Pilots at Hawaiian Airlines have reached a tentative agreement with the company on a new four-year contract, their union said on Thursday. The union, the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), said the agreement included an average 32.9% pay increase during the period of the deal. The pilots would also get an average 16.6% pay increase on the date of signing. ALPA said the agreement also offered a signing bonus, higher company retirement contributions and a new health reimbursement account, and it improved the quality of life for pilots. A scramble among carriers to staff up to capitalize on booming travel demand has enhanced the bargaining power of pilots. Analysts at Jefferies estimate the United States is short of 10,000 pilots. This supply-demand gap is projected to last until 2027. With the industry returning to profitability, pilots argue airlines can pay them more to cover their increased costs of living. Hawaiian's contract will cover 1,000 pilots. ALPA said its members would vote on the offer for two weeks beginning Jan. 27.<br/>
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Spirit Airlines has entered an agreement to sell 29 Airbus A319ceos to Gryphon Trading Company for $152m to $201m, depending on price adjustments in the deal. Under the agreement, dated 13 January, Spirit will deliver the aircraft beginning in the first quarter of 2023 through the end of third-quarter 2024, the airline said in a 19 January filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Spirit’s A319s are between 12 and 18 years old, according to Cirium fleets data. The type is a shorted-fuselage member of the A320 family that typically seats between 110 and 140 passengers, according to Airbus. It has a range of 3,753nm (6,950km). Fourteen of the aircraft will be removed from Spirit’s fleet in 2023, while the other 15 are set to be delivered in 2024. The final two remaining A319ceos in Spirit’s fleet will be returned to a lessor upon expiration of the lease in 2025, the company says. Gryphon Trading Company is an affiliate of Gryphon Aviation Leasing that focuses on acquiring, trading and leasing relatively new narrowbody and widebody aircraft and their respective powerplants. The Miramar, Florida-based discount airline operates an all-Airbus fleet with 31 A319ceos, 130 A320s and 30 A321s, according to Cirium. The carrier’s fleet renewal strategy is ongoing, with orders for 31 A319neos, 68 A320s and 41 A321s currently on the books. <br/>
LATAM Airlines, South America's largest carrier, sees double-digit revenue growth this year, according to company guidance published in a statement on Thursday, as many airlines chart a more profitable future amid pent up demand from travelers. The Chile-based airline's revenues are expected to reach between $11b and $11.5b by the end of this year, compared to $9.5b estimated for 2022, which if achieved would mark an increase of nearly 16% to 21%. Similarly, LATAM's adjusted earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) margin is expected to come in at 6%-8% this year, from around 1% in 2022, the company said. The airline also forecast 2023 growth of around a fifth for passenger and cargo operations for this year. In November LATAM announced the completion of a years-long restructuring process in the United States after it declared bankruptcy in 2020 due to the worldwide travel slowdown provoked by the coronavirus pandemic. The airline's financial net debt, however, is seen ticking up to between $6.1b-$6.2bi this year, compared to some $5.5b in red ink estimated for 2022.<br/>
Russian regional carrier Khabarovsk Airlines is to be integrated with the unified eastern carrier being created under operator Aurora Airlines, through a newly-signed shareholder agreement. The agreement covers key aspects of corporate governance of Khabarovsk Airlines, which has a fleet of Antonov An-24, An-26 and Let L-410 aircraft. Aurora’s wholly-owned subsidiary Aurora Finance reached the deal with the Khabarovsk regional government’s property ministry, says the carrier. “Combining the efforts of [eastern Russian] airlines makes it possible to speed resolutions on expanding the route network, increasing the efficiency of airlines and airports, and increasing the availability and quality of air transport,” says Aurora general director Konstantin Sukhorebrik. The eastern region is a vast territory, says presidential envoy Yuri Trutnev, and the consolidation of operators under the unified-airline initiative will lead to implementation of new socially-important routes. Khabarovsk Airlines last year operated around 150 flights on social routes on behalf of the unified carrier. The shareholder agreement will enable corporate integration of the airline into the Aurora group. Aurora will become the “main customer” of the new UZGA LMS-901 single-engined aircraft, developed to replace Antonov An-2s, according to Khabarovsk regional transport minister Irina Gorbacheva, with Khabarovsk Airlines set to be the “first operator”. <br/>
