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Air Canada said that its IT systems were recovering after a technical issue earlier on Thursday affected flights for the second time in two weeks, leading to delays and cancellations. Canada's largest carrier had said earlier that an issue with its communicator system had resulted in flight delays across its system. "Air Canada’s operations are stabilizing and flights are departing," the airline said Thursday afternoon. The system, used to communicate with aircraft and monitor performance, was also behind issues on May 25 that forced the airline to undertake a temporary ground stop. Air Canada did not describe the specific issue but said Thursday's glitch was unrelated to the one last week. "We have been in the process of upgrading this system using a third-party supplier's technology," the carrier said, without naming the supplier. "Air Canada will continue to work with the manufacturer to ensure stability in the system in the future." Technical problems have resulted in delays globally for airlines. Southwest Airlines Co blamed a one-hour stoppage of its flights in April on a vendor-supplied computer network firewall. <br/>

Turkish Airlines is still working out the contours of its planned 600-aircraft order, with an announcement of the massive deal unlikely before the Paris Air Show in mid-June or even later, according to a person familiar with the matter. Turkey’s national flag carrier is hammering out the mix of aircraft it needs and the engines that will power the planes it expects to use over the next decade as it targets a doubling of its passenger count, said the person, asking not to be identified as the discussions are confidential. Turkish may not split the order equally between Boeing Co. and Airbus SE, as it targets 400 narrowbody jets and 200 long-haul aircraft, the person said. Last month, Turkish Airlines Chairman Ahmet Bolat said that part of the order will go to Boeing and will be announced during the annual meeting of the International Air Transport Association that is taking place in Istanbul next week. Turkish Airlines declined to comment, as did spokespeople at Boeing and Airbus. Turkish Airlines plans to double its fleet to 814 and passengers carried to 171m as part of its strategic plan through 2033 as it takes on Middle Eastern behemoths Emirates and Qatar Airways for a bigger slice of inter-continental passenger flows. An order in the magnitude of 600 aircraft would be among the biggest ever unveiled, though the carrier would use a big portion of the jets to replace parts of an aging fleet. Airlines around the world are moving quickly to lock in delivery slots with aircraft manufacturers, as they build up their fleets in a bet that the post-pandemic recovery is here to stay. <br/>

Scandinavian airline SAS expects a busy summer season, it said on Thursday as it reported a reduced Q2 pretax loss. The Nordic airline, like others in Europe’s aviation sector, has struggled with challenges after the COVID-19 pandemic, such as labour issues and high costs, that have prevented a swift exit from bankruptcy proceedings. However, SAS and other airlines have registered better than expected bookings for the coming months as growing numbers of people travel again after prolonged pandemic disruption. CE Anko van der Werff said he was positively surprised by demand, despite initial worries that energy pricing and inflation would hamper bookings. “We are seeing, both from a corporate perspective and from a personal perspective, that people are prioritising travel,” he told Reuters. For the aviation sector as a whole he added, he believed the summer would also be stable, despite some hiccups. “We’ve all seen the strikes in Germany and in France, so there will be ‘pockets of resistance’ or, rather, areas that are more complicated, but overall much better than last year.” Despite a promising volume of bookings, SAS said high fuel jet prices and currency exchange rates continue to be headwinds. The airline posted a pretax loss of 1.41b Swedish crowns ($138.9m) in the three months to April 30, against a year-earlier loss of 1.57b, ahead of the figure of about 1.8b expected by Sydbank analyst Jacob Pedersen. The analyst said that as other airlines in Europe had become increasingly positive on earnings projections over the summer it would not have been too surprising to see an upgrade in SAS’s earnings expectations for the year. “We got some moderately positive comments regarding the overall market situation, but not to an extent that, in my opinion at least, is on par with what we’ve seen from other airlines,” the analyst said.<br/>

Fresh from turning round Portuguese airline SATA, Luis Rodrigues now has to do it again - and more - after he was picked by the government to lead troubled flagship carrier TAP as it readies for privatisation. The process could start as soon as next month, so there’s no time to lose. At least three global majors, Lufthansa, Air France-KLM and British Airways owner IAG, have shown an interest. But Rodrigues will need to reassure investors that TAP has turned a corner after a series of scandals, and mend fences with unions, which are demanding a reversal of the 20% pay cuts that remain after the airline nearly went bust in the pandemic. A source close to the 58-year-old said he was “very confident” about the challenge ahead and had spent his first six weeks at the helm studying the books, making internal organisational changes and negotiating with labour leaders. Before starting at TAP on April 14, he told reporters he would address “without taboos” issues with the unions, and he met them just a week after taking over. Tiago Faria Lopes, head of pilots’ union SPAC, described the meeting as “constructive”. He said Rodrigues took lots of notes, expressed concern about the current state of TAP, but also said he expected tensions between the company and unions to ease. TAP declined to comment for this story or provide Rodrigues for interview. In a sign of his popularity at SATA, about a hundred employees in October signed a petition asking the Azores’ regional government to reappoint Rodrigues as CEO when his term was about to expire. He was reappointed in December, but by March had been lined up by Lisbon to take over at TAP. People who have worked with him agree he is a good fit given his knowledge of TAP and the industry, his calm manner in a crisis and good communication skills.<br/>

