Haiti’s main international airport reopened Monday for the first time in nearly three months after relentless gang violence forced authorities to close it. The reopening of the Toussaint-Louverture airport in the capital of Port-au-Prince is expected to help ease a critical shortage of medications and other basic supplies. The country’s main seaport remains paralyzed. Gangs control 80% of the capital. U.S.-based airlines are not expected to start using the airport until late May or early June. The first commercial passenger flight since March left for Miami nearly two hours behind schedule, with sweating passengers complaining about the lack of air conditioning until takeoff. Although the flight was organized by local carrier Sunrise Airways, it contracted Florida-based charter airline World Atlantic, which distributed paper towels to drenched passengers. As the plane hurtled down the runway and took off, one passenger said in a soft voice, “Yes. Yes.” Before Monday, the sole airport operating in Haiti was located in the north coastal city of Cap-Haitien. It was out of reach for many seeking to flee the country, with roads leading from Port-au-Prince controlled by gangs that have opened fire on cars and buses passing through.<br/>
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European airlines have signalled that a multiyear surge in ticket prices is peaking, casting the first doubts over a boom that took the industry from near bankruptcy during the coronavirus pandemic to record profits. Ryanair warned that fares across its network this summer would now be only flat or “modestly ahead” of last year, down from a previous forecast of a 10% increase. CE Michael O’Leary said that although overall demand remained “positive”, Europe’s largest low-cost carrier had already started cutting ticket prices to fill its planes. “It is a little bit surprising that pricing hasn’t been stronger, and we are not quite sure whether that is just consumer sentiment, or recessionary feel around Europe,” he said. “Consumers will want to travel . . . it is good news for consumers this summer, and shareholders’ expectations will have to realign a little bit,” O’Leary said. The caution from Ryanair follows results last week from rival easyJet, which also slightly softened its forecasts for ticket pricing this summer. After battling for survival during the pandemic, European airlines have ridden a wave of pent-up travel demand, with a shortage of aircraft giving the industry even more pricing power. Average airfares across Europe were between 20 and 30% higher over the summer of 2023 compared with 2019, according to EU data. Ryanair’s average fare rose 21% in its most recent financial year, to just under E50.<br/>
Dubai's main airport expects to handle a record passenger traffic this year after an 8.4% rise in the first quarter compared with a year earlier, operator Dubai Airports said on Tuesday. Dubai International Airport (DXB), a major global travel hub, welcomed around 23m passengers in the January-March period, the operator said in a statement, noting that the uptick was partly driven by increased destination offers by flagship carrier Emirates and its sister low-cost airline Flydubai. "With a strong start to Q2 and an optimistic outlook for the rest of the year, we have revised our forecast for the year to 91m guests, surpassing our previous annual traffic record of 89.1m in 2018," CEO Paul Griffiths said in the statement. Dubai is the biggest tourism and trade hub in the Middle East, attracting a record 17.15m international overnight visitors last year. Its ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum last month approved a new passenger terminal in Al Maktoum International airport worth 128b dirhams ($34.85b). The Al Maktoum International Airport will be the largest in the world with a capacity of up to 260m passengers, and five times the size of DXB, he said, adding all operations at Dubai airport would be transferred to Al Maktoum in the coming years. DXB is connected to 256 destinations across 102 countries. In Q1, India, Saudi Arabia and Britain were the top three countries by passenger numbers, Dubai Airports added.<br/>
Saudi Arabia said it’s working with top airplane makers Boeing and Airbus to get its aluminum and titanium approved for use in their planes as part of a push to get more manufacturing done inside the kingdom. Achieving certification would potentially help the jet manufacturers overcome supply hurdles, including difficulties securing some raw materials. Saudi Arabia is also discussing making more aircraft components locally, according to the Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation. “Boeing, Airbus and Embraer are all showing interest in setting up long-term facilities for certain components in the kingdom,” Abdulaziz Al-Duailej, president of the organization known as GACA, said in an interview ahead of the Future Aviation Forum in Riyadh, which started on Monday. Saudi Arabia is working on becoming a new center for metals and mining as it looks for ways to diversify its economy away from oil. The talks with aviation giants to become part of their metals procurement comes at a time when the kingdom is set to be a major source of fresh airplane orders. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has ambitions to build out the country’s transportation industry, including through an overhaul of its aviation sector and the establishment of new airlines.<br/>
Northcape Capital said a bid by major shareholders to take Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd. private may face opposition due to the low valuation offered. “They might need to revise the offer,” said Ross Cameron, a portfolio manager at Northcape, which own a 1.7% stake in the airport group. “This offer was opportunistic,” and there is a risk the stakeholders won’t get the 90% threshold needed to delist the company, he said. A Khazanah Nasional Bhd.-led consortium announced on May 15 an offer for the shares of Malaysia Airports it doesn’t already own, at 11 ringgit apiece. The move comes as revised concession terms and extended operating agreements provide better earnings visibility for the airports operator. The offer, made along with the Employees Provident Fund, Global Infrastructure Partners and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, values the company at 18.4b ringgit ($3.9b). Shares of Malaysia Airports have dropped about 3% since May 14, just before the offer was announced, paring year-to-date gains to 37%. Northcape is an Australian boutique fund manager specializing in equities with funds under management of about $8b, according to its website. The fund is active in the aviation sector and owns stakes in Qantas Airways and an airport in Mexico, Cameron said. It used to hold shares in the now delisted Sydney Airport. Analysts have mostly recommended that investors accept the buyout offer. The deal is fairly valued, given that Malaysia Airports’ share price has advanced in the last six months as minority shareholders “positioned early,” said Macquarie Capital Securities analyst Max Koh.<br/>
A new proposal to introduce fire and emergency levies on domestic aircraft would be “a major blow” to the aviation industry at a challenging time and likely lead to higher airfares and reduced services, the Aviation Industry Association (AIANZ) says. Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) has proposed levying all domestic aircraft operating in New Zealand at 11.5 cents per NZ$100 insured with an unlimited cap. This means an aircraft valued at about $10m would pay about $11,500 and a jet plane potentially more than $100,000, AIANZ said. Rescue helicopters would pay about $9000. The association said the FENZ proposal, for which public consultation closed on May 17, came as a complete surprise. The association said it was “disappointing” that the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA), which oversees FENZ, did not consult with the industry before a document on the proposal was publicly released. AIANZ CE Simon Wallace said the proposal could be the death knell for some operators, and that costs would have to be passed onto travellers. Wallace said the association, which represents most of New Zealand’s 300 commercial aviation operators, does not believe domestic aircraft use FENZ services enough to justify the levies. “Domestic aircraft have always been an exemption to FENZ levies because of the negligible use of their services. In the past year, call-outs by FENZ to aviation incidents represented just 0.045% of all incidents.” Wallace said the proposal represented a “double whammy” to domestic aircraft operators who are already paying for fire and emergency services through landing charges imposed by airports. Many are just emerging from difficult post-Covid tradition conditions, he said.<br/>