Copa Holdings has announced that Copa Airlines is expected to close the year with a fleet of 112 aircraft, a reduction of three deliveries versus what was expected in the first quarter of the year. During the company's second quarter, José Montero, Copa’s CFO, told an investors call that Boeing had recently notified them of further delays to the 2024 delivery stream. “We expect to receive only two additional B737-8s during the remainder of the year to end with a total fleet size of 112 aircraft.” He further explained that Copa expects to add 15 more B737 MAX in 2025, all -8s. Montero said Copa Holdings had reached an agreement with Boeing to receive compensation for the delivery delays and for the grounding of B737-9s earlier in 2024, after the Alaska Airlines incident in January in which a mid-cabin plugged exit door separated mid-flight, resulting in an explosive decompression and the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) enforcing immediate inspections. Copa Airlines will close 2024 with a fleet composed of thirty-two B737-9s, three B737-8s (the first was recently inducted into commercial service), sixty-seven B737-800s, nine B737-700s, and one B737-800(BCF). The plan for next year is to add fifteen MAX 8s and retire two B737-700s for a total of 125 planes.<br/>
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A man has managed to sneak onto two different Lufthansa flights without tickets over two days at Munich Airport. Both times the 39-year-old tail-gated behind unsuspecting passengers at airport security and then at the gate, reported German media outlet Bild. In the first case on August 4 the man, who is originally from Norway, was spotted easily once he had boarded as the flight was full and he clearly didn’t have a seat. He was spoken to by police and was released. The next day he was back and again succeeded in getting on board a Lufthansa flight. But this time he found an empty seat and managed to fly to Stockholm, Sweden. Suspicions were aroused when he asked to fly straight back to Munich. Security was called and he was found with a 10cm blade on him. According to reports, his motive was that he just loves travelling. Andreas Roßkopf, the head of the federal police union, told Bild: "I have never experienced this in my career as a civil servant. The airport must explain how this could have happened.“ An airport spokesperson said an investigation has been launched into how the man bypassed the automatic boarding pass check before the security check, and the pass check at the boarding gate.<br/>
South African Airways has disclosed that a disagreement with South Africa's Auditor General over how to account for revenue from expired air tickets is the cause of the delay in the release of its FY23/24 audited financials. Still, the airline remains hopeful the audit will be completed by October. "All efforts by the SAA board are underway to ensure that the audit of the FY2023/24 that ended in March 2024 is not delayed by this potential dispute with the Auditor General. The audit is expected to be concluded by October 2024," the airline said in a statement. It described the disagreement with the AG as a "variance in the interpretation of some accounting standard regarding the treatment of revenue from expired air tickets". This comes after Maropene Ramokgopa, Minister in The Presidency for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, in a letter to the Speaker of Parliament on July 26, referred to "a matter under dispute that may materially impact the 2023/24 results". Ramokgopa was explaining why she would be unable to table SAA's annual report, audited financial statements, and audit reports for the 2023/24 financial year by September 30, 2024, as required. Ramokgopa stated that ongoing audits for the years 2018/19 to 2022/23 have hindered SAA's ability to act on certain recommendations meant to improve audit results.<br/>
Hyundai Glovis Co. is seeking to join in on South Korean cargo carrier Air Incheon’s deal to purchase Asiana Airlines’ cargo unit. In a statement published on Tuesday, Hyundai Glovis announced a total of 150b won ($198m) investment in Socius No. 5 PEF, a private equity (PE) and Air Incheon’s major shareholder, a move that allows Hyundai Glovis as a strategic investor (SI) to join the consortium led by Air Incheon to acquire Asiana Airlines‘ cargo business. With the latest round of investment, the logistics company will become the second-largest investor in Socius No. 5 PEF after Inhwa Precision. Hyundai Glovis will acquire 50b won worth of shares in the fund, with plans to invest an additional 100b won at a later date.<br/>