Alaska Airlines began on Wednesday selling pay-as-you-go flight passes in a move that hops on the popularity of the subscription model. Travelers who agree to pay a monthly fee will receive credits to fly a fixed number of roundtrips among 16 selected US West Coast airports. “In our basic plan, we’re introducing affordable travel on par with an Uber ride or bar tab,” said Alexander Corey, managing director of business development and products. A basic subscription starts at $49 a month and requires booking tickets at least two weeks before travel. A more flexible subscription starts at $199 a month and allows same-day booking. Subscribers can fly on routes within California or between California and Reno or Phoenix, covering about 100 daily flights. “We designed the product by trying to create something our California guests have told us they needed,” Corey said. “In our data, 3.5 times more people travel within California than within any other state.” Alaska Airlines is the latest airline to adopt a much-discussed business model across all of travel. One of Skift’s recent megatrends was that the subscription model is becoming a staple of travel industry renewal. Researchers at UBS bank expect the subscription economy to reach $1.5t in sales by 2025.<br/>
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Ryanair expects average air fares during this year’s summer peak season to be significantly higher than pre-COVID ticket prices in the same period in 2019, Group Chief Executive Michael O’Leary said on Wednesday. O’Leary told reporters in Lisbon that the airline still expected prices to be lower than 2019 levels from March to May but said they would increase starting from June, when schools will shut for holidays and families travel abroad. “After that it will depend on what happens with the world economy, the price of oil and if there are any COVID developments,” he said. O’Leary said two weeks ago he expected huge pent-up demand to lead to record summer passenger numbers if the recovery is not thrown off course by a new COVID variant.<br/>
Ryanair, one of the largest foreign airlines in Ukraine, said on Wednesday it had a duty to fly passengers in and out of the country as long as a Russian invasion did not materialise. “Is it our duty and obligation... to support the people of Ukraine as long as there is no war or missiles flying there,” Group CE Michael O’Leary told a news conference in Lisbon. O’Leary said he saw no reason to halt flights unless European authorities say it is not safe to fly to Ukraine. “It is important not to panic,” he said. “People need to get home and people want to leave and fly abroad to the EU ... airlines have to provide that service. Ryanair said last month it could base up to 20 planes in Ukraine over the next few years if Russia does not invade, and announced plans to fly 230 flights weekly flights from three Ukrainian airports this summer. Asked if the plan still stood, O’Leary said the airline was reviewing the situation in Ukraine daily but that the country remained a “huge potential market as long as there is no Soviet invasion”.<br/>
AirAsia Aviation Group on Wednesday unveiled plans for a low-cost air ridesharing service in Southeast Asia after signing a non-binding deal with lessor Avolon for at least 100 Vertical Aerospace VX4 electric vehicles. Tony Fernandes, CE of AirAsia parent Capital A, said flights could start by 2025, with regulators in Malaysia and Singapore likely to approve operations far more quickly than in Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. He said the air ridesharing services would be bookable through AirAsia's mobile app and offered at an accessible price point, just as the budget carrier had done for its regular flights. "We don't want this to be an exclusive product," Fernandes told reporters. "We want everyone to be able to use this product." Avolon ordered 500 VX4 aircraft from Vertical Aerospace last year and has since placed 90% with AirAsia, Japan Airlines and Brazil's Gol and Grupo Comporte.<br/>
Australian airline Rex laid out ambitious plans to increase the number of jets taking on Qantas Airways Ltd. on the country’s busiest routes, saying the worst of the fallout from the pandemic appears to be over. Regional Express Holdings Ltd., as the airline is officially called, last year started a domestic business flying popular legs including Melbourne-Sydney and Melbourne-Adelaide that have long been dominated by Qantas. Rex Chairman Lim Kim Hai said he plans to expand the company’s fleet of six Boeing 737s to as many as 30 by adding a plane every two to three months. “That’s a very good medium-term objective,” Lim said at the Singapore Airshow. “There’s a lot to be said for economies of scale.” Lim owns about 20% of Rex. Rex is best known for serving rural Australian towns with propeller planes on routes where there’s less competition. Adding more Boeing jets would be doubling down on a new domestic business that has at times struggled in a price war with Qantas, its low-cost arm Jetstar, and Bain Capital-owned Virgin Australia. Rex was also hammered by a fresh wave of travel restrictions last year when the omicron variant arrived in Australia. “It has not been easy,” Lim said, referring to the new domestic venture rather than Rex’s established rural business. No airline makes money when planes are half full, he said.<br/>