unaligned

Argentine low-cost carrier Flybondi has issued a request for proposals to lessors covering five more Boeing narrowbodies for 2023 as it expects its fleet to reach a dozen aircraft by year-end. Speaking during a media briefing at the ALTA Airline Leaders forum in Buenos Aires on 17 October, Flybondi chief executive Mauricio Sana reported progress in the carrier’s plan set out a year ago to double the size of its pre-pandemic operations. ”First we need more planes. If we want to double the passengers, we need to double the fleet,” he says. Flybondi had been operating five Boeing 737-800s and earlier in October took its eighth Boeing narrowbody. ”Next month we should be completing the doubling of our fleet to 10 aircraft,” Sana says. ”We hope we can incorporate two more aircraft by the end of the year, so our fleet will be 12 aircraft.”He adds the airline has also just issued an RFP for five more aircraft for delivery next year to take its fleet up to 17. ”With this fleet, we could be operating by the end of 2023 in all Argentine provinces,” he says. Citing load factors of 94%, Sana however notes the airline has already doubled its market share, according to September data, on domestic routes from 9% to 18%. During the same month, the airline carried around 200,000 passengers – 87% more than in September 2019. ”Our goal is to carry 5m passengers in 2023,” he adds. Flybondi carried 1.5m passenger 2019 before the pandemic. Flybondi launched in 2018 amid an opening of route rights in the country, operating predominantly domestic flights. The airline currently has five of its 737s based at Buenos Aires Ezeiza airport and three at the city’s downtown Aeroparque International Jorge Newberry airport.<br/>

Heathrow airport has appointed a senior executive to rebuild relations with airlines following a tempestuous summer marred by travel disruption. The UK’s busiest airport has moved director of operations Kathryn Leahy to a newly created role of director of “Team Heathrow”, a body that brings together all companies working at the airport including airlines and ground handlers. “If we have learnt one thing this year it’s that we are only successful if we come together as a team,” Heathrow’s chief operating officer Emma Gilthorpe told staff in an email. About 70,000 people work at Heathrow during peak season, but only 10% are employed by the airport itself. Instead, its operations are dependent on a web of companies, ranging from airlines to ground handlers and caterers, as well as Border Force officials. “We will only build a better understanding of the ecosystem and the many constituent parts if we give it some top quality focus,” the email said. Heathrow has regularly clashed with its airline customers over how much it should charge in landing fees, but rows over the day-to-day operations of the hub are rare. The creation of the new role is an indication that Heathrow’s senior management is keen to move on from a difficult summer that saw the airport impose an unprecedented passenger cap on airlines to combat last-minute disruption and delays because of staff shortages. The imposition of the cap, which is set to be lifted at the end of this month, led to a furious row with some airlines, who objected to being forced to disrupt passengers’ journeys at short notice. Some airline bosses said they were blindsided by the decision, notably Emirates, which publicly rebuked the move as “airmageddon”. Heathrow hit back at airlines, blaming them for not having enough ground handlers to operate their flights. Three UK aviation executives said they believed the dispute with Emirates could have been avoided if Heathrow had clearly communicated its plans with Emirates management in Dubai.<br/>

Ryanair Holdings CEO Michael O’Leary said the discount carrier’s ability to gain market share from rivals in a looming economic slowdown is at risk from delays to Boeing jetliner deliveries. O’Leary said Tuesday he’s concerned the US planemaker may ship only 12 or 13 of the 21 Max aircraft that Ryanair is due to get before Christmas, leaving close to 40 to be delivered by the start of the summer peak in late May. “Boeing is a challenge,” the CEO said at a briefing in Rome. “The only dark cloud on our horizon at the moment is, can Boeing deliver enough aircraft so we can keep growing faster in the recession?” A failure to deliver all 51 jets by the end of June would force a reduction in summer capacity growth, he said. Ryanair has maintained that an economic slump will be good for business as cash-strapped Europeans trade down to the lowest available air fares rather than give up on traveling altogether. O’Leary plans to visit Boeing’s manufacturing center in Seattle later this month to discuss delays the planemaker has linked to supplier issues and labor shortages. While Boeing has yet to clear a backlog of completed but undelivered 737s after the Max was grounded following two fatal crashes, as well as a number of jets earmarked for China which were held up by a block on the model in the Asian nation, Ryanair orders are for a special high-density version of the jet. Boeing told Bloomberg it values its partnership with Ryanair and is committed to supporting the Irish airline. Production snags are also a problem for Boeing rival Airbus, which cut its full-year delivery goal after seeing plans for a ramp-up in monthly A320-series output frustrated by problems at suppliers including engine makers.<br/>

