Forensics experts at Sao Paulo's morgue had by Tuesday identified the bodies of 35 of the 62 people who were killed in a plane crash in a residential area of Vinhedo last week, killing all aboard, authorities said. A Brazilian Air Force KC-390 transport plane flew the remains of three passengers back to Cascavel in southern Brazil from where the aircraft had departed, and will continue to transport the bodies as they are released from the morgue. The morgue said that so far it had released 17 bodies to family members along with death certificates. The causes that led the French-built ATR-72 turboprop plane operated by regional carrier Voepass to plunge in a flat spin to the ground have yet to be established. Investigators recovered the plane's cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder, and are working on them at Brazil's aviation accident investigation center (Cenipa) in Brasilia to determine the cause of the accident. A preliminary report is expected within 30 days with work starting on the plane's engines that were taken to Cenipa's facility in Sao Paulo. Videos of the plane swirling down as it crashed have been analyzed by aviation experts and led some to speculate that ice had built up on the plane. On Friday, Voepass said ice had been forecast at the altitudes at which the plane was flying, but that it should have been within an acceptable level.<br/>
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Elliott Investment Management has launched a boardroom battle at Southwest Airlines seeking to replace 10 of 15 directors, as the hedge fund pushes to oust the airline's CE and improve performance, it said on Tuesday. The move is an escalation in a fight over who should lead the airline and how it should change. Southwest's stock price has fallen 24% in the last 52 weeks, as it tries to implement a turnaround plan including adding seats with more legroom, moving to assigned seats and naming a new board member in July. The board nominees by activist investor Elliott consist of former airlines chief executives, consultants and officials, including former Virgin America CEO David Cush and Robert Milton, the former CEO of Air Canada. These candidates would give shareholders a choice between the existing board or a new one that "brings relevant expertise, fresh thinking and accountability", Elliott said in a statement. Elliott said in a regulatory filing last week that it had a 7% beneficial ownership, putting it close to the 10% stake required for an investor to call a special meeting. The firm has a roughly 11% interest when also including derivatives. The hedge fund has pushed to replace both Robert Jordan, who has been CEO since 2022, and Executive Chair Gary Kelly, who had been CEO before Jordan. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<br/>
US start-up carrier Breeze Airways is targeting a stronghold maintained by rival discounter Avelo Airlines by planning to launch 10 new routes out of New Haven, Connecticut. Breeze announced on 13 August that it will start flying out of Tweed-New Haven airport in December, beginning with flights to Fort Myers, Orlando, West Palm Beach and Vero Beach. It will launch flights to six additional destinations in February. “From day one, our playbook has included significant growth across the Northeast region of the US due to the high population density and limited nonstop travel options,” says Lukas Johnson, Breeze’s chief commercial officer. The announcement signals Breeze’s intention to go head-to-head with Houston-headquartered Avelo, which identifies itself as “Connecticut’s airline” and has worked to entrench itself at Tweed-New Haven. On the same day, Avelo said it would expand the number of Boeing 737-800s it has positioned at the Southern Connecticut airport, “doubling the year-over-year number of big airplanes, allowing for more customer capacity during the winter flying period”. “Avelo will have eight aircraft dedicated to [Tweed-New Haven] and over half of the company’s 19 aircraft will be dedicated to the state of Connecticut,” says the start-up. Tweed-New Haven airport has served as one of Avelo’s primary bases since November 2021 and has proven to be a critical hub in the carrier’s network. It has grown to become Avelo’s largest base, with 250 crew members and flights connecting to 27 cities. In November, Avelo will add New Orleans to its network out of New Haven and double flight frequencies to Puerto Rico, to four weekly flights. <br/>
