Kazakhstan’s Air Astana pledged to stick with expansion plans despite suffering extreme disruption to its routes and travel times following the invasion of Ukraine. The state-owned company will focus on domestic growth and Asian services after the shuttering of Russian airspace added 90 minutes to trips to Frankfurt and Amsterdam, boosting the flight time by 20%, and forced London-bound jets to refuel en route, CEO Peter Foster saidw. Kazakhstan’s Air Astana pledged to stick with expansion plans despite suffering extreme disruption to its routes and travel times following the invasion of Ukraine. The state-owned company will focus on domestic growth and Asian services after the shuttering of Russian airspace added 90 minutes to trips to Frankfurt and Amsterdam, boosting the flight time by 20%, and forced London-bound jets to refuel en route, CEO Peter Foster said in an interview. Still, there are no immediate plans to convert a letter of intent for 30 single-aisle Boeing 737 Max jets into firm orders, and Foster said that while demand is holding up, it’s too early to assess prospects for the summer. Kazakhstan’s sparse population and location far from major cities has led it to operate narrow-body planes at the limit of their range. At the same time, it has made a virtue of its position south of the Russian landmass to provide one-stop links between locations such as London and Tokyo -- until fallout from the war upended the strategy.<br/>
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Pan-European carrier Volotea will add six more Airbus A320s to its fleet this year as it continues to expand beyond its pre-Covid capacity. The Spain-headquartered airline – which focuses on serving mid-sized European cities – transitioned to an all-Airbus fleet last year following the early retirement of its Boeing 717s amid the pandemic. Its fleet strategy involves taking second-hand aircraft through lessors. “We are very proud to increase our fleet with six more Airbus A320s,” says Volotea CE Carlos Munoz. “By growing our fleet with more modern aircraft, we will increase our competitiveness and take advantage of sizeable opportunities as we move forward, while becoming more responsible in protecting the environment.” Cirium fleets data shows Volotea has 36 aircraft in its fleet: 20 A319s and 16 A320s, the youngest of which is nearly 11 years old. The carrier says it plans to operate between 41 and 45 jets in 2022, suggesting retirements and deliveries beyond the aforementioned A320s are possible. Volotea notes it is on track to increase its capacity by almost 40% in 2022 compared with 2019, when its fleet comprised 19 A319s and 17 717s. <br/>
Jet2 has suspended all of its flights to Kraków, its only Polish destination, from March 24, 2022, through May 26 due to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. The airline said the move was "due to current circumstances" without explicitly referring to the war. It did not explain why the conflict had impacted its operations to Poland. The British low-cost carrier served Kraków from Birmingham Int'l, Glasgow Int'l, Leeds/Bradford, Manchester Int'l, and Newcastle, GB, the ch-aviation schedules shows. It said it intended to resume all five routes in a "phased" manner after May 27, 2022. Kraków is located in south-eastern Poland over 200 kilometres from the Ukrainian border. <br/>
Revamped UK regional carrier Flybe will begin ticket sales in a week’s time as it moves closer to launch, a little over two years after its previous incarnation ceased operations. Efforts have been under way to relaunch Flybe since Thyme Opco, an affiliate of former Flybe investor Cyrus Capital, acquired the business and its remaining assets in April last year. Flybe has already detailed plans to operate from Birmingham, where it has its headquarters, and today confirmed Belfast City airport as its second base. Flybe had significant operations at both airports prior to its collapse in March 2020: Cirium schedules data shows the airline was operating to a dozen points in the UK from Belfast City in the run-up to that period. The carrier, which has not yet disclosed a launch date – beyond saying it will be in the spring – or route details, will begin ticket sales on 22 March. Flybe CE Dave Pflieger says: ”Next week is going to be an exciting time for customers and communities that have been waiting to hear from us about low fares, new routes, and new destinations – all of which are being timed to coincide with the restart of the economy and a return to normalcy after two difficult years for all.”<br/>
Israeli airlines have been forced to cancel dozens of flights on the Tel Aviv - Dubai route, for which tickets have already been sold. It now seems that the security dispute between Israel and the Dubai aviation authorities has not been resolved, as previously reported. Consequently, Israeli airlines have been forced to cancel dozens of flights on the Tel Aviv - Dubai route, for which tickets have already been sold. The cancellations include flights during the Passover holiday, so that many passengers can expect to be informed that their vacation plans have been ruined. The fall in the supply of seats on planes to Dubai will undoubtedly push up fares on the flights that can go ahead. Since the Abraham Accords were signed more than 18 months ago, security arrangements on flights between Tel Aviv and Dubai have not been agreed according to procedures acceptable to the Israel Security Services (Shin Bet). The crux of the dispute revolves around the demands of the Shin Bet, for example regarding the number of security officers stationed in Dubai and their access to the airport area. The Dubai authorities are reluctant to agree to this, which they see as excessive compared with other airlines. On peak days, El Al, Arkia and Israir each operate four flights between Tel Aviv and Dubai, while UAE carrier flyDubai operates four flights.<br/>
BA (operated by Comair) and kulula.com flights will start operating again on Thursday morning, 17 March 2022, following the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) reinstating the company's Air Operators' Certificate. "We're pleased that the situation is finally resolved, following an immense effort over five days and nights to engage and work with the SACAA. After a thorough review of Comair's documentation, the SACAA has lifted the precautionary suspension of Comair's licence. "Our focus is now to get our operations back to normal as quickly as possible so we can further assist our customers," Comair CEO Glenn Orsmond said Wednesday evening. The British Airways and kulula.com schedules will be restored in a phased manner, and customers are advised to check the schedules on the airlines' websites before going to the airport.<br/>
Malaysia's Airasia X said Wednesday it had completed its debt restructuring, and will write 33b ringgit ($7.86b) back to profits in the next quarter. Under the airline's restructuring proposal, it would pay just 0.5% of debt owed and end its existing contracts. It was approved by its creditors and the High Court of Malaya last year. The restructuring was proposed to avoid liquidation after the long-haul low-cost airline posted a record quarterly loss last September. It is one of many carriers in the Asia-Pacific region to have entered a court-overseen debt restructuring process to survive the pandemic. "Cargo has been a strong lifeline for AAX and our recovery is already underway as a combination carrier with equal emphasis on cargo and passenger revenues, " CEO Benyamin Ismail said. "In the next two months we will recommence passenger services to several more international destinations in line with borders reopening." The completion of the debt restructuring will now pave the way for the proposed 500m ringgit fund raising, the company said.<br/>
Bangkok Airways is to provide third-party heavy maintenance services for Airbus and Avions de Transport Régionalaircraft as part of its 2022 business plan to diversify its services, the company announced. President Puttipong Prasarttong-Osoth said the regional airline recently had received its Repair Station Recertification for Base- and Line Maintenance (TCAR 8 Part 5) from the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT), “which allows us to provide high-quality maintenance services for Airbus and ATR aircraft”. He also disclosed the airline was further reducing its fleet from 37 to 30 aircraft by the end of 2022 in response to reduced travel demand due to the pandemic. It intends to return five A320-200s to lessors when their contracts expire, leaving it with only four of the type, according to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module. It will also sell its last remaining two in-house ATR72-500s, he said. The airline already reduced its fleet of ATR72-500s by nine units between 2009 and 2019.<br/>