Flair Airlines CEO Stephen Jones says his budget carrier is at last running a smooth operation propelled by high passenger numbers, despite "growing pains" at the debt-laden company that's still striving to gain consumer confidence. The CE said Flair topped the list of Canadian airlines in on-time performance over the summer as well as in load factors, with planes 90% full on average last month. “We're very far from perfect,” Jones qualified. “We’ve had tons of growing pains — some operationally, some financially, some CTA." The latter refers to the Canadian Transportation Agency, which prompted Flair last year to rejig its board and revoke shareholder rights from key investor 777 Partners in order to comply with rules around domestic ownership. Moreover, Flair must continue to make payments of more than US$7m per month on its 21 Boeing 737 plane leases and manage loans amounting to between US$200m and US$300m, Jones said. “We do pay expensive debt," he said, citing rates of 18% on loans from 777 Partners, the Miami-based company that owns one-quarter of the airline. “No one else was standing there willing, during COVID and during high oil prices, to say, ‘You know what, we believe in the vision of a low-cost carrier in Canada, here's some 17% money.’ “The balance sheet is not in great shape," Jones added, but noted the interest is "non-cash" — no monthly payments required — and merely adds to the principal. "At some point there will be some form of reckoning, whether it's a restructure or whatever."<br/>
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German start-up airline Universal Sky Carrier is preparing for the imminent launch of services, having obtained its air operator’s certificate from the country’s regulator. Civil aviation authority LBA issued the air operator’s certificate and operating licence to USC on 14 August, the company’s managing director, Klaus Dieter Martin, tells FlightGlobal. LBA’s latest published update of authorised carriers includes USC. USC is commencing operations with a single Airbus A340-300 – MSN646 – which is being brought out of “parking condition”, he says, and will be “ready for service by the end of this week”. This airframe was originally delivered to South African Airways in 2005 and acquired by Frankfurt-based USC last year. Martin says the airline aims “shortly” to take delivery of a second A340 – a -600 variant – which he identifies as another ex-SAA aircraft, MSN557, delivered new in 2004. USC has “secured several A340s for purchase”, adds Martin. It will initially offer capacity to the wet-lease and charter market. The A340-300 is configured in two classes with 38 business and 215 economy seats. But the airline will also convert a number of A340s to freighter configuration “as soon as possible”, says Martin, through the Navis PTF modification provided by UK-based Avensis Aviation, which includes a full-size main-deck cargo door.<br/>
London Southend Airport has reintroduced flights to Alicante in Spain, after the route was dropped in 2020. EasyJet will fly passengers to the Costa Blanca destination from 29 October from the airport in Essex. The route will operate twice a week - on Thursdays and Sundays. EasyJet previously flew to Alicante between April 2012 and August 2020, serving more than 856,000 passengers during that period, it said. The operator currently offers routes from Southend to Geneva, Malaga, Majorca, Faro, Amsterdam and Paris.<br/>
A flight operated by Air Koryo, North Korea's national carrier, arrived in Beijing on Tuesday, marking the resumption of commercial flights connecting the two countries after a hiatus of more than 3 1/2 years caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The JS151 flight, which departed from Sunan International Airport in Pyongyang, arrived at Beijing Capital International Airport at 9:14 a.m., earlier than its estimated time of arrival of 9:50 a.m. An arrival and departure board at the airport showed that the flight had arrived in Beijing and that a JS152 flight was scheduled to depart for Pyongyang at 1:05 p.m. It was not immediately known who the passengers were aboard the flight. The arrival came a day after two Air Koryo flights that were scheduled to arrive in Beijing at 9:30 a.m. and depart at 1:05 p.m. were abruptly canceled. It also came days after a team of North Korean athletes made a rare trip across the border on a bus traveling from the North Korean border city of Sinuiju into China to attend a taekwondo event in Kazakhstan.<br/>
China's civil aviation authority has granted Air Koryo approval to fly between Pyongyang and Beijing on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from March 26 to Oct. 28, the authority said on Wednesday in a response to Reuters queries. Chinese state carrier Air China, which also used to fly between the two cities, has not applied to resume flying China-North Korea routes, it said. The regulator grants flight approvals by season. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, there were usually about 3-5 Air Koryo flights between Beijing and Pyongyang a week, depending on season and demand, as well as flights to Shanghai and Shenyang, said Simon Cockerell, general manager at Beijing-based Koryo Tours. An Air Koryo flight from Pyongyang landed in Beijing early on Tuesday for the first time since pandemic lockdowns began in 2020 as North Korea cracks open its border to passenger travel. It wasn't immediately clear who was aboard the flight, but Western tour companies that operate in North Korea said it appeared to be a special flight that would carry back North Koreans who had been stuck in China by the years of border closures. Cargo train and ship traffic has slowly increased over the past year, but North Korea has only just begun to allow some international passenger travel.<br/>
Vietnam prime minister Pham Minh Chinh has reportedly called on government ministries to provide support for Bamboo Airways. Pham has asked the transport ministry to ensure the carrier’s “operating conditions” and the finance ministry to help expedite the transfer of shares of new investors, according to a report in Vietnam’s VN Express news outlet. Pham also wants the country’s Ministry of Planning and Investment to remove a cap on the carrier’s fleet size, which would allow it to grow beyond 30 aircraft. The prime minister’s remarks come in what appears to be a tumultuous time for Bamboo. In July, four directors stepped down less than one month after being appointed at the company’s annual general meeting on 22 June. One of these was Oshima Hideki, a former Japan Airlines executive, who served as Bamboo’s chairman for less than one month. The new chairman, Le Thai Sam, holds over 50% of the carrier’s charter capital. The board changes followed the resignation of former chief executive Nguyen Minh Hai after less than two months in the top role. He was succeeded by acting chief executive Nguyen Ngoc Trung. This year has also seen local property group Him Lam takeover as strategic investor. Japanese investors have also put money into the airline. The Him Lam move apparently distanced the carrier from former controlling shareholder FLC Group, a property group that has faced significant legal challenges from the Vietnamese government. The company’s then chairman was arrested in 2022 on allegations of stock manipulation, and FLC was delisted from the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange in early 2023.<br/>