LATAM Airlines could potentially buy as many as 30 aircraft from Brazilian planemaker Embraer as the carrier looks to expand operations in Latin America's largest economy, Brazil's ports and airports minister said on Tuesday. The local unit of Chile-based LATAM, Brazil's No.1 airline by market share, wants to expand its fleet but faces extended narrowbody delivery times from manufacturers. Brazil's government has long urged local carriers to buy Embraer aircraft to boost regional aviation and strengthen the manufacturer, and has signaled that could be a requirement for it to support them financially. LATAM Brazil's head Jerome Cadier last week said the company was weighing the possibility of adding smaller aircraft to its fleet, such as Embraer's E2 or Airbus' A220, which compete in the regional segment for up-to-150-seat aircraft. Cadier did not specify how many planes the carrier could add. LATAM currently flies Airbus narrowbodies and Boeing widebodies. Brazil's Ports and Airports Minister Silvio Costa Filho told reporters that he met with LATAM CEO Roberto Alvo and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio da Silva in Chile recently to discuss the airline's growth plans. "They expect to grow more than 10% in the next three years and are considering a purchase of some 30 aircraft that could be from Embraer."<br/>
AirBaltic Corp AS is doubling down on its all-Airbus A220 fleet, with the Latvian carrier placing its fourth follow-on order for the model to help accelerate growth in its home market. The carrier firmed up options for an additional 10 jets to its previous 30-plane order announced in Dubai in 2023, AirBaltic said in a statement Tuesday. The airline already operates a fleet of 48 A220s, and the new batch will be delivered from 2026, it said. Latvia’s flagship carrier is one of the biggest operators of the A220, with plans to grow the fleet to almost 100 aircraft. CEO Martin Gauss has been a strong advocate for the A220, describing the model as the “backbone” of AirBaltic’s operations. “We will in the future secure more and then these 100 airplanes are supposed to expand our operations from the Baltics,” Gauss said in an interview. AirBaltic plans to base more aircraft in Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania and expand further into the Nordics as the fleet grows. The company will also increase flight frequencies from destinations where it makes sense, Gauss said. The airline is among carriers impacted by the Pratt & Whitney engine issues afflicting Airbus aircraft. Gauss said in July that the situation was improving, with fewer jets on the ground compared with last summer.<br/>
Russian carrier Ural Airlines’ long-standing chief, Sergei Skuratov, is stepping down from the post through retirement after more than three decades. His son, deputy and commercial director Kirill Skuratov, is taking over as the head of the company. Ural Airlines says the board accepted the resignation of the elder Skuratov, and approved his successor, during an extraordinary meeting. Sergei Skuratov has been at the helm of Ural Airlines for over 30 years following his appointment to the post in 1993. Ural Airlines has evolved, under his direction, from a regional carrier to become one of the five most prominent airlines in Russia. “Over the past years, the airline has come a long way,” he says. “We have trained a huge [group] of wonderful pilots, aircraft maintenance engineers, businessmen, financiers, ground service workers – all of them a real asset to the Urals and the country.” He started his aviation career as an Antonov An-2 pilto with a Sverdlovsk air division, subsequently moving on to such types as the An-26, Tupolev Tu-154 and Ilyushin Il-86. Skuratov served with the Ural civil aviation directorate as flight-safety inspection head and, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, became the chief of Ural Airlines. The carrier developed to become an all-Airbus operator.<br/>
AirAsia Malaysia plans a new route to Port Blair, the first international service to India’s remote Andaman Islands. From 16 November the service will be operated three times weekly from Kuala Lumpur, says AirAsia. The route is the carrier’s 17th Indian destination from Kuala Lumpur. According to Cirium schedules data, AirAsia will be the first international operator to Port Blair, the capital city of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which divide the Bay of Bengal from the Andaman Sea. The islands are an increasingly popular leisure destination. Port Blair is already well served by Indian carriers, with Air India, Akasa Air, IndiGo, SpiceJet, and Vistara operating flights from key Indian cities. In July, Indian airlines operated 360 flights to Port Blair, providing 64,000 seats. AirAsia Malaysia’s launch of Port Blair coincides with two other leisure route announcements from the AirAsia Group. On 10 August, Indonesia AirAsia operated its first service on the Bali-Phuket route, linking the two popular resort destinations. The service is operated three times weekly.<br/>