Avianca Group plans to confidentially file for an initial public offering in the United States, the holding company for the Colombian airline said on Monday. The Bogota-based airline, with over 100 years of operation since 1919, is moving ahead with its listing more than two years after it emerged from bankruptcy. Avianca - which serves domestic markets of Colombia, Ecuador and Central America - was one of the major Latin American airlines that filed for bankruptcy during the pandemic, hurt by a downturn in travel demand. The airline, which had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May 2020 after it failed to meet a bond payment deadline, exited bankruptcy proceedings in December 2021. In May 2022, Avianca and Brazilian carrier Gol struck an agreement to combine under a single leadership named Abra Group. The timing and execution of the IPO are subject to market conditions, Avianca said. Avianca, which is the second-oldest airline in the world currently in operation, swung to a profit of $13m in the first quarter, as it transported 9.3m passengers, a 37.5% jump compared to a year earlier.<br/>
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On a warm Wednesday in June, a cartoon raccoon raised a cocktail glass and sarcastically saluted Air Canada. The social media image, posted by Porter Airlines, included an accompanying toast from the character: “Air Canada has now joined Porter in offering free beer, wine and snacks to all passengers. Thanks for joining our mission to help everyone actually enjoy economy!” Tongue firmly in cheek, the post went on to ask Canada’s largest airline, “What’s next, a raccoon mascot?” The online jibe marked the latest instance of publicly calling out competitors — a recent trend amid a transforming airline market that has companies stepping on each other’s wingtips in new ways and on a bigger scale. In a country traditionally dominated by a pair of national airlines, a new set of aviation rivalries has emerged. Porter is increasingly moving in on Air Canada’s home turf of Central Canada as well as cross-country routes, while WestJet seeks to counter the threat of Flair Airlines in a shift from the decades-old industry dynamic of sparring between the two biggest carriers. Porter, once a regional player hovering around the Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal triangle, has over the past 18 months tripled its domestic market share to nearly 10%. Turboprop planes were used when the carrier covered only short distances. Now it has 35 Embraer jets in its fleet and expects 40 more by 2027, up from zero as recently as January of last year. The rapid expansion overlaps heavily with Air Canada territory in Ontario and Quebec, prompting the country’s largest airline to serve up no-charge treats and drinks. Cocktails also now cost $5 per glass, down from $9. Porter has long touted similar offers. Story has more.<br/>
Lufthansa Group has halted night flights to and from Beirut until July 31 due to the situation in the Middle East, a spokesperson said on Monday. The spokesperson said the change had begun on June 29 and that daytime flights would operate as before. Swiss International Air Lines, a Lufthansa Group subsidiary, also said it would move its Beirut night flights to the daytime until the end of July "due to the political developments at the border between Lebanon and Israel". The airlines did not give detailed information about the nature of the threat. In March, the Lebanese government said it would file an urgent complaint with the U.N. Security Council over Israel's alleged disruption of its navigation systems that it said affected the safety of civil aviation in the airspace of Beirut's Rafic Hariri International Airport. Swiss International Air Lines on Monday said the change in its schedule was not related to any potential GPS interference on its aircraft flying to Beirut.<br/>
Japan’s two largest commercial airlines are toughening their stances against travelers who verbally or physically abuse airline staff. Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways updated their websites Friday with “customer harassment” policies, in the wake of rising instances of front-line worker abuse occurring across industries in Japan. Using similarly worded language, the two airlines cited nine behaviors that constitute “harassment” under the policies, including:<br/>Abusive language, aggressive tone, insults, discrimination, slander<br/>Threatening words or actions<br/>Excessive or unreasonable demands<br/>Assault<br/>Deeds which disrupt business operations (prolonged detention, excessive repetition of requests or complaints)<br/>Unpermitted entry to workplace<br/>Deeds which deceive its employees<br/>Slander against the company or its employees on social media and the internet<br/>Sexual harassment<br/>ANA’s customer harassment policy also includes voyeurism, stalking and indecent behavior — a jarring reminder of the situations that airline employees can face in an industry that often sees travelers behaving at their worst. The policies are meant to address a lack of clear standards which has made it difficult for employees to handle customer interactions, ANA’s Yoshiko Miyashita, vice president of CS promotion, customer experience management told Nikkei Asia.<br/>
Air India plans to set up a pilot training school with the aim of graduating 180 commercial pilots annually. The school will be set up in central Indian city of Amravati in the state of Maharashtra, says Air India. The facility will be operational by the first quarter of India’s 2026 financial year, which commences on 1 April 2025. The airline won a tender from the Maharashtra Airport Development Company to establish the training school. The school’s training fleet will comprise 31 single-engine and three twin-engine aircraft. “The [flight training organization] at Amravati will be a significant step towards making Indian aviation more self-reliant and offering more opportunities to the youth in India to fulfill their ambitions of flying as pilots,” says Air India chief executive Campbell Wilson. “The young pilots coming out of this FTO will fuel Air India’s ambition of becoming a world-class airline, as it moves ahead in its transformation journey.” Air India and other Indian carriers, such as low-cost carrier IndiGo, have amassed large order books of aircraft, creating significant demand for pilots.<br/>
Singapore Airlines CEO Goh Choon Phong was paid S$8.11m ($6m) last financial year, a 21% increase from the previous period, as the airline benefited from a travel boom. Goh, who has been on the carrier’s board since 2010, had a base salary of S$1.44m, up from S$1.1m in 2022, according to the airline’s annual report published Monday. Similar to in previous years, the majority of his pay comes in the form of bonuses and share awards. Singapore Airlines posted a second consecutive record annual profit last year on sustained demand for air travel, fuller flights and a buoyant cargo business. It rewarded staff with bonus payouts worth almost eight months of their salaries. The city-state’s carrier delivered a record S$2.67b annual profit in the fiscal 2023-2024 year while revenue for the 12 months rose 7% to S$19.01b.<br/>