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Canada’s Flair Airlines Ltd. is in talks to raise funds that would help ease the debt burden at the budget carrier beset by aircraft repossessions, back taxes and a financial backer accused of fraud. Interim CE Maciej Wilk is in discussions with “financial institutions that are not shy of taking a slightly higher-risk investment” to participate in an ongoing recapitalization of the low-cost carrier, he said in a phone interview. New lenders or equity funding would help the airline address its significant debt load, which he wouldn’t quantify. “In order really to give us breathing space and comfort to continue a restructuring of the company, I think we would be very happy if we received like a hundred million” Canadian dollars, Wilk said by phone. “Just to be clear, it’s not like this is something that we desperately need right now.” Flair ran into financial trouble after higher costs upset its efforts to rapidly scale up as the pandemic eased. Lessors repossessed four Boeing Co. 737 aircraft in March 2023 — stranding passengers headed for spring break — and its former lead investor, 777 Partners LLC, has faced accusations of fraud in court. Another 777-backed carrier, Australia’s Bonza, entered liquidation last month. Flair still owes the Canadian government tens of millions in back taxes, the Canadian Press reported in January, prompting them to arrange a payment plan with the Canada Revenue Agency. A court dispute over the planes, which Flair alleges were “unlawfully” seized by Airborne Capital Ltd., is ongoing.<br/>

Brazil's lower house of Congress on Tuesday created a committee to monitor investigations into an aircraft crash in Sao Paulo state earlier this month, in which all 62 passengers and crew were killed. The ATR 72-500 plane operated by regional carrier Voepass was bound for Sao Paulo's Guarulhos airport from Cascavel, in the southern state of Parana, when it crashed in Vinhedo, some 80 km (50 miles) northwest of Sao Paulo, on Aug. 9. Lower House Speaker Arthur Lira had authorized the creation of the 37-person committee last week so lawmakers can monitor progress on the investigation, which is being carried out by aviation accident investigation center Cenipa. The committee on Tuesday voted on the first invitees to speak before the group, including top airline executives, investigators and representatives for airplane manufacturer ATR, a joint venture between Airbus and Leonardo. "Our intention is not to carry out a witch hunt," Congressman Nelsinho Padovani, who will be in charge of writing the final report with the committee's conclusions, told Reuters. "We want to propose measures so it does not happen again." Among those the lawmakers plan to hear are Voepass President Jose Luiz Felicio Filho, Cenipa head Marcelo Moreno and the head of Brazil's civil aviation regulator ANAC, Tiago Sousa Pereira. The committee approved inviting all of them to hearings, as well as Roberto Alvo, the CE of LATAM Airlines. The local unit of Chile-based LATAM is Brazil's No.1 carrier and has a codeshare agreement with Voepass, a type of deal that allows airlines to sell seats on each other's flights. A spokesperson for ATR said: "We continue to follow the situation carefully and our teams are on location with French teams to support the Brazilian investigation."<br/>

Italian investigators probing a LATAM Airlines Boeing 777-300ER tail-strike at Milan Malpensa indicate a discrepancy between the take-off parameters used by the crew and those calculated by the carrier after the event. The aircraft had been conducting a service to Sao Paulo on 9 July. Its tail contacted the ground as it rotated from runway 35L, damaging its tail-skid, a drain mast and the tail-strike sensor. The crew, having been notified by tower controllers of the tail-strike, opted to jettison fuel – a total of 72t – and return to Malpensa. The aircraft landed on runway 35R some 1h 10min after the occurrence. Italian investigation authority ANSV states that the 777, which was transporting 383 passengers and 15 crew members, had a take-off weight of 328.4t according to the loadsheet. Flight-data recorder information shows the aircraft started rotating at 153kt, in line with the 149kt entered into the flight-management system. Some 5s after the pitch-up command, the aircraft was 8.2° nose-up with an airspeed of 166kt, and tail-strike indicators activated. The twinjet lifted off at 180kt having scored the runway surface over a distance of 723m (2,370ft), from between the DM and DE intersections to the EM intersection.<br/>

