unaligned

Southwest again trimmed growth plans for this quarter in response to rising costs and an industrywide glut of flights that’s pulling down fares. Capacity will increase about 10% in the period, down from as much as 12%, the carrier said in a statement Thursday that also detailed Q4 results. Southwest had already cut the target in October from as much as 16%. The latest move adds to efforts by some carriers to slow planned growth in the US market, where demand has moderated outside of the winter holidays and ticket prices have dropped. Persistently high costs, delayed aircraft deliveries and prolonged engine maintenance are further straining the industry. Investors welcome the moves to tighten capacity, which can allow carriers to raise fares and improve profitability by better matching supply to demand. The shares rose 3.3% at 9:37 a.m. in New York. Southwest cited rising labor and maintenance expenses this quarter and said it “currently expects similar cost pressures throughout the year.” The carrier’s pilots approved a new contract recently that will boost pay 50% over five years, and the company is negotiating a new labor agreement with flight attendants. Excluding fuel, unit costs are expected to rise 6% to 7% in Q1. Southwest no longer expects to begin flying the Boeing Co. 737 Max 7 this year as the plane awaits certification from federal safety regulators. The carrier cut the number of aircraft deliveries it expects from Boeing in 2024 to 79 from an earlier plan for 85 due to manufacturing delays at the planemaker. Southwest, which does not operate the Max 9, has a large order for the Max 7 and has called the plane critical to its plans to retire older jets and refresh its fleet.<br/>

Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes SA filed for bankruptcy, capping the Brazilian airline’s ill-fated efforts to bounce back from the Covid-19 pandemic. The low-cost carrier filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Thursday in New York, according to court filings. The move allows Gol to keep operating while it seeks approval of a creditor-repayment plan. The Sao Paulo-based company secured $950m of bankruptcy financing from a group of bondholders, according to a statement. Gol has grappled with a heavy debt burden and saw investors question its ability to navigate a rebound in the air travel industry across the region. After initially avoiding the fates of pandemic-scarred peers, the firm last year hired Seabury Capital to help review its debt and other financial obligations. Abra Group Ltd., a holding firm created to control the operations of Gol and Colombia’s Avianca, has held talks with creditors to discuss a debt overhaul and a plan to raise fresh cash for Gol, Bloomberg reported in January.<br/>

Cockpit and cabin crew working under Deutsche Lufthansa AG’s Discover Airlines subsidiary said they will strike on Friday after failed negotiations with management, which will disrupt flights from two major German airports. Vereinigung Cockpit and the UFO union late on Wednesday announced industrial action at Discover, a new leisure airline owned by the Lufthansa, from early Friday morning until just before midnight. The two German unions have sought to enter into a collective bargaining agreement with Discover but without success, they said in a statement. VC and UFO union workers have disputed their salary and working conditions at Discover. Discover said all of its short, medium and long-haul flights departing on Friday from Munich and Frankfurt will be affected by the strike. The carrier is working to reduce the disruption on passengers as much as possible, it said in a statement online.<br/>

Ryanair Thursday welcomed a U.S. regulators' decision to freeze increases in production of Boeing's 737 MAX and said it had been assured there would be no additional delays to deliveries planned ahead of its 2024 and 2025 summer seasons. The Irish low cost carrier, Europe's largest airline by passenger numbers and one of Boeing's largest customers, has already said it expects Boeing to fall slightly short of a planned 57 deliveries of 737 MAX aircraft by this summer. The airline has taken delivery of more than half of its order of 210 MAX 8200, a variant of the MAX 8, and has firm orders for 150 of the larger MAX 10, which has not yet been certified. Ryanair has not ordered any of the MAX 9 aircraft, which was grounded after a mid-air blowout on an Alaska Airlines jet on Jan. 5. "Boeing have assured Ryanair that the grounding of the MAX 9s and maintaining rather than increasing current monthly production will not further delay Ryanair deliveries for S24 or S25," Ryanair said in an emailed statement.<br/>

The airline industry will have to put quality at the forefront and refocus in the wake of an incident where a cabin panel blew off a Boeing 737 MAX 9 Alaska Airlines plane, Wizz Air CEO Jozsef Varadi told Reuters on Thursday. US regulators on Wednesday froze increases in production of the 737 MAX, raising concerns over growth plans of airlines and suppliers worldwide. The FAA said the order meant Boeing could continue producing MAX jets at the current monthly rate, but it could not increase that rate. "Production lines across the industry will be somewhat contained until absolute certainty is created around quality control," Varadi said. While Wizz Air is an Airbus customer, Varadi said "technological development will slow down because of increased scrutiny." The COVID-19 pandemic contributed to some of the quality challenges, impacting workforces and access to materials, he added. "Every actor needs to put out the right system to minimize any of the hiccups arising from new tech or production."<br/>

Bahrain's flag carrier Gulf Air is expanding its operations to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with the addition of a new seasonal destination - AlUla - starting from February 3. Gulf Air will fly twice a week to the ancient Saudi city starting from February 3 to March 6, 2024, and from April 10 to April 27, on A320-Neo aircraft.<br/>

Nepal Airlines (RA, Kathmandu) is on the hunt for over US$1b in fresh loans from suitably qualified lenders to fund aircraft acquisitions, construction of a hangar, and the servicing of existing loans, with the state-owned carrier issuing a request for expressions of interest (EOI) from lenders on January 23, 2024. According to the EOI documentation, the loan period will be 25 years, with extensions possible subject to mutual agreement. The airline requires a fixed interest rate for the entire loan period, with interest payable quarterly. Of the US$1.018b sought, US$565m will go towards acquiring new aircraft, US$415m will go towards managing existing loans, and US$38m will fund a hangar construction project. "The financing will be secured by (a) lien(s) over the assets, equipment, and project related to the financing," the documentation reads. Lender pre-qualification criteria include possessing the necessary licencing to undertake international financial transactions, having financed at least two projects worth US$1b or more in the past seven years, and having a net worth at least ten times the amount to be lent to Nepal Airlines.<br/>