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Adverse rulings in either of the lawsuits aimed at preventing the US$3.8b merger between JetBlue Airways and Spirit Airlines, or its North East Alliance with American Airlines, could adversely impact its business, financial condition, and results of operations, JetBlue has admitted in its latest quarterly report. The New York-based carrier is facing two legal challenges to its July 28, 2022, plan to acquire its Florida-based ultra-low-cost rival, in addition to a pending court decision on the NEA with American, the latter being challenged by the US DOJ, along with Attorneys-General of six states and the District of Columbia. In addition, on November 3, 2022, 25 consumers filed suit in the District Court for the Northern District of California against JetBlue and Spirit seeking to enjoin the merger, alleging that it violates the US's anti-trust Clayton Act. The lawsuit also seeks to enjoin the NEA. No trial date has been set. Citing the same anti-trust legislation, the DOJ, along with the Attorneys-General of two states and the District of Columbia also filed suit in the District Court for the District of Massachusetts on March 7, 2023. On March 31, the Attorneys-Generals of four more states joined the lawsuit. A court date is set for October 16, 2023. In an apparent orchestrated campaign, employees of JetBlue and Spirit have flooded the US Department of Transportation (DOT) with thousands of comments in support of the airlines' proposed merger. Of more than 10,000 public comments received, about 90% are from JetBlue and Spirit crew members using the same pre-written statement requesting the DOT’s "prompt review and approval" of the proposed merger.<br/>

Discussions between WestJet and its pilots are still ongoing, but job action – including a strike – at the major airline is still on the table. The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) continued talks with the company throughout the weekend. The meetings are expected to continue on Monday. A 72-hour strike notice hasn't been filed, officials say, but that doesn't rule out the future possibility. If that happens Canada's passenger rights rules dictate that airlines must offer to book passengers of cancelled flights on a flight with another airline within at least 48 hours of their departure time. After that point, passengers can receive a refund but may also accept a voucher with the airline. "Just deal with it as it happens," said Gabor Lukacs, Canadian air passenger rights advocate. "Once there's a strike, that triggers the obligation by WestJet to rebook passengers and offer alternate transportation. If WestJet fails to comply with that obligation, then I would buy a ticket in a different airline and make WestJet pay for it because they breached their contractual and statutory obligations." Lukacs suggests documenting all interactions with the airline. "The quality of your documentation will heavily affect your ability to enforce your rights down the line," he said. "Don't expect the airline to play by the book. They won't, they won't play by the rules, they're going to try to find every possible trick on the books to avoid paying. Don't be a pushover. Stand your ground." WestJet said on May 8 that it has a plan in place to "minimize what could be significant impacts to guest travel." Job protection, pay and scheduling are among the key points being discussed by the company and the union.<br/>

Brazil’s Azul sees “robust, sustained revenue performance” for the rest of the year with passengers travelling in greater numbers as the global Covid-19 pandemic is largely in the rear-view mirror. The Sao Paulo-based airline said on 15 May that its operating revenue reached “an all-time record” of R$4.48b ($910m) during the first three months of 2023, as travel demand remained high. That is about 40% higher than in Q1 2022. Still, expenses weighed on the company, coming in at R$4.02b – including R$1.67b for fuel, up 41% from last year. All told, including financial expenses, the company posted a Q1 loss of R$322m. “Demand in the international markets continues very strong, highlighted by our new Paris service, which debuted on 26 April,” CE John Rodgerson says. “Together with our recently doubled presence at [Sao Paulo’s] Congonhas airport, our product offering has never been more relevant, allowing us to showcase to new customers our superior product, broad network, award-winning loyalty program and unique travel and logistics offerings.” Azul currently has 158 destinations in its network, the company says. Capacity as measured in ASKs rose 19% to 10.8b, the company says. During the full year of 2023, the carrier expects to increase capacity by about 14% compared to 2022. Azul sees the domestic market growing at about 6%, with chief revenue officer Abhi Shah saying that growth will be “very disciplined overall”. Internationally, the company expects to maintain the network it is currently flying. “I don’t see any major new markets or destinations for the rest of the year,” Shah says. The airline is relying on partners like United Airlines and JetBlue Airways in North America and TAP Portugal in Europe to help increase its footprint those regions. “Together with United and JetBlue, we have been slowly expanding our network into the United Sates,” Shah says. “Via our gateways in Orlando and Fort Lauderdale, we can connect to 27 cities in the US and eight in the Caribbean.”<br/>

The Court of Appeal has dismissed appeals brought against a €94,000 damages award made to a Ryanair cabin supervisor who slipped on greasy de-icing fluid on the cabin floor. Ryanair DAC had claimed as part of its appeal against a High Court decision that it was prejudiced by what it said were constant interjections by the judge, Mr Justice Alexander Owens, during the hearing of the action. Fiona Nangle (41), of Latt Hills, Cavan, successfully sued Ryanair over the incident in which she fell on the vinyl floor surface shortly after a Dublin-Warsaw flight took off on February 11th, 2018. As a result of the fall, Nangle claimed she suffered a spiral fracture to her right humerus, required surgery, was incapacitated for a number of months and needed assistance in daily tasks like looking after her children. Ryanair denied her claims and argued she did not slip on de-icing fluid but had tripped. In his judgment last year, Mr Justice Owens found against the airline and awarded Ms Nangle a total of E70,000 in general damages and E24,000 in special damages.<br/>

