JetBlue Airways agreed to transfer some Spirit Airlines gates and flight slots at three airports to help lessen antitrust concerns over its pending acquisition of the low-cost carrier. JetBlue will shift all of Spirit’s holdings at Boston Logan International and Newark Liberty International and part of its assets at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International in Florida to Allegiant Travel Co., according to a statement Monday. JetBlue previously agreed to divest Spirit’s holdings at New York’s LaGuardia Airport to deep discounter Frontier Group Holdings Inc. The US Justice Department is trying to break up the JetBlue-Spirit deal on grounds it would give the combined company too much market power in certain areas and lead to higher fares for consumers. A trial is set to begin Oct. 16. JetBlue says the acquisition is necessary for it to compete with larger carriers that control more than 80% of the US commercial airline market. Under the agreement, JetBlue will transfer to Allegiant two gates in Boston and two gates in Newark, along with the rights for 43 takeoff and landing slots at Newark. JetBlue also will give up five gates at Fort Lauderdale to the Broward County Aviation Department and will work with the agency on Allegiant’s use of the gates. JetBlue declined to comment on terms of the agreements with Allegiant. The divestitures are subject to approval by local airport authorities, the Federal Aviation Administration and the US Transportation Department and will only occur after the JetBlue-Spirit transaction closes. Similar terms govern the Frontier agreement. JetBlue still expects to close the Spirit transaction in the first half of 2024. <br/>
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Wizz Air said on Monday it estimates a potential 10% capacity reduction in the second half of fiscal 2024, due to an inspection of Pratt & Whitney's turbofans. Aerospace supplier RTX had earlier in the day said 600 to 700 geared turbofan engines (GTF) will have to be removed for quality checks that will likely cause some of its aircraft to be grounded. While airline operators around the world have struggled to increase capacity to meet the boom in demand for travel after pandemic restrictions eased, Wizz, which flies Airbus (AIR.PA) planes, has had to navigate additional challenges after Pratt & Whitney earlier in the year said more than 1,000 engines needed to be removed from Airbus planes and checked for microscopic cracks. Wizz said it will continue to work with RTX unit Pratt & Whitney to minimize the impact to its fleet plan and costs to the business, adding it will be seeking financial compensation. Separately, German partner MTU Aero Engines, which controls 18% of the GTF program, warned its own revenue and profit could be impacted this year.<br/>
Aeroflot Group has entered a financial leasing agreement with Aviakapital-Servis covering 52 aircraft, the initial airframes from a deal for over 300 jets unveiled a year ago. The agreement centres on the acquisition of six Yakovlev MC-21-310s to Aeroflot, as well as 12 MC-21-310s and 34 SJ-100s to Rossiya. Aviakapital-Servis has had a long-standing order for MC-21s, having signed for up to 85 in 2011. Aeroflot Group had intended to lease 50 of the aircraft, with original plans involving at least half of them being the MC-21-300 variant – which is fitted with Pratt & Whitney PW1400G engines. But international sanctions over the Ukrainian conflict have effectively left only the Russian-powered MC-21-310 available. The -310 has Aviadvigatel PD-14 engines. Deliveries of the MC-21s, which were due to arrive from 2020, have been delayed by the pandemic as well as the geopolitical upheaval. Prior to the pandemic Aeroflot Group had been undertaking a restructuring through which Rossiya would become the focus for Russian-built aircraft operations, while Aeroflot would use foreign-supplied types. Aeroflot transferred large numbers of Superjet 100s to Rossiya as part of this strategy. But during an economic forum in Vladivostok last year, Aeroflot Group entered an agreement setting out plans to purchase 339 Russian-built aircraft, including 210 MC-21-310s, 89 SJ-100s and 40 Tupolev Tu-214s. The new leasing agreement was disclosed at this year’s Vladivostok event.<br/>
Sky Mali, the only commercial airline flying to Timbuktu in Mali's interior, has cancelled flights there due to insecurity, it said on Monday, deepening the isolation of the northern city which has been under a month-long Islamist blockade. Timbuktu, a UNESCO World Heritage site and ancient trading centre on the edge of the Sahara desert, has been suffering from a shortage of food and aid supplies since a local affiliate of al Qaeda cut off access by road and river in mid-August. Two residents told Reuters that they heard shell fire near the city's airport on Monday morning. Sky Mali later issued a statement saying it had suspended all flights to and from Timbuktu until further notice, citing a security alert. "We heard several shell shots at Timbuktu airport. Flights are cancelled," said resident Mohamed Ag Hamaleck. "Now Timbuktu is completely closed. The access roads are cut, the boats no longer come," he said by phone.<br/>
