unaligned

Breeze Airways is taking early steps to fly to international sun destinations and parts of Europe, the founder of the U.S. low-cost domestic carrier said on Tuesday, as more airlines seek higher-yield routes outside of the United States. Breeze is seeking flag carrier approval from the FAA that would eventually allow it to take advantage of "peak of the season" travel to destinations like Ireland, Breeze CE David Neeleman told reporters in Montreal. The carrier began air service on Tuesday in nearby Plattsburgh, New York, which sees demand from Montreal travelers. While a travel boom has delivered strong earnings this year for North American legacy carriers, US no-frills airlines have struggled to return to sustainable profitability due to weaker yields on domestic routes and strong demand for flying abroad. Breeze, which launched in 2021 by using smaller 137-seat Airbus A220 jets to serve secondary U.S. cities that do not have direct service from larger carriers, is taking advantage of cuts to regional routes by larger airlines. Breeze is starting service in January in Burlington, Vermont where low cost carrier JetBlue Airways Corp is cutting service. “These pockets of pain that are being created, because either there is no air service there, it’s gone away completely, or it’s just regional planes going to hubs, has created hundreds and hundreds of market opportunities for us,” said Neeleman, who founded five commercial carriers including JetBlue. “The market has changed dramatically and it has created big opportunity for us."<br/>

Porter Airlines and Air Transat have announced a joint venture, as the two carriers look to expand their range of destinations, tap each other's markets and gear up for a battle with Canada's biggest carrier. For Toronto-based Porter, the deal will open the gate to Europe and the sunny southern getaways currently being served by Air Transat. Meanwhile, the Montreal-based airline, which largely operates tour package trips, can benefit from access to Porter's rapidly growing network in Canada and the United States. Announced Tuesday, the “alliance” allows the carriers to co-ordinate pricing and schedules along with revenue sharing, and builds on a year-old code-share agreement, which enables airlines to sell one another's flights to their own customers. Air Transat said the prior arrangement increased its traveller tally by 60,000 this year. The deal also comes as competition ramps up on major domestic routes and sun destination flights, even amid uncertain travel demand. By the end of next year, Flair Airlines aims to increase its fleet to 26 planes from 21, and Lynx Air to 17 aircraft from its current nine. Porter Airlines plans to grow its fleet to 79 by 2025 from 46 currently. “Porter is in the midst of disrupting the North American market through a significant continental expansion that will only be amplified by this alliance,” CEO Michael Deluce said. Annick Guerard, CE of Transat A.T., which owns Air Transat, said the joint venture will shore up its transatlantic presence “by allowing us to leverage the domestic market served by Porter.” “We will be able to better connect our schedules to facilitate stopovers for passengers,” Guerard added in an interview. “That's not something we could do with the code-share agreement. The price will be more competitive, too.”<br/>

Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd is cautious on how travel demand will evolve in 2024, as economic woes in the UK and geopolitical uncertainty make it difficult for the British airline to predict consumer trends in the coming year. Elections taking place in the US and UK, the Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas wars, and economic challenges in Virgin Atlantic’s home country make the outlook for next year “hard to call,” CEO Shai Weiss said. A long, negative economic cycle since Brexit has had an impact on demand in the UK, particularly among corporate customers, Weiss said, speaking as the airline conducted the first transatlantic flight powered by fully sustainable fuels. “It’s just unusually unpredictable,” said Weiss. “I don’t think anybody would say they are super optimistic; it’s not super negative. I think you’re going to hear neutral to cautious.” Weiss joins other major airline CEOs expressing less conviction of a repeat of 2023’s bumper summer business. IAG’s Luis Gallego said last month that the airline was mindful of geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainty, while Air France-KLM signaled a more cautious stance going forward. The airline chief said forward bookings were looking OK, and that the airline had a strong performance on Black Friday, extending its sale by a day due to strong demand. Despite the caution over the coming year, Weiss said Virgin remains committed to returning to profitability in 2024 through focusing on what it can control, such as elements of its cost base.<br/>