Ryanair has said it expects airfares to continue to fall over the winter months amid ongoing pressure on consumer spending, although the declines will be less than previously feared. CE Michael O’Leary said fares were likely to be down “about 5%” in the peak second quarter, from July to September. He cautioned that while he had “no idea” how fares would turn out for the rest of the financial year, it was “reasonable to expect fares will be down 5-ish % through the second half of this year as well”. “More people are flying with us this summer but at lower fares than last summer . . .[it’s] good news for our customers, bad news for our shareholders,” said O’Leary. Shares in the low-cost carrier jumped close to 5% on the pan-European index in afternoon trading on the better than expected outlook for ticket prices. Ryanair last month surprised investors when it warned that airfares in the key summer months would be “materially lower” than last year, stoking concerns that the industry’s post-pandemic resurgence was petering out. The airline at the time said that average fares in the first quarter had fallen 15% to E49 per passenger and that the decline could exceed 10% in the second quarter. O’Leary said ongoing delays in deliveries of new 737 Max aircraft by Boeing were “challenging” the airline’s growth in 2024. The US manufacturer is under intense regulatory scrutiny and has had to slow production of its best-selling jet after the mid-air blowout of a door panel on one of its aircraft in January. The airline had expected to receive seven new jets in July but only got five. It was due to take delivery of 10 in August but O’Leary said “we’ll be lucky if we get five,” including two of the delayed July planes. “It’s very frustrating dealing with Boeing at the moment,” he added, revealing that he was speaking “weekly” to Stephanie Pope, who was appointed to head the US group’s commercial aeroplane division in March.<br/>

Irish low-cost airline Ryanair said on Tuesday it would cut 20% of its traffic at Berlin-Brandenburg airport, making good on threats to reduce its presence in the German capital due to some of the highest location charges in Europe. The cuts, which will result in a loss of 750,000 seats from the start of the summer flight plan in April 2025, will see Ryanair's Berlin-based aircraft reduced to seven from nine, the airline said as it upgraded its summer air fare outlook. Ryanair also said it will cut six routes serving Brussels, Krakow, Riga, Luxembourg, Kaunas in Lithuania and Chania on the Greek island of Crete. The airline has repeatedly warned that it would switch capacity to other EU countries if Germany did not meet its demands to reverse an aviation tax increase and reduce air traffic control charges. The airport, the only one serving Germany's capital, said it regretted Ryanair's decision but it understood the criticism.<br/>

Ryanair CE Michael O’Leary has called for alcohol limits in airports to tackle a rise in disorder on flights. O’Leary said passengers should be restricted to two drinks per journey to curb what he says is an increase in antisocial behaviour and violence. He told The Daily Telegraph violent outbursts are occurring weekly with alcohol, especially when mixed with other substances. “We don’t want to begrudge people having a drink. But we don’t allow people to drink-drive, yet we keep putting them up in aircraft at 33,000 feet,” he said, adding it was difficult for airlines to identify inebriated people at the gate, especially when boarding in a group. “As long as they can stand up and shuffle they will get through. Then when the plane takes off we see the misbehaviour.” O’Leary said crew members and other passengers have become targets with delays adding to the problem with longer drinking times at airports. “In the old days, people who drank too much would eventually fall over or fall asleep. But now those passengers are also on tablets and powder,” he said. “It’s the mix. You get much more aggressive behaviour that becomes very difficult to manage.”<br/>

The operator of Philippine budget airline Cebu Pacific is spending heavily to tap into a post-pandemic rebound in travel demand, likely to be boosted by the prospect of an overhaul to an airport that had been considered one of the world's worst. Travelers are keen to visit destinations like the white sand beaches of El Nido in Palawan province, consistently ranked among the world's most beautiful. El Nido is an hour and a half away from Manila by plane on flights operated by AirSwift, part of the Ayala conglomerate. Cebu Air said in July it is in talks to acquire AirSwift. That would give it the Manila-El Nido route along with international flights into the capital. The Cebu Pacific operator aims to reach an agreement within the next few months, according to local media. Cebu Air, a core unit of the Gokongwei family's JG Summit conglomerate, has attracted customers with eye-catching promotions like limited-time offers of zero-fare flights. It logged 20.86m passengers last year -- handily beating formerly state-run flag carrier Philippine Airlines -- and booked a net profit of 7.9b pesos ($140m), even with its hefty discounts. This year, it has started to ramp up investment, signing an agreement with Airbus last month to buy up to 152 planes, mainly fuel-efficient A321neo jets. That would on its own amount to nearly double the size of Cebu Air's entire fleet at the end of 2023.<br/>