JetBlue Airways Corp CE Robin Hayes said Friday he is "optimistic" he can reach a deal to acquire Spirit Airlines. "We're pleased that there now seems to be a genuine desire from the Spirit board to engage with us," Hayes told Reuters late Friday. "We're going to continue to engage with the Spirit board over the next few weeks." Florida-based ultra-low-cost carrier Spirit is the subject of a bidding war between JetBlue and Frontier Group Holdings Inc. Spirit has repeatedly rejected JetBlue's offer, saying it has a low likelihood of winning approval from U.S. regulators. Spirit postponed a shareholder vote on its merger with Frontier to June 30 from June 10. Hayes said he thinks the majority of Spirit shareholders believe JetBlue's offer is superior and "that's why they had to delay the vote." JPMorgan said in an analyst report 'Thursday that a deal by JetBlue to buy Spirit has become a "growing probability." Both bidders view Spirit as an opportunity to expand their domestic footprints at a time when the US airline industry is dogged by persistent labor and aircraft shortages. Either of the two deals would create the fifth-largest US airline. JetBlue has sweetened its offer for Spirit by increasing its reverse break-up fee by $150m to $350m, raising the overall value of its proposed deal to $3.4b. The New York-based airline has offered to pay a portion of the fee upfront after Spirit shareholders approve the deal. Frontier has agreed to pay Spirit a break-up fee of $250m but declined to raise its bid of $21.10 a share in cash and stock at Friday's closing price in response to JetBlue's revised offer.<br/>
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A California appeals court ruled that Southwest Airlines is immune from liability in the 2014 death of a passenger whose medical crisis in an airplane lavatory was mistakenly thought by the crew to be a security threat. The ruling Wednesday affirmed the decision of a trial court judge who limited the evidence heard by a jury in a lawsuit brought by the passenger’s family. The ruling by a three-judge panel of the 1st Appellate District was first reported by the Bay Area News Group. The lawsuit against Southwest and the flight crew claimed that Rich Ilczyszyn, 46, of Newport Beach died because the crew failed to help him. Ilczyszyn, a prominent financial trader, suffered a massive pulmonary embolism during the last 10 minutes of a California flight from Oakland to Orange County on Sept. 19, 2014, while he was locked in the lavatory. According to trial records, flight attendants heard sounds like “grunting, growling (and) crying” but Ilczyszyn did not comply with requests to open the door and the crew could not push the door in because his foot was pressed against it. The crew declared a lockdown and requested that law enforcement officers meet the plane upon landing. The other passengers were let off the plane before sheriff’s deputies broke into the lavatory and found Ilczyszyn without a pulse. Story has more details.<br/>
Canada is suspending random COVID-19 testing at all its airports for the rest of June to ease the long wait times that travelers have encountered in recent weeks, a government statement said on Friday. The random testing will be discontinued from Saturday and will resume "off-site" on July 1, the statement said. Random testing was blamed by some industry officials for lengthening already long wait times at airports. Toronto's Pearson airport has had planes stuck at gates and hours-long security lines because of staffing shortages. The government "recognizes the impact that significant wait times at some Canadian airports are having on travelers," the statement said, adding that it would continue to "implement solutions to reduce delays as we approach the summer peak season." Reuters previously reported the testing suspension, citing a government source. The country's largest carrier Air Canada canceled almost 10% of flights from Pearson during the first week of June, according to data from Cirium, an aviation analytics company. Suzanne Acton-Gervais, interim president of the National Airlines Council of Canada (NACC) which represents Air Canada and privately held WestJet Airlines, said the move "will improve conditions at Canada's airports and reduce complexity for travelers."<br/>
Argentine authorities have grounded an Iran-linked Venezuelan Boeing 747 cargo plane, a local opposition lawmaker and Iranian state media said on Sunday, in an unfolding drama that is throwing a spotlight on political undercurrents in Latin America. The Emtrasur cargo plane, sold to Venezuela by Iran's Mahan Air a year ago according to the Iranian airline, arrived in Buenos Aires on June 8, flight tracking data show. It was then seized by authorities, the lawmaker and Iranian media said. Argentina's government has not publicly confirmed the seizure, but an Interior Ministry document shared with Reuters said authorities had taken the action due to suspicions over the stated reason for the plane entering the country. Iran and Venezuela, which are both under U.S. sanctions, have close ties. The two countries on Saturday signed a 20-year cooperation plan. Argentina's center-left President Alberto Fernandez has criticized US sanctions against Venezuela. Argentina's government did not reply to Reuters queries seeking comment about the aircraft. Authorities in Venezuela did not immediately respond to a request for comment. On Sunday, Argentine lower-house lawmaker Gerardo Milman, who has raised attention about the case in recent days, presented a complaint to a judge asking to fingerprint the crew and share the information with the Federal Intelligence Agency. "Our information is that this is a plane that has come to conduct intelligence in Argentina," said Milman, a member of the country's Congressional Intelligence Commission. According to the Interior Ministry document, 14 Venezuelans and 5 Iranians were traveling on the plane. It listed the names of those on board.<br/>