A Virgin Atlantic plane powered by a blend of waste cooking oil, animal fats and other unorthodox fuels landed in New York on Tuesday, after a flight from London Heathrow that the aviation industry hailed as a milestone in its complex and controversial push to decarbonise. The journey is the first time a commercial airline has operated a long-haul flight entirely powered by so-called sustainable aviation fuels (SAF), which emit less carbon over their lifecycle than traditional jet fuel. While the tailpipe of the Boeing 787 still released the same amount of CO₂ as normal jet fuel, net emissions from the unmodified Rolls-Royce engines run on waste products were expected to be about 70% lower than a normal trip over the north Atlantic using fossil fuel from the ground. Sir Richard Branson, Virgin Atlantic’s co-founder on board the flight, said during the journey: “I was just thinking of my histories of firsts across the Atlantic and all my previous ones I’ve ended up being pulled out of the sea, whether it is ballooning or boating. So I am very glad this will be my first time . . . that will land at an airport.” With breakthrough technologies such as hydrogen or electric-powered flights years away, the industry is banking on using new fuels to reach their commitment to hit net zero by 2050, while continuing to pursue growth in the coming decades. However environmentalists and some scientists have questioned whether these alternative fuels are really sustainable at all, arguing that flying less is the only way to genuinely cut emissions. Some have also warned these publicity flights distract from the problems facing decarbonising flying, as the industry also focuses on growing in the coming decades. SAF currently represents less than 0.1% of global jet fuel volumes. Flying is responsible for about 5% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, and the aviation industry faces a difficult journey to wean itself off the fossil fuels that power jet engines. Other sources of sustainable fuels being explored include biomass which absorbed CO₂ when it was alive, while in the longer term, the industry hopes to scale up nascent technology to create cleaner fuel by combining co2 sourced from the air with green hydrogen, using renewable electricity. All these fuels are significantly more expensive than kerosene.<br/>

Richard Branson has long relished the image of the aviation pioneer, from traversing the Pacific in a hot-air balloon to making space travel available for paying customers. Now the British billionaire is participating in the first flight of a commercial aircraft across the Atlantic powered entirely by sustainable aviation fuel, beating arch-rival British Airways to the punch. Virgin Atlantic flight VS100 took off from London Heathrow to New York on Tuesday morning. Besides Branson and Virgin Atlantic CEO Shai Weiss, UK Transport Secretary Mark Harper will be on board the Boeing Co. 787, lending a political dimension to the exercise that seeks to show how the aviation world is cruising toward a cleaner future. But even Branson’s bravado and infectious optimism can’t mask that fact that the road toward net zero, a goal the industry aims to achieve by 2050, is becoming ever hard to navigate. SAF, as sustainable aviation fuel is called, isn’t available in large enough quantities to make a real impact. And airlines worry that the higher cost of the fuel will leave passengers footing the bill, just as they return to flying after years of pandemic malaise. For now, large passenger aircraft can’t switch to battery power because they lack the energy density for the foreseeable future to lift a commercial planeload of passengers and cargo into the sky. That leaves only alternative fuels as a viable option. The Virgin Atlantic flight comes just a few days before the COP 28 climate summit kicks off in Dubai, which is also home to Emirates. The world’s largest international airline flew its own SAF flight last week, operating an Airbus A380 on a demonstration flight with one of its four engines powered by 100% sustainable aviation fuel. Harper, speaking to reporters ahead of the flight taking off, said the government sets the mandate while industry needs to “work out how to deliver it, negotiate the contracts and do the pricing.”<br/>

EasyJet has swung to profit amid a surge in demand for travel, enabling the low-cost carrier to reinstate its dividend for the first time since the pandemic. The airline on Tuesday said revenues rose 42% to GBP8b in the 12 months to September. It posted a profit before tax of GBP455m over the same period, following a loss of GBP178m last year, after a “record” summer boosted earnings. EasyJet is one of the first major European airlines to announce the resumption of shareholder payouts after the spread of Covid-19 led to widespread disruption in the aviation industry. The carrier announced a dividend of 4.5p a share, amounting to a GBP34mn payout. EasyJet’s share price was up almost 4% by lunchtime on Tuesday. CE Johan Lundgren said: “Our record summer performance demonstrates the success of our strategy and that demand for easyJet remains strong.” He added: “We see a positive outlook for this year with airline and [holiday] bookings both ahead year on year.” EasyJet said the current fiscal year had started with a strong growth in profit. However, the airline warned that early winter results for its 2024 fiscal year would be affected by the war in Gaza, with flights to Israel and Jordan temporarily paused until January 8. “[The war] will have an impact,” said Lundgren. “But I think what’s important to note is the bookings have started to come back quite significantly . . . and that’s the same booking pattern that we saw after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.” Andrew Lobbenberg, aviation analyst at Barclays, said the Israel-Hamas war had a “material impact” on easyJet “albeit one that is fading now”. Lobbenberg anticipated an improved performance in the three months to March, as the effect of the war is “easing on booking trends with good momentum at the moment, except for services to the immediate area of Israel, Jordan and Egypt”. The company said fuel costs increased 59% to GBP2b in the 12 months to September when compared with the same period last year. The carrier noted that the price of jet fuel remained high due to increased global demand following the resumption of pre-pandemic levels of flying and increased economic activity, as well as a restriction in the supply of fuel from the Opec+ oil cartel.<br/>