Lufthansa today resumed passenger flights with Airbus A380s for the first time since the pandemic. The airline had withdrawn the ultra-large aircraft from service when Covid hit more than three years ago and a return had seemed unlikely until widespread industry capacity challenges prompted a rethink. Following work to prepare the aircraft for a return to service, Lufthansa’s Munich-Boston flight LH424 is today operating with an A380. The aircraft bears the registration D-AIMK, which Cirium fleets data shows is 2014-built Rolls-Royce Trent 900-powered model, and is the first of up to six A380s the German carrier plans to return to service. Next month Lufthansa will deploy an A380 on its Munich-New York JFK route, before later using it on services from the German city to Los Angeles and Bangkok. <br/>

Lufthansa expects ITA Airways’ long-haul fleet to reach 24 aircraft by 2027 under a plan to develop the Italian carrier’s business from Rome Fiumicino. The German carrier on 26 May agreed a deal to acquire a 41% stake in the Italian flag carrier with options to purchase the remainder from the Italian finance ministry at a later date. During a subsequent presentation to analysts, the German airline group outlined the business plan to increase ITA’s fleet from 66 in May to 94 over the coming five years. ”We will rebalance ITA’s short- and long-haul business,” said Lufthansa Group CE Carsten Spohr during the call. ”We’ll optimise, and in parts right-size, its short-haul feeder network so that it supports growing a larger profitable long-haul business out of Rome Fiumicino, where we intend to grow our share.” While highlighting the strength of corporate and premium leisure demand for ITA’s Milan Linate operation, and the “good potential” to expand the tourist activity there at weekends, Spohr says the focus is on growing a profitable long-haul business from Rome. ”Most of the long-haul business will be to core North and South American destinations. The upcoming integration of ITA into [Lufthansa’s] Atlantic++ joint venture with United and Air Canada… will offer greater connectivity and much wider commercial reach. We will also build on ITA’s established strength on routes to Asia, Africa and the Middle East,” he says. In part, Lufthansa is aiming to reclaim ground lost during the struggles of ITA’s predecessor Alitalia. ”The market share of the Lufthansa Group long-range [in Italy] is almost the same as ITA, so combined you are reaching the share a national carrier normally has,” says Spohr. ”We see potential in long-haul to bring it up to 24 aircraft in our business plan over time and that will rebalance again the market share of a carrier that has not had natural share of a national carrier for some time.” <br/>

The boom-and-bust in Chinese airline stocks is another sign that investors are losing patience with the country’s slow recovery months after it lifted Covid restrictions. The country’s three largest carriers — China Southern Airlines Co. Ltd., Air China Ltd, and China Eastern Airlines Corp. Ltd. — went from being among the world’s top performing airline stocks in Q4 to becoming the worst losers so far this year, according to data tracked by Bloomberg. The trio’s Hong Kong-listed shares have fallen more than 16% this year while a Bloomberg gauge tracking global airlines has gained 3%. Investors are increasingly cautious on Chinese assets as the country struggles with a stalled economic recovery and tensions with the US. Lackluster international travel and losses at the nations’ biggest carriers will also continue to weigh on sentiment for the sector. “Key concerns raised by investors now are the recovery trajectory of international travel,” said Jason Sum, an analyst at DBS Bank Ltd. Investors were “excessively bullish” and the Q1 results, which came in below expectations, served as “a wake-up call.” A key focus is how passenger yields — an indication of revenue — will be sustained given stiff competition in the market, he said. While China’s domestic air travel saw a strong rebound this year, recovery in the international segment came at a slower pace. The resumption of overseas flights on a weekly basis has stagnated at near 40% of the pre-pandemic 2019 level since the surge during the Labor Day holiday, according to Nomura International (Hong Kong) Ltd. The brokerage expects outbound travel to reach 70% by the end of this year. Airline shares may still catch a breather in the near term. The Hong Kong-listed shares of these carriers entered oversold territory this week, signaling that the slide may have been excessive and a potential bounce could be in sight. <br/>

The joint venture company of Singapore-based gateway services provider SATS and Air India has signed a concession agreement with Yamuna International Airport to build a cargo terminal at India’s newest airport. The plan is for an 87-acre integrated multimodal cargo hub at the new Noida International Airport in Jewar, Uttar Pradesh, southeast of the Indian capital, New Delhi. The selection of Air India SATS to design, build, finance and operate an integrated multimodal cargo hub was first announced by Air Cargo News in February. Noida International is being developed by Yamuna International Airport Private Limited (YIAPL), a 100% subsidiary of Zurich Airport International, together with the Uttar Pradesh and Indian governments. The new airport is intended to relieve pressure on New Delhi’s existing airports, including the three-runway Indira Gandhi International Airport, which lies to the south-west of the city. Originally planned for opening in about 2008, Noida International had become a political football for many years, but construction got under way in 2018 with the full backing of the central government.<br/>