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Investigators said Thursday that a failed radio transmission and a distracted air traffic controller led to a close call between a Southwest Airlines jet and a smaller plane waiting to take off from San Diego in June. Both planes had been cleared to use the same runway. The National Transportation Safety Board said a controller told the crew of SkyWest plane to exit the runway, then directed the Southwest pilots to cut short their landing approach and instead circle around the airport. The call to the Southwest plane didn’t go through, however — likely because the controller and the pilots were talking at the same time and their transmissions canceled each other, the NTSB said. After that, according to the NTSB, audio recorded by LiveATC captured a Southwest pilot saying, “Ah, is that an airplane on the runway?” The SkyWest crew said they heard that while they were moving to leave the runway. The Southwest pilots said they heard the controller tell them not to fly over the SkyWest plane, but to “just off-set.” The Southwest plane flew about 300m to the side and 60m above the SkyWest plane before landing at San Diego International Airport on June 10, according to the safety board. The NTSB said in its final report that the probable cause of the close call was the blocked radio call, and a contributing factor was the controller being distracted while also communicating with a helicopter flying through the area. Federal officials are still looking into another close call in San Diego in August in August between a Southwest plane and a business jet.<br/>

Hawaiian Airlines plans to resume flights between Kona and Tokyo’s Haneda airport in October, marking a milestone in the carrier’s network recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. The airline said on 7 September that it intends to operate three flights between Ellison Onizuka Kona International airport and Haneda airport during the week of 29 October. It will then dial back to once weekly until the beginning of March 2024, and will once again operate thrice-weekly service from 13 March. The flights will be operated with Hawaiian’s 278-seat Airbus A330 aircraft, which feature 18 lie-flat business class seats. The carrier also flies to Osaka, Fukuoka and Tokyo’s Narita International airport. By 13 March, the carrier will have increased its Japanese capacity by 59% over summer 2023 levels, Hawaiian says. “We’re very pleased to bring back our convenient non-stop service between Tokyo and Hawaii Island as we continue to restore our Japan network to meet increasing demand,” says Takaya Shishido, Japan country director at Hawaiian Airlines. Hawaiian launched Haneda-Kona flights in 2016 and suspended those operations in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For many months after the shut down, the Honolulu-based carrier lamented the slow demand recovery in its critical Japanese market. However, during its 25 July earnings call, Hawaiian cited the long-awaited resurgence in demand from Japan in its “favourable” forecast for the remainder of 2023. <br/>

Avelo Airlines on 7 September opened a new operational base in Las Vegas, the ultra-low-cost carrier’s sixth in the USA. Operating out of Las Vegas since October 2021, Avelo is now permanently basing one 147-seat Boeing 737NG at Harry Reid International airport. The ULCC says it has hired about 50 pilots, flight attendants and maintenance technicians who live in Las Vegas, with plans to add more locally based employees in coming months. Avelo plans to launch five new routes from Las Vegas – starting with its first flight to Bend, Oregon on 7 September – and to increase the frequency of an existing route. Starting on 8 September, Avelo plans to double its flight frequencies from Las Vegas to Sonoma, California to four times weekly. On the same day, the ULCC will launch its first flights from Las Vegas to Brownsville, Texas and Arcata, California. Twice-weekly service from Las Vegas to Dubuque, Iowa and Salem, Oregon will begin on 13 September and 5 October, respectively. The discounter’s operations from Las Vegas to Salem will be the first commercial flights to Oregon’s capital city in nearly 15 years. ”We are excited to start the exclusive nonstop access to Vegas that Avelo’s new base will offer our customers from these six communities, with more to come in the future,” says Andrew Levy, Avelo’s CE. With headquarters in Southern California, Avelo maintains operational bases at Raleigh-Durham International airport (North Carolina), Hollywood Burbank airport (California), Tweed-New Haven airport (Connecticut), Orlando International airport (Florida) and New Castle airport (Delaware). The carrier says it has operated more than 25,000 flights and transported more than 3m passengers since launching in April 2021, following a strategy of targeting secondary cities and smaller airports in major metropolitan areas <br/>

