The world has another new passenger airline. Sri Lanka’s Fits Air, born from a cargo airline, began offering low-fare flights from Colombo on Wednesday. It aims to compete with long-troubled SriLankan Airlines, a state-backed entity. Fits Air is hardly alone. Despite a grave pandemic that all but froze worldwide air travel, the past three years have produced a bumper crop of new passenger airlines, some launching even during the depths of the crisis. Conversely, the number of major airlines that disappeared during the pandemic is surprisingly low. In June, IATA counted 66 new passenger airlines born in 2020 and 2021, not much less than the 80 airline deaths it recorded during the same period. In 2019, the industry saw 34 births and 54 deaths. Importantly though, many of the departed carriers were small, some with just a handful of planes. Bankruptcies, to be sure, have been plentiful. Large and influential carriers including Aeromexico, Avianca, Garuda Indonesia, Latam Airlines Group, Norwegian Air, Philippine Airlines, SAS, Thai Airways, Virgin Australia, and Virgin Atlantic Airways all sought court protection from their creditors. But all are still flying today, courtesy in some cases of generous government aid. Billions in government support, meanwhile, prevented many of the world’s other airlines from having to enter bankruptcy. Others like Britain’s Flybe, Mexico’s Interjet, Slovenia’s Adria Airways, and South Africa’s Comair really did disappear altogether. Remarkably though, no airline of major international significance went away. Some like Alitalia were essentially reincarnated in new clothing. In several cases, airlines closed subsidiaries or joint ventures — Cathay Pacific’s discontinuance of the Cathay Dragon brand, for example. AirAsia shuttered its Japanese airline. Virgin Australia waved goodbye to its Tigerair unit. Bankrupt South African Airways, aside from vastly scaling down its network, closed its low-cost carrier, Mango.<br/>
unaligned
JetBlue’s $3.8b bid to buy Spirit Airlines has been endorsed by two firms that advise major investors on how to vote. Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass, Lewis & Co. recommended that Spirit stockholders vote to accept JetBlue’s offer when they vote on Oct. 19. Spirit CEO Ted Christie said Thursday that the companies are continuing to make progress toward completing the transaction. The last major hurdle to JetBlue buying Spirit is the Justice Department, which is reviewing the deal for possible antitrust concerns. Government lawyers are currently in court in Boston, asking a federal judge to kill a partnership between JetBlue and American Airlines, which the government says will reduce competition and lead to higher fares. JetBlue won a bidding war with Frontier Airlines to get Spirit, which is based in Miramar, Florida, and is the nation’s largest budget carrier. New York-based JetBlue Airways says the deal will make it a stronger competitor to American, United, Delta and Southwest.<br/>
Canadian airline company WestJet Group has announced a partnership with the Government of Alberta to make significant progress across the province’s aviation sector. In order to further enhance its growth strategy, WestJet plans to make a significant investment in aircraft capacity, with more than C$7b in Calgary alone for fleet commitments to be based within the province. WestJet Group CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech said: “Alberta has been WestJet’s home for 26 years, and today’s historic agreement builds upon an existing foundation of low taxes and investment-friendly policies. As Western Canada’s home team carrier, Alberta is an area where we want to continue to invest in securing WestJet’s thriving future. Through the pandemic and onward, the Government of Alberta prioritised the importance and advancement of aviation and the visitor economy across the province and recognised that aviation is central to the economic diversification of Alberta.” WestJet also plans to develop Calgary International Airport (YYC) as its single global connecting hub.<br/>
Embraer said Thursday that Oman's low-cost carrier SalamAir has signed a firm order for six E195-E2 jets, with options for a further six aircraft, an announcement that sent shares in the Brazilian planemaker higher. The deal was valued at $934.6m with all options exercised and will be added to Embraer's third-quarter backlog, the company said. Deliveries are expected to begin in late 2023. The chief executive of Embraer Commercial Aviation, Arjan Meijer, said the order highlights the company's growth in the Middle East, "a region that has often focused on long-haul travel." SalamAir's announcement adds to E195-E2 orders disclosed by the Brazilian planemaker earlier this year, including a 20-aircraft order by Canada's Porter Airlines during the Farnborough Airshow in July. Embraer and Royal Jordanian Airlines also signed a memorandum of understanding for the sale of 10 aircraft of its E2 jet family, the Jordanian carrier said Thursday. Embraer, the world's third-largest planemaker after Boeing and Airbus, had reported a firm order backlog of $17.8b at the end of Q2, a four-year high. Following SalamAir's new order, analysts at JPMorgan estimated that Embraer's backlog now stands at $18.4b, which would represent the highest level since Q1 2018.<br/>
About 30,000 passengers will likely be affected by a one-day strike by pilots at Eurowings on Thursday, said Lufthansa's budget airline, which added that it was doing everything it could to minimize the strike's consequences. The airline said on Wednesday it expects to be able to operate about half its usual schedule of just over 500 flights. The action will affect only Eurowings Germany flights, not those of Eurowings Europe. Pilots' union Vereinigung Cockpit, which announced the strike on Tuesday after 10 rounds of talks failed, wants Eurowings to ease pilots' workloads by, for example, cutting the amount of time a pilot would have to be on duty or increasing their rest periods. A Eurowings board member, Kai Duve, said in a statement that the demands endanger the viability of the airline.<br/>
Shares of SpiceJet surged 9% on Thursday following reports the Indian budget carrier is likely to receive an additional loan of 10b rupees ($122.7m) under the government's modified Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme. The government on Wednesday enhanced the maximum loan amount eligibility for airlines under the scheme to 100% of their loan outstanding to help the companies tide over cash-flow problems. The funds will help the airline clear its dues, pay lessors on time and induct new Boeing 737 Max planes, Business Standard newspaper reported, citing sources. The airline is currently operating less than 50% of its approved flights, following an order from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation due to multiple incidents involving its aircraft. Spicejet did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Bankers have also been contacted to raise $200m, Mint reported, citing an airline official. The report comes two weeks after the air safety watchdog extended a restriction on SpiceJet's flight departures until Oct. 29. <br/>
FitsAir, which had so far been a cargo airline, started operations as a low-cost scheduled international passenger carrier on Wednesday as it took off from Colombo’s Bandaranaike International Airport for Dubai. Formerly known as ExpoAir, the airline owned by Aberdeen Holdings is said to be the country’s first privately owned scheduled international passenger carrier. The low-cost carrier will be flying the Colombo-Dubai route three times a week and will also start thrice-weekly operations to Male in Maldives from October 10. FitsAir will also be flying to cities in south India, the first of which will be to Trichy in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu, from October 28. FitsAir also marks the return of aviation veteran Peter Murray Hill to Sri Lanka as the vice president of passenger operations. Hill had earlier been the CEO of SriLankan Airlines while it was under the Emirates management, helming the airline from 1998 to 2007. He is famously credited to have steered the loss-making Sri Lankan Airlines towards profitability. However, his work permit was revoked in 2007, when he refused preferential treatment by not giving seats to the then-President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his 35-member entourage on a fully booked flight from London during their private visit. With over 50 years of experience in airlines, including British Airways, Oman Air and Gulf Air, Hill is also said to have played a major role in building Emirates to what it is today.<br/>