Norwegian Air pilots won a 3.7% pay rise and improved working conditions after wage talks with the budget carrier's management, the head of the union representing Norwegian Air pilots in Scandinavia told Reuters. The resolution at Norwegian Air stands out as rifts between management and unions elsewhere in Europe drive expectations of travel headaches during the busy summer holiday season. In a hint of what other airlines may have to grant employees to avoid, or resolve, labour conflicts, the pilot union at Norwegian Air won full employment status for several pilots who had been employed on a temporary basis. The pilots also won the right for more notice of when they could take a summer holiday. Now they will know the preceding December compared with March-April previously, the union leader said. "It is about quality of life. Everyone wants to enjoy their work and be able to go the extra mile that is needed," Alf Hansen, head of the Norwegian Pilot Union, told Reuters. Norwegian Air said the wage deal would give the company flexibility, predictability and help it to run operations in a cost-effective way. It declined further comment on Friday. Pilots at rival airline SAS have warned of a potential strike in late June over disagreements on wages and ways to cut costs at the struggling Nordic airline, which SAS management says are essential to preventing a collapse. Hansen said Norwegian Air pilots had faced a similar conflict a decade ago. <br/>
Hungary launched a probe into Ryanair Holdings Plc after the government said Europe’s largest low-cost carrier raised ticket prices to pass on the costs of a windfall tax. PM Viktor Orban is slapping an “extra profit” levy on a range of industries to fund utility price subsidies for Hungarians. The fee includes a newly introduced departure payment for airlines of 3,900 forint ($10) for travel within Europe. “The government considers it unacceptable and rejects it in the strongest terms that Ryanair is deflecting the extra-profit tax onto passengers,” Economic Development Minister Marton Nagy said in a statement on Friday. “It’s especially egregious that Ryanair is starting to do this for already sold tickets.” Ryanair has called on Hungary’s government to scrap the windfall tax, calling the levy “beyond stupid.” The carrier said unprofitable airlines were being hit at a time when they are struggling to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic and as they deal with the fallout from Russia’s war on Ukraine. Critics of the windfall tax in Hungary have said the levy may fuel inflation as companies shift the burden onto consumers. Inflation topped 10% in May for the first time in 21 years.<br/>
EasyJet has reduced its flight schedule for the rest of June in an effort to overcome the travel chaos seen in the school holidays when staff shortages meant thousands of people were hit by last-minute cancellations. Britain’s biggest carrier has come under fire for its handling of the disruption which also saw passengers endure long delays. In a message to staff on Friday, its chief operating officer, Peter Bellew, said the carrier was making pre-emptive cancellations for the “coming days and weeks” to “increase resilience across the network”. “Making these cancellations is not something we take lightly but what’s worse is to cancel our customers’ plans on the day that they are ready to fly,” Bellew said in the message shared with the Guardian. “We’re all aware of the impact the current situation is having on our customers, our people and our reputation.” The airline was also working on a plan to remedy issues “within our own operations that are in our control”, he said, adding: “We also want to ensure that we have the correct mitigations in place for the issues affecting the industry.” Bellew said: “We want to share the plan on this very soon however, we also need to deal with the immediate operation. We’re making some pre-emptive cancellations for the coming days and weeks in order to increase resilience across the network.” The aviation industry has struggled to cope with the huge bounce back in demand for flights and holidays following the lifting of Covid travel restrictions. This is blamed on depleted staffing levels both in the air and on the ground as thousands of workers either lost their jobs or found new roles with other companies during the pandemic.<br/>
Tony Fernandes’s Capital A group is planning New York listings for its low-cost AirAsia airline and a digital “super app”. “If you want to be an actor, you’re probably going to want to end up in Hollywood at some stage in your career,” Fernandes said. “We think the time is right for part of Capital A group to be listed in the United States.” He said the group, which changed its name earlier this year, had begun compliance work and envisaged two separate listings, one for AirAsia “sometime next year”, followed by the so-called super app, which will offer services from travel to takeaways. The company, which previously considered merging its digital businesses with a special purpose acquisition company, crashed into the red during the pandemic, prompting EY in July 2020 to question its ability to survive. Fernandes, who pivoted to ecommerce and digital businesses during the pandemic, said that issue had now been resolved. While Capital A’s shares remain under Practice Note 17 on the Malaysian stock exchange — a listing for groups in financial distress — Fernandes insisted that was a solvable “accounting” issue, which “doesn’t reflect the fundamentals of the company”. The airline’s Q1 losses widened 90% compared with the same period in 2021, while the group’s Malaysia-listed shares remain at a sixth of their 2018 peak. Fernandes, Capital A’s CE, said 85 of AirAsia’s 212 aircraft were now flying, with 80 to 90% load factors, and 176 aircraft will be back in the skies by December. “I think in the third and fourth quarter, we would be ebitda-positive, including leasing, and so . . . I’m quite confident of 2023 being profitable and definitely cash flow positive,” he said.<br/>
South Korea’s low-cost airliner Fly Gangwon will start carrying passengers and cargo to Vietnam’s major cities, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh, in September after renewing its foreign air operator certificate (FAOC) with the Southeast Asian country’s transportation authorities. The Korean budget carrier will operate 3-4 flights per week from its hub Yangyang International Airport in Gangwon Province in northeastern Korea, to the major cities in Vietnam. Its route to Clark in the Philippines will also kick off on June 24 for two flights per week, while the Taipei route will operate four times per week from July 20.<br/>