Icelandic budget carrier Play is pessimistic about its chances of generating an operating profit this year, owing to the rise in fuel prices. Play had been forecasting a “narrow but positive” operating margin for the full year 2023, and the operating profit for Q3 has proven “strong” so far. But it says fuel prices, rather than remaining stable, have risen “considerably” – some 25% – since the second quarter. “It is now clear that this very significant price increase, together with general price increases due to inflation, is likely to have a negative impact on the financial results this year,” says the carrier. Play adds that it can “no longer assume” that it will achieve a positive operating result – although it states that the improvement in financial performance is nevertheless substantial, and its year-end cash position will be “healthy”. The carrier has signed letters of intent for two additional Airbus A320neos, which are scheduled to be received in time for summer 2025. Play has not identified the source of the aircraft. The airline is also looking to add further capacity in 2024-25 and says it is continuing negotiations. “We continue to see many opportunities for future growth and we have therefore begun planning our growth for the coming years,” says CE Birgir Jonsson. “It is good that we are still seeing higher yields than last year and a significantly higher load factor going into the more challenging winter months, and the demand going forward looks relatively robust in most markets.”<br/>

Ryanair Group CEO Michael O'Leary is "very pleased" with the strength of bookings for September and into October and thinks a rebound in travel from Asia will help keep European ticket prices high next summer, he told Reuters in an interview. O'Leary, who spoke during a visit to Brussels, said he was concerned about the price of oil but that it was impossible to say if it would impact the profit outlook for the year at Ryanair, Europe's largest airline by passenger numbers. "We're very pleased with the strength of bookings into September and October," O'Leary said. "We're on track to get to about 183m-184m passengers ... so we're continuing to run about 20-23% ahead of our pre-COVID numbers. We did a 96% load factor (in August), carried 18.9m passengers. We would have hit 19m if it wasn't for the UK ATC failure," O'Leary said, referring to an air traffic control meltdown in late August. A load factor of 96% means an average of 4% seats were not filled during the month. Trans-Atlantic air travel boomed this summer due to post-pandemic wanderlust but Asian traffic to Europe only recovered to about 30% of its pre-COVID levels in part due to the closure of Russian airspace to non-Chinese airlines. O'Leary expects Asian travel to Europe to recover to about 60% of its pre-COVID volumes next summer. The Irish carrier saw a "very strong rebound" in non-leisure travel to lower-wage parts of central, east and south Europe, as well as Morocco which O'Leary attributed to small European manufacturers replacing suppliers from Asia as part of a "nearshoring" boom. To cope with oil price risk, O'Leary said Ryanair had hedged 85% of its fuel needs until the end of its fiscal year (FY) in March 2024. "And we're now about 40% hedged for the first half of FY 25. So the April to September period of 2024 is now about 40% hedged at about $74 a barrel. We continue to be hedged well below current spot prices," he said. "We'll continue to be concerned. ... Air travel in Asia is recovering strongly. That should also help traffic across Europe in the summer of 2024. But it'll mean that demand for jet oil will probably rise," he said.<br/>

Low-cost airline Ryanair said on Thursday it was going to cut flights to Italy’s Sardinia island during the upcoming winter season, in reaction to an Italian decree that caps air fares. Last month, the government banned airlines from raising fares to Sicily and Sardinia beyond a level “200% higher” than the average price for flights to the two islands, a move aimed at stemming price increases over the peak summer holidays. Ryanair said it would operate 200 weekly flights to and from Sardinia, a reduction of 8% compared to the 2022 winter, cutting three domestic routes and limiting connections to other destinations. The Irish airline called the Italian price cap “illegal” and urged Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s rightist government to withdraw the measure. Last month, Ryanair top executive Eddie Wilson lashed at the decree as “Soviet-style stuff”. Other carriers have also criticised the measure. <br/>

Environmentalists smeared Ryanair (RYA.I) boss Michael O'Leary's head with cream pies outside the European Union headquarters in Brussels on Thursday, in a protest over carbon emissions by Europe's busiest airline. "Stop the pollution," a female protester dressed in black shouted after hitting O'Leary in the face with a pie as he was setting up a photo opportunity with a cardboard cutout of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. A second protester hit him in the back of the head with another pie. They did not identify themselves or say if they were representing an organisation. Ryanair is Europe's largest airline by passenger numbers and is flying over 20% more passengers than it did before the COVID-19 pandemic. A second protester hit him in the back of the head with another pie. They did not identify themselves or say if they were representing an organisation. Ryanair is Europe's largest airline by passenger numbers and is flying over 20% more passengers than it did before the COVID-19 pandemic. Brussels-based think tank Transport & Environment (T&E) estimates Ryanair emitted 13.3m tonnes of CO2 in 2022, making it the most polluting airline. Ryanair says it is one of the most efficient airlines in the world due to the large number of passengers it fits into its aircraft and the low number of empty seats. It plans to fly 12.5% of flights using sustainable aviation fuel by 2030. O'Leary, who is group CE, later joked about the protest. "My only complaint was that the cream was artificial and not tasty," he told a news conference.<br/>