RwandAir is to open a non-stop service to Kigali from London Heathrow, having previously served the UK capital via Brussels. The airline says it will operate the route four-times weekly, up from the current thrice-weekly service. RwandAir CE Yvonne Makolo says the switch to the non-stop rotation – from 6 November – is a result of the “popularity” of the connection. “The UK is an incredibly important market for us, and we know our customers will value the shorter flight times and increased connections that will be offered by the new service,” she adds. RwandAir, which has been using Airbus A330s on the route, has flown London-Kigali via Brussels for the last five years. It originally operated from London Gatwick but, after three years, switched to Heathrow in 2020.<br/>

Fly ZeJet has received approval from the Cameroon Civil Aviation Authority (CCAA) to operate domestic and international passenger and cargo services, according to local news reports. Although no formal announcement has been made, certification was confirmed in an official document on October 12, 2022, from the CCAA to pan African air navigation services provider ASECNA, reported Journal du Cameroun. According to the letter, the startup will be able to operate domestic and international scheduled and on-demand flights ferrying passengers, cargo, and mail. Neither the CCAA, nor Fly ZeJet was immediately available for comment. As reported, Fly ZeJet intends to operate with a fleet of five ex-HOP! (France) E145s leased from Regio Lease. The first two have been delivered with a third expected soon. The new carrier is linked to Cameroonian businessman Francois Emmanuel, who in 2016 unsuccessfully tried to establish Fly CamInter owned by Equa2C, a Cameroonian company formed in conjunction with France’s Regourd Aviation. Fly ZeJet reportedly plans to serve the most popular routes in the country between Douala, Yaoundé Nsimalen, Garoua, and Maroua, targeting business and student travellers.<br/>

Aeroflot saw its group passenger numbers drop 8.2% year on year in the first nine months of 2022, Interfax reported on Tuesday, citing figures from the company's CEO. "We carried 31.3m passengers as a group in the first nine months of 2022," Aeroflot CEO Sergei Aleksandrovsky was quoted as saying, down from 34.1m in the same period of 2021. He added that the airline will need to recruit 3,500 additional pilots to operate domestically-manufactured airplanes, Interfax reported, as Russia plans to end its reliance on Western aircraft.<br/>

British travel company Jet2 said it ordered 35 new Airbus A320neo aircraft worth $3.9b at list prices, with an option to extend this to 71 aircraft, as it bets that demand for package holidays will keep growing. The new order follows Jet2's deal to buy 36 slightly bigger A321neo in 2021, its first purchase from Europe-based Airbus after it switched loyalties from US planemaker Boeing . Jet2 said Tuesday that the initial 35 aircraft are due to be delivered between 2028 and 2031 and that it had negotiated a significant discount from the list price. It said it planned to finance the aircraft from internal resources and debt. The new deal brings Jet2's total number of firm ordered aircraft to 98, with the potential to extend this to 146, which it said would help grow the business as well as refresh its existing fleet.<br/>

T'way Air, a Korean low-cost carrier, said Monday it will open an Incheon-Sydney route in December as pent-up travel demand is unleashed amid eased virus curbs. T'way Air will provide four flights a week between Incheon, 27 kilometers west of Seoul, and Sydney starting Dec. 23, the company said. In February 2020, T'way Air became the country's first budget carrier to obtain the rights to offer flights on the Incheon-Sydney route dominated by the country's two full-service carriers, Korean Air Lines and Asiana Airlines, the statement said. T'way Air has 30 chartered passenger jets ― three A330-300s and 27 B737-800s ― to offer flights mainly on routes to Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, Guam, Saipan and the Philippines. "We are currently offering flights at only 30% of the pre-pandemic level," a company spokeswoman said.<br/>