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Southwest Airlines's revenue from leisure travel for the current quarter was exceeding its expectations, the US carrier said on Thursday, underlining strong appetite for travel despite high inflation. The airline said it continues to experience "strong revenue trends" in Q3, which is typically marked by a drop in leisure travel after the labor holiday weekend. Airline commentary on demand has been the focus of investors amid fears that decades high inflation will eat into household budgets. But so far, US carriers say they have not experienced any meaningful hit. "Although early in the booking curve, the company continues to experience strong revenue trends in fourth quarter 2022," Southwest said, while reaffirming full-year profit expectations. The company tightened its operating revenue growth for the quarter through September to 9% to 11% from the comparable 2019 quarter, versus its previous expectation of 8% to 12%<br/>

Frontier Airlines “recently” held discussions with SpaceX about adding its Starlink satellite internet service to its planes and is more hopeful about adding such a product than in previous years, the carrier’s CEO said Thursday. Adding Starlink’s Wi-Fi would be a departure for the budget carrier, which doesn’t currently offer inflight internet service. CEO Barry Biffle says skipping Wi-Fi for now allows the airline to be more “green” because it limits weight on board. Representatives for SpaceX didn’t immediately comment. “The challenge is I don’t want the weight and I don’t want drag,” Biffle said in an interview on the sidelines of an aerospace conference in Washington, D.C. “I don’t carry business travelers.” Most major US airlines offer Wi-Fi on board for a fee, though many are trying to improve the quality and lower the cost. Elon Musk’s SpaceX is currently building its Starlink broadband network, which includes more than 3,000 satellites in orbit so far and has around 500,000 total customers — most of whom are individual consumers. In June, the FCC authorized SpaceX to provide mobile Starlink internet service to boats, planes and trucks. The company recently signed a deal with cruise line Royal Caribbean. Denver-based Frontier has explored adding Wi-Fi on board before and frequently talks with other providers but, so far, hasn’t been able to justify the cost. That’s changing, Biffle said. “We’re more hopeful now that with Starlink coming in there’s going to be some rationalization of cost and pricing,” Biffle said. “When the price gets cheap enough, I’ll put it on.”<br/>

Frontier Airlines CEO Barry Biffle thinks his airline’s outlook is better than ever after JetBlue Airways beat it in a bidding war for budget competitor Spirit Airlines. “Ninety-five percent of US capacity will be 30 to 80% higher cost than us,” Biffle said Thursday. One of his main focuses at Frontier is using low costs as a competitive advantage and, by JetBlue buying Spirit and bringing it up to the former’s cost levels, many see the deal as an elimination of Frontier’s main low-cost competitor in the US. Airlines compare their expenses using the metric unit costs — measured by costs per available seat mile — excluding fuel. In the second quarter, Frontier’s unit costs excluding fuel were 7.24 cents, Spirit’s were 6.96 cents, and JetBlue’s were 9.68 cents. Put another way, JetBlue’s costs are 33 percent higher than those at Frontier. The combination of JetBlue and Spirit will leave Frontier as one of the only airlines serving major markets with very low costs in the US. Asked about potential cost pressure from new pilot pay deals at certain US regional airlines, Biffle was unconcerned and said Frontier can offer cockpit crew members better pay over their career, as well as a better work-life balance than the regionals can. Frontier, he added, is in “good shape” when it comes to a supply of pilots. With low costs in mind, Frontier is moving ahead with aggressive expansion plans. The airline intends to grow capacity by double digits annually through the end of the decade, Biffle said. Frontier aims to triple in size by 2030.<br/>

Brazil airline Gol Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes will pay more than $41m to resolve parallel bribery investigations by criminal and civil authorities in the United States and Brazil, US authorities said on Thursday. Gol entered into a three-year deferred prosecution agreement with the Justice Department in connection with criminal information filed in Maryland charging the company with conspiracy to violate anti-bribery legislation, the department said. The US Securities and Exchange Commission said that Gol had agreed to pay $70m to settle charges against it. However, due to Gol's "inability to pay the fines in full, the SEC and the (Justice Department) waived payment of all but $24.5m and $17m", it added. Gol will pay around $3.4m in additional fines to Brazilian authorities, the SEC said. The airline agreed with the Justice Department to pay more than $87m to settle criminal charges, the SEC added. Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Polite, of the Justice Department's criminal division, said Gol had "paid millions of dollars in bribes to foreign officials in Brazil in exchange for the passage of legislation that was beneficial to the airline." Polite added that Gol had "entered into fraudulent contracts with third-party vendors for the purpose of generating and concealing the funds necessary to perpetrate this criminal conduct, and then falsely recorded the sham payments in their own books."<br/>

Lawyers representing families who lost loved ones in the destruction of Flight PS752 say they put forward a submission Wednesday calling on the International Criminal Court to investigate the case as a possible war crime or crime against humanity. The families say it's taking too long for Canada to pursue justice and are taking matters into their own hands. "We have no indication of a roadmap to justice or a timeline of action from the affected countries, especially Canada," said Hamed Esmaeilion, spokesperson for the association representing the families. His wife and nine-year-old daughter died onboard the flight. "The affected countries, they have acted with a glacial pace that has been marred by bureaucracy and a wishful thinking attitude toward a meaningful negotiation with the Islamic Republic of Iran." The coalition of countries that lost citizens on the plane — which includes Canada — abandoned its efforts to negotiate reparations with Iran in January after being repeatedly stonewalled. Ever since, the coalition said it has been focused on taking action "in accordance with international law." The families are now asking that the Canadian government support its request to the International Criminal Court for a review of all available evidence with the aim of prosecuting those responsible.<br/>

