The Mexican airline Viva Aerobus said one of its planes suffered an engine failure while covering a domestic route, but that the craft landed safely. The twin engine Airbus A320 was flying from the western city of Guadalajara to the Pacific coast resort of Puerto Vallarta when the mishap occurred Wednesday afternoon, the company said. The plane returned to Puerto Vallarta and landed safely. Video posted on social media shows flames shooting out of the engine while in the air. The company said “the aircraft was under control at all times and the welfare of all those on board was preserved.” On Tuesday, two airplanes were involved in a mishap on a taxiway at Mexico City’s international airport. One of the planes’ wingtip hit the horizontal stabilizer of the other aircraft. No injuries were reported.<br/>
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Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico (GAP), which operates several airports in Mexico including Guadalajara and Tijuana, again reported strong traffic and demand during Q1. The company published earnings last week, delivering a generally bullish outlook, albeit clouded by some uncertainties about proposed political reforms and economic conditions. Mexico has been one of the strongest airline markets in the world both during and after the pandemic. That’s in part thanks to the appeal of popular tourist resorts like Cancun but also economic momentum tied to nearshoring, the phenomenon in which manufacturers are moving production from Asia to places closer to the US. According to GAP, Guadalajara’s passenger volumes rose 23% in Q1 of 2023, compared to the same quarter of 2019. Tijuana’s growth was a remarkable 54%. GAP also runs airports in beach towns like Puerto Vallarta and Los Cabos. Guadalajara happens to be Mexico’s third busiest airport after Mexico City and Cancun, based on 2022 passenger volumes. Tijuana is now number four, surpassing Monterrey. During its Q1 call, GAP executives expressed concern about government policy proposals but optimism about Mexico regaining Category I safety classification from the US FAA, enabling more flights. The upgrade should come in the third or fourth quarter, GAP said. In the meantime, the company is opening a second runway at Guadalajara later this year. It’s also building a new terminal for Puerto Vallarta.<br/>
Air Moldova is trying to rebuild a schedule over the next few days, having initially suspended all services for the period, citing an inability to relieve financial pressure on the carrier. The airline originally said it had been “forced” to stop operating flights over the course of 21-25 April, the result of a “lack of financial resources necessary for the company’s activity” and an inability to remedy the situation. But the carrier has managed to restore a partial schedule for 23-25 April, with services from Chisinau to Bologna, Tbilisi and Verona. Air Moldova has a small fleet of around five aircraft, including Airbus A320-family, Boeing 737 and Embraer regional jets. It has been struggling to deal with the impact of the pandemic as well as the conflict in neighbouring Ukraine which has affected Moldovan airspace. The carrier says it has lost important commercial destinations, while the Moldovan civil aviation authority recently warned the airline could be grounded. The airline says its plans for this year included fleet renewal and additional routes. But it stated in March that it had to return two aircraft to lessors, resulting in flight cancellations as a consequence of the reduced capacity. Air Moldova says it quickly took steps to minimise the disruption, with leases of three other aircraft. But it claims it has been drawn into a political “smear campaign” intended to “bankrupt the company”, and adds that the civil aviation authority has been imposing limits on ticket sales. <br/>
An El Al passenger plane traveling from Tel Aviv to Tokyo had to double back and make an emergency landing at Ben Gurion International Airport late Saturday. Ambulances and medics were on standby on the runway as the plane made its emergency landing. No injuries were reported. The 787 Dreamliner Boeing aircraft, carrying 150 passengers, landed safely back at Ben Gurion International Airport about 20 minutes after take-off, following “technical issues with one of the engines,” El Al said. One passenger on the flight said travelers “had no idea what was going on.” “Suddenly 20 minutes after take-off, they said there was a problem with the engine and that they were landing the plane back [at the airport]. It was very stressful,” the passenger told Channel 12. The passengers were told to disembark and wait in the terminal.<br/>
Indonesian airline PT TransNusa Aviation Mandiri (TransNusa) has introduced itself as a premium service carrier on international routes. PT TransNusa Aviation Mandiri CEO Datuk Bernard Francis said that for its international routes, the services offered by TransNusa would exceed that of a low-cost airline.m“Based on our intensive market research, we know that travellers’ behavioural patterns have changed, specifically due to the Covid-19 pandemic and as a result of this, we have curated different packages to meet the needs of different passengers. For our international flights, we not only provide premium services with competitive ticket prices, we also have new product bundles called ‘SEAT’, ‘SEAT Plus’ and ‘Flexi-Pro’. Our passengers will enjoy check-in baggage of between 15kg and 30kg, depending on the package purchased,” he said. He highlighted that the baggage offering was over and above the seven kilogramme limit offered for passengers’ hand-carried bag. Francis said TransNusa had configured its A320 aircraft with a 168-174 seat configuration, which would allow passengers to enjoy legroom of between 76cm and 79cm that was comparable to the experience one would get in a full-service airline.<br/>
The CEO of MYAirline says he wants to start international flights in June 2023 and will therefore begin selling tickets for those services in May. Speaking April 18, Raynor Teo said the first international flights would be to the neighbouring markets of Singapore, Indonesia, and Thailand. "Hopefully, we can commence ticket bookings by end of this month, or early next month," he said before adding that a lot depends on getting the necessary additional aircraft in time. MYAirline currently operates six A320-200s but is shooting for 20 by the end of the year. “We have enough time to make sure all the aircraft are ready to fly," a confident Teo said regarding the international expansion. Meanwhile, MYAirline commenced its eighth domestic route this week, starting daily roundtrip Kota Kinabalu - Tawau flights on April 19. Teo says the service will offer passengers more options and greater convenience while contributing to the economic growth of Sabah. <br/>