unaligned

Passengers on a Southwestern Airlines flight were in for a surprise when they spotted a woman lying inside an overhead luggage compartment while boarding. Video recorded by Monique Guzman shows a woman lying next to a suitcase, as a flight attendant is heard welcoming passengers on board the aircraft. Southwest Airlines said the airline is looking into the incident and did not share further information. Storyful reported that the woman was seen on a flight from Albuquerque to Phoenix on May 6. Guzman told Storyful that she "saw a head pop out of the overhead" as she got on the plane and that other passengers were unfazed by her presence and were “just casually walking past her.” A flight attendant found her before takeoff, said Guzman. However, it is not immediately clear if she was removed from the overhead bin and how long she was there.<br/>

Latin American airline holding company Abra Group plans to make a “strategic investment” in Spanish charter carrier Wamos Air, a deal the companies say will allow them to expand operations in both Latin America and in Europe. Abra, the UK-based parent of Colombian airline Avianca and of Brazilian carrier Gol, disclosed the deal on 9 May, saying it “has agreed to carry out a strategic investment in Wamos Air”. “This partnership will bring about the possibility of improving connectivity between Latin America and Europe, leveraging the potential increase in coverage and operation of the [Abra’s] widebody fleet,” Abra adds. The companies do not provide financial or other details about their plan. Abra came into being in 2022 when shareholders of formerly independent Avianca and Gol agreed to form Abra as the parent of both. Gol, an all 737-operator, primarily flies within South America, while Avianca flies Airbus A320-family jets and Boeing 787s across a network that includes cities in both North America and Europe, among them Madrid. Madrid-based Wamos flies charters and operates flights on behalf of other companies under aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance (ICMI) agreements. It has a fleet of three Airbus A330-200s, according to Cirium data. Wamos’ “business model perfectly complements Abra’s vision and strategy of being a leader in air transportation in Latin America”, says Abra chief executive Adrian Neuhauser. “This partnership will allow us to participate in long-haul markets with widebody aircraft in other countries beyond our current Colombia operation.”<br/>

With Swoop folded into WestJet and Lynx folded altogether, Edmonton-based Flair Airlines has emerged as the only ultra-low cost carrier left standing in Canada. Is CEO Stephen Jones nervous? "Not at all, we're going to have a great summer," said Jones, speaking to CBC News on the sidelines of the CAPA Airline Leader Summit in Calgary this week. Others aren't so sure about the future of discount airlines. While in Europe the ultra-low cost carrier model has allowed travelers to scoop up flights for about the cost of a pizza, the industry has struggled in Canada thanks in part to high, third-party fees and the country's low population base. John Gradek, a lecturer in aviation management at McGill University, believes the months ahead will be a key test for Flair. The privately owned company will have to keep prices low enough to entice customers, but high enough to make money — all while avoiding getting flicked off the game board by larger players, he said. "The game is going to be played sometime starting at the end of this month, beginning of June, to see the intestinal fortitude that Air Canada, WestJet and Flair have to fill their airplanes up and how low do the prices go to fill those airplanes," said Gradek.<br/>

Approval of state aid to German carrier Condor has been overturned by the European General Court because it was granted without a formal investigation procedure. Condor had been under pressure from the collapse of its former parent, leisure company Thomas Cook, and the European Commission approved E321m of restructuring aid in July 2021. But budget airline Ryanair contested the decision. The General Court has ruled that Ryanair has established that the Commission “should have had doubts” as to whether the measures satisfied requirements relating to “adequate burden sharing” and whether they limited distortion of competition. “There is nothing in the contested decision to suggest that the Commission ascertained whether the aid at issue had been granted on terms that would afford Germany a reasonable share of future gains in the value of Condor,” the court states. But it points out that Ryanair has “not demonstrated” that the aid was liable to have a substantial adverse effect on competition. While the General Court is allowing Ryanair’s application to annul the decision, it says the carrier cannot challenge the content of the decision on merits, and can only contest it to the extent that it is seeking to protect procedural rights in the context of a formal investigation.<br/>

Aer Lingus will consider legal action against a 14.4m winter passenger limit that regulators have imposed on Dublin Airport this winter, chief executive Lynne Embleton said on Friday. The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) will limit airlines operating from Dublin to 14.4m seats from October 27th to March 29th to aid airport operator, State company DAA, in staying within a 32m passengers-per-year cap set by planners. On Friday, Embleton said the airline would “carefully consider legal action” specifically against the IAA decision, adding that Aer Lingus did not believe the authority was right to take this step. She repeated calls for action over the overall 32m a year cap, warning that it was hitting the travelling public and the economy. “Dublin Airport is a critical piece of strategic national infrastructure, and the passenger cap issue needs to be urgently resolved – this requires both leadership from Government and action by the parties involved,” she said.<br/>

Israir Group has reached a firm agreement to lease another pair of Airbus A320s, which will give it a summer fleet of 11 aircraft. Both will by dry-leased from a US lessor, which the carrier has not identified. Israir Group states that it entered the agreement on 7 May. The twinjets will be “absorbed into Israir’s fleet” and operated by the airline. As a result it will have five dry-leased aircraft, and another three which it owns. Israir is also wet-leasing three more aircraft on a seasonal basis. Leases for the additional pair of A320s will run for six years and will respectively commence on 30 June and 21 July. Israir expects the aircraft to enter service for the carrier in July. Acquisition of the jets is part of the company’s strategy to “strengthen” its fleet, it adds, improve its earnings and reinforce cash-flow over the next few years.<br/>

