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Chilean ultra-low-cost carrier JetSmart has launched its operations in Colombia after securing an air operator certificate (AOC) from the country’s aviation regulator, Aerocivil. The regulator on 14 March granted JetSmart permission to begin operating eight domestic routes between the cities of Bogota, Cali, Cartagena, Medellin, Pereira and Santa Marta. The routes will be served with Airbus A320 aircraft. “Our entry into the Colombian market takes us into another league and allows us to take a firm step, consolidating ourselves as the premier and authentic ultra-low-cost airline in South America,” JetSmart chief executive Estuardo Ortiz said in a 17 March LinkedIn post. Ortiz told FlightGlobal last October that Colombia presented a “big opportunity” for JetSmart. Colombia is the start-up airline’s fourth AOC after Chile, Argentina and Peru, where it already operates as a domestic carrier. With a population of nearly 50m, the Colombian domestic market is larger than those three combined, he said. At the time, Aerocivil had given the carrer permission to operate 27 domestic routes in the mid-term. In addition to the initial six cities, the airline also plans flights to Barranquilla, Bucaramanga, Cucuta, Monteria, Pasto and San Andres. Indigo Partners-owned JetSmart, which, according to Cirium fleets data, currently operates 29 Airbus A320-family jets in the region across the four AOCs, launched in 2017 and was the first ultra-low-cost carrier in Latin America. JetSmart adopted the no-frills formula that Indigo has successfully developed with brands like Frontier Airlines in the USA and Wizz Air in Europe. That formula calls for strict adherence to the two most important features of a successful budget airline: high efficiency and strict cost control.<br/>

EasyJet has opened its first new UK base in 12 years, claiming that additional competition could help bring down fares for passengers. The no-frills carrier is basing aircraft at Birmingham Airport for the first time, creating 140 jobs for pilots and crew. The three planes there will operate on 16 new routes from this summer. Destinations will include Antalya in Turkey, the Greek island of Kos, and Sharm el Sheikh in Egypt. The airline said it would also increase frequencies on its existing network, which includes flights to and from Birmingham using aircraft which are not based at the airport. It equated to more than 50% additional flights each week, easyJet said. CE Johan Lundgren told reporters: "This is going to provide a huge amount of additional connectivity, which not only will serve the holidays community, but also a very critical part of the business community as well." He also expressed optimism that the new base had the opportunity to grow further in future years. EasyJet marked the base opening by commissioning street artist Gent 48 to create a mural celebrating "the best of Birmingham" by representing its culture and traditions.<br/>

Chairman and shareholder Einar Orn Olafsson is to become chief executive of Icelandic low-cost carrier Play, replacing Birgir Jonsson in the role. Jonsson has been CE of the Icelandic carrier since before its launch of operations in the summer of 2021. News of his departure was announced on 18 March in a stock market disclosure, which also detailed Olafsson’s appointment. Olafsson says: “I am really looking forward to this new role. After a great ramp-up phase these past few years under Birgir’s strong leadership, the company is now at a turning point. As the company’s largest shareholder, I’d like to see my investment through. ”I am very familiar with Play’s operations and employees and can see ample opportunities and exciting projects in the operation going forward.” Olafsson, who previously led Icelandic firms Fjaroarlax and Skeljunger, has been chair of Play since April 2021. Established during the pandemic, Play has been capitalising on the market initially developed by Wow Airlines in connecting Europe and North America via Iceland using Airbus narrowbodies. After a bright start and delivering its first quarterly profit in Q3 of last year, its hopes of delivering a full-year profit in 2023 were derailed by higher fuel costs and when demand to Iceland was hit amid heightened seismic activity in the country. It has since embarked on a fresh capital-raising efforts to reinforce its cash position.<br/>

Airline SkyUp has become Ukraine's largest air carrier during the war with Russia by building up its business in Europe to offset the domestic closure of civilian airspace that has lasted more than two years, the company's CEO has said. Not a single commercial flight has carried passengers in or out of Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022. The national flag carrier has declared itself insolvent and other airlines have suffered. "The war started and we had to completely rebuild our model. In 2022 we already had a huge amount of obligations but a complete stop in revenues," CEO Dmytro Seroukhov told Reuters.<br/>The airline, which has 10 planes and about 1,200 staff, pivoted its business model from charter and regular flights to focusing on supplying its aircraft, crews, maintenance and insurance to foreign operators, a model known in the industry as ACMI. "Last year we continued to develop this model and, I think, we have established ourselves. This year we are already a full-fledged player." He said ACMI accounts for about 70% of SkyUp's revenue, making it one of the 20 biggest such operators in Europe. They transported 1.5m passengers in 2023, up from 1m in 2022. Before the invasion, the company set up in 2018 had been Ukraine's fastest growing airline and flew a record of more than 2.57 million passengers to over 50 destinations in 2021. Transport infrastructure, including airports are regularly targeted by Russian missiles and drones, and the airspace closure is indefinite. The Kyiv School of Economics estimates 19 airports and civilian airfields have been damaged with the transport sector taking $3.1b in damage as of June 2023. SkyUp was luckier than other carriers as most of its planes were abroad when the war started. Only one plane was stranded in Kyiv's Boryspil airport and the company managed to retrieve it in April 2023.<br/>

Uzbek start-up carrier Air Samarkand has named a new chief executive, just ahead of commencing its scheduled flight programme. The carrier has appointed Zafar Butaev to the top post, succeeding Anton Khodiayan who is returning to the leadership of airport management company Air Marakanda. Butaev is a tourism and hospitality entrepreneur and chief of the multi-purpose resort Silk Road Samarkand. Khodiayan will continue to serve as an advisor to the new airline. Air Samarkand is set to begin scheduled twice-weekly Airbus A321neo services from Samarkand to Istanbul’s main airport on 21 March. The aircraft is configured with 221 seats in an all-economy cabin. It has already been operating charter flights after securing its air operator’s certificate at the end of last year. The airline’s first flight was also to Istanbul, flying an A330 to the city’s secondary Sabiha Gokcen airport. Air Samarkand says Istanbul offers “extensive onward travel opportunities” and it aims to offer “further flight options” on the route in the near future.<br/>

