Flight cancellations across the country continue to cause headaches for thousands of travelers, and Southwest is topping the list of most-affected airlines for the second consecutive day. But the source and scope of these disruptions are different from the meltdown the airline endured a year ago. As of Monday afternoon, the airline had canceled more than 700 flights, about 18% of its schedule, setting off alarm bells that the nightmarish travel weekend could be the start of another operational fiasco for the company. But, according to the airline, this isn’t a technology issue like the 10-day service meltdown that left more than 2m travelers stranded during the 2022 holiday season and cost the company more than a billion dollars. The problem is the weather. A huge swath of the country has been pummeled with harsh winter conditions this weekend, and more than 140m people are currently under wind chill alerts stretching from the Rockies to central Texas. Over 140 daily cold records could be broken Monday and Tuesday from Oregon to Mississippi, and temperatures in Memphis, Dallas and Nashville are expected to stay below freezing for at least 72 consecutive hours.<br/>
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Shares in Brazilian airline Gol tumbled on Monday after local newspaper Folha de S.Paulo reported that the company was considering filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States within the next month. Gol's shares slipped as much as 13% on the report before paring some losses to trade down 8.8%. The carrier was the biggest loser on Brazil's benchmark stock index Bovespa (.BVSP), which was trading near flat. Gol, Brazil's second-largest airline in terms of passengers transported, has been struggling with high debt and last month hired Seabury Capital to assist it in a broad capital structure review. Folha, citing sources familiar with the matter, reported that Gol was still trying to negotiate an out-of-court deal but the possibility was seen as increasingly inviable as multiple stakeholders were involved in the talks. The carrier, which has also recently grappled with delayed aircraft deliveries by Boeing (BA.N), in a statement to Reuters said that efforts to improve its profitability and strengthen its balance sheet were underway. "Gol is in discussions with its financial stakeholders about several options that would provide it with greater financial flexibility, including additional capital to finance operations," the airline added.<br/>
On January 15, 2024, Middle Eastern legacy carrier Emirates and Brazilian airline Azul announced an expansion of their joint partnership, which offers benefits to members of both programs. This new agreement allows members of Emirates Skywards and TudoAzul to both earn and redeem miles throughout a jointly integrated network that includes over 290 destinations across the globe. The dynamic partnership allows TudoAzul members to earn points across the Middle Eastern carrier's extensive Dubai-based network, which includes flights to over 140 destinations across six continents. Passengers can also redeem points for tickets in Emirates' business, premium economy, and economy class cabins. The reverse also holds true for Emirates passengers, who can accumulate miles on all flights within Azul's broad Brazil-based network, which offers nonstop service to over 160 different destinations. The two carriers have maintained a strong relationship since the introduction of a codeshare partnership in 2021, which provides single-ticket access to Emirates' broad network through São Paulo to eight different Brazilian cities, as was reported by Times Aerospace.<br/>
A passenger in New Delhi attacked the pilot of a Goa-bound flight on Sunday over a long delay in departure. The flight had reportedly already been delayed due to foggy conditions in the capital, and when the captain of the flight took the microphone to announce a further hold-up, police say the passenger lashed out in anger and hit his face. A video of the incident onboard IndiGo Airlines flight 6E-2175 has since gone viral on social media. The flight was scheduled to depart Delhi at 7.40am and passengers boarded the flight at 7am. However, they were told there was a delay due to unfavourable weather conditions. “A passenger punched an Indigo capt in the aircraft as he was making a delay announcement. The guy ran up from the last row and punched the new Capt who replaced the previous crew who crossed FDTL [flight duty time limitations]. Unbelievable!” wrote a man who shared the now-widely shared video on social media. The FlightAware flight tracking website showed that the flight finally departed from New Delhi at 5.33pm, following extended delays attributed to adverse weather conditions, including heavy fog that significantly reduced visibility. It also showed a mandated crew change was implemented due to FDTL (flight duty time limitations). The captain, Anup Kumar, filed a complaint against the passenger with the Delhi police, according to the Indian Express. An investigation has been launched.<br/>
Some 800 employees of Tigerair Taiwan have reasons to cheer ahead of Chinese New Year, after the budget airline rewarded them with an average of 10.8 months of bonus. The fat bonus was announced by the company’s chairman Chen Han-ming during a board meeting on Jan 15, reported Taiwan’s Central News Agency. Chen said he approved a proposal to give each employee four months’ worth of pay, NT$20,000 (S$850) in standard bonus, and between NT$50,000 and NT$80,000 in performance-based bonus. This was on top of what the company had already dished out in August and December 2023. Top employees were said to have received as much as 14 months of bonus for their hard work in 2023. With the return in demand for air travel, Tigerair Taiwan posted a new high in consolidated sales of NT$12.6b in 2023 – a jump of close to 850% from 2022.<br/>
Malaysian media are reporting that a Middle East-based investor has agreed to recapitalise and relaunch the insolvent MYAirline. Multiple outlets say the parties reached a deal in late December, with the LCC also reapplying to the Malaysian Aviation Commission and Civil Aviation Authority for the conditional reissue of the licences and certificates required to resume commercial flights. The identity of the investor was not disclosed. "There are a few conditions that will be imposed if they want to restart operations," Malaysian Transport Minister Loke Siew Fook said over the weekend. "They must make sure all their passengers are refunded and they must make sure whatever is owed to their staff must be paid. If they can fulfil these two conditions, only then can we start to talk." MYAirline suspended operations in early October, less than ten months after launching, and after having built up its fleet to nine leased A320-200s. Previous potential investors had reportedly ended talks after disagreeing on the terms and conditions set by the airline.<br/>
Folding the AirAsia and AirAsia X brands into a single corporate entity may take several years to finalise, according to Tassapon Bijleveld, the executive chairman of Thai AirAsia and Thai AirAsia X. He says the planned merger cannot close until Thai AirAsia X wraps up its rehabilitation process. Last week, AirAsia X told the Malaysian bourse that it had signed a non-binding letter of intent to acquire AirAsia and AirAsia Aviation Group from Capital A. AAX plans to merge the airlines operated by AAB and AAAGL into a single business. AAB operates AirAsia while AAAGL owns and operates AirAsia Cambodia, Indonesia AirAsia, AirAsia Philippines, and Thai AirAsia in conjunction with local partners. However, the executive chairman of Thai AirAsia and Thai AirAsia X told The Nation newspaper late last week that those two entities may continue to operate under their present ownership structure until as far out as 2027. "The merger of two airlines in Thailand may have to wait two to three years until Thai AirAsia X leaves the business rehabilitation plan, which should happen around late 2025,” Tassapon Bijleveld said. Thai AirAsia entered into bankruptcy protection in May 2022, at the time saying doing so would allow it to manage better debts incurred earlier in the pandemic.<br/>