Regional carrier Mesa Airlines reported a loss for Q1 of its fiscal year as the company struggled with staffing issues stemming from the Omicron variant of Covid-19 as well as pilots leaving for larger carriers. The Phoenix-based airline, which operates regional routes for United Airlines and American Airlines and flies cargo for DHL, says on 9 February that it lost $14.3m during the three months that ended in December, the company’s fiscal Q1 2022, compared to a profit of $14.1m in the same quarter a year ago. Revenue in the quarter was $147.8m, down 1.7% from $150.4m the carrier reported in the same period in 2020. “Mesa’s results reflect the impact of Covid to our quarter’s operations and financials,” says CE Jonathan Ornstein. “Its effect on this quarter was significant and unlike anything we have seen in twenty years. This was further impacted by elevated pilot attrition as the major and national airlines have accelerated hiring.” Pilot attrition is an increasing problem at regional carriers, which fly smaller aircraft and pay lower salaries than the legacy carriers. Since passenger demand began to rebound last summer, demand for pilots has grown across the board, and regional airlines are taking the biggest blows. Pilots are leaving the regionals in greater numbers to fill seats left vacant by pilots who retired from legacy carriers amid the coronavirus-driven aviation slump of 2020-2021. “Looking ahead, we are cautiously optimistic that we are already seeing a decrease in Covid-related absence rates. Managing through the challenges of pilot attrition in our core regional operation remains our team’s top priority,” he adds.<br/>
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WestJet’s ultra-low-cost subsidiary Swoop will add six Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft to its fleet as the discount segment in Canada heats up with two new competitors due to launch in the coming months. The Calgary-based carrier says on 9 February it will take delivery of the aircraft “this summer” ahead of the peak holiday travel season, allowing it to expand its domestic flight network to 37 non-stop routes from 23. ”We saw demand for travel return in a very meaningful way over the holidays, signalling that Canadians are ready to reunite with family and friends,” says Bert van der Stege, head of commercial & finance at Swoop. “The acquisition of six new aircraft in response to anticipated demand will ensure Swoop reconnects more Canadians this summer while accelerating Canada’s economic recovery.” Swoop currently operates a fleet of ten Boeing 737-800 aircraft. The new domestic routes,which skew heavily towards Atlantic Canada, will launch between 1 May and 22 June. Swoop will fly to Deer Lake and St. John’s, Newfoundland, and Saint John, New Brunswick for the first time as part of that expansion. Altogether, the airline serves 31 cities in Canada, the USA, Mexico and the Caribbean. “Throughout the pandemic the ULCC model has proven especially resilient, with Swoop carrying around one million travellers in 2021,” the company says. “Despite ongoing travel restrictions Swoop saw strong demand for both domestic and international travel over the peak holiday period, a trend that has continued into the new year.”<br/>
Regional carrier Silver Airways has raised $50m in capital, added several new aircraft to its fleet and received certification to operate freighter service. The Fort Lauderdale-based airline says on 9 February that it also recently finalised the integration of Puerto Rico-based Seaborne Airlines, which it acquired in April 2018 while Seaborne was in bankruptcy protection, and added more routes in the southeastern USA. “After the most extraordinary period in commercial aviation history, we are humbled and energised by achieving these transformational initiatives,” says CE Steven Rossum. “With new, long-term financing, a fleet portfolio comprised of young, fuel efficient, and environmentally friendly aircraft, the final integration of our San Juan-based subsidiary Seaborne Airlines, and our new cargo operations all in place, Silver is now positioned to execute on its tremendous opportunities in the regional passenger and cargo sectors.” The carrier recently took delivery of two new ATR 42-600s in December, bringing its ATR-600 passenger fleet to 11 aircraft – eight of the ATR 42-600s, and three of the larger ATR 72-600s. Silver says it plans “further significant ATR-600 fleet growth” in 2022. According to Cirium fleets data, it still has seven ATR 42-600s on order.<br/>
Ryanair has seen a “dramatic recovery” in bookings over the past two weeks as the easing of pandemic travel curbs across Europe encourages people to fly again. The Irish low-cost carrier’s planes are flying about 75% full and could reach 90% of capacity by the peak of the summer high season, CEO Michael O’Leary said at a briefing in Milan Wednesday. Ryanair expects fares to remain “very low” through May before rising for summer, by which point it’s possible that a combination of strong demand and limited capacity could see them climb above pre-coronavirus levels, O’Leary said. Trends for next winter are difficult to predict, he said. Shares of Ryanair spiked, and were up 3.4% as of 3:38 p.m. in Dublin. The comments mark a change of tone from Europe’s biggest discount airline. Late last month, when Ryanair reported quarterly results, O’Leary took a cautious view on the pace of the tourism rebound. At the time, Ryanair said it would cut prices to stimulate demand this quarter while more countries considered removing travel restrictions. Since then, nations including France and Spain have moved to ease rules for vaccinated people and the number of infections has fallen throughout the region. European airlines are counting on a bumper summer season driven by pent-up demand after a two-year downturn in travel caused by the Covid outbreak.<br/>
Air Arabia Group chief Adel Ali expects operations with its new Pakistani joint-venture carrier to commence around mid-year. The new carrier, Fly Jinnah, is being established with conglomerate Lakson Group and will be based in Karachi. Ali said the airline would be flying around “June time” and that it would operate domestically for a year. “Domestic Pakistan is good business,” he states. The discussions over the carrier’s air operator’s certificate are still underway. Ali indicates at least three Airbus A320s will be placed with the new carrier. While a route network has yet to be disclosed, he says the eventual spread to international operations will enable Air Arabia to expand more to the east, perhaps into China. “We tend to open routes nobody else wants,” he says, adding that the company typically maintains about 80% of the routes it tests and closes the other 20% that turn out to be unsustainable. Air Arabia has over 50 A320s in service, mostly based at its Sharjah hub with another dozen stationed at its Moroccan and Egyptian hubs. It has expanded to include long-range A321neos, which Ali describes as a “need, not a nice-to-have”, pointing out that the airline had been unable to connect its hubs before taking on the jets.<br/>