Southwest Airlines is reinstating its quarterly dividend that it suspended at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, the latest sign of the airline industry’s recovery. The $54b in federal aid that airlines received to keep paying employees during the pandemic prohibited dividends and share buybacks, restrictions that lifted this fall. Southwest is the first major US airline to reinstate its dividend. The 18-cent dividend will be paid at the end of January., Southwest said in a filing Wednesday, ahead of an investor presentation. US airlines have returned to profitability and CEOs have been upbeat about continued travel demand, even while business leaders in other industries including banking and technology have warned about economic weakness. “Today’s announcement reflects the strong return in demand for air travel and the Company’s solid operating and financial results since March 2022,” said Southwest CEO Bob Jordan. Southwest reiterated it expects Q4 revenue to be up as much as 17% over 2019, before the pandemic, a sign higher fares continue to drive airlines’ recovery. The Dallas-based airline said it expects to grow capacity next year by up to 15% compared with 2022.<br/>
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Five crew members of Canada’s Pivot Airlines have returned to Toronto after they were detained for nearly eight months in the Dominican Republic after discovering and reporting narcotics on their aircraft, the airline confirmed. The two pilots, two flight attendants, and one part-time maintenance engineer arrived to an emotional welcome from family and friends at Toronto Pearson on December 1, 2022, after a Dominican Republic judge on November 11 permitted them to return home. On departing from Punta Cana to Toronto on April 5, 2022, the crew had discovered and reported eight duffel bags with 210 kilogrammes of cocaine stuffed in the avionics bay of CRJ100ER C-FWRR. In doing so, they prevented a possible onboard fire and air disaster resulting from the added weight and unsafe location of the contraband, the airline said. Despite following local and international laws and regulations, they were arrested and spent nine days in prison, reportedly under deplorable conditions. They remained under house arrest since they were released on bail after surrendering their passports pending further investigation. According to their unions, they had faced daily threats to their lives. “The crew demonstrated incredible courage and resilience throughout the harrowing ordeal, which saw them wrongly detained in the Dominican Republic for nearly eight months. While we are relieved for the crew’s long overdue return, we know that this incident has taken a heavy toll on their lives and the lives of their families,” Pivot Airlines said.<br/>
The European Union reached a deal in the early hours of Wednesday on a law to increase the price that airlines have to pay when they emit planet-heating carbon dioxide emissions, adding pressure to the sector to shift away from fossil fuels. Airlines running flights within Europe currently have to submit permits from the EU's carbon market to cover their carbon dioxide emissions, but the EU gives them most of those permits for free. That is set to change under the law agreed by negotiators from EU countries and the European Parliament, which would phase out those free permits by 2026. Free permits would be cut by 25% in 2024 and 50% in 2025. That will mean airlines will have to pay for their CO2 permits, providing a financial incentive for them to pollute less. A smaller amount of free CO2 permits - 20m - will be made available from 2024-2030 to airlines that use sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) to partly compensate them for the price difference between SAFs and far cheaper fossil fuel kerosene. "We stand with the sector through the process of the green transition," EU parliament's lead negotiator Suncana Glavak said. Industry group Airlines for Europe said it was "extremely disappointed" with the plan to phase out free permits by 2026. "This is well before truly effective decarbonisation solutions will be available at the scale needed for them to be effective," the group said in a statement.<br/>
A commercial airplane flying from Morocco to Turkey made an emergency landing at Barcelona’s El Prat airport early on Wednesday after a reported medical event and 28 of the passengers fled across the tarmac, the Spanish government said. Police initially detained 14 people, including a pregnant woman who officials claim pretended that her water had broken, prompting the emergency landing, the government said. Two people were arrested later, the government added, one of whom was apprehended inside the airport and the other who was found outside. A further 12 people have not yet been located. Five of those detained were immediately put back on the plane, operated by Turkey’s Pegasus Airlines, while at least eight are to be deported to Morocco. The pregnant woman was checked in hospital and found not to be in labour, the government said. The plane was carrying a total of 228 passengers from Casablanca to Istanbul.<br/>
