Wizz Air warned on Thursday it would be plunged back into losses this winter, just as it announced its first quarterly profit since the start of the pandemic. The airline said it would have to cut ticket prices to encourage people to fly this winter, which was likely to force it back into the red after reporting an operating profit of E57m in the three months to the end of September. It is a blow for the London-listed airline, coming shortly after passenger numbers had returned to near normal levels during the busiest weeks over the summer. Despite joining a small band of European airlines that have returned to profit over the summer, including Ryanair and Lufthansa, CE József Váradi warned of a difficult winter ahead. He said he expected to lower prices to “stimulate demand” for flying. Taken alongside volatile fuel and currency prices, this was expected to push the airline back to an operating loss of E200m in the current quarter. Losses could continue into early next year. Rival Ryanair also cut its earnings forecast this week and said it would need to use lower prices to help support demand. Varadi is marshalling Wizz through the crisis with an aggressive expansion plan, and has been opening new bases and taking on aircraft in a challenge to Ryanair’s dominance of the low-cost European skies. “We are still in an investment mode, and that creates some degree of inefficiency because we are not yet fully operational at full capacity . . . obviously we are leaving money on the table from an operational perspective,” Varadi said. “It is a bit of short term pain for long term gain. But we believe all these issues we are facing in the short term are temporary in nature,” he added.<br/>
unaligned
Gulf carrier Emirates will begin daily flights to Israel, adding the heft of its global network to a growing air-travel market made possible by diplomatic achievements over the past year. The state-owned carrier will begin daily flights to Tel Aviv from its hub in Dubai starting Dec. 6, according to a statement Thursday. Israeli travelers will be able to connect with global route network of more than 120 destinations, Emirates said. The long-haul specialist joins other carriers, including Israel’s El Al, Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways and regional operator FlyDubai, which previously started up services in the wake of the United Arab Emirates’ decision to recognize Israel in August 2020. Two months ago, Economy Minister Abdulla Bin Touq said the UAE is aiming to grow its economic ties with Israel to $1t in the next 10 years. Emirates and the others are likely to take business from Turkish Airlines, which for decades was one of the few Middle East carriers to fly to Israel.<br/>
Oman Air, the national carrier of Oman, will resume flights between Muscat and Bangkok from November 11. The flights will operate twice weekly on Thursday and Saturday. The Thursday flight will depart Muscat at 22:00 local time and arrive in Bangkok at 06:45 local time on Friday. The flight from Bangkok will depart at 09:15 local time on Friday and arrive in Muscat at 12:35 local time on Friday. The Saturday flight will depart Muscat at 09:00 local time and arrive in Bangkok at 17:45 local time. The Saturday flight from Bangkok will depart at 20:05 local time and arrive in Muscat at 23:25 local time. All flights are scheduled to operate with Boeing 787 Dreamliner. <br/>
Lebanon's tourism minister unveiled a new slogan for the crisis-swept country on Thursday that aimed to portray the precarity of life there as a point of pride, roughly translating to "I love you in your madness". Lebanon is suffering a financial and economic meltdown which the World Bank has labelled as one of the deepest depressions of modern history, compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic and a massive explosion at Beirut's port that destroyed large parts of the city and killed more than 215 people. "This will be our touristic identity that the world will see," Tourism Minister Walid Nassar said at a news conference with other senior ministers in Beirut. The slogan was developed cost-free for Lebanon by Dubai-based advertising company TBWA, he said. TBWA CEO Walid Kanaan said it was "near-impossible" to find ways to market a country in the grip of multi-layered economic and political crises, but that he had found inspiration in Lebanon's people. "This is our country, a crazy country … crazy in its nightlife, crazy in its food and generosity. And no matter how crazy the situation in Lebanon is, we can only say, 'we love you in your madness,'" Kanaan said, unveiling the slogan.The new catchphrase will be displayed on planes of Lebanon's national carrier Middle East Airlines and used in social media campaigns, Kanaan said. The official English translation will be "A crazy love."<br/>
Hong Kong reported seven new imported Covid-19 cases on Thursday as the government temporarily banned Nepal Airlines flights from Kathmandu. In a statement issued on Thursday, the Centre for Health Protection said the new cases involved a man and a woman from Nepal, two women from Pakistan, two male sea crew members from India, and a woman from Indonesia. The city’s tally stood at 12,359. “Six of the cases involved mutant strains and the viral load of one case is insufficient for a mutation test,” the statement reads. The CHP added that 47 cases were reported from Oct 21 to Nov 3 and all of them were imported. The CHP also said that the two patients from Nepal were passengers of a Nepal Airlines flight from Kathmandu that arrived in Hong Kong on Nov 2. One of them also failed to comply with the requirements of the city’s anti-Covid-19 regulations. Because of this, the Department of Health prohibited the landing of Nepal Airlines passenger flights from Kathmandu from Nov 4 to 17.<br/>