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The US D0T said on Monday it fined LATAM Airlines Group $1m after the airline and affiliates routinely failed to provide timely refunds to passengers for US flights. The department said since March 2020, it received more than 750 complaints alleging LATAM, the biggest carrier in Latin America, failed to provide timely refunds after cancelling flights to or from the United States. USDOT said it took LATAM more than 100 days to process thousands of refund requests to payment. LATAM said in a statement it agreed to the $1m fine as part of a consent order. It added the fine was "part of an ongoing USDOT audit of numerous airlines that operate into or within the U.S. that have been fined for the same reason, delays in refunds for unused tickets on flights canceled during the pandemic." LATAM invested $2m in a new digital platform to process refunds faster and is investing another $2m this year on refund processing efforts. Because of COVID-19, LATAM had to cancel more than 1,100 flights daily and saw refund requests quadrupled, the airline told USDOT noting it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and radically downsized the company, resulting in layoffs of thousands of employees.<br/>

Ryanair has announced it returned to profit in the year to March 31, narrowly beating market expectations, and said it expected further improvements in the coming year. Pre-tax profits for the Dublin-based low-cost airline were E1.44bn on revenues of E10.8b, against a E430m loss and E4.8b of revenues in the year to March 2022. Profit after tax but before exceptionals — the company’s preferred measure — was E1.43b, compared with a E355m loss a year before. Analysts expected a figure between E1.32b and E1.42b. The figures are the latest evidence of a rebound in the European airline industry and of Ryanair’s particularly strong post-Covid recovery. It carried 169mn passengers in the financial year, against 97m a year before. The figure for the year to March 2023 was 13% above the figure for the year to March 2020, before Covid disruption set in. Ryanair’s load factor — the proportion of seats filled on its flights — recovered to 93%, against 82% for the year to March 2022. CFO Neil Sorahan said the company had a “rebound” in traffic after a “difficult” April-to-June quarter last year following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “We saw traffic across the remaining quarters increase quite significantly,” he said. Costs — at E31 per passenger excluding fuel — were back down to pre-Covid levels, but fares were higher thanks to strong demand and tight capacity across the sector. “Fares were trending about 10% ahead of pre-Covid levels,” Sorahan said. Ryanair projected further growth in passenger numbers and profits in the year to March 2024, saying it expected to carry 185mn passengers in the year. However, it also said it expected higher market prices would increase the company’s fuel bill for the year by more than E1b, despite deliveries of more fuel-efficient 737 Max jets.<br/>

Ryanair’s plan to protect itself against oil price volatility paid out big when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent energy markets haywire. The budget airline effectively fixed a large swathe of its jet fuel bill at about $64 a barrel during the fiscal year that ended March 31. This approach, known as hedging, generated savings of more than E1.4b ($1.5b), the company reported Monday. Many airlines use hedging strategies to reduce their exposure to fluctuations in jet fuel prices, which soared last year, following the start of war in Ukraine. Getting the balance right can be tricky, but Ryanair was able to cash-in, with a considerable amount hedged well before Russia’s invasion even began. “We’re very well hedged on fuel,” CEO Michael O’Leary said in May of last year on a conference call. “I would ascribe that more to dumb luck than supremely intelligent management.” That was shortly before the month-ahead jet fuel price for northwest Europe rose as high as the equivalent of about $185 a barrel, according to fair value data compiled by Bloomberg. Ryanair expects its fuel bill to be E1b higher in the current fiscal year, which ends in March 2024, saying that higher revenue will make up for the jump. It’s almost 85% hedged at about $89 a barrel, the company said Monday. It has also started hedging for 2025. Northwest Europe’s jet fuel price has fallen sharply since peaking last June, and is currently around $90 a barrel.<br/>

Ryanair Holdings Plc dangled the prospect of paying a dividend should the Irish low-cost airline extend its strong performance over the next year. “If we have another strong year and we have significant net cash balances, then we’ll return those to shareholders,” CEO Michael O’Leary said in a Bloomberg TV interview. “I think it’s coming, not yet, I mean we’re paying down debt at the moment.” For now, debt repayment and capital outlays remain the priorities for Ryanair’s cash flows, O’Leary said. He prefers dividends to share buybacks, the CEO said in a separate interview. Ryanair has been among the airlines quickest to recover from the coronavirus pandemic, reporting on Monday that it had reached a net-cash balance after working down debt taken to help it survive the Covid-19 crisis. The carrier, which ferries more passengers through Europe than any other, is poised to gain from surging fares during the busy summer holiday season. Aircraft deliveries from Boeing and Airbus will likely remain constrained over the next 4 to 5 years due to supply-chain kinks, limiting airline industry capacity and putting a floor under fares, O’Leary said. Ryanair ordered up to 300 of Boeing’s largest 737 Max 10 single-aisle jets this month to press its expansion.<br/>

