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Alaska Airlines said Thursday it will trim its schedule by about 10% for the rest of January as it deals with “unprecedented” numbers of employees calling in sick during the current Covid-19 surge. The move by Alaska is similar to a decision last week by JetBlue Airways to cut about 1,300 flights through mid-January. Alaska’s announcement came on a day in which more than 1,800 U.S. flights were canceled by afternoon on the East Coast, according to FlightAware. The tracking service said that equaled about 8% of the day’s scheduled flights, and it was the 12th straight day of 1,000-plus cancellations, which airlines blamed on the virus surge and winter weather. Worldwide, airlines had canceled about 4,300 flights. Southwest continued to be the hardest hit among US airlines, canceling more than 575 flights, or 19% of its schedule for Thursday. Alaska had scrubbed 120, or 17% of its flights. The Seattle-based airline said in a statement that “the continued impacts of omicron have been disruptive in all our lives and unprecedented employee sick calls have impacted our ability to operate our airline reliably.” Alaska said reducing flights through the end of January “will give us the flexibility and capacity needed to reset.”<br/>

Allegiant Travel Thursday tried to ease concerns among investors that a plan to add 50 new Boeing 737 MAX planes to its fleet of used Airbus jets would drive up operating costs. The Las Vegas-based company, which runs an ultra-low-cost carrier, said the $5.5b jet deal was part of its long-term growth strategy and would result in more than $300m in savings. "Strategically, you can't be all used car," said CE Maury Gallagher told investors on a call. Allegiant's shares fell more than 8% on Wednesday after the company confirmed plans, first reported by Reuters, to buy 737 MAX 7 and 737 MAX 8-200 jets. Shares were up about 2% on Thursday. The Boeing order marks a stark change of approach by the fast-growing domestic carrier, which had previously relied mainly on used Airbus aircraft. The strategy to fly highly used, older Airbus aircraft has helped the company keep its costs low. Allegiant's cost per available seat mile - the standard measure in the industry showing what it costs to fly one seat one mile - is estimated to be at least 35% below the major airlines, according to CFRA Research. Analysts say a mixed fleet could increase its operating costs. Allegiant, however, said the annual ownership and fuel cost of the MAX planes is expected to be lower than its current fleet, and the new aircraft would generate higher earnings. The ultra-low-cost carrier aims to seize on post-pandemic leisure travel demand by adding more than 400 routes. It is looking to have more than 250 aircraft by the end of this decade.<br/>

Avelo Airlines, an ultra-low-cost carrier created by a former United executive, on Thursday said it has raised $42m in a Series B funding round led by an investment fund managed by Morgan Stanley. The Texas-based airline, which began flights last April, had raised $125m in January 2020. Avelo currently serves 19 popular destinations across the United States with six Boeing Next-Generation 737s. Avelo’s founder and CE, Andrew Levy, said the company has plans to add nine more 737s to its fleet by the end of the year as it looks to fly to at least 40 cities in the United States. The carrier has seen a spike in ticket cancellations in recent weeks following a surge in COVID-19 infections driven by the Omicron variant. Levy, however, said the company is “cautiously optimistic” about a pickup in travel demand once COVID-19 cases begin to dip. “People’s purchase behavior really tracks the news on the virus,” said Levy, the co-founder and former president of low-cost carrier Allegiant Airlines and CFO of United. “The demand for travel is massive.” Avelo has plans to hire more than 450 crew members this years. But attracting talent in a tight labor market has been “really difficult”, Levy told Reuters. The company has had to increase wages of its pilots, flight attendants and airport staff and is under pressure to offer similar raises to other groups of employees. “You have to compete for talent like everybody else does,” Levy said.<br/>

With the two-year anniversary of the destruction of Flight PS752 coming up, the victims' families say the RCMP is not sharing evidence quickly enough with Ukraine — the only country conducting a criminal investigation into the tragedy. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps fired two surface-to-air missiles at the Ukraine International Airlines Flight on Jan. 8, 2020, shortly after takeoff in Tehran. All 176 people onboard died. Most had ties to Canada. The RCMP resisted calls to open its own criminal investigation. Instead, the police force opted to assist Ukraine's efforts. More than 120 RCMP members have been involved in the effort and have conducted 58 interviews, the RCMP told CBC News. But Hamed Esmaeilion, spokesperson for the association representing victims' families in Canada, says Ukraine's prosecutor's office and government have told him that "cooperation has not been great." Esmaeilion said Ukrainian officials told him that his testimony was not shared by the RCMP. "I have had several meetings with the RCMP and all of them were recorded, so they should have been passed to Ukraine, but they were not," he said. Esmaeilion's nine-year-old daughter and wife were among the Canadian victims. He travelled to Ukraine in the fall and met with Ukraine's prosecutor general and government officials. Esmaeilion said the officials told him the RCMP still hasn't passed on his testimony, recorded almost a year earlier.<br/>

