sky

ITA Airways will next year refresh its fleet with 39 new aircraft, allowing it to serve more long-distance destinations, the state-owned successor to Alitalia said on Friday. Long-distance flights are more profitable than short and medium haul ones, where ITA and Alitalia ceded market share to low-cost rivals such as Ryanair and EasyJet. ITA "has underwritten all the commitments for increasing the fleet in 2023, next year 39 new generation aircraft will enter into service" including nine wide-bodied Airbus A330-900, the company said in a statement. Older aircraft will discontinue service, ITA said, stating that the upgrade will mean a 73% increase in the ASK (available seat kilometre) metric, measuring passenger carrying capacity. By the end of 2023, ITA said it will have 96 planes, half of which will be new, including the single-aisle A321Neo. With the expanded fleet, the airline plans to open new routes from Rome to San Francisco, Washington, Riyadh, Jeddah and Kuwait City. ITA was established in late 2020 from the ashes of bankrupt Alitalia, and has yet to turn a profit. Until last month, the Italian government was locked in talks over the sale of a majority stake in ITA to US private equity fund Certares, backed by Air France-KLM and Delta. The exclusivity period with Certares expired on Oct. 31 without a deal.<br/>

Korean Air, Korea's biggest carrier, said Monday its third-quarter net profit more than tripled from a year earlier on recovering travel demand amid eased virus curbs. On a consolidated basis, net profit for the three months ended in September jumped to 374.26b won ($285m) from 106.27b won a year ago, the company said in a statement. "Demand for overseas travel has been on a sharp rise as mandatory quarantine for international arrivals has been removed at home and abroad," the statement said. Passenger traffic soared 67% in Q3 from a quarter earlier helped by the resumption of flights on major routes to Europe and Southeast Asia, Korean Air said, adding recovering passenger demand helped offset the impact of a weak won. The dollar rose to an average of 1,338 won in the third quarter from 1,157 won a year earlier, according to the Bank of Korea. A weak won pushes up airlines' jet fuel costs. The national flag carrier resumed services on the routes to Las Vegas, Milan, Barcelona, Rome, Da Nang and Bali during the September quarter. Looking ahead, the company expected a global economic slowdown could weigh on cargo demand in the fourth quarter but international travel demand could increase further. From January to September, net profit soared to 1.35t won from 167b won during the same period of last year. Net profit more than tripled to 2.31t won in the first nine months from 714.22b won a year ago. Sales jumped 67% to 10.22t won from 6.11t won during the cited period.<br/>