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Low-cost carrier Volaris' El Salvador operation will expand its flights to the United States, adding three new routes out of the San Salvador airport, the company said Thursday. Flights from El Salvador's capital airport will fly direct to Houston, Texas, and Oakland, California, four times a week, along with a thrice-weekly flight to Miami, Florida with a layover in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, Volaris said in a statement. The routes are scheduled to begin in March 2023 and will double Volaris El Salvador's current offerings, the company said. The expansion comes as Mexico, where Volaris is based, is prohibited from launching new routes to the United States as it lacks the US' Category 1 aviation safety rating. Volaris said in October it was budgeting for Mexico to regain the rating by the second half of 2023.<br/>

WestJet has declined to provide compensation to passengers who were stuck in a sweltering airplane cabin in Jamaica earlier this month, claiming the flight was cancelled because of "a security-related incident" outside the airline's control. That's a marked departure from what WestJet initially told CTV News Vancouver about the cancellation, when it blamed the lack of air conditioning in the cabin on a "mechanical issue" and said the flight was offloaded because of how long it was taking to fix. The airline now says the situation evolved over time, and that security was the main reason the flight was cancelled. Still, an air passenger rights expert believes WestJet should be on the hook for thousands of dollars in compensation. On Nov. 3, WestJet flight WS2703 from Montego Bay to Toronto was cancelled. Boarding had been completed, but the air conditioning in the cabin wasn't turning on. Grace Hill was one of the people on board. She was on her way back to Vancouver after attending her mother's destination wedding. Earlier this month, Hill told CTV News passengers "band(ed) together" to demand the plane return to the gate, because they were concerned the onboard temperature was getting dangerously high. Hill alleges that the flight crew initially told passengers returning to the gate would mean further delays, and was reluctant to do so. "We're like, 'We don't care,'" Hill recalled. "We need to save these people's lives. There's seniors fainting, there's children drenched in sweat." Lisa Lossner was also on the plane, hoping to get back to Toronto after a vacation with a friend. On Tuesday, she explained that she got up and made her way to the back of the plane because she was feeling "really, really faint" in the heat. Story has details.<br/>

British airline easyJet is expected to respond to demands for higher pay from French unions by early next week at the latest, a union representative said on Thursday. The pay talks come as Europe braces for strikes affecting airlines ahead of its busiest Christmas travel seasons in three years as it recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic. Air France's unionized workers have given notice to strike from Dec. 22 to Jan. 2, while Britain's Border Force is also expected to strike, potentially disrupting transit times. The SNPNC union statement comes after an hours-long meeting between easyJet and the SNPNC and UNAC near Paris. Talks have been going on since early November and are set to end on Dec. 7. An SNPNC representative said that if easyJet does not accept its demands, a strike is "inevitable". At Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport, ADP group employees responsible for energy supply went on strike earlier this week to demand more jobs, according to union FO-ADP. Other strikes are currently disrupting the refuelling of planes, while another has hit Air France's freight transport sector, France's General Confederation of Labour said. "There is no strike action notice to date in France and negotiations are ongoing," an easyJet spokesperson told Reuters ahead of the meeting. EasyJet's French workers are demanding a raise of at least 8% to compensate for rising inflation as well as a hike in the cost of their healthcare premium, an SNPNC union representative said.<br/>

CEs of Ryanair and Wizz Air said on Thursday the budget airlines are set for strong bookings in the next few months as travellers prepare to fly freely for the first time in three years over Christmas since the COVID-19 pandemic. “Christmas is very strong. At the moment, Christmas bookings are running ahead of where they were pre-COVID in 2019 and pricing is ahead by a low double-digit percentage,” Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary told reporters. Earlier this week, he had said that the winter for Ryanair was “amazing”. Separately, Wizz Air CEO Jozsef Varadi told a conference in Gibraltar that bookings at Wizz Air were intact for the next three months.<br/>

Wizz Air “is not a good candidate” for mergers and acquisitions, but will focus on organic growth for the time being, its CE Jozsef Varadi said on Thursday. Varadi made the comment in response to a question about a potential acquisition of British airline easyJet by Wizz Air during the CAPA World Aviation Summit in Gibraltar.<br/>

Ryanair Thursday signed a sustainable aviation fuel supply agreement with Shell, but CE Michael O'Leary said it would take a "revolution" to hit his target of powering 12.5% of flights with the fuel by 2030. The Irish airline, Europe's largest by passenger numbers, said the memorandum of understanding could give it potential access to 360,000 tonnes of SAF from 2025 to 2030, a fifth of what it says it needs to reach its 12.5% target. "I'm not sure we'll get there (12.5%) but by signing up more partnership agreements with Shell, with Neste and with the other fuel suppliers, I think that gives us our best chance of maybe getting to 8, maybe 10, maybe 11," O'Leary told a sustainability conference the airline was hosting on Thursday. "Who knows, hopefully we will get to 12.5% by 2030. But that will not happen unless we have a dramatic revolution in supply of production of SAFs and availability at our airports." The Shell deal follows similar agreements Ryanair has struck with Finnish biofuel producer Neste and Austrian oil and gas group OMV. Sustainable jet fuel generally produces up to 70% less carbon than fossil fuels, offering airlines a way to become greener while continuing to fly, before less carbon-intensive hybrid, electric or hydrogen aeroplane options become available. O'Leary told an Irish parliamentary committee on Wednesday that he did not expect a hydrogen engine to be ready before 2040 or 2050.<br/>

