Just weeks after leaving his post as CE of US operator Global Crossing Airlines, Ed Wegel has revealed plans to start a new carrier operating Airbus A220s. Wegel states that he is launching Air Flo, which will be a scheduled carrier. He indicates that it will focus on the “Air Florida narrowbody route network”. Air Florida was a Miami-based budget carrier which initially served internal Florida routes before expanding into broader domestic and international services. It operated a range of types from single-aisle Boeings to the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 before ceasing services in the mid-1980s. Wegel says aviation finance firm Avi8 Air Capital – a company of which he founded and leads – has developed Air Flo’s plan. Tailwinds Aviation, led by former Avi8 and AWAS executive Ray Sisson, is handling aircraft acquisition. Wegel claims to have a “seed round secured” and adds that a “major aviation-focused investment bank” has been “retained for the big raise”. While few details have emerged about the route network and fleet structure, he describes the A220 as the “best narrowbody aircraft ever built”.<br/>
unaligned
Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou practically makes a living from arguing. So the fact that our meeting, minutes in, has descended into a polite tussle is perhaps no surprise. The contentious issue at hand: the colour orange. The easyJet founder and perpetual defender of the “easy …” brand prefix is preparing for his latest court showdown – this time with easyfundraising, a platform with a logo recently rebranded a cheery yellow. Or orange, the billionaire contests. “I think it’s pale orange. I’ve spent a lot of money developing the logo behind me,” says Haji-Ioannou, referring to the cascade of “easys” on his video call background as he speaks from Ireland, where his partner has family. Technically, the easyJet orange is Pantone 021C – or, as we decide, pumpkin orange. “It’s for the judge to decide if [easyfundraising]’s logo is too close. I’ve seen enough judgments now to know it could go either way.” The legal tussle, due to reach court in June, is the latest fight by Haji-Ioannou against what he calls “brand thieves”. The entrepreneur spends roughly a third of his time on his easyGroup portfolio of companies, another third on his eponymous philanthropic foundation and the remainder on his investments, sitting glued to a Bloomberg terminal. He stepped down from easyJet’s board in 2010, but his family remains a 15% shareholder in the low-cost carrier. As founder of easyGroup, he licenses out and receives royalties from the “easy” brand, with the GBP4b orange airline his standout income generator. More than 100 similarly branded ventures, from hotels to car rentals, are in the long tail of much smaller businesses behind it. He remains on the hunt for “asset-light” sectors to launch the brand into, noting a recent foray into e-sims for phones, designed to cut data roaming costs. Story has more.<br/>
Indonesia’s aviation authority said it would review how the country’s airlines operate night flights after both pilots on a Batik Air flight carrying 153 passengers fell asleep, causing the plane to briefly veer off course. The flight — a journey of about three hours from Kendari to Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital, early on Jan. 25 — was a return leg for the crew and plane, which had spent less than an hour on the ground after arriving from Jakarta. The plane took off from Kendari at about 8 a.m., and after reaching cruising altitude, the captain took a nap while the co-pilot manned the flight, according to a preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Committee. After about an hour, the co-pilot accidentally fell asleep, and several frantic calls from the air traffic control center and other aircraft went unanswered. About 28 minutes later, the pilot woke up, realized the plane had veered off course and woke up the co-pilot. They course-corrected, and the plane landed safely in Jakarta. Batik Air is owned by Lion Air Group, Indonesia’s largest air travel company, which has a troubled safety record. In 2018, one of its flights fell out of the sky moments after takeoff, killing all 189 people on board. In 2013, a Lion Air flight crashed into the sea while trying to land; all passengers were safely evacuated. And in 2004, 25 people were killed in a Lion Air crash in Surakarta, Indonesia. In recent years, Lion Air Group has made significant investments into improving the safety of its flights, said Gerry Soejatman, an Indonesian aviation expert and consultant, but he added that it was unclear whether the investments were addressing the underlying issues or making quick fixes. “Because they have a questionable history,” he said, “what we worry about is that they are overly desperate to fix it.” The preliminary report for the Batik Air episode found that the 28-year-old co-pilot, who was not named, had not slept well the night before the flight because he had twin 1-month-olds and “had to wake up several times to help his wife take care of the babies.”<br/>
Pakistani prime minister Shehbaz Sharif has called for finalisation of a schedule to privatise flag-carrier Pakistan International Airlines. Sharif, who has newly been re-elected to the office, has chaired a meeting over progress with the plan. He has requested a final schedule in the implementation of the privatisation effort, urging the country’s privatisation to present it with a few days. “No laziness and carelessness will be tolerated in this process,” the prime minister’s office states. Sharif has also directed that transparency “should be ensured” at all stages. Pakistan’s government declared last year that it planned to privatise the struggling carrier, as part of measures to bring greater stability to the national economy. It selected a financial advisor in November last year – a consortium including Ernst & Young – to undertake legal, technical and due diligence work for the divestment.<br/>
AirAsia founder and CEO Tony Fernandes says he does not regret the viral LinkedIn post that showed him receiving a massage during a meeting — and that transparency is worth potential controversy. The Malaysian businessman is known for an unfiltered approach to posting on social media. He does not get his posts vetted by his PR team and wants to keep it that way, he told CNBC in a wide-ranging interview last month. “I am transparent, and social media allows me to be very transparent. It has a disadvantage, that people will misrepresent and misunderstand Tony Fernandes the persona,” he said. Recent widely-shared posts have seen Fernandes jokily tell off a passenger for bringing food onto a flight, against the budget airline’s policy. He also generated some skepticism after stating that he had been forced to fly with rival Singapore Airlines because AirAsia flights were full. But by far the strongest reaction to a social media post by Fernandes came in October, when the businessman shared a photograph of himself shirtless in the office. “Got to love Indonesia and AirAsia culture that I can have a massage and do a management meeting,” the post read, prompting a slew of comments and media coverage. Fernandes told CNBC: “My famous topless sports massage was all about showing our culture, to be honest, that we had such a flexible culture. Of course, I got permission from everyone in the room to say, are you okay?” “Initially I asked whether we could delay the meeting so that I could have a massage, I was in a lot of pain from a lot of flying. But the team said, we’re okay, you know, nothing to hide. We’d rather not delay it. So I was actually posting to say, what an amazing culture we have.” However, the message got twisted and prompted a backlash, he said. Despite this, he insisted: “Do I regret it? No. Got me a lot of publicity.”<br/>
Virgin Australia’s regional unit has disclosed its intention to acquire “at least four new generation aircraft” to replace its aging fleet of Fokker 100s. Virgin Australia Regional Airlines (VARA) says it has begun a consultation process for the procurement of new aircraft, but stops short of stating which aircraft types it was looking at. “The potential replacement aircraft types would provide superior performance compared to the F100, lower fuel consumption and emissions through the employment of geared turbofan engines, enhanced customer product and improved operational performance,” states the Perth-headquartered carrier. Media reports, citing an internal employee memo, suggest the airline was looking at Airbus A220-100s or Embraer E190-E2s, possibly making it the first Australian operator of the two types. VARA has an operating fleet of four F100s, which are between 30 and 32 years old and were delivered to the carrier in 2013. It also operates a small fleet of A320ceos. The disclosure comes as VARA looks to diversify operations by growing its charter operations in Western Australia. The new aircraft would likely be based in Western Australia for resources charter operations, the airline states. <br/>