US Senate Commerce Committee chair Maria Cantwell on Thursday asked Southwest Airlines to provide a full accounting of all refunds issued and denied after a December technological meltdown led to the cancellation of 16,700 flights. The Washington senator asked Southwest Airlines COO Andrew Watterson for detailed data from the travel disruptions. Watterson said last week the airline had paid hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation and reimbursements for traveler expenses. Watterson said last week the airline has received about 284,000 cases from passengers impacted by meltdown and reimbursed more than 273,000 -- leaving 10,782. He said those still under review had been submitted more recently. Cantwell wants to know how many passengers got refunds, the total value and how many passengers proactively accepted a voucher or credit or rebooked on Southwest. At a hearing last week before Cantwell's committee, Southwest faced harsh criticism from US senators at a hearing investigating the airline's meltdown that disrupted travel plans for 2m customers, with one lawmaker calling the situation an "unmitigated disaster." The airline and its pilot union offered sharply contrasting reasons for the low-cost carrier's massive travel disruptions. While Southwest cited weather impacts, the union singled out poor preparation and a failure to modernize technology. Watterson said the airline made mistakes and that technology issues were a factor.<br/>
unaligned
Budget carrier Norwegian Air Shuttle reported a Q4 net loss on Thursday, citing high fuel costs and a strong US dollar, but said it expected strong demand ahead. The October-December net result swung to a loss of 119m crowns ($11.69m), from a profit of 112m a year earlier. Q4, normally a slow period for holiday travel, saw record-high fuel prices, a strong dollar and “sweeping industry challenges across European airports”, the airline said. Still, it maintained that the situation would improve. It said its capacity - as measured by available seat kilometres (ASK) - is expected to rise by 24% this year, while the revenue earned from each passenger would rise and the costs were likely to fall. For the summer of 2023, Norwegian plans to operate 81 aircraft, down from the 85 aircraft it had previously planned for. The budget airline had a total fleet of 70 Boeing aircraft in its fleet by year-end, up from 69 three months earlier. It has since announced it would lease six additional Boeing 737 MAX 8, from Air Lease Corporation (ALC), with delivery well ahead of the Northern hemisphere summer season. Norwegian emerged from government-backed bankruptcy proceedings in May 2021 after shedding much of its debt and transatlantic network. Flyr AS, a newcomer which emerged at the end of the pandemic curbs on air travel at the same time, filed for bankruptcy two weeks ago, having failed to raise enough cash to survive the winter season.<br/>
India's Akasa Air will place a "substantially" large order for new narrowbody jets this year, as the start-up budget airline looks to capitalise on booming demand at home and begin international flights, its CE told Reuters. The 200-day-old airline has taken delivery of 17 Boeing (BA.N) 737 MAX planes out of a total order of 72 jets to be delivered by March 2027. "Before the end of this year we are going to place another aircraft order that is going to be substantially larger than the 72 aircraft order we have placed," Vinay Dube said during an interview without giving a specific number. The new order will be for narrowbody planes, said Akasa's founder, a former CE of now-grounded, bankrupt full-service carrier Jet Airways. Dube did not say whether the order would go to Boeing or Airbus, but budget carriers typically prefer to use a single narrowbody type to help control costs. The order plans come as travel demand in India has seen a sharp rebound post COVID-19, making it the world's fastest-growing aviation market, with capacity surpassing 2019 levels and passenger numbers inching close.<br/>
India's Supreme Court has ordered SpiceJet to pay out an INR2.7b rupee (US$32.6m) bank guarantee to a former majority shareholder of the airline in what may be the closing chapters of a seven-year-old legal dispute. In 2015, Kalanithi Maran, a billionaire with extensive media interests, sold his 58.46% stake in the near-bankrupt SpiceJet for INR2 (US$0.024) to Ajay Singh, the current chairman and managing director of the airline. Singh also took over SpiceJet's liabilities of INR15b (US$181.4m). The transaction included Maran providing equity of INR6.79b (US$82.1m) in exchange for warrants and preference shares. In 2017, Maran initiated legal action, claiming neither the warrants nor preference shares were issued, nor was any money returned. Following arbitration in 2018, the disputed amount was reduced to INR5.78b (US$69.9m), plus interest. SpiceJet paid INR3.08b (US$37.2m) of that, leaving INR2.7b outstanding. SpiceJet set aside the remaining amount, providing a bank guarantee to cover it, while the matter continued to be subject to further legal proceedings. This week, the court ordered the airline to pay the balance within two weeks. "The remaining amount of INR2.7b is reserved with the company in cash, against which a bank guarantee has been given. This amount of INR2.7b will be comfortably discharged," said a statement issued by SpiceJet this week.<br/>
Bain Capital has appointed lead managers for a potential initial public offering (IPO) of Virgin Australia, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said, setting the stage for the country's biggest listing since 2021. Goldman Sachs, UBS and Barrenjoey received the mandate from the US private equity group that owns Australia's second-biggest airline, said the source, who was not authorised to speak publicly. Bain said in January it would explore re-listing Virgin, which it bought for A$3.5b ($2.45b) including liabilities in 2020 after it was placed in voluntary administration, the closest Australian equivalent to Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Bain, Virgin and the banks declined to comment on the IPO appointments. The exact size of the listing is yet to be determined, but local media reported it could reach A$1b, making it the largest share sale in Australia since investment firm GQG Partners raised A$1.18b in October 2021. There were just $614.2m of IPOs in Australia in 2022, down nearly 93% from $8.4b a year earlier, Refinitiv data showed.<br/>