Israel’s Global Knafaim Leasing is injecting additional capital into Cypriot carrier Tus Airways, via a share issue, the lessor reveals in its Q3 financial statement. It says that the board approved the extra investment of $2m on 30 November. Investment partner Kenneth Woolley has similarly contributed in order to maintain the ownership balance in which Global Knafaim Leasing holds 49.9%. The lessor’s board has also approved additional investment of up to $1.5m, depending on what is needed, to the end of Q2 next year. Global Knafaim says that Tus is a relatively new “stand-alone” company and is being funded from continuing operations and owner investments, rather than external entities. The lessor is to undertake a rights offer to its shareholders amounting to some 21m shekels ($6m), with some of the proceeds to be used for the Tus investment. Global Knafaim had previously provided, in June, a loan of $2m to Tus with a term of two years unless the lessor embarked on a capital raise to repay it sooner. Tus Airways operates a fleet of five Airbus A320s, one of which has been operating as a wet-lease for another carrier until March next year.<br/>

AirAsia Indonesia remained in the red in its nine-month earnings, only narrowing its operating losses slightly despite a fivefold jump in revenue for the period. For the nine months to 30 September, the parent company of Indonesia AirAsia posted an operating loss of Rp1.3t ($83.3m), a slight improvement compared to the Rp1.5t loss in the year-ago period. Revenue for the period stood at Rp2.5t, a fivefold jump year on year as flying activity increased with markets reopening. However, the rise in revenue failed to offset the jump in operating costs, which doubled year on year to Rp3.8t. Fuel costs were the main factor for the increase, while other operations-related expenses also rose year on year. AirAsia Indonesia posted a nine-month net loss of Rp1.5t, slightly narrowing from Rp1.65t in the year-ago period. The company ended the period with Rp132b in cash and cash equivalents, significantly higher than the Rp21.1b at the start of the year. It is also higher than the Rp24b at the end of the year-ago period. The company’s financial results come as the AirAsia Aviation Group also released its Q3 results, which saw the airline group remain profitable for a second consecutive quarter.<br/>

Malaysia Aviation Group subsidiary MASwings has operated its first passenger flight using sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Flight MH3043, using an ATR72-500 aircraft, took off here on Thursday (Dec 1) for Labuan at 10am with 40 passengers on board and continued to Miri, Sarawak via MH3223 at 11am with 44 passengers, said the Borneo regional carrier in a statement. "Today's first SAF on passenger flights operated by MASwings marks a significant milestone in creating a more sustainable operating environment and to achieve the group's target of net zero carbon emissions by 2050. "Without these crucial first steps, we will never be able to progress. I applaud our team's efforts as it demonstrates our commitment to a 'sustainable tomorrow' by ensuring that its services and operations in Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan meets the aspirations and expectations of the government and the public," said MASwings COO Captain Nasaruddin A. Bakar. In line with MAG's sustainability journey which is guided by the group's sustainability blueprint launched in April last year, the initiative by MASwings adds to a series of SAF flights launched starting with the country's first cargo and passenger flights using SAF.<br/>

Australian low-cost carrier Jetstar will begin operating at Changi Airport Terminal 4 from March 22, 2023. Confirming the date in a joint statement with Changi Airport Group (CAG) on Thursday, the group said the first Jetstar Asia flight to arrive at T4 on that day will be from Manila at 12.40am, with a flight departing for Manila at 6.15am. The first Jetstar Airways flight to depart from T4 will be to Melbourne at 10.10pm on March 22, with the return flight arriving in Singapore the next day at 8.10pm. Jetstar Asia will initially operate more than 200 weekly services from T4 to and from South-east Asian destinations, while Jetstar Airways will continue to fly between Singapore and Melbourne up to six times a week. In July, Jetstar had refused to move from Terminal 1 to T4 after CAG announced the relocation. The airline subsequently said on Nov 4 that it would move to T4, following months of talks and a joint study by CAG and Jetstar on the potential impact of the move. On Thursday, both parties said the relocation to T4 will enable Changi Airport to optimise the use of its aircraft gates to meet the growing demand for air travel, while allowing Jetstar to grow. Barathan Pasupathi, CE of Jetstar Asia, said the airline will continue to provide low fares for customers after the relocation as it ramps up operations.<br/>