Hundreds of passengers in Ireland face disruption as a result of Aer Lingus decision to ground eight flights after London’s Heathrow Airport announced it was changing schedules to “ensure silence” during Queen Elizabeth’s funeral. The airline said three return services between Dublin and Heathrow and one return service between Belfast City Airport and Heathrow have been cancelled because of the State ceremony in the UK on Monday. Ryanair has not responded to queries about any changes to its scheduled flights. Aer Lingus said “we have had to make some changes to our London Heathrow operation, resulting in the cancellation of four return flights.” “Due to the large number of flights we operate into London Heathrow, we have been able to re-accommodate all customers with alternative same-day Aer Lingus services, resulting in minimal disruption to their travel plans,” a spokeswoman said.<br/>

Wizz Air Holdingsplans to order 75 Airbus narrow-body jets as the discount carrier doubles down on its rapid expansion in a challenge to sector leader Ryanair. Wizz will exercise purchase rights for the A321neo jets granted by the manufacturer last year, it said Thursday. Delivery dates are subject to agreement. Eastern Europe’s biggest low-cost airline has already lifted capacity above pre-Covid levels as travel rebounds from the pandemic. CEO Jozsef Varadi said the new order puts Wizz on track to become a 500-aircraft group by the end of the decade as it expands west to challenge network airlines and rival discounters like Ryanair. “The combination of Wizz Air’s ultra-low cost operation and the market-leading Airbus A321neo aircraft together create a strong platform for Wizz Air’s future growth,” Varadi said.<br/>

Ryanair said it will cancel 420 Friday flights, impacting 80,000 passengers, due to an air traffic control strike in France that will limit overflights and more than halve Air France's scheduled short and medium-haul services. France's DGAC aviation authority earlier this week asked airlines to halve their flight schedules on Friday due to the planned strike. Ryanair, Europe's largest airline by passengers carried, said it will mainly be impacted by the limitation on overflying France. It flies up to 3,000 flights a day across Europe during its peak season. "It is time that the EU step in and protect overflights so that European passengers are not repeatedly held to ransom by a tiny French ATC union," Ryanair Operations Director Neal McMahon said. Other air traffic control centres should be allowed manage overflights of France during strikes, the statement said. <br/>

Ryanair apologised on Thursday for blocking media access to its Annual General Meeting, saying it happened by mistake, but said it would continue to prevent access to one journalist from an Irish newspaper. Reporters who understood they were being brought to the Annual General Meeting room, which is normally open to the press, were told they were being brought to a media room instead for a post-AGM briefing by CE Michael O'Leary. After the conclusion of the meeting, O'Leary apologised to journalists saying his team had "mishandled" the situation and promised a more detailed explanation later. All resolutions at the meeting were approved, Ryanair said, with 96% backing the remuneration policy and 100% backing the company's annual accounts, the airline said. Most of the board was re-elected by at least 85% of shareholders, though two former senior Ryanair executives, Howard Millar and Michael Cawley were backed by 72% each. Proxy advisory firm PIRC has questioned whether former executives can provide independent oversight. O'Leary said he did not agree and said the two gave management "the most grief" of any board members. He said he had no plans to replace either. O'Leary defended a decision to bar John Mulligan, a journalist for the Irish Independent, who he said had "misreported" on the company in the past, a charge Mulligan has repeatedly rejected as baseless.<br/>

Ryanair CE Michael O'Leary is in talks on a new contract that could keep him at the airline until 2028 and hopes to sign the new contract by March, subject to agreement on terms, he told journalists on Thursday. O'Leary's current contract is due to expire at the end of July 2024.<br/>

AirAsia Aviation Group expects the number of weekly flights from Singapore to surpass pre-pandemic numbers by the end of the year, as it looks to – for the first time – operate widebodies on flights to the city state. Disclosing the forecast on 15 September, chief executive of parent company Capital A Tony Fernandes says AirAsia units are at present operating around 180 weekly flights to points in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines, or about 60% pre-Covid-19 levels. Pre-pandemic, AirAsia units were operating more than 350 weekly flights, notes Fernandes, who was speaking in Singapore, where AirAsia Aviation marked its return to Changi Airport’s Terminal 4. The terminal building was shut amid falling traffic during the pandemic, with AirAsia Aviation moving operations to Terminal 1. It is the third airline group to return to Terminal 4, days after Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific and Korean Air. Other carriers expected to return to the terminal include Vietnam Airlines, as well as China’s Juneyao Air.<br/>Calling Singapore an “integral market” for the airline group, Fernandes likens the return to Terminal 4 operations to “a bit like coming home”. “This is an airport that we’ve always wanted others to model [upon]. It allows us to have a very efficient cost base, and allows us to be very quick, and [it] has fully utilised all of our own digital capabilities as we move forward,” Fernandes says. Adds AirAsia Aviation CEO Bo Lingam: “[The] improved efficiencies align perfectly with our quest to maintain the lowest cost structure and deliver on our vision of contactless and seamless travel.”<br/>