Ryanair flew its highest-ever number of passengers in a month in July, while the average proportion of empty seats per flight fell back to pre-COVID levels of 4%, the low-cost airline said Wednesday. The Irish airline, which made a point of keeping its pilots and crew up-to-date with their flying hours during the pandemic, has established itself during the recovery as Europe's largest airline by passenger numbers, pulling ahead of the Lufthansa Group. It flew 16.8m passengers in July, beating the record it hit a month earlier of 15.9m, despite small-scale strike action by cabin crew in several markets. That was 14% ahead of the 14.8m passengers it flew in July 2019, before the COVID pandemic. <br/>
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India's biggest airline IndiGo said on Wednesday the wait for new planes was limiting its growth during a strong pick-up in demand for air travel as pandemic restrictions are lifted. "I wish we had more aircraft," outgoing CE Ronojoy Dutta told analysts after the company reported a narrowing of losses for the June quarter from a year ago. "The travel market is growing quite strongly. We are limited by the number of aircraft we have. Given that, we will try and push load factors (filling available seats), but if we had more aircraft we would fly to more destinations," Dutta said. IndiGo has 730 A320neo planes on order from Airbus (AIR.PA), making it the world's biggest customer for this popular single-aisle model. But planemakers face challenges meeting delivery schedules due to supply chain problems. Dutta said IndiGo did not want to lease older planes. The company reported its highest ever quarterly revenue for the three months ended June 30, boosted by a 145% increase in capacity and a load factor of about 80%. But soaring fuel costs and exchange rate moves left IndiGo making a loss. The company said fuel prices almost doubled, leading to a near five-fold increase in aircraft fuel expenses to 59.90b Indian rupees ($756m). However, yields, a metric of profitability, rose 50.3% to 5.24 rupees per km as airlines raised fares.<br/>
Shares of India's SpiceJet closed nearly 13% higher on Wednesday, following a report that promoter Ajay Singh was exploring the option of selling a portion of his stake in the budget carrier. SpiceJet is in talks with a Middle Eastern carrier for the sale and discussions are also ongoing with a large Indian conglomerate, Indian business news channel CNBC-TV-18 reported, citing sources. Singh holds a stake of about 60% in the airline, it added. SpiceJet did not respond to a Reuters request for comment. Dubai's Emirates has no plans to acquire a stake in any airline in India or elsewhere, a spokesperson for the company said. Abu Dhabi's Etihad Airways, which has held stakes in nine different carriers, including India's Jet Airways, declined to comment when asked by Reuters if it was in talks to take a minority stake. Etihad has largely walked away from investing in other carriers after the strategy failed and contributed to billions of dollars in losses at the state-owned carrier, forcing a change in management five years ago.<br/>
Philippine Airlines swung back to the black for the first half of 2022, posting an operating profit of Ps6.6 billion ($120 million), compared to Ps4.7 billion loss reported in 2021. The positive results come on the back of a three-fold jump in passenger revenues, amid pent-up demand following the easing of border restrictions both in the Philippines and globally. For the six months to 30 June, PAL reported Ps58.1 billion in revenue, about five times higher year on year. Costs, meanwhile, amounted to Ps51.5 billion, of which a significant amount – at nearly Ps20 billion – was for fuel-related expenses. PAL, which successfully exited restructuring on 31 December 2021, has warned that the increase in fuel costs was among the “tough challenges” looming on the horizon. Airline president and operating chief Stanley Ng says: ““We acknowledge tough challenges ahead, as various regions grapple with rising inflation, higher energy costs and economic uncertainties. So we will continue to be fiscally prudent as we mobilise our talents and resources to grow responsibly.” Ng notes that the airline will continue to restore its pre-pandemic network, including its long-haul network to North America, Europe and Australia, as recovery momentum continues.<br/>