Belgian Ryanair pilots will go on strike for the fourth time in two months over Sept. 14-15, seeking higher pay and better working conditions, their union told Belgian broadcaster VRT on Thursday. Pilots residing in Belgium have been pushing the Irish budget airline for months to reconsider a proposed reduction in the number of rest days for pilots, which they claim are unlawful. The pilots are also seeking higher pay to compensate for inflation. The strike will affect Ryanair flights to and from Charleroi airport, but it is unclear yet how many pilots will join the strike and how many flights will need to be cancelled.<br/>

Wizz Air wants to expand at Milan’s Linate airport and sees the pending deal between Italy’s flagship carrier ITA Airways and Deutsche Lufthansa AG as an opportunity to extend its Italian footprint. The two Wizz competitors will have about a 70% share of capacity at Linate once they become partners, Robert Carey, president of the low-cost carrier, said in an interview. He raised concerns about competition at the hub — a favorite of business travelers for its proximity to Milan’s center — at a meeting with Italian Industry Minister Adolfo Urso on Wednesday. “You really need to liberalize the market in Linate, both to provide competition and to get access to low fares,” Carey said in an interview. It’s “an aim on which we agree with the Italian government.” Lufthansa agreed in May to acquire an initial 41% of ITA, the state-owned company that succeeded Alitalia. While it’s common for one airline to have a dominant presence at a given airport, a 50% share is more typical, Carey said. “It’s fine to have an airline with leadership, but you need to have a meaningful competitor at No. 2 to connect the major cities,” he said. A spokesperson for the Industry Ministry declined to comment. ITA declined to comment. Wizz has grown quickly in Italy since the Covid-19 pandemic and is challenging EasyJet Plc’s position behind market leaders Ryanair Holdings Plc and ITA, according to data from OAG. Still, Wizz’s share at Linate is only around 3-4%, Carey said, with only service to Catania in Sicily. Competitors are likely to raise concerns about Linate with the European Commission, Carey said. The commission which could impose remedies on the Lufthansa-ITA deal. The talks with Urso are part of a series of meetings with airlines to discuss the sector broadly, after Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni issued a decree in August capping ticket prices from Italy’s mainland to Sicily and Sardinia. <br/>

Dubai-based carrier flydubai announced on Thursday the launch of flights to Cairo. The daily flight to Cairo’s Sphinx International Airport starts from October 28, 2023 and will support the growing demand for travel between Cairo and Dubai. With the launch of daily flights to Cairo, the carrier will serve the Egyptian market with a total of 17 weekly flights, including the daily operations to Alexandria Borg El Arab International Airport (HBE). flydubai’s network in Africa has grown to 12 destinations with the latest addition of Cairo as well as Mombasa to its expanding network. Hamad Obaidalla, CCO, said: “we are pleased to announce the start of operations to Cairo from October. flydubai is committed to creating free flows of trade and tourism between countries and enabling more people to travel conveniently and more often. I would like to thank the authorities for their support in launching operations to Cairo’s Sphinx International Airport, and we look forward to growing the traffic on this new entry point to the city over the years.”<br/>

Xiamen Airlines will start flying to Qatar in late October, strengthening aviation ties between China and the Middle East as air travel rebounds from the Covid crisis. The subsidiary of China Southern Airlines Co. will partner Qatar Airways on routes between Doha and Beijing and Xiamen, a port city in southeast China, the airline said. The Beijing flights will start from Oct. 20 and Xiamen from Oct. 31, the company said. Qatar Airways is the only carrier flying direct between China and Doha at present, with 31 round trips a week, according to data firm Cirium. The number of overseas flights from China is still only about 50% of pre-pandemic levels, but services to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates have almost fully recovered to about 130 a week. China Southern, Air China Ltd. and China Eastern Airlines Corp. fly to Dubai, along with Emirates. Etihad Airways flies between Abu Dhabi and China. While Middle Eastern routes are thriving, direct flights from China to the US remain way below 2019 levels. Xiamen Air operates three flights a week to and from Los Angeles, compared with a dozen before Covid, including to New York. The carrier’s international services also include Amsterdam, Paris, Melbourne, Sydney and Vancouver. The drop in US flights has freed up capacity for Xiamen Air to use some of its 12 Boeing 787 jets for the new Middle East route. The agreement also enables Qatar Airways to expand its China services through a partner, as it already operates the maximum number of weekly flights.<br/>