American Airlines has placed a firm order for four Embraer E175 jets to fly with its subsidiary Envoy Air, the Brazilian planemaker said on Thursday, marking the carrier's second order for the regional jets this year. American's previous deal for seven E175s, announced in June, underscored a U.S. regional aviation market recovering from rough years marked by the COVID-19 pandemic. Shares of Embraer rose as much as 1.2% on Thursday's order news, which analysts flagged as a sign of improving demand and stronger deliveries going forward. "It highlights that the company's efforts to increase its commercial backlog is bearing fruit and also indicates that demand for E1s in the U.S. could be picking up again," Santander analysts told clients, referring to the first generation of E-Jets still popular with U.S. regional carriers. "We maintain our optimistic view on Embraer, and believe that 2024-25 could translate into a period of a solid pipeline of deliveries." Embraer said in a statement that the order, worth more than $230m at list price, will be added to its fourth-quarter backlog, with deliveries expected to take place in the fourth quarter of 2024. The order will take Envoy Air's fleet of E-Jets to more than 150 aircraft by the end of next year, Embraer said. The United States is the main market for the first-generation E-Jets, which Embraer dubs "the backbone" of that country's regional network.<br/>
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Frontier Group Holdings has named longtime CFO James Dempsey as president of the company. The parent of Denver-based Frontier Airlines announced the C-suite shake-up on 19 October, saying Dempsey will be replaced as CFO by current chief accounting officer Mark Mitchell. Both Dempsey and Mitchell will report to CE Barry Biffle, who says the pair have “been invaluable members of Frontier’s senior leadership team for more than eight years”. Dempsey became CFO in 2014 and Mitchell joined the ultra-low-cost carrier in 2015. “They are exceptional leaders who are well-positioned to guide our airline into the future,” Biffle adds. Biffle has been president and CEO of Frontier since 2016. The company did not specify how Biffle’s role will change. ”In his new role, Dempsey will oversee the commercial, customer care (a segment encompassing contact centres and customer relations) and operations research, design and planning functions,” the airline says. Frontier also named Rajat Khanna, previously vice-president of technology at Lowe’s Companies, as chief information officer, and named former Airbus vice-president of airline marketing Matthew Saks as treasurer. Last month, Frontier cut its capacity forecast for the third quarter as demand for domestic leisure travel sagged in the USA. The company is scheduled to report its third-quarter results on 26 October. <br/>
Ryanair is facing challenges at both ends of its price range, with Europe’s largest airline taking aim at proposed minimum fares in France after fending off a cap on what it charges in Italy. France, where Ryanair serves cities such as Marseille and Bordeaux, has floated proposals for a minimum ticket price in an effort to reduce pollution from aviation. Across the border in Italy, Ryanair is the clear market leader and says its expansion plans remain on course after a public dispute with the government over a plan to limit prices on flights to the holiday islands of Sicily and Sardinia. The French price proposal, which EU officials said has drawn some support from the Netherlands and Belgium, got short shrift from senior Ryanair executive Eddie Wilson. “They are trying to disenfranchise their own citizens,” he said, framing the proposal as an attempt to support national carriers at the expense of less affluent travellers. This summer’s standoff between Ryanair and the Italian government shows how central the low-cost carriers have become to life in Europe and how hard it is to rein them in. “Low cost air travel has been one of the great levellers in the European Union in terms of moving people around and integration of people,” added Wilson, CE of Ryanair DAC, the largest airline in the group. Having established a strong position in large parts of Western Europe, Ryanair is now looking east to countries such as Poland for further growth. Story has more.<br/>
Emirates, the world’s biggest long-haul airline, has renewed its long-standing interest in serving Berlin which would require an expanded air service agreement between the UAE and Germany. The airline's president Tim Clark and mayor of Berlin Franziska Giffey met on Wednesday at the company's headquarters in Dubai to discuss “Berlin’s potential for more international long-haul connectivity”, Emirates said in a statement on Thursday. Starting Berlin flights would require Germany to approve more flights from Emirates. The Dubai-based long-haul giant is seeking to expand beyond the four German cities of Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg and Dusseldorf that it is currently able to serve. Under an existing bilateral agreement signed in 1994, adding Berlin would mean dropping operations to one of these four destinations. For more than 20 years, Emirates has publicly expressed interest in adding daily Berlin flights to its network and expanding operations in Germany.<br/>
Emirates will add premium economy services on its flights to and from Mumbai and Bengaluru later this month as it looks to win over affluent consumers in the world’s most-populous nation amid rising competition. The premium economy cabin on the double decker Airbus SE A380 jets feature 56 cream-colored seats at the front of the main deck in a 2-4-2 configuration, Dubai-based Emirates said at a briefing in Mumbai on Thursday. “Luxury travel is back and the demand is crazy,” Mohammad Sarhan, Emirates’ vice president for India and Nepal, said. Emirates’ introduction of premium economy on the three- to four-hour routes comes as Air India Ltd. tries to take advantage of its nonstop services to the US and Europe and claw back market share from Gulf airlines that transit through hubs in the Middle East. Air India, which placed an order for 470 Airbus and Boeing Co. planes in February, has also revamped its brand and began offering premium economy on its Boeing 777-200LR jets in May on certain flights to the US. Emirates’ seats are 19.5 inches (50 centimeters) wide, with calf and leg rests, along with adjustable headrests, and can recline as much as 8 inches. Each has a 13.3-inch screen for inflight entertainment, including live news and sport broadcasts, and a polished wood cocktail table. Passenger traffic between India and the United Arab Emirates stood at 4.7m people in the quarter through June. Emirates first launched its premium economy offering in August 2022. It’s already available on flights to London, Sydney, Auckland, Christchurch, Melbourne, Singapore, Los Angeles, New York, Houston and San Francisco. <br/>