IAero Group, formerly Swift Air, has voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Florida. The company, based in Greensboro, North Carolina and Miami, said on 19 September that it made the move “in order to implement a restructuring transaction and assure long-term viability”. According to Cirium fleets data, IAero Airways operates a fleet of 39 Boeing 737s and one 767. “Our customers remain our top priority and they can continue to depend on us for the same safe, reliable travel and high-quality service they know and expect from us,” Timothy Rainey, president of iAero Airways, said. “After careful consideration, our board determined it was necessary to take this step now to address our financial strength and restructure certain of our contractual relationships and legacy balance sheet liabilities.” “We believe this Chapter 11 filing provides the most effective means to restructure with minimal impact on the business and our customers and we are committed to moving through this process as expeditiously as possible so the company can emerge from Chapter 11 well-positioned to maximise our long-term prospects for the benefit of our customers, employees and other stakeholders,” he adds. It’s seeking the protection to be able to continue to conduct normal operations, including the ability to pay employees their wages as well as healthcare and other benefits and to ”honour pre-petition obligations to critical vendors and provide continued safe and reliable flight service”. IAero was created in 2019 when it took over Swift Air, which had been established in 1997. It says it is “the largest B2B passenger charter and cargo air carrier in the US”. It offers aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance (ACMI) charters and cargo flights. According to the court filing, the company has up to 49 creditors and estimated liabilities of between $500,000 and $1m. It claims assets of less than $50,000. The company says it is “optimistic” about its long-term future. It’s seeking the protection “to [stabilise] its businesses following a global pandemic that placed unprecedented pressures on the airline industry”.<br/>
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Italy’s competition authority has opened a probe into Ryanair’s market position in the country, further escalating tensions between the Irish budget carrier and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government. The authority is investigating Ryanair’s dominant positions in services for tourists, including car rentals and hotel bookings, which the watchdog alleges harm travel agencies and customers, according to a statement. The announcement comes amid a spat between the Italian government and Ryanair over a decree that aimed to set a price cap for domestic airline tickets to Italian island destinations. Ryanair Group CEO Michael O’Leary has blasted the proposed cap as illegal and threatened to scale back flights on popular domestic routes if the government holds onto the measure. Ryanair said Wednesday it welcomes the investigation as it will prove that its conduct doesn’t harm consumers. The probe “will make it clear to passengers that they should book directly on Ryanair.com for the lowest fares,” the company said in a statement. While the government is now considering amending the price cap rule, it has granted the competition authority oversight on companies in the sector. The latest investigation shifts the focus from ticket price-fixing to ancillary services. The watchdog alleges that “Ryanair’s conduct seeks to restrict travel agencies from selling airline tickets, which is typically the initial step in planning a holiday and a crucial entry point for selling additional services.”<br/>
Flights between Iran and Azerbaijan and Armenia have resumed following a ceasefire in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, the semi-official ISNA news agency reported on Wednesday, citing the spokesperson of Iran's civil aviation organization. Iran had earlier cancelled all flights to Azerbaijan and Armenia until further notice for security reasons. Armenian separatist forces in Azerbaijan's breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh surrendered and agreed to a ceasefire on Wednesday, 24 hours after Baku began an offensive to restore full control of the territory.<br/>
The UAE-based flydubai airline recorded a historic increase in its seasonal operations by carrying over 4m passengers between June and mid-September 2023, up 30% compared to the same period in 2022. According to a statement by the company, the carrier operated over 32,000 flights across 120 destinations in 52 countries, with Corfu in Greece and Olbia in Sardinia as the latest two additions to the airline’s summer routes. flydubai CEO Ghaith Al-Ghaith said they continue to create free trade and tourism flows by offering the right product at the right time, making travel accessible to new and previously underserved markets. “By doing so, we have enabled more than 4m passengers to travel this summer via Dubai’s aviation hub,” Al-Ghaith added. He further said that they are very pleased to see year-on-year growth in demand on their seasonal destinations, adding that they have recorded a 70% increase in passenger numbers to Trabzon and more than 40% to Bodrum this summer. “We believe these figures could have potentially been even higher if the aircraft we ordered had been delivered on schedule. This would have enabled us to add more capacity on some of these popular routes,” Al-Ghaith explained. He further said that the delay in delivery is a “big problem” that they have been suffering from since last year. <br/>
Indian budget carrier Akasa Air has been forced to cut flights in the short-term after many of its pilots quit abruptly, sparking a legal dispute in court where the company has warned that further resignations may even force it to shut down. A small set of pilots "abandoned their duties" and left without serving their mandatory contractual notice period, causing a disruption of flights, but the airline is on course to invest in growing its operations and ordering more planes, CEO Vinay Dube told employees in an email on Tuesday. Dube's email came on a day when the airline's counsel told a Delhi court that Akasa was in "crisis" and may shut down after the abrupt resignations, said a person with direct knowledge of the hearing. Akasa told the court it cancelled 600 flights in August and would be forced to cancel up to 700 more in September if the resignations continue, the person added. "We have chosen to fly less and give up market share ... these are only short-term constraints," he said, adding that the airline had "strong finances" and was confident of its future. Akasa has dragged the pilots, many of whom have joined rival Air India Express, to court and initiated legal proceedings against the aviation regulator to enforce the notice period. The notice period ranges between 6-12 months, depending on the pilot's rank, according to the aviation regulator. "All our actions are aimed at creating a durable and reliable airline for the long run," Akasa said.<br/>