unaligned

The US Department of Justice’s antitrust trial to block low-cost carrier JetBlue Airways’ acquisition of Spirit Airlines could be delayed if the federal government shuts down for more than two weeks. That is according to a 22 September analysis by TD Cowen aviation analyst and managing director Helane Becker, who said the DOJ recently indicated that “the courts have about two weeks of runway” in the event of a government shutdown. Scheduled to begin in Boston next month, the jury-waived court trial is expected to take no longer than 20 days. During a video hearing earlier this year, US District Judge William Young said he expects to rule on the potential airline tie-up by year’s end. But an impasse between the Democratic-controlled Senate and Republican-controlled House of Representatives theatens to cause a potentially lengthy shutdown if the legislature fails to approve a spending package. “We believe a shutdown that lasted more than two weeks would delay the October 16 start of the DOJ lawsuit against JetBlue in their pending merger [with] Spirit Airlines,” Becker says. Additionally, the DOJ appears likely to continue pursuing its case against the JetBlue-Spirit deal despite JetBlue’s attempts to appease the government with divestiture agreements to hand Spirit’s assets to competitors, she adds. In recent months, JetBlue has pledged some of Spirit’s gates and take-off and landing slots in fiercely competitive East Coast markets to ultra-low-cost carriers Allegiant Air and Frontier Airlines. “In some ways, we think JetBlue is bidding against itself as it tries to figure out what it can sacrifice so the DOJ approves the merger,” Becker says. “In our view, every sacrifice devalues the merger, but Spirit’s aircraft orderbook and staff (including pilots, many of whom are leaving) are the ultimate prizes.” <br/>

A Frontier Airlines flight was forced to return to Denver on Tuesday just 40 minutes after taking off after an odour was reported in the cockpit. The flight was bound for Raleigh-Durham International Airport in North Carolina, but was forced to divert due to a mechanical situation, Fox 31 reported. FlightAware showed the Frontier Flight 560 Airbus A321 took off from Denver at 6.42 pm MDT and headed west before circling around to return to the airport, landing at 7.10 pm, and parking at the gate 30 minutes later. Air traffic control recordings showed the pilot turned the plane around after reporting an odour in the cockpit. The pilot can be heard telling the air traffic control tower the smell was not smoke, but something “indicating that we have some kind of contamination in the cabin.” The airline said emergency medical personnel were called after the flight returned to Denver International Airport, but no passengers required medical treatment.<br/>

JP Morgan Chase Bank briefly became a significant minority shareholder in Azul Linhas Aéreas Brasileiras on September 15, only to then reduce it below the 5% threshold three days later. The airline said in a stock market filing that "certain entities controlled by JP Morgan" acquired nearly 8.8m preferred shares on September 15, which nearly doubled the bank's holdings from 3.92% to 6.54%. However, the same entities sold almost 7.4m preferred shares on September 18, which reduced JP Morgan's stake in Azul to 4.35%. While the value of the transactions was not disclosed, Azul was trading at US$8.15 per share on the New York Stock Exchange on September 15 (giving the buy transaction a nominal value of US$71.6m) and at USD=$8.58 on September 18 (US$63.3m nominally for the sell transaction). Azul's largest identified shareholders are United Airlines Holdings (7.76% total economic share), former shareholders of merged carrier TRIP Linhas Aéreas (5.05%), and founder David Neeleman (4.49%).<br/>

GallopAir, a new Brunei-based airline, plans to buy 30 aircraft from Chinese planemaker Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC), which will include the first overseas purchases of the state-backed firm's narrow-body C919 jet. GallopAir said Wednesday it had signed a letter of intent to purchase the aircraft, worth $2b in total, at a regional trade event in China last week. The deal includes 15 orders of COMAC's ARJ21 aircraft - including its freighter and business jet variants - and 15 of the C919, which completed its maiden commercial flight in May. The C919 was developed by COMAC to rival Airbus SE's A320neo and Boeing Co's 737 MAX single-aisle jet families. COMAC did not respond to requests for comment on the GallopAir plan. The deal was disclosed by China-based Shaanxi Tianju Investment Group, an investor in GallopAir, in a WeChat post on Monday. GallopAir said the aircraft from COMAC will need to undergo due diligence and certification processes by Brunei's Department of Civil Aviation prior to delivery. "Flight operations are forecasted to begin in the third quarter of 2024," GallopAir said. Once completed, the deal would make GallopAir the second international operator of Chinese-made aircraft after Indonesian low-cost carrier TransNusa, which operates a small fleet of the ARJ21 aircraft, a predecessor to the C919.<br/>

Hundreds of tourists have been stranded after Air Vanuatu cancelled a week's worth of flights right as school holidays kicked off in New Zealand and Australia. The airline’s only Boeing 737 aircraft – which connects Vanuatu with New Zealand and Australia – has been out of action for the second time this year. Almost 20 international flights have been cancelled or rescheduled, and the airline has pulled in Nauru Airlines to keep its flight paths open. Air Vanuatu issued a statement on their website on Monday informing passengers that an engineering issue caused the mass flight cancellations. In a statement on Facebook, the airline said it couldn’t say exactly when the international flights would be up and running again, but hoped to be operational by Friday. “At this stage, we anticipate the possible resumption of international flights by the end of this week,” the statement said. “Our teams have been working on re-routing guests via Nadi, Honiara and Brisbane. We ask guests on cancelled Air Vanuatu services to not present themselves at the airport for check-in.” <br/>