Georgian Airways has defended its decision to open services to Russia, following a bilateral agreement, insisting that the measure is not a political gesture. The carrier started operating its A9930 flight from Tbilisi to Moscow Vnukovo on 20 May, initially with a Boeing 737-700, in spite of vehement opposition from the Georgian leadership. Russian federal air transport authority Rosaviatsia states that, based on a reciprocity agreement, Georgian Airway has been granted seven weekly frequencies on the route. It follows similar permission from Georgian regulators to allow Russian carrier Azimuth to operate seven weekly flights, with Irkut Superjet 100s, between Vnukovo and Tbilisi. Georgian president Salome Zourabichvili says Russia has “landed its unwelcome flight” in the capital “despite the opposition of the Georgian people”. She had stated, earlier in May, that resumption of direct flights between Russia and Georgia was “unacceptable” given the conflict in Ukraine. Georgia had experienced its own Russian invasion in 2008 after rising tensions over disputed territories. But Georgian Airways rejects “heartbreaking” accusations that it is acting against the country’s interests, claiming it is the victim of a “dirty campaign”. It says the imposing or lifting of visa restrictions between Georgia and Russia, which affects air traffic, is not an airline decision but a matter for governments. “We are not a political organisation, therefore we do not make political decisions,” the carrier insists. “We must fulfil the demand of the Georgian people and we must serve the routes on which the citizens of Georgia want to travel. We don’t have any policy other than serving the Georgian people.” Georgian Airways says it continued to operate during the 2008 conflict, publicising the country’s plight, and adds that its employees include individuals who fought for Georgia’s territorial integrity. “It is shameful when someone dares to call our company a traitor,” it says.<br/>

Aircraft lessors seeking to repossess their planes from bankrupt Indian carrier Go Airlines Ltd. suffered a setback after an appeals court upheld a court order that allows the beleaguered carrier to hang onto its fleet of Airbus jets as part of an insolvency process. The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal on Monday agreed with a lower court order that kicked off Go Air’s insolvency process to rescue the airline. Lessors, such as ACG Aircraft Leasing Ireland Ltd. and SMBC Aviation Capital Ltd., can approach the insolvency court and seek to take back planes for which the leases had been terminated prior to the airline’s admission into insolvency. They also have the option to appeal against the decision before the country’s top court. The verdict boosts prospects for Go Air’s revival. The airline sought insolvency protection earlier this month and blamed Pratt & Whitney’s engines that failed prematurely and left half its A320neo fleet grounded. The airline said it is not able to meet financial obligations after suffering a loss of 108b rupees ($1.3b) due to its idled planes. Go Air is awaiting a decision by India’s aviation regulator on whether it can continue to operate on its license. It was asked to stop ticket sales for canceling flights abruptly. The Aviation Working Group, a industry body that represents aircraft financiers and lessors, on May 11 put India on its watch-list. It said the aviation regulator didn’t de-register Go Air’s aircraft as required within 5 days after the lessors terminated the leases and before insolvency proceedings began. Engine shortages have left a dent across the industry from Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines to India’s top airline IndiGo, which has sought compensation from engine makers for more than 30 aircraft on the ground.<br/>

A new Malaysian carrier looks set to launch flights to New Zealand and will operate the longest narrowbody route to and from New Zealand. The Malaysian offshoot of Batik Air has flights from Kuala Lumpur to Auckland, via Perth, loaded on its website from late August. Batik Air Malaysia, formerly known as Malindo Air, is part of Indonesia’s Lion Air Group. The Malaysian branch of the airline has more than 30 aircraft, including 737-MAX, ATR-72 regional planes and a single long-haul A330-300. It describes itself as a full-service airline, offering business and economy - alongside in-flight entertainment and meals. The airline rating website Skytrax has given it three out of five stars. According to schedules published on Batik Air’s website, the Kuala Lumpur service to Auckland (via Perth) will be run by a 737-MAX. It has 162 seats, including 12 in Business. The flights between Auckland and Perth will take more than six hours, making it the longest narrowbody flight to and from New Zealand. The connecting flight from Perth to Kuala Lumpur is just under six hours. The new route will be operated six times a week and bring competition to Air New Zealand, which currently offers the only direct flight.<br/>