Nigerian authorities are looking into a runway excursion involving an Embraer ERJ-145 arriving at Lagos airport. The incident occurred on 11 May as the regional jet – operated by XE Jet – touched down on runway 18L. It arrived at around 12:29, according to the carrier, which says the flight was being operated on behalf of NG Eagle. “No casualties were reported,” it adds. Meteorological information from Lagos at the time indicates difficult weather conditions, including strong winds from the north – gusting to 45kt – which would have generated tailwinds for runway 18L. It also points to thunderstorm activity and rain, and reduced visibility. The extent of damage to the aircraft is unclear. Pictures circulating on social media, purporting to show the scene, indicate the jet came to a halt on grass with its nose in contact with the ground. XE Jet identifies the airframe as 5N-BZZ, which was originally delivered in 2004 to US carrier Trans States Airlines.<br/>

Air India Express is planning to restore operations after it resolved a dispute with cabin crew that saw the airline cancel 85 flights. Staff who had called in sick en masse will return to work after progress was made at a conciliation meeting, the airline said in a statement late Thursday. The carrier said that will enable it to swiftly restore its flight schedule. Air India Express was forced to cancel 85 flights Thursday and seek parent Air India Ltd.’s support to operate some routes after more than 100 cabin crew called in sick at the last minute. The disruptions are just the latest in a series of issues to hit Tata Group’s aviation business, which is in the midst of a revamp after the conglomerate bought Air India from the government in 2021. Air India Express is currently integrating with AirAsia India to form a single carrier and Chief Executive Officer Aloke Singh earlier this week urged workers to embrace transformation and change while promising there would be growth opportunities for everyone. Meanwhile, Air India is planning to absorb Vistara, jointly owned by Tata and Singapore Airlines Ltd., by the end of the year to create an enlarged full-service carrier. Starting in late March, pilots there also called in sick en masse over concerns about fatigue and pay cuts, forcing the airline to cancel more than 100 flights over the course of a week and eventually scale back its schedule.<br/>

Cebu Pacific chief Mike Szucs has ruled out venturing into long-haul operations, even as he acknowledges the “best fare growth” seen on these routes in a post-pandemic operating environment. Speaking during a results briefing on 10 May, Szucs points out that because of under-capacity on some of these routes, which include trans-Pacific flights from the Philippines to North America, yields have gone up, allowing operators like compatriot Philippine Airlines to reap profits. “There is that temptation to [want to] go in there and get some high yields. But we feel at some point there will be inevitable [market] correction,” he says. “It is not what we do…it is not our DNA,” Szucs adds. The low-cost carrier will focus its operations on what Szucs calls a “four-hour circle” from the Philippines, which refers to flights of about four hours from the country, offering it a catchment of over 2 billion people. “We’ve got plenty of addressable markets…very close to home that doesn’t stretch or challenge the business model that we have been accustomed to,” he says. Szucs was responding to a question on whether the long-haul market was something Cebu Pacific was eyeing, especially as other low-cost operators like India’s IndiGo step up to widebody long-range operations. <br/>

The federal and Queensland governments have told the administrators determining the future of budget airline Bonza they’re unlikely to provide financial support to help save the carrier, as the search for aircraft and a new buyer continues. During a first meeting of creditors on Friday administrators from the firm Hall Chadwick said “we’re moving heaven and earth” to secure a future for the grounded airline. The firm has been controlling Bonza since its planes were abruptly repossessed at the end of April. It has calculated that in addition to an almost $80m loan from its sole owners 777 Partners, the airline owes more than $20m to other creditors, including employees and customers. Asked about support from governments, administrator Richard Albarran said discussions were occurring with the federal government on a daily basis. “The federal government have indicated at this point in time, this doesn’t mean it won’t change, but the federal government has indicated it’s unlikely to be forthcoming in relation to any financial incentives,” Albarran said. Guardian Australia understands that the federal government is not considering providing any financial assistance to Bonza or its administrators, and that it views it as the responsibility of the administrator to determine the best possible way forward. Albarran said in Queensland – home to Bonza’s bases on the Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast and many of its regional routes – the state government was “considering its position”.<br/>

Everybody is complaining, it’s not good. Don’t book Air Vanuatu.” Those were the words of a taxi driver in March as he pulled away from Vanuatu’s Bauerfield international airport and headed into the heart of Port Vila, the oceanside capital of the Pacific island country. Two months later and the frequent cancellations and delays that had become synonymous with the national carrier over the past year have given way to a government announcement that Air Vanuatu is in voluntary liquidation. In a country where 48% of gross domestic product is derived from tourism, business owners fear tourism will bear the brunt of the airline’s grounding. “The livelihoods of thousands of ni-Vanuatu and their dependents employed in Vanuatu hotels and resorts are now at risk,” the Vanuatu Hotels and Resorts Association (VHRA) said in a statement. “Massive damage has been done to Vanuatu’s reputation in overseas tourism markets. Potential tourists are going elsewhere, and wholesalers are selling to other, less troubled destinations.” Before the pandemic, the 83-island country welcomed about 90,000 tourists each year, drawn in by volcanic landscapes, brochure-worthy beaches and rich marine life. The majority came from Australia and New Zealand, and while Virgin Australia also flies to and from the archipelago, Air Vanuatu carried the majority of the country’s air travellers. Joel Slattery, owner of hotel the Moso, located on an island of the same name, said Vanuatu was in the midst of a post-pandemic tourism boom but Air Vanuatu’s ongoing turbulent operations had led to people “crossing it off their list as a destination”. Speaking from the veranda of the resort’s main house with a view out to the ocean, Slattery said that over the past few months several guests had been forced to abandon their remote-island experience.<br/>