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Frontier Group Holdings is targeting capacity growth of up to 20% through the decade, CE Barry Biffle told Reuters, as the budget airline pushes to take a bigger share of the US leisure travel market from rivals amid a weakening economy. From 2024, the Colorado-based carrier is aiming to increase capacity, or the number of seats it offers, by between 10% and 20% a year as it seeks to position itself as America's budget airline after the recent collapse of a deal to merge with rival Spirit Airlines. JetBlue Airways prevailed over Frontier after a months-long bidding war. Frontier, which is about 82% owned by Bill Franke's Indigo Partners, had previously told investors it would ramp up capacity this year by as much as 15% above the pre-pandemic level and said it would expand 30% year-on-year in 2023. If Frontier hits the high end of the previously unreported, longer-term growth target, it would emerge as almost the size of 2019-era American Airlines, before COVID-19 sent travel into a steep decline. "We will now be positioned in the market as the only national ultra-low-cost carrier," Franke said. Frontier's merger with Spirit would have created a budget airline behemoth and the fifth- largest airline in the United States. Now the company is putting rivals on notice that it will fight to take share on its own. It will cut basic fares to fire-sale prices, seek to increase nonticket revenue and take advantage of the retreat by some US airlines - and Frontier's own relatively deeper pool of pilots - to open new routes.<br/>

Pilots at German discount carrier Eurowings will vote on possible strike action after failing to reach a deal with the airline on jobs. The Vereinigung Cockpit union said the ballot was being conducted after several rounds of discussions with management of the Deutsche Lufthansa AG unit. The parties failed to make progress on relieving the burden on a depleted staff as travel demand rebounds, the union said on its website. The ballot runs until Aug. 31. A faster-than-expected recovery in travel has clashed with a shortage of staff at airlines and airports after deep cuts during the pandemic. That’s brought a summer of chaos for the industry, with Lufthansa and other carriers cancelling thousands of flights. Last month, Lufthansa said it had sealed a wage deal with the Verdi labor union that represented 20,000 of its ground crew. Wage increases ranged from 13.6% to 18.6% after a warning strike led to hundreds of cancellations at the carrier’s Munich and Frankfurt hubs. The Eurowings ballot is not a decision to strike or end talks, but a means to reach a solution through negotiations, the VC union said.<br/>

Turkish budget carrier Pegasus saw international capacity and traffic exceed pre-Covid levels in the second quarter of this year, as leisure demand in particular “outpaced initial expectations”. That development helped the carrier to a E28m operating profit for the three months to 30 June, Pegasus said on 15 August, with strong demand momentum expected to continue through the rest of the year, amid a “significantly improved outlook for operating profitability” and “strong peak season yields”. A net loss of E40m for Q2 was partly blamed on an “unrealised FX loss of net E45m”, however, as the euro weakened against the US dollar. Nevertheless, record Q2 revenue of E504m was 24% up on the same period in 2019 and reflected high yields and a “robust” ancillary performance, the Istanbul-based carrier states. It came despite overall passenger numbers being at 88% of 2019 levels on capacity at 110% on the same basis. International seats made up 56% of Pegasus’ total during the period, with the 3.8m passengers transported on such services marking a 200,000 uplift from 2019 levels. Domestic passenger numbers were, however, down 1mn at 2.8m on the same basis. A Q2 domestic load factor of 78% and an international one of 79% compared with 92% and 83% respectively in the same period of 2019. Pegasus notes that an 81% increase in fuel expenses drove a 129% year-on-year increase in overall costs, pushing cost per available seat kilometre up 27% compared with 2019. The carrier generated E160m in cash during the quarter, leaving its cash reserve – after deducting bank loans and debt instruments – at E237m, up from E77m at the end of the first quarter. Full-year capacity is forecast to come in at 5-10% above 2019 levels.<br/>

Ryanair Holdings is adding 500 flights to its autumn schedule from its base at London Stansted airport as the discount carrier looks to win more customers after Heathrow extended a cap on capacity. The extra flights will give Ryanair an additional 100,000 seats during the mid-term school holidays to destinations including Spain, Italy, Portugal and Greece, the airline said. On Monday, Heathrow said a daily limit of 100,000 departing passengers will now apply until Oct. 29 as the UK’s biggest hub contends with a prolonged labor shortage at ground-handling firms. Describing Heathrow as “hopeless,” Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary said both the carrier and Stansted have sufficient staff to handle the extra flights. <br/>

