peter Foster. L3Harris says different aircraft model cockpits can be configured which allows carriers to “tailor” training to their particular fleets. President of commercial aviation Alan Crawford adds that the simulator will give the Kazakh carrier’s crews the “highest-quality training available”.<br/>
Latvian airline airBaltic today launched direct flights between Dubai and Riga, Latvia. airBaltic now links the both cities with four weekly flights, offering a wide variety of convenient connections to travellers coming from Dubai to further destinations in Europe. Martin Gauss, Chief Executive Officer of airBaltic, said: “We see a great potential in strengthening the business ties between UAE and Latvia. airBaltic team is glad to launch this new route to Riga which is a vibrant and dynamic city in the Baltic States. The new route will play an integral role connecting the two countries and will be of a significant benefit to travellers both in the United Arab Emirates and Latvia.” Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports, said: “We are delighted to welcome airBaltic to the DXB family with the launch of their services between Dubai and Riga. Creating this additional connectivity during the year of EXPO adds to the growing strength of the DXB hub, and we are confident that it will boost the number of visitors travelling between Latvia and the UAE.”<br/>
AirAsia Philippines is backing calls by Philippine local governments to ease domestic travel restrictions for fully vaccinated people. In a Monday statement, the low-cost carrier says it is “strongly backing the calls of local government units to scrap the use of RT-PCR tests as a travel requirement for incoming visitors who have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19”. AirAsia Philippines’ CE Ricky Isla states: “AirAsia is 100% behind our [local government units] in calling for a more relaxed travel restriction and requirement for fully vaccinated individuals to lessen the cost of air travel.” AirAsia says that during the dialogue with presidential adviser for entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion, the local governments of Palawan, Aklan and Cebu have asked for fewer restrictions and more simplified entry requirement for fully vaccinated travellers, while Bohol has called for vaccine cards to be fully authenticated to facilitate travel of vaccinated tourists.<br/>