Turkish freight specialist MNG Airlines is to list on the New York stock exchange next year after signing an agreement to go public through a business combination with Golden Falcon Acquisition. MNG says the move is designed to give it increased financial flexibility and to position it to “unlock new growth avenues and maximise value creation”. MNG Airlines CE Ali Sedat Ozkazanc says: ”We see significant value creation potential from becoming a publicly listed company in the US, with the expectation that it will enable transformative commercial agreements, create an acquisition currency, and align management incentives with shareholders.” The deal with special purpose acquisition firm Golden Falcon is expected to close in the first half of next year. In September, MNG took delivery of its second converted Airbus A330-300 freighter from modification specialist EFW. Cirium fleets data shows that MNG operates three A330 and five A300 freighters, and will add A321 freighters as part of a future expansion. ”We are currently developing transformation plans for 2024 and beyond. These include expanding our flight network and increasing cargo capacity with two additional A330-300P2Fs for which we have already secured slots with EFW,” Ozkazanc said in September. ”Market demand and trends for short distance as well as the opportunity for higher fuel efficiency and lower cost per tonne have led us to the decision to complement our fleet with A321P2F in 2023 and 2024.”<br/>
Ryanair Group CE Michael O’Leary has agreed to extend his contract to 2028, Europe’s largest airline said on Wednesday, in a deal that will also extend a bonus scheme that could earn him close to E100m ($105m). O’Leary, 61, has repeatedly said in recent years that he had no plans to retire and in September said he hoped to soon reach a deal on extending his contract beyond its expiry in 2024. He has led the airline since 1994. “The Board are ... pleased that Michael O’Leary has agreed to extend his leadership of the Ryanair Group to July 2028,” Chairman Stan McCarthy said. The decision followed “extensive engagement” with large shareholders and proxy advisors. The extension of the contract and bonus scheme will be subject to shareholder approval, he said. Under the 2019 options scheme, which was due to lapse in 2024, O’Leary was due to be granted the option of buying 10m shares at E11.12 per share if he either increased annual profit to E2b or if the share price rises to E21 for 28 days. O’Leary’s efforts to reach those targets were knocked off course by the COVID-19 pandemic with the airline’s annual profit peaking at E1.45b in the year to March 31, 2018. Ryanair has said it hopes to earn a profit of E1-1.2b in the current financial year. Under the new contract, the expiry date of the 2019 share option scheme has been extended by four years to July 2028 and the target for after-tax profit increased to E2.2b, the statement said.<br/>
Cebu Pacific is set to appoint current CEO Lance Gokongwei to airline chairman from 1 January, as part of a wider leadership reshuffle at the low-cost operator. In a notice issued 5 December, the airline says Gokongwei, who has been with the airline since its launch in 1996, will replace James Go, who will continue to advise the airline’s board and executive committee. Cebu Pacific will promote Mike Szucs, the airline’s current chief executive adviser, to helm the airline. Szucs joined the airline in 2016, and has had management experience in other carriers like Mexico’s VivaAerobus, EasyJet, as well as British Airways. “With Mr Szucs’ guidance, Cebu Pacific has seen unparalleled growth and has been at the heart of things in building resiliency and agility that helped the company weather the most challenging crisis in the industry, and which will surely serve Cebu Pacific well in the years to come,” the carrier adds. Airline commercial Alexander Lao will be concurrently appointed as airline president, where he will support Szucs in “strategic execution and stakeholder management, including regulators, government partners, investors, among others”. Lao was formerly CE of Cebu Pacific’s regional arm Cebgo, and was also in in the commercial planning and strategy departments of the low-cost carrier. “Mr Lao’s move solidifies what has long been a plan of succession to create a future-ready leadership pipeline,” adds Cebu Pacific. The airline was Ps3b ($54m) in the red for the three months 30 September, narrowing its operating loss amid a five-fold increase in revenues. <br/>
Kiwis can now sign up to a flight subscription service for Air Asia which would give them unlimited flights to Sydney from Auckland each year for under $1000. Air Asia’s SUPER+ by the airasia Super App has been rolled out worldwide, with the premium level of the subscription now open for New Zealand. The service sees customers pay a yearly fee in return for a number of perks such as ‘free’ unlimited seats on flights, discounts on hotels and the ability to earn Air Asia points. One of the world’s cheapest airlines, Air Asia resumed its New Zealand services in November with flights from Auckland to Kuala Lumpur via Sydney, opening up discount trans-Tasman fares. Sydney is the only destination at this stage that travellers can fly direct to from Auckland on the airline. The subscription service has two levels, SUPER+ Lite, which covers Asean countries, and SUPER+ Premium which is available to all countries served by Air Asia, including New Zealand. Both options include a 5% discount on all hotels on the Super App. The Lite version costs RM888 (NZ$320) or the Premium version, which is what New Zealanders would need to pay for to fly from Auckland, costs RM2288 (NZ$820) each year. <br/>