The newly opened airport in Nepal where a Yeti Airlines plane was attempting to land when it crashed over the weekend, killing all 72 on board, did not have a functioning instrument landing system that guides planes to the runway, an official said Thursday. Aviation safety experts said it reflects the Himalayan country’s poor air safety record, although the cause of the accident has not been determined. Jagannath Niroula, a spokesperson for Nepal’s Civil Aviation Authority, said Pokhara International Airport’s instrument landing system will not be working until Feb. 26 -- 56 days after the airport began operations on Jan. 1. An instrument landing system helps airplanes fly safely when the pilot is unable to maintain visual contact with surrounding obstacles and the ground, mainly due to weather conditions or at nighttime. Pilots can also fly by sight rather than relying on instruments. Pilots say mountainous Nepal, where in-flight visibility problems are common, can be a difficult place to fly, but conditions at the time of the crash were good, with low winds, clear skies and temperatures well above freezing. While it’s still not clear what caused the crash, some aviation experts say video taken from the ground of the plane’s last moments indicated it went into a stall, although it’s unclear why. Amit Singh, an experienced pilot and founder of India’s Safety Matters Foundation, said the lack of an instrument landing system or navigational aids could be a “contributory cause” of the crash and pointed to a “notoriously bad air safety culture in Nepal.” “Flying in Nepal becomes challenging if you don’t have navigational aids and puts an extra workload on the pilot whenever they experience problems during a flight,” Singh said. “Lack of an instrument landing system only reaffirms that Nepal’s air safety culture is not adequate.” Yeti Airlines said the plane’s cockpit voice recorder will be analyzed locally, but the flight data recorder will be sent to France. Both were retrieved Monday.<br/>
Wizz Air Abu Dhabi, the ultra-low-fare national airline of the UAE, has commenced operations on the new route of Ankara, the second largest city in Turkiye and a modern European metropolis with a rich historical heritage. The new route provides hassle-free, point-to-point travel for tourists and residents in both the UAE and Turkiye. Tickets are on sale on wizzair.com and the airline’s mobile app with fares starting as low as AED199. <br/>
Budget carrier Thai AirAsia is preparing its pilots and cabin crew for the return of Chinese tourists, previously its largest customer group, as the airline resumes routes across China. The airline plans to restart flights to eight Chinese cities including Chongqing, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, and Wuhan, for which cabin crew are undergoing refresher training courses. "In the flight, we should have at least one cabin crew who can speak Mandarin to communicate with passengers," said cabin crew member, Sakuna Puangpipat. She and other staff this week re-trained in smoke and fire drills, evacuation, water landing survival, and protocols for sick passengers and unexpected incidents. Captain Damrong Phapipatkul, head of flight operations, said of Thai AirAsia's 53 jets, 43 are currently flying while the remaining ten will return to service to accommodate Chinese passengers, the number of whom he expects will return to pre-pandemic levels by year-end.<br/>
A Singapore-bound Scoot flight from Amritsar, India, on Wednesday took off four hours earlier, leaving 29 passengers stranded. According to the airline, it is aware that some passengers missed the flight. In a response to The Straits Times’ queries, Scoot said that flight TR509 was rescheduled to 3.45pm from 7.55pm as bad weather was affecting departures. The Singapore Airlines-owned budget carrier added that passengers were notified of the change on Jan 15 through either e-mail, SMS, or both, based on contact details that were provided. The Telegraph India reported that a senior official at Amritsar airport said around 300 passengers were scheduled to board the flight. But a particular travel agent had not told its clients of the change, causing them to miss the flight, the official added. “Scoot sincerely apologises for the inconvenience caused,” the airline said, adding that it is providing affected customers with the necessary assistance.<br/>