Eastar Jet will resume its Incheon-Shanghai route beginning in mid-April 2024, the airline said on Tuesday. Eastar Jet will initially operate the route three times a week starting April 19th, with plans to increase the flights to seven times a week by July. The flight will depart Incheon Airport at 22:30 and arrive at Pudong Airport at 23:30 local time. Departures from Pudong Airport the following day will be at 12:30 a.m., arriving at Incheon Airport at 3:30 a.m. local time. Eastar Jet‘s Incheon-Shanghai service had been inactive for four years and two months since February 2020, and is the first Chinese route the airline has secured since resuming operations in March 2023. In addition to the Incheon-Shanghai route, Eastar Jet plans to expand its operations to 12 or more routes within 2024, covering destinations in Japan, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia.<br/>

The first commercial flight of India’s newest airline, Fly91, took off on Monday. The Goa-based airline’s maiden flight was on the Goa-Bengaluru route. Its next flight is scheduled for Tuesday between Goa and Hyderabad. Fly91 began with an aim to revolutionize the regional aviation landscape in the country. In an earlier interview with Skift, managing director and CEO Manoj Chacko said that Fly91 would serve regional airports in India as these are underserved despite accounting for a 30% share in domestic passengers. Fly91 is looking to have about 350 members in its staff by the time it completes one year of operations. It is also looking at increasing its current two-aircraft fleet, with the intention of adding four planes within the first year. The airline does not currently need to raise funds as it is getting the Viability Gap Funding (VGF) under central government’s regional connectivity scheme UDAN, Chacko said. For the regional sectors that Fly91 has secured, if it operates on a full schedule, then it will get an annual Viability Gap Funding of INR2b ($24m).<br/>

AirAsia’s Cambodia unit kicked off ticket sales for domestic flights as the budget carrier seeks to expand across the region and tap into a resurgence in travel demand. The joint venture between AirAsia parent Capital A Bhd. and Cambodian hospitality firm Sivilai Asia will see its maiden flight between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap on May 2, according to a statement on Monday. The company will service routes between the two cities, as well as to Sihanoukville, using two Airbus A320 aircraft, it said. The inaugural flight will take off more than a year after the plan was announced and will mark the group’s first expansion into a new market since the pandemic battered its finances and forced it to close units in India and Japan. The airline, which has ambitions to launch the world’s first low-cost network carrier, is already looking at other opportunities in the fast-growing Southeast Asian market. AirAsia founder Tony Fernandes has indicated interest in starting units in Singapore and Vietnam, which would build upon existing operations in Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand. There has been “significant growth” in Cambodian air travel and tourism, AirAsia Cambodia Chief Executive Officer Vissoth Nam said in the statement. “Our vision is to transform the way people travel in Cambodia and make air travel an integral part of the country’s transportation network.”<br/>

Myanmar Airways International (MAI) has announced its plan to introduce direct flights between Yangon, Myanmar, and Vientiane, Laos and Chiang Mai, Thailand, in early May this year as part of an ambitious expansion plan to bolster its international network. The announcement was made during the MAI Flight Forward ceremony recently. During the ceremony, Tanes Kumar, acting CEO and chief commercial officer of MAI, said that the airline will introduce new routes to Chiang Mai, Thailand; Vientiane, Laos; Dhaka, Bangladesh; and others. “Although there are many challenges at present, MAI will further expand our travel network. The number of foreign flights MAI is flying will increase to 21. I believe that the new flights that will be run again will benefit passengers and colleagues a lot,” said Kumar as reported by Eleven Myanmar. According to Myanmar’s Ministry of Information, MAI’s new routes to Vientiane, Laos, will operate weekly flights on Tuesdays and Thursdays starting 4 May. Additionally, MAI plans to increase its new international flights with other countries and expand its domestic flight offerings. Direct flights between Laos and Myanmar have been unavailable for decades. In the 1980s, Lao Airlines stopped flying to Yangon due to the route’s lack of profitability. The plan to connect the air link between Vientiane Capital and Yangon was also introduced in early 2013.<br/>

Virgin Australia’s codeshare partnership with Link Airways is officially on sale via Virgin’s website, with thousands of seats reportedly already sold through travel agencies. The partnership, announced in January, expands Virgin’s regional footprint by around 45% in the eastern states largely untouched by Perth-based Virgin Australia Regional Airways (VARA). The 17 routes involved equate to around 90 regional services per week. “We know our customers in regional Australia want this service, having already sold thousands of seats via travel agents since we announced the partnership in January. I can confirm that Bundaberg to Brisbane return is our most popular route so far under this new partnership,” said Virgin Australia’s chief strategy and transformation officer, Alistair Hartley. “Our guests will be able to enjoy our seamless and efficient service, earn loyalty points and enjoy the benefits under our award-winning Velocity Frequent Flyer program. “Virgin Australia is committed to providing value for our customers and we are proud to know this agreement between us and Link Airways will go a long way to providing customers with connectivity and choice.” Virgin and Link customers will now have access to 41 destinations around Australia using a single booking, with Link Airways’ manager of network strategy and development, Jeff Boyd, saying the carrier is looking forward to “welcoming many more new customers aboard”. “Today’s announcement will further enhance the connectivity for people travelling to and from the amazing Australian Regional Towns and Cities that we service and provide seamless connectivity Australia-wide through the Virgin Australia’s expansive route network,” he said.<br/>