Hawaiian Holdings, the parent company of Hawaiian Airlines, said on Tuesday that its Q3revenue had been trending positively but was reversed after the West Maui wildfire affected travel demand. The company also reduced its forecast for quarterly available seat miles (ASM) due to issues with some of RTX's Pratt & Whitney engines that power Airbus' popular A320neo jets. Hawaiian Airlines is among the major customers that took delivery of the affected A320neo jets, according to aviation data provider Cirium. It now expects ASM for Q3 to rise around 4% to 5.5%, from prior estimates for an increase of between 4.5% and 7.5%. The State of Hawaii has currently discouraged non-essential travel to West Maui through October, the company said. Hawaiian expects its operating revenue per seat mile for the current quarter to be down 4% to 7%, from earlier guidance for a reduction of 2% to 5%.<br/>
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Southwest Airlines said on Tuesday it had reached a tentative agreement with the Teamsters union over a new contract covering over 480 material specialists working at the airline. Detailed terms of the contract, which is subject to ratification by the union’s members, were not disclosed. <br/>
US charter carrier GlobalX recently received its 10th passenger aircraft and has landed new contracts involving flights to the Caribbean, marking continued expansion for an airline that launched operations two year ago. The Miami-based carrier placed a 20-year-old Airbus A319 into service on 1 September, bringing its total fleet to 12 Airbus narrowbodies, including two A321 Freighters, GlobalX said in a 5 September company update. With registration number N285GX, the recently delivered A319 is configured to seat 112 passengers. The aircraft was assembled in Hamburg, made its first flight in February 2003 and was originally operated by Air Mauritius, according to Cirium fleets data. UK-based lessor Blue Peak Aviation owns the jet. GlobalX, the operating brand of Global Crossing Airlines, expects to acquire two more passenger aircraft and four additional freighters before year-end, which would leave it with 18 aircraft, including 12 passenger jets and six cargo aircraft. The carrier says it has secured $35m in financing to fund its fleet-growth plan through the end of next year. CFO Ryan Goepel tells FlightGlobal that operating 18 aircraft this year is “still the ambition”, while cautioning that deliveries of the last two jets are “MRO-dependent”. GlobalX’s profits took a hit in Q2 due to delayed delivery of its second freighter, the company said on 9 August. The aircraft was set to be delivered in late 2022 but finally entered service in June. The company posted a Q2 loss of $7.5m, compared with a $6.8m loss during the same three-month period last year, partly as a result of the delivery delay. GlobalX also cited long turnaround times for aircraft maintenance as a limiting factor. <br/>
SKY Airline Perú will launch fifth-freedom services from Montevideo in Uruguay to two destinations in Brazil in early January 2024. The Peruvian low-cost carrier said it will connect the Uruguayan capital with Florianopolis (3x weekly starting on January 3, 2024) and Salvador (3x weekly starting on January 2). It will simultaneously launch services to Montevideo from its home market, connecting Uruguay with Lima International (3x weekly from January 4), while parent company SKY Airline (Chile) (H2, Santiago de Chile) will launch a 3x weekly Santiago de Chile-Montevideo route on January 5. SKY Airline does not currently serve Uruguay, and the new routes will also be its first fifth-freedom services. The country does not have its own scheduled passenger carrier and is mostly served by LATAM Airlines (22.3% market share by scheduled weekly departure capacity), Aerolíneas Argentinas (16.1%), Copa Airlines (15%), and GOL Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes (12.6%), the ch-aviation capacities module shows.<br/>
UK leisure carrier Jet2 has named director Robin Terrell as non-executive chairman, as long-standing leader Phillip Meeson steps down after four decades with the airline. Executive chairman Meeson, who acquired the company back in its previous guise of Channel Express 40 years ago, in July announced his intention to step down from the role. He has handed over his remaining executive responsibilities. Jet2, citing a range of factors including the importance of ensuring a “seamless leadership transition”, describes Terrell as the “natural candidate” and has named him as non-executive chairman. Terrel has served as an independent non-executive director since April 2020 and last November was appointed as Jet2’s senior independent non-executive director. Terrell has previously held roles at Amazon UK, John Lewis Direct and Tesco UK. Meeson says: ”[His] background across consumer and online industries has already proven to be of significant benefit to the company and I am absolutely certain he will be a fantastic chair.” Jet2 has recovered strongly since the pandemic amid a sharp rebound in leisure travel demand, its revenues for the year ending March 2023 climbing to GBP5b – well above pre-crisis levels. Terrell says: ”Over my three years with the Company, I have seen first-hand the unmatched customer focus, attention to detail and level of engagement from colleagues around the business and it has been a pleasure to be a member of the board.” Jet2 is led by CE Steve Heapy, who took on that role in 2013. Meeson will take up a position of founder and advisor, a role in which the company can draw up on his experience “as appropriate”. Meeson says: ”Although I am stepping back from the board, I’m proud to remain a significant shareholder and will remain a strong supporter of the business.”<br/>