India's aviation authorities have ruled out intervening in a dispute between Akasa Air and its pilots after the budget carrier accused the regulator of inaction, a legal filing shows. Over 40 of Akasa's 450 pilots quit without serving their notice in recent weeks, and the airline has sued some of them and challenged Indian authorities in court for not acting on its requests to deal with alleged pilot "misconduct". The airline has also warned of a shut down due to the crisis. India mandates a notice period of 6-12 months for pilots which some pilot organisations are challenging in court. Akasa argues its contractual obligations with pilots remain in force, and is suing the regulator for not intervening in the public interest. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the aviation ministry in a Sept. 22 filing at the Delhi High Court said Akasa's plea should be thrown out as the regulator is unable to interfere in the matter. The DGCA "does not have any power or delegated authority to interfere in any employment contract," it said. Akasa, which has previously said it was in discussion with the DGCA, did not respond to a request for comment on the new filing, which has been seen by Reuters. A DGCA official declined to comment. Akasa has accused the DGCA of being "unwilling to take any action" which resulted in "significant financial and operational hardship" to the airline.<br/>

Grounded Indian airline Go First's revival could be derailed if a court agrees to demands of aircraft lessors, who are seeking certain records after jet parts went missing or faced deterioration, according to legal filings from the carrier. Foreign lessors have been locked in a legal tussle to repossess their aircraft after Go First was granted bankruptcy protection in May, which, as per Indian law, imposed a block on the recovery of 50-plus grounded Airbus planes. Dubai Aerospace Enterprise Capital and ACG Aircraft Leasing recently sought a Delhi court's intervention by complaining some parts had been allegedly "robbed" or the jets were corroding. The lessors, which are only allowed an occasional inspection of the grounded leased planes, asked the court to force Go First to supply maintenance and aircraft preservation records for their jets. Go First has contested lessors demands in its first response in court in the matter, saying it would be a time-consuming process that would hit its revival, legal filings by its bankruptcy officer, Shailendra Ajmera, showed. Such requests "have far reaching implications on the day-to-day affairs of Go Air and will have a direct bearing on the going concern status of Go Air," Ajmera said in court filings, asking for the lessors' pleas to be rejected. Getting such records is a "time taking exercise and would significantly divert the resources" of Go First, "from resumption of operations ... to provision/inspection of documents/records to the lessors," he added.<br/>

Philippine Airlines is enjoying the fruits of a major restructuring exercise during the coronavirus pandemic, with a reduced cost base helping the carrier to profitability. PAL president and COO Stanley Ng is upbeat about the airline’s prospects, stating a long-term ambition to add services to support the Philippines’ global diaspora, and the potential long-term addition of Europe routes. “Last year was a very good year actually and for this year we’re quite optimistic,” says Ng. “It could even be better than last year.” A post-pandemic travel boom helped PAL swing to an operating profit of $298m in 2022, its first positive performance since 2019. He spoke with FlightGlobal at the recent IATA World Safety & Operations Conference in Hanoi, Vietnam. Ng says that the carrier’s restructuring has had a major impact on the company’s ability to compete profitability with low-cost rivals. “The restructuring did its part to reduce to reduce lots of liabilities, and we were able to restructure a lot of loans, which we are still paying today,” he says. “However, operating costs have come down and he impact to Philippine Airlines is really significant. Because with the lower cost basis we have today, we are able to price our fares quite competitively with other carriers.” Another legacy of the restructuring is PAL’s ambition to build what Ng refers to as a “performance-linked culture”, in which employees enjoy bonuses when the carrier is profitable. The strong 2022 result saw staff receive a “significant bonus,” which goes some way to supporting morale at the airline. As for PAL’s fleet, Ng says 76 aircraft are in service, but supply chain issues and the problems facing the Pratt & Whitney PW1000 engine have grounded a trio of Airbus A321neos, nearly one half of the carrier’s eight-strong A321neo fleet. P&W engine issues could well see more of the carrier’s A321neos grounded. Ng adds that P&W has been supportive of the carrier, and that he tries to consider things from the manufacturer’s perspective. That said, he feels that any new engines should go to existing and not new customers, particularly since new customers are not yet paying lease payments on the aircraft.<br/>

Australian airline Regional Express on Friday suspended more flights from Sydney and accused competitors such as Qantas Airways of "pillaging" its regional pilots, allegations which the flag carrier dismissed. A spokesperson for Qantas told Reuters that the company "rubbishes such claims". Rex said it is "forced" to make such reductions, cutting regional routes between Sydney and a number of towns in New South Wales. The affected routes require SAAB-340 twin-engine pilots, with whom the regional carrier had found itself embroiled in a labour dispute following a rejected pay proposal in 2022. In April, the regional airline had reduced or changed flight times for nine services across four states, including routes between Sydney and Broken Hill, Melbourne and Wagga Wagga, and Adelaide and Port Lincoln. The affected operations will return to normal by the end of March 2024 if the situation improves, Rex said. Rex has a history of accusing Qantas, with its deputy chairman once saying Qantas acts like a “bully” towards smaller aviation players and questioned the pay packet of its outgoing CE, Alan Joyce. While updating the market on plans to launch a new regional route to Melbourne, Rex in June 2022 slammed Qantas, saying the country's flag carrier was engaging in "price gouging" in domestic routes.<br/>