Spirit Airlines downplayed speculation it’s planning a bankruptcy-driven restructuring even as the discount carrier reexamines its balance sheet following the collapse of a planned sale to JetBlue Airways Corp. “Spirit is not pursuing nor involved in a statutory restructuring,” the company said in an emailed statement late Thursday. The comment offers a glimpse into how the airline plans to navigate a heavy debt load and diminished prospects in the low-cost travel market. Spirit said earlier Thursday that it “has been taking, and will continue to take, prudent steps to ensure the strength” of its finances and ongoing operations. The carrier is weighing bond restructuring options and recently completed a sale-leaseback of aircraft that brought in cash. Spirit’s shares have been in a tailspin since the ruling, plunging 62% over the past three days. Wall Street analysts, including those from TD Cowen and Melius Research, have said Spirit could be forced into bankruptcy reorganization or even liquidation following this week’s court decision blocking the JetBlue deal. The carriers haven’t commented on whether they will appeal since saying shortly after the ruling that they disagreed with the finding and were considering options. <br/>
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The top executive of Canada’s Porter Airlines said he sees “a future potential path” to an initial public offering within five years, a move that would revive earlier ambitions of listing on public markets. “I don’t think it’s a next year, or this year, type item,” CEO Michael Deluce said Thursday in an interview at Bloomberg’s Toronto bureau. “It could be in the two- to five-year range.” Deluce’s comments come nearly 14 years after Porter Airlines tested the waters for an IPO before pulling back on the plans. Porter sought to raise about C$120m from a stock sale in May 2010 to expand operations and buy more turboprop planes, but scrapped the effort weeks later amid a slump in Canada’s stock market. The privately owned airline is expanding, seeking to fill a void left by WestJet Airlines’ decision to pull back in Eastern Canada. It’s adding dozens of Embraer E195-E2 aircraft, launching new North American routes, and even developing a new terminal at an existing airport in suburban Montreal. Porter’s research shows that half the people living around Canada’s second-largest metropolitan area would be better served by flying out of Saint-Hubert Airport, about 17 kilometers (11 miles) east of downtown Montreal, Deluce said. Construction at Saint-Hubert began about six months ago and the terminal — starting with nine bridge gates — will be operational in Q3 2025, he said. <br/>
Ryanair, opens new tab said on Thursday it will resume flights to and from Israel on Feb. 1, citing EASA guidance and the resumption of flights by other European carriers. Ryanair, Europe's largest airline by passenger numbers, said initially it would operate a reduced schedule with routes to and from Karlsruhe/Baden Baden, Marseilles, Memmingen, Milan, and Vienna. The Irish low cost carrier on Oct. 9 cancelled all flights to and from Israel in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel.<br/>
Aer Lingus is appealing planning permission granted to Ryanair to build a E40m four-bay aircraft maintenance hangar at Dublin Airport. Aer Lingus sought leave from An Bord Pleanála to lodge a third-party appeal against last month’s decision by Fingal County Council to grant Ryanair planning permission. It is estimated the project will create over 200 jobs for engineers and mechanics. In a separate but related move Aer Lingus is also seeking leave to appeal against a grant of permission by Fingal County Council last month to the Dublin Airport Authority for an extension to the north apron at the airport. Aer Lingus did not make a submission on either application when the cases were before the council. Instead Aer Lingus is applying under Section 37(6) of the Planning and Development Act 2000 to lodge appeals. In a three-page submission concerning the Ryanair permission the director of corporate affairs at Aer Lingus, Niall Timlin, told the appeals board that the Ryanair permission would result “in a material effect on the enjoyment” of Aer Lingus of its land and its value adjacent to the permitted Ryanair hangar.<br/>
S7 Airlines is having to downsize its employee and flight-crew headcount in Moscow due to frequency cuts and route changes forced on it by a fifth of its aircraft being grounded over problems with their A320/1neo fleet's Pratt & Whitney engines, Kommersant reported. The engine issues are exacerbated because international sanctions against Russia make scheduling repairs on them impossible. According to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module, Russia’s biggest privately-owned airline by fleet size operates a total of 99 aircraft. Of these, 25 are currently inactive including fifteen A320neo and A321neo jets with PW1000G engines: seven of its thirty-one A320-200Ns, all four of its A321-200Ns, and all four of its A321-200NX. S7 Airlines had already said in October that its winter schedules would be cut by 10-15% compared to the previous year to account for the grounded Airbus narrowbodies. In December, S7 Group’s chairman of the board, Evgeny Elin, warned of a looming engine crunch in Russia. Sources told Kommersant that the decision to cut staff numbers in Moscow is also linked to S7’s plans to expand its presence in Russia’s regions as well as bolster its main hub at Novosibirsk, where there is less competition with other major players. S7 Group has its headquarters in Ob, Novosibirsk Oblast, in southwestern Russia. Some employees have been offered the opportunity to work at the company’s offices there or in Irkutsk, while pilots have reportedly been offered the chance to retrain with different aircraft types.<br/>
India’s newest airline will buy 150 Boeing 737 Max aircraft, in the first major announced sale for the manufacturer since a panel blew out of another Max model in midflight earlier this month, the airline announced Thursday. Akasa Air CEO Vinay Dube announced the order of the Boeing 737 Max 10 and 737 Max 8-200 planes at an airshow in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad. The airplanes will increase the airline’s total Boeing orders to 226, Dube said. It currently operates a fleet of 22 Boeing 737 Max 8 and Max 8-200 planes. None of the planes is the same model as the Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 on which a door plug blew out shortly after taking off on Jan. 5 from Portland, Oregon, leaving a hole in the fuselage. The cabin lost pressure and the plane was forced to descend rapidly and make an emergency landing. No serious injuries were reported. Since launching operations in 2022, Akasa Air has captured about 4% of India’s domestic market, serving 18 destinations. It is looking to expand its network in India and South Asia. “This milestone demonstrates the strength of our partnership with Akasa Air,” Boeing COO Stephanie Pope said in a statement. Boeing’s 2023 Commercial Market outlook forecasts the delivery of 2,705 new commercial airplanes over the next 20 years for the South Asian region, of which nearly 90% will be single-aisle jets.<br/>
Indonesia has allowed three Boeing 737 MAX 9 planes to fly again after grounding them, as they have different configurations from a jet that was forced to make an emergency landing in the United States on Jan. 5, its transport ministry said on Thursday.<br/>A cabin panel broke off a new Boeing, opens new tab 737 MAX 9 jet operated by Alaska Airlines in mid-flight, leading to the grounding of the model and inspections by the FAA. After grounding the three planes operated by Lion Air on Jan. 6 and later inspecting them, Indonesia's transport ministry said it had allowed them to fly again since Jan. 11. Lion Air said the planes had different configurations from the Alaska Airline plane. The transport ministry said the Lion Air planes had a "mid cabin emergency exit door type II" whereas the Alaska Airlines plane had a "mid exit door plug."<br/>