Air Algérie has announced the launch of its new direct route between Algiers and Doha at the rate of two flights per week every Thursday and Saturday, marking the 45th international route for the national carrier. The new direct route operates between Doha’s Hamad International Airport and Algiers’ Houari Boumediene Airport, departing DOH at 10:30 (Doha local time), arriving in ALG at 15:05 (Algiers local time), with the return flight departing ALG at 00:45 am (Algiers local time), arriving in DOH at 09:00 (Doha local time). The new partnership between the two countries will witness the usage of Airbus A330 with 18 Business Class seats, 14 Economy Premium seats and 219 Economy Class seats – bringing the aircraft to a total of 251 seats. Yacine Benslimane, CEO at Air Algérie commented: “I am pleased to announce this partnership between Air Algérie and Hamad International Airport, with direct flights now connecting Algiers and Doha. This partnership marks the 45th international route for Air Algérie. This new route is driven by a desire to strengthen economic and trade cooperation between the two countries while enabling the movement of people and cargo between Qatar and Algeria. Air Algérie continuously strives to ensure quality service, punctuality and guaranteed safety and security for its passengers.”<br/>

Indian low-cost carrier SpiceJet Ltd (SPJT.NS) said on Tuesday it has entered into a settlement agreement with aircraft lessor Goshawk Aviation and its affiliates related to three Boeing aircraft. The airline said that the agreement - the terms of which are confidential - ends all litigation proceedings between the parties, adding that this will allow SpiceJet to add two more fuel-efficient Boeing 737 MAX aircraft and one Boeing 737-800 NG aircraft to its fleet. Recently, SpiceJet has been in trouble with its lessors, Ireland-based Alterna Aircraft Ltd and United Arab Emirates aeronautics firm AWAS, who asked the Indian aviation regulator to de-register their planes. Last week, Reuters reported lenders IDFC First Bank, Yes Bank and Indian Bank, had put their loans to the airline in the high-risk category.<br/>

Liaoning Fangda Group Industrial, controlling owner of Hainan Airlines Holding, has outlined plans to inject more cash into the loss-making carrier in a private placement to be issued to wholly-owned Fangda subsidiary Hainan Hanwei Investment, according to a series of Shanghai Stock Exchange filings. Hanwei will buy up to CNY10,870,393,700 yuan (US$1.6b) worth of shares (9,972,838,277 of them) in the Hainan Airlines (HU, Haikou) parent, the proceeds to be deployed “to supplement working capital”, the filings published late on August 11 said. Trading in Hainan Airlines Holding, which Fangda bought from failed conglomerate HNA Group last year, is limited due to risk of delisting, but the stock price rose on the news of the cash injection. The carrier, whose majority-owned subsidiaries include Shaanxi Changan Airlines Travel Co., Ltd., China Xinhua Airlines, Fuzhou Airlines, GX Airlines, Lucky Air (China), Shanxi Airlines, and Urumqi Air, said in January that it would ask the stock exchange to cancel the risk warning, a development it had disclosed in April 2021. But most of the carriers under the holding company have struggled this year to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic. Meetings of Hainan Airlines Holding’s board of directors and board of supervisors approved the cash booster on August 11, but it still needs to be reviewed and approved by the company’s general meeting of shareholders. The price per share for the issue is CNY1.09 (USD0.16), representing a discount of about 24% compared with the closing price the previous day.<br/>

AirAsia is looking at re-establishing its hub in Penang on the back of strong demand for direct flights to the island regionally. AirAsia Malaysia CEO Riad Asmat said despite the overwhelming demand from other countries in the region for direct flights to Penang, the airline’s capacity is limited with only two aircraft operating from the island currently, Bernama reported. “When compared with pre-Covid levels, our operations in Penang right now are at about 60% in terms of scheduled flights and we aim to increase it to 80% by year-end. A third aircraft will enable us to achieve that target sooner,” he said. "In the first quarter of next year, things will likely stabilise even more considering ASEAN is more open now and not that strict when it comes to COVID-19 protocols,” he told the media after signing a memorandum of collaboration (MoC) with Penang Global Tourism CEO Ooi Chok Yan here today. The MoC encompasses greater commercial collaboration and partnerships between the airline and the tourism body to create new business opportunities, develop joint sales and marketing campaigns, strengthen flight connectivity, and boost the state’s economy through tourism.<br/>