Restructured low-cost carrier Norwegian ended 2021 operating an average of 48 aircraft during December, though its passenger numbers for the full-year remained below even 2020 levels. Norwegian, which has undertaken a major restructuring including ending its long-haul operations and during which it entered what it dubbed a ”hibernation mode”, had gradually stepped up its activity over the second half of the year. On average, it operated just under 50 aircraft during Q4 of the year, compared with just 15 aircraft deployed in June. The airline carried 930,000 passengers in December. While this far exceeded December 2020 levels, when it was operating minimal capacity, it does represent a drop on the the more than a million passenger it flew in both October and November. That reflects the the impact of fresh travel restrictions imposed following the emergence of the Omicron coronavirus variant. Norwegian CE Geir Karlsen says: ”I am pleased that we have efficiently balanced the planning and implementation of our route network and production for December. Lower demand was factored into our schedules during Christmas and the New Year weekend, therefore I am pleased to report that load factors are good for December as well.” Norwegian recorded a load factor of 71.3% for December. That figure though is five points down on November load factor of 76.6%. European low-cost operators Ryanair and Wizz Air have also disclosed similar drop in load factors between November and December as a result of travel restrictions.<br/>

Passengers of a Caspian Airlines Boeing 737-400 have evacuated the aircraft by slides after it suffered a landing-gear accident at Isfahan. Video images circulating on social media purportedly show the aircraft apparently rolling out without an extended left-hand main gear. Passengers are seen exiting the 737 via evacuations slides on the forward exits. Isfahan airport issued a 5 January NOTAM stating that its runway 07L/25R was closed as a result of the presence of a disabled aircraft. Iran’s Civil Aviation Organisation has yet to clarify whether the landing-gear collapsed, or failed to extend before the aircraft touched down. There is no verified information on the extent of damage to the jet. But the Iranian news outlet ISNA cites the Isfahan airport spokesman as stating that 110 occupants safely left the aircraft, after flight 6904 arrived from Mashhad at 17:10. It also states that, according to a crisis management chief of the province, some of them suffered minor injuries. Originally delivered to Malaysia Airlines in 1992, the 30-year old 737 was first registered to Caspian Airlines in 2014, according to Cirium fleet data.<br/>

Emirates airline has announced it is resuming daily passenger flights to Johannesburg. In an update on its website, the airline said that it will not carry outbound passengers from Johannesburg “due to current travel restrictions". It added that flights to and from Durban and Cape Town remain suspended “until further notice". Customers are asked to check the Emirates' website for flight schedules and seat availability. Emirates has placed restrictions on flights from a number of African countries, including South Africa, due to concerns over the spread of the Omicron variant.<br/>

Middle East carriers flydubai and Air Arabia cancelled services to Kazakhstan’s largest city Almaty on Thursday as the country faces its worst unrest in over a decade. A flydubai spokesperson said the airline had cancelled its two return Dubai-Almaty services scheduled for Thursday due to the “situation on the ground” there. A return flydubai flight from Dubai to capital Nursultan was due to operate. Flydubai flights between Dubai and Almaty have been cancelled until Jan. 8 but flights to Nur-Sultan are operating, according to a spokesperson’s statement. The website for Air Arabia showed its return Sharjah-Almaty flights scheduled for Thursday as cancelled. There was no immediate comment from the Emirati airline.<br/>

Pakistan International Airlines' Europe operations, suspended in 2020 over safety concerns, are expected to restart in February or March, the country's aviation minister said on Thursday. Europe's aviation regulator banned Pakistani airlines from its airspace following a scandal over dubious pilot licences. “We are expecting PIA’s Europe operations will resume in February or March, the airline has made plans for the European operations,” Ghulam Sarwar Khan, minister for aviation, told reporters in Islamabad. The statement comes a day after Pakistan said the ICAO had given the country's civil aviation regulator the all clear in terms of resolving significant safety concerns.<br/>

The Australian Safety Transport Bureau (ATSB) has commenced investigations into a crew incapacitation event aboard a Virgin Australia Fokker F100. On 27 December 2021, the aircraft was operating a scheduled service on the Newman-Perth route at 34,000ft when a cabin crew member began to feel unwell, says the ATSB. The crewmember was treated with oxygen, and the aircraft climbed to 35,000ft. Shortly after this, two cabin crew reported feeling unwell, and informed the flight crew that they suspected possible hypoxia. Subsequently, the first officer reported slight nausea. “As a precaution, the flight crew donned oxygen masks, manually deployed the passenger oxygen masks and conducted an emergency descent to 10,000ft,” says the ATSB. “The aircraft landed at Perth Airport and one cabin crew member was taken to hospital for assessment.” There were five crew and seven passengers aboard the aircraft at the time of the incident. <br/>