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Southwest Airlines plans to cut capacity this year, halt most hiring and review its spending plans in response to reduced aircraft deliveries from Boeing Co., the planemaker facing regulatory and criminal investigations in the wake of a near-catastrophic accident in January. The carrier expects a net loss this quarter and said in a regulatory filing Tuesday that it’s re-evaluating prior guidance for the full year because of the slowing growth. Hiring has already stopped for multiple work groups, including pilots and flight attendants, and Southwest expects to end the year with lower headcount than in 2023. Southwest shares fell as much as 12% in New York, their biggest intraday drop since June 2020. The stock had risen 17% this year through Monday’s trading. The carrier’s downcast outlook highlights how the crisis at Boeing is rippling through the broader aviation industry. The planemaker has been mandated by regulators to cap output of its bestselling 737 Max model, leaving many customers short of much-needed aircraft at a time when demand for fuel-efficient jets remains high. Alaska Airlines, the airline that suffered the accident on Jan. 5 with a Boeing 737 Max 9, also said Tuesday its capacity outlook remains “in flux” because of uncertainty around deliveries. Southwest said it doesn’t expect to receive any of its long-awaited 737 Max 7 aircraft this year, and that deliveries of other Boeing models will come in at just 46 units, down from the 79 previously anticipated. Boeing has vowed to double down on its safety procedures as regulators put its manufacturing processes under the microscope, faulting the planemaker for sloppy standards at its factories.<br/>

First class on Frontier? Not quite. But the budget airline on Tuesday launched a new add-on to get more room at the front of its tightly packed planes — with no middle seat neighbor. On flights starting April 10, Frontier will offer UpFront Plus in the first two rows of its Airbus planes, where it will block the sale of the middle seat. Those seats will also include four to five inches more legroom compared with most of the seats on the planes, an airline spokeswoman said. Prices start at $49, for bookings made by March 20 for flights between April 10 and April 30, but the spokeswoman said the seat option “is not intended as a limited time offer.” Airlines from budget carriers like Spirit and Frontier to behemoths like Delta, United and American have looked for ways to segment their cabins, sell higher-priced products to customers, or add fees for advance seat selection. Fellow budget airline Spirit offers the “Big Front Seat” in its Airbus cabins. The new Frontier option isn’t a new seat, but is instead spaced differently than most of the plane. Fees are especially key for budget airlines, which charge more for everything from seat selection to carry-on bags on top of the base fare. Frontier brought in $42 per passenger on average last year from airfare, down 22% from 2022, while nonfare revenue rose 1% to almost $74 per passenger.<br/>

Mexico's state-owned airline Mexicana will purchase 20 aircraft by October, when President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's term ends, the country's leader told reporters on Tuesday. The airline, administered by the military, struggled to take flight at the end of last year after it was unable to acquire aircraft. It started operations using three Boeing planes from the military and two Embraer aircraft rented from a regional carrier. Lopez Obrador did not specify which planemaker or third party the government was looking to acquire the aircraft from. Officials have previously said they were looking to acquire more Boeing planes for the airline. Boeing and Embraer did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Mexicana, which Lopez Obrador launched by reviving a bankrupt carrier, has been pitched as a cheaper alternative for travelers compared to the nation's largest airlines, with whom the president has frequently clashed in his administration. However, January flight data from the nation's civil aviation authority shows that Mexicana carried around 1.5% of domestic traffic as the top three airlines did individually.<br/>

Irish joint-venture carrier Fly4 Airlines has conducted its initial service, operating a flight from Liege to the Canary Islands on 10 March. The flight took place less than a week after Fly4 obtained its air operator’s certificate and operating licence from the Irish Aviation Authority. Fly4, which is based in Dublin, is a 51:49 collaboration between Polish leisure airline Enter Air and holiday giant TUI. It emerged in July last year as a project to establish a wet-lease and damp-lease provider operating Boeing 737-800s.<br/>

Jet Airways has cleared a significant hurdle in its long-drawn revival plan, after an appellate tribunal approved the transfer of ownership to the Jalan-Kalrock Consortium, which must be completed within 90 days. The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) upheld the ruling from the lower tribunal made a year ago, which stated that the grounded carrier was to be taken over by the consortium. The consortium – comprising tycoon Murari Lal Jalan and Kalrock Capital – were the successful bidders of the airline in 2021. The National Company Law Tribunal ruling from January 2023 sparked off a legal battle between the consortium and Jet’s lenders, including the State Bank of India, who filed an appeal against the transfer of ownership. NCLAT dismissed that appeal, and approved the implementation of the airline’s resolution plan as originally green-lit by the lower tribunal “without any deviations”. The first step of the ownership transfer will see the airline’s lenders create security on “immovable properties” within 30 days from 12 March. Thereafter, the lenders will have another 30 days to issue Jet Airways shares to the consortium, effectively handing over control of the carrier. <br/>

SpiceJet has confirmed the exit of its CCO, amid a “strategic restructuring” that also sees other members of the operating and commercial teams leaving the beleaguered airline. A brief statement from the Indian low-cost operator says the resignation – including that of commercial chief Shilpa Bhatia – is with immediate effect. India media reports also suggest SpiceJet’s operating chief Arun Kashyap has also resigned from the airline. Both Kashyap and Bhatia were former SpiceJet executives who returned to the airline in recent years - Kashyap in 2023, and Bhatia in 2020 - after short stints at other Indian carriers. SpiceJet’s statement does not confirm Kashyap’s resignation. <br/>The airline has been embroiled in a string of lessor disputes and is in the process of resolving them. On 7 March it disclosed the resolution of a $49.8m dispute with Irish lessor Echelon Ireland Madison One, which will see it add two more aircraft to its fleet.<br/>