Carl Icahn won his push for seats on JetBlue Airways’ board of directors, according to a statement from the airline Friday, days after disclosing a nearly 10% stake in the New York-based airline and that he was in talks for board representation there. The two new directors are Jesse Lynn, general counsel of Icahn Enterprises, and Steven Miller, a portfolio manager of Icahn Capital. Shares of JetBlue were up about 4% in after-hours trading following the announcement. The JetBlue investment isn’t Icahn’s first investment in the airline industry. In one of his more infamous activist campaigns, the corporate raider took TWA private in the late 1980s, and the airline struggled and filed for bankruptcy. Icahn said in disclosing his JetBlue stake that he believes the shares are undervalued. JetBlue’s stock is down more than 19% over the past 12 months as of Friday’s close. The NYSE Arca Airline Index, which tracks the broader sector, is up about 7% during the same period. JetBlue’s new CEO, Joanna Geraghty, took the helm Monday, and the carrier has appointed a pair of airline veterans to get it back on track. “Building on our distinct brand and unique value proposition, we are focused on delivering value to our shareholders and all of our stakeholders, and we welcome the contributions of our new board members as we move forward with that common goal,” Geraghty said Friday. <br/>
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Norwegian Air shares jumped on Friday after it reported forecast-beating operating earnings in Q4, lifting its full-year result to an all-time high, and said it expected its profit to hit a new record this year. The results mark a turnaround for the budget carrier, which only a few years ago could have stopped flying altogether, straining under heavy debts and hit by the pandemic. From once flying transatlantic, it now focuses on its core Nordic market. Q4 is normally a slow period for holiday travel in the northern hemisphere but Norwegian last month raised its earnings forecast for 2023 on the back of strong demand in the final two months of the year. Shares in the company were up 13% at 0956 GMT on an Oslo benchmark index up 0.7%, up 43% over the past year. The carrier's October-December operating profit came in at 328m crowns ($31.08m), above the 177m forecast in a poll, opens new tab of analysts compiled by the company, and against a loss of 39m a year earlier. "It proves that the earnings recovery Norwegian has been through ... they can still deliver record numbers, even though they fly significantly less than they used to," said Sydbank analyst Jacob Pedersen. "It has become a less complex company, and complexity is incredibly expensive within aviation."<br/>
Aeroflot Group has reached financial settlements with lessors covering another seven aircraft. The Russian operator states that two groups of lessors are party to the agreement – although it has not identified the companies involved. It says terms of the transaction were finalised at the end of 2023 while the technical measures were completed earlier this year. As a result, it adds, the lessors have “ceased” their claims in relation to the aircraft under Russian insurance policies and lease agreements with Aeroflot. Neither the aircraft models, nor the specific group carrier using them, has been disclosed. Ownership of the aircraft has been transferred to the Russian insurance company NSK which paid the settlement sums. “Aeroflot Group continues negotiations to resolve existing claims with other lessors of foreign-made aircraft,” says the operator, which has previously reached similar settlements with a number of leasing firms. Under Russian accounting standards the company turned in a full-year net loss of Rb29.4b ($320mi), deeper than the previous year’s Rb14.3b deficit. Aeroflot Group says this loss includes a “significant ‘paper’ effect”, and that – without exchange-rate revaluation – it would have made a net profit of Rb50.5b. Subsidy measures to compensate for expenses in 2022 ended in Q1 of 2023. The company says financial results for last year showed “sustained improvement”, with better operating performance and higher passenger traffic in both domestic and international segments.<br/>
Indian budget carrier SpiceJet said on Friday its managing director, Ajay Singh, and Busy Bee Airways had submitted a joint bid for Go First airlines and that it would be the operating partner for its bankrupt rival. SpiceJet, which is cutting costs and raising funds to tide over its own financial troubles, did not disclose any financial details for Singh's bid that the airline's largest shareholder made in his personal capacity. SpiceJet shares closed 11.3% higher on Friday Go First, which filed for bankruptcy in May last year, had received expressions of interest from Singh, Busy Bee and Sky One Airways by the Jan. 31 deadline, Reuters had reported. Sky One has also submitted a bid for Go First, the UAE-based airline's chairman told, opens new tab news channel CNBC-TV18. Sky One and Go First's resolution professional did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. SpiceJet, which had previously shown interest in buying Go First itself, said it would provide staff and services for the new airline. Being an operating partner for Go First would likely help expand cash-starved SpiceJet's revenues, said Jinesh Joshi, a research analyst at Prabhudas Lilladher. However, Joshi said it would be worth observing how Singh would devote his time between the two airlines should his bid succeed "given one airline would be owned in his personal capacity."<br/>
A UK judge has ordered Vietnam's VietJet (VJC.HM), opens new tab to refrain from interfering in the export of jets repossessed by a leasing firm in the latest twist to a dispute that has put one of the fastest-growing aviation markets under the spotlight. FW Aviation (FWA) has taken possession of four Airbus A321 jets with the airline's agreement after claiming that the airline is in default for non-payment of rent since 2021. But the lessor, part of London-based FitzWalter Capital, accused VietJet in an online hearing on Friday of seeking to thwart the process by interfering behind the scenes with efforts to export one of the passenger jets from Vietnam, where all four jets remain on the ground. The dispute has been playing out in courts in London, Singapore and Hanoi and is seen as a test case for lessors' rights in Vietnam, which has hundreds of Airbus and Boeing jets on order, as well as for wider international leasing rules. "We have a right to possession and control of this aircraft and that extends to the ability to export it," FWA's lawyer Akhil Shah told London's High Court. VietJet lawyer Alexander Milner denied the airline was seeking to take proactive steps to block exports, and put forward detailed legal and jurisdictional arguments stating why VietJet could not be held accountable in the UK court for a matter between FWA and Vietnam's customs authorities.<br/>