The travel rebound is shaping up to be even stronger than airlines expected, helping to make up for rising fuel prices. Southwest and JetBlue said Thursday that their revenues in the second quarter were on track to be higher than the companies had projected. The announcements are the latest sign that people are increasingly planning leisure and business trips despite an increase in coronavirus cases across the country. Many travelers also seem unbothered by high prices for tickets, hotel rooms and rental cars. Flights booked within the United States for this weekend cost an average of $394, a 28% increase from the same weekend in 2019, according to Hopper, a travel booking app. Southwest said in a securities filing that it expects revenues from April through June to increase between 12 and 15% from the same period in 2019, up from a previous projection of an 8 to 12% increase. And while fuel prices are expected to be 5 to 11% higher than previously expected, higher revenue will “more than offset” that rise in costs, the airline said. Based on current trends, Southwest said it “expects solid profits and operating margins” for Q2 and the rest of the year. JetBlue similarly said that business was improving and that it was on track to collect record revenue this summer. Ticket bookings are exceeding the airline’s expectations, with revenue for the current quarter expected to be “at or above” the high end of its previous estimate. Revenue per seat per mile flown is expected to be more than 20% higher than in Q2 2019, the airline said. <br/>
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Italian unions have called a four-hour strike for Ryanair (RYA.I) workers in the country, lamenting a reduction in compensation and tough labour conditions at Europe's biggest budget airline. Ryanair ranked first for the number of passengers travelling to and from Italy last year as Alitalia shrunk its network before handing over to smaller ITA Airways. In a statement issued on Thursday, leftwing unions FILT-CGIL and UIL Trasporti said the planned strike would take place on June 8 starting from 0800 GMT. Italian unions listed "an arbitrary cut in the pay check - for alleged shortfalls in sales - the non-payment of sick days, the company's refusal to grant compulsory leave days during the summer season, and the lack of water and meals for the crew," as the reasons at the basis of the strike. Earlier this month, Ryanair Group CEO Michael O'Leary said the effects of the pandemic on the air traffic were not over, and said it was too early to discuss pay rises."In some cases, the unions are saying, COVID-19 is over, give us all the money back. Well, it's not over yet, and we do need to see the restoration of our pre-COVID profitability," O'Leary said. The budget carrier said last week it would return to "reasonable profitability" in its coming fiscal year to end-March 2023, but the uncertain outlook meant it was impossible to give detailed guidance beyond that.<br/>
Low-cost carrier easyJet said an IT problem that caused it to cancel around 200 flights on Thursday had been resolved, but its programme could be disrupted for the rest of the day. “EasyJet can confirm that the earlier IT systems issues have now been rectified,” the British airline said. “Unfortunately, they resulted in some cancellations earlier today and while we expect to operate most of our remaining flying programme some may still be subject to some disruption in the coming hours.” EasyJet’s rival British Airways was hit by IT issues in February that caused the cancellation of its short-haul flights from Heathrow for a morning.<br/>
Hundreds of Indian air travellers were stranded inside their planes after the low-cost airline SpiceJet cancelled or delayed flights due to an "attempted ransomware attack", the company has said. Many angry passengers, some of whom were left waiting inside their planes for up to five hours earlier this week, complained about a lack of communication from the budget carrier. "Certain SpiceJet systems faced an attempted ransomware attack last night that impacted our flight operations," the airline said on Wednesday on Twitter. The company added that it had "to a large extent contained and rectified the situation", but ongoing delays had forced some flights to airports with night curfews to be cancelled. An airline official on Thursday told AFP that flight operations were back to normal, without sharing details of any investigation into the incident. Mudit Shejwar, a SpiceJet passenger stuck waiting inside a plane Wednesday, said the only communication his flight had received was "of some server down and (an) issue with paperwork for fuel". Ransomware attacks occur when hackers take control of a computer system by encrypting all its data until a ransom is paid. They have become increasingly common as more official and commercial business is conducted online.<br/>
The biggest shareholder of India’s largest airline, IndiGo, teamed up with United Parcel Service to tap the South Asian nation’s growing logistics market. Rahul Bhatia-owned InterGlobe Enterprises Ltd., which owns 37.82% of IndiGo, has formed a joint venture with UPS for a brand called Movin, J.B. Singh, a director at the Indian partner, said Thursday. Movin will launch operations in a phased manner and begin services in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru in July, Singh said. It will focus on domestic business-to-business logistics services with express, and day-and-time definite deliveries, giving businesses better predictability and competitiveness, UPS President for India Ufku Akaltan said at the same event. IndiGo CEO Ronojoy Dutta clarified on an earnings call Wednesday that the cargo arrangement between InterGlobe and Atlanta-based UPS is a standalone operation and has nothing to do with the airline. UPS will likely focus on small shipments and surface transport, while IndiGo is into consolidated deliveries, he said.<br/>
Lawyers representing the Association of Ex-Merpati Pilots have reported the CE of Merpati and the directors of the defunct carrier’s pension fund to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) over allegations of corruption. The allegations are compiled in a report detailing possible corruption at the carrier that the lawyers presented to the commission, including evidence related to an employee settlement package authorised by Indonesian Parliament’s Commission VI, a body that deals with the affairs of state-owned enterprises, local media reported. Merpati ceased operations due to mounting debts in February 2014, and despite numerous attempts in the ensuing seven years it failed to take flight again. A lawyer for the former pilots, Lamsihar Rumahorbo, told reporters on May 23 that in his opinion the airline had many problems that could harm the country, with losses to the state reaching 300b rupiah (US$20.5m). He did not divulge the names of the former executives concerned, however. The report carried indications of “crimes of corruption, collusion, and nepotism that allegedly occurred in the management of Merpati,” and solving them would assist employees who had not been paid a total of 318b in severance pay, he said. KPK representative Ali Fikri promised in a statement on May 24 that the commission would investigate the report’s allegations in accordance with the applicable legal provisions.<br/>