Aircraft delivery issues are having a "brutal" impact on Lufthansa and will not be resolved before the end of the decade, according to CEO Carsten Spohr. Speaking at the business press club in Stuttgart late Thursday, Spohr said the aircraft shortage could be costing Lufthansa some E500m a year, although he did not provide an exact figure.<br/>Lufthansa has ordered 250 new aircraft from Airbus and Boeing to modernize its fleet, with deliveries scheduled between 2024 and 2029. However, "no plane arrives on time," said Spohr, adding that around 100 of Lufthansa's 750 aircraft were grounded either for maintenance reasons or because they had been decommissioned. Earlier this week, Airbus lowered its forecast for deliveries this year to around 770 jets from around 800. The announcement came amid growing scepticism among suppliers over its jet output as Airbus grapples with parts shortages.<br/>
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Scandinavian operator SAS has secured European Commission approval for a restructuring aid package worth up to €1.3 billion ($*&) intended to support the company’s efforts to achieve long-term sustainability. SAS has been undergoing a restructuring programme – known as ‘SAS Forward’ – while under US Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The restructuring includes contributions from both the Swedish and Danish governments. According to the Commission, the aid is proportionate – with investors in SAS providing their own contribution – and will help avoid “hardship and market failure” while tackling the main reasons for SAS’s financial problems. SAS’s commitments to reduce its fleet, divest assets and release a “significant” number of slots, it adds, means distortion of competition is limited. It concludes that the Danish and Swedish measures are “in line” with European Union state-aid rules. SAS says the clearance is “another important step forward” in the carrier’s transformation plan, although it adds that its Chapter 11 restructuring remains subject to various conditions.<br/>
Swiss International Air Lines has named Lufthansa Group manager Jens Fehlinger as its new chief executive beginning on 1 October. Fehlinger succeeds Dieter Vranckx, who will leave the Zurich-based carrier at the beginning of July. Earlier this year, Vranckx was appointed to the Lufthansa Group Executive Board. In the interim, chief commercial officer Heike Birlenbach will fill the airline’s top role, the company said on 28 June. “In Jens Fehlinger we have secured the services for our company of a genuine connoisseur of the air transport sector,” Swiss’ board chairman Reto Francioni says. “He has accumulated extensive experience in various areas within the Lufthansa Group and he has proven well able to deliver innovations in our industry.” “He has shown vision, strategic flair and operational expertise, along with an ability to work closely with his teams, to establish a new airline and, in doing so, he has confirmed his capacity to guide a company to success,” Francioni adds. Fehlinger began his professional career at Lufthansa Group in 2006, where he held management positions that included head of corporate airline strategy and business development for Lufthansa Airlines and head of operations performance management and analytics for the Lufthansa Group. He also led the group’s crisis management office during the Covid-19 pandemic as well as its subsequent ReNew restructuring programme.<br/>
Passengers on an Air New Zealand flight from Christchurch to Invercargill have had a frightening experience on Saturday. Their Dash 8 aircraft was forced to circle over Foveaux Strait seven or eight times while they were told three technical difficulties were addressed. Emergency services were on standby as the plane landed two hours later than expected. At around 2:30pm, authorities were on standby for an emergency landing. Issues with the landing gear were identified mid-air - forcing crew to circle about eight times around Invercargill and Bluff. In a statement to Newshub, Air New Zealand head of flight operations, Hugh Pearce, confirmed a landing gear fault had been detected. "The pilot made the decision to delay the landing to complete the necessary checks before carrying out a safe landing at Invercargill," he said. "The pilot notified air traffic control in accordance with standard operating procedures which resulted in a local standby at the airport." The first attempt to make a safe landing failed. Once the plane eventually touched down around 3pm the experience wasn't over yet. Passengers were stuck on board - needing to be towed back to the terminal.<br/>