Emirates Airlines will resume immediate flight schedules to Nigeria and lift a visa ban on Nigerian travellers, following a meeting between the leaders of the two countries, the Nigerian presidency said on Monday. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and President of the United Arab Emirates Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan met on Monday in Abu Dhabi to lift the visa ban and agree on new investments into Africa’s largest economy. Tinubu stopped in Abu Dhabi on his way from G20 summit in India, where he wooed investors to Nigeria. Last month Tinubu said he wanted an immediate resolution to the disagreements with Emirates Airlines and visa issues by the Arab country. The UAE stopped issuing visas to Nigerians last year after Dubai’s Emirates suspended flights due to an inability to repatriate funds from Nigeria. Etihad Airlines had also stopped flights to Nigeria. “As negotiated between the two Heads of State, this immediate restoration of flight activity, through these two airlines and between the two countries, does not involve any immediate payment by the Nigerian government,” the president’s spokesperson Ajuri Ngelale said in a statement. Nigeria, Africa’s top oil producer, faces dollar shortages which has made it difficult for some foreign airlines that sold tickets in the Nigerian naira currency to get money out of the country. Tinubu has embarked on the country’s boldest reforms in decades, which investors have welcomed. The Nigerian leader has scrapped a popular but costly petrol subsidy and also lifted currency restrictions to devalue the naira. But liquidity has yet to return on the official market with the naira quoted at a premum on the black market.<br/>
India's SpiceJet said on Monday it would pay $1.5m to Credit Suisse as demanded by the country's top court. Earlier in the day, India's Supreme Court ordered SpiceJet to make the payment by Sept. 15 in a case related to unpaid dues, and warned the budget airline of unspecified "drastic action" at the next hearing if it failed to do so. A third of the amount is part of a monthly settlement plan SpiceJet had previously agreed with Credit Suisse, and the rest are unpaid dues to the bank that have accrued since last year after the airline failed to keep up with the payment schedule. If SpiceJet fails to pay, the Supreme Court will take "drastic action" at the next hearing on Sept. 22, it said. "Enough of this dilly-dally business ... We are not bothered even if you die," one of the two judges said during the hearing, which was attended by SpiceJet chief Ajay Singh. The airline had previously said the Credit Suisse debt was an old one that predated the tenure of its current management.<br/>
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that Bangladesh had committed to ordering 10 aircraft from Airbus, marking the South Asian country's first deal with the European planemaker in a shift from its Boeing dominated fleet. French officials said the deal for the A350 widebody airplanes, which is still being finalised, is with the national flagship carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines. "I thank you for your trust in the European aerospace industry. And this commitment for 10 Airbus A350 is important," Macron said in a statement to the media after a meeting with Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The 51-year-old Biman Bangladesh has a fleet of more than 20 mostly Boeing planes, more than half of which are widebodies, and some Dash-8 turboprops. Mahbub Ali, Bangladesh's junior minister for civil aviation, said that the initial order would be for two Airbus planes. "We have asked for 10 aircraft in phases. The technical committee is now evaluating. These aircraft will be used on new and old routes. Each country has Airbus and Boeing in its fleet. But we only have Boeing, not a single Airbus," Ali said. Biman Bangladesh's demand for more widebody aircraft comes as travel is seeing a strong post-pandemic rebound. The carrier flies nonstop to 20 destinations worldwide including Britain, Malaysia, Thailand and Canada.<br/>
Capital A Berhad, parent of Malaysian budget airline AirAsia, expects to see the carrier’s operations returning to pre-pandemic levels by December, Capital A CEO Tony Fernandes told Reuters on Monday. The target indicates a slight delay from his earlier forecast of putting all 204 of its fleet back in service by August. “We’ll never have 204 (planes fully operating) because we always have some planes (in) maintenance…For me to get back to 190 planes operational is pre-COVID,” Fernandes told Reuters on the sidelines of the Forbes Global CEO conference in Singapore. He said AirAsia’s operating level stood at between 50% and 60% in the first half and it was expected to have about 190 planes back in service by the final quarter of this year. Fernandes did not elaborate on the delay, but said drivers for capacity growth included improving demand from migrating workforce, tourism, students and connecting travellers.<br/>