Ukrainian carrier SkyUp Airlines has established a Maltese division, giving the operator a presence in the European Union. It has branded the division SkyUp MT and says it has obtained an air operator’s certificate as well as other regulatory certifications. SkyUp has transferred an initial aircraft, a 189-seat Boeing 737-800, from Ukraine – where it was UR-SQM – to the Maltese registry as 9H-SAU.<br/>The jet was originally delivered to Flydubai in 2011 and subsequently operated by South African carrier Comair. SkyUp says the creation of the Maltese arm enables it to fulfil wet-lease contracts and, ultimately, open scheduled services from Europe. “The Ukrainian brand SkyUp, which changed domestic civil aviation in five years of operation, is now available in EU countries as well,” says CE Dmytro Syeroukhov, who is also responsible for SkyUp MT. SkyUp MT aims to introduce additional aircraft this year – not from the Ukrainian SkyUp fleet but sourced from elsewhere under new agreements. “This means opening up new opportunities and scaling the business,” says SkyUp co-owner Oleksandr Alba. “Our ambitious goal is to show the whole world that Ukrainian brands can compete with European brands.”<br/>

Georgia’s aviation authority has issued a permit to Russian airline Azimuth to operate flights between Russia and Georgia from May 17, state-owned Russian news agency TASS reported on Monday. Russia last week said it was removing a ban on direct flights between the two countries, which it imposed after anti-Russian protests in 2019.<br/>

Go Airlines in a filing on Monday backed emergency arbitration and said Pratt & Whitney's argument that arbitration awards are unenforceable in the U.S. since they do not fully resolve all issues between the parties, "fails," following the engine maker opposing the Indian airline's push to enforce an arbitration ruling in an engine dispute. Pratt's obligation to provide engines per awards was "independent and separate from the remaining issues" before the merits tribunal, Go Airlines said in a filing with Delaware court.<br/>

India's SpiceJet said Monday that UK-based SRAM & MRAM Group will invest $100m in its cargo division SpiceXpress, sending shares of the budget airline up as much as 4.8%. The investment comes days after SpiceJet brushed off speculation of filing for insolvency in the wake of rival Go First's bankruptcy. SpiceJet had hived off SpiceXpress into a separate entity effective April 1, paving the way for the company to raise funds independently. SRAM & MRAM Group signed the investment pact following a restructuring agreement with aircraft lessor Carlyle Aviation Partners, which acquired a stake in SpiceXpress in February. The SRAM & MRAM conglomerate, headquartered in the United Kingdom, has interests in areas including agricultural and agro‐food products, neural networks, and artificial intelligence. "This investment should help SpiceXpress to further grow and expand and provide a more streamlined and efficient service to its customers," said Ajay Singh, Chairman and Managing Director, SpiceJet in a statement.<br/>

China's Xiamen Airlines has opened a new direct route from China's Chongqing Municipality to Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur. The route's maiden flight touched down at Kuala Lumpur International Airport Terminal 1 on Monday, with the passengers welcomed by Tourism Minister Tiong King Sing, Tourism Malaysia Director-General Ammar Abd Ghapar, Xiamen Airlines general manager in Malaysia Gao Yashuang and Zhang Jiexin, the director of the China Cultural Center in Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia welcomes tourists from China and expects more direct flights from other Chinese cities, said Tiong King Sing. Ammar said there would be more direct and charter flights from China to Malaysia through strategic collaborations between various airlines as Malaysia targets 5m arrivals from China in 2023. The new direct flight will fly four times a week on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday, bringing more convenience to the people of the two countries by bridging the economic and cultural exchanges and investment, Tourism Malaysia said.<br/>

The Malaysian multinational low-cost airline AirAsia has launched three new routes from Kuala Lumpur to southern Chinese cities, Quanzhou, Guilin and Chengdu (Tianfu). New services to Quanzhou and Guilin will be operated by AirAsia Malaysia (AK), while AirAsia X Malaysia will operate the Tianfu route, it said Monday. Flights to and from Quanzhou will recommence twice weekly, and to/from Guilin thrice weekly, both effective June 18, 2023. Flights to/from Tianfu will start twice weekly on July 1, 2023, and increase to thrice weekly from July 4, 2023, it said. The new routes would be part of the network of 15 routes with over 129 flights weekly between China and Malaysia. "Following the recent opening of China to the world and strong pent-up demand, our rapid expansion there, we are proud to connect millions of guests not only to major destinations but also to underserved second-tier cities and launch unique routes such as Quanzhou and Guilin. "China remains a key market for our future growth and we will continue to review a number of other potential Chinese routes we hope to be in a position to announce soon,” said AirAsia CE officer Riad Asmat.<br/>

The interim CEO of Samoa Airways says he will await a report from the Samoa Airport Authority before deciding if the airline will resume flights from Apia Fagali'i. CEO Fauo'o Fatu Tielu told the Samoa Observer outlet that the airport is slated to re-open on May 29, 2023, but he is still awaiting confirmation from the SAA that this will happen. "We have to wait on Samoa Airport Authority to complete the work at the airport for preparations for the reopening of the airport," he said. "Because we have test flights we need to do during the reopening with our small operation plans before the airport reopens and only after all these are completed, then they can reopen but I do understand that SAA announced that they will reopen it on 29 May." Fagali'i Airport, which features a 670 metre sealed runway, closed in 2019 for safety reasons, with all flights transferring to the nearby Apia Faleolo. Last year, the Samoan government flagged reopening Fagali'i for flights to American Samoa. <br/>