UK low-cost carrier EasyJet has struck a new long-term deal at its biggest base, London Gatwick airport. The airline is the largest operator at the south London airport, even as it prepares to return some of the slots it has leased at the facility from rival British Airways Speaking during a full-year results call on 28 November, EasyJet CFO Kenton Jarvis said: ”We were in a seven-year deal that was due to end in April 2024, and yesterday we signed a new long-term deal with Gatwick that we are very pleased with and secures EasyJet as an anchor partner for Gatwick. So we’ve got a deal agreed now that moves us forward for the next six years.” Cirium schedules data shows that Gatwick accounts for around 10% of EasyJet’s November seats, more than double the amount of its next biggest airport. EasyJet represents more than a third of total seat capacity from Gatwick. The airline’s presence has been bolstered by a deal struck during the pandemic under which it has leased some slots from British Airways while the latter was restructuring its Gatwick operations. BA also leased some slots to sister carrier Vueling. EasyJet CCO Sophie Dekkers says the airline will next summer return around 3,000 slots to BA – representing about three aircraft worth of flying.<br/>

Air Serbia has selected Bluebox Aviation Systems to trial its digital passenger experience platform on narrow-body aircraft. Hosted on the Bluebox Wow portable wireless system in its battery-operated format, the technology has been initially installed on one ATR72-600 (registered YU-ALW) and two A320s (YU-APO and YU-APS). As announced by the carrier’s CEO back in March, passengers will have the ability to stream entertainment content to their own devices. Customised with Air Serbia branding and available in three languages, the platform is configured for the trial to include entertainment, a moving map, and passenger feedback surveys. Passengers onboard will not be required to download an app, rather, content will be available upon linking through the technology through the device’s browser.<br/>

Nigerian operator Ibom Air has received its first new Airbus A220-300, one of 10 ordered by the carrier. Ibom Air has already gained experience with A220s operations after it temporarily leased a pair from EgyptAir in 2021. It subsequently disclosed an order for 10 of the twinjets during the Dubai air show later that year. Ibom participated in a delivery ceremony for the first aircraft (5N-CDA) on 24 February at Airbus Canada’s Montreal Mirabel facility. “The decision to invest in a fleet of highly-efficient brand-new aircraft to power our growth plans underscores our determination to offer no less than world-class airline services to our valued customers,” says Ibom CE Mfon Udom. Udom describes the A220’s introduction as a “game-changing leap forward” for the airline. The twinjet is powered by Pratt & Whitney PW1500G engines. Ibom Air, which is wholly-owed by the state government of Akwa Ibom, has a fleet comprising two Airbus A320s – which it wet-leased as bridging capacity while awaiting the A220s – plus five Bombardier CRJ900s.<br/>

Vietnam’s Bamboo Airways JSC is rebuilding under its new CEO, who is intent on proving the indebted six-year-old carrier has a future after shedding two-thirds of its fleet and 80% of its network. “We need our passengers to believe in our future,” Luong Hoai Nam said. “We need to make our investors, shareholders and potential investors believe in our future. We definitely have to move fast.” The airline, which is working to whittle down 11t dong ($454m) in debt and is in talks with a local bank on financing, posted a 17.6t dong loss last year, largely due to provisions for bad debts. It’s a far cry from the grand vision of former Chairman Trinh Van Quyet, who is now in prison. Quyet had plans for direct flights to the US and an initial public offering to give the airline a market capitalization of as much as $1b. Bamboo once operated 66 domestic routes and 15 international, but now it only flies a few international charters and 16 local routes, Nam said. “The impact of Covid left the airlines in Vietnam in a weaker financial situation,” said Brendan Sobie, Singapore-based founder of consultancy Sobie Aviation. “But the bigger picture is the Vietnam market experienced rapid growth on the back of extremely low fares. It’s not sustainable.” The Communist government in Vietnam, where the average annual salary is about $4,000, sets a cap on economy-class airfares. With flights dwindling and debt mounting, Bamboo ended contracts with its foreign pilots and will cut about 60% of its workforce costs by the end of March, Nam said in the interview Monday. The airline has reached an agreement to provide backpay to some foreign pilots who are still owed wages, he said. Bamboo has returned 19 aircraft, including three Boeing Co. 787s, to leasing companies, leaving it with a fleet of 11 planes made by Airbus SE and Embraer SA. To improve efficiency, the airline intends to eventually use only Airbus aircraft and aims to get back up to a 30-strong fleet in three to four years, said 60-year-old Nam, who joined Bamboo in October having previously led Vietnam Airlines JSC’s budget carrier Pacific Airlines. <br/>