JetBlue Airways has added airline industry veteran Sean Menke, former CE of Frontier Airlines, to its board of directors. Menke replaces Ben Baldanza, who resigned last week. The board changes, disclosed on 16 September, came in response to Baldanza – who worked as CEO of Spirit Airlines from 2005 to 2016 – notifying JetBlue that he did not intend to seek re-election ahead of the company’s investor day in May 2025. Baldanza’s resignation was effective 12 September. He had served on JetBlue’s board since 2018. Menke currently sits on the board of Waste Management and has more than 20 years of airline industry experience, including time as CEO of Frontier and now-defunct Pinnacle Airlines, as well as working in senior commercial and operating roles for Air Canada and Hawaiian Airlines. He will serve on JetBlue’s audit and safety committees. “Having served in senior leadership positions at several US airlines and as a business partner to airlines, Sean brings deep industry experience in strategy and planning, marketing, operations, revenue management and distribution,” says Joanna Geraghty, JetBlue CEO. ”We look forward to benefiting from his insights and expertise as we execute our JetForward strategy.” <br/>
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Latvian carrier airBaltic is in pre-IPO talks with one strategic investor at the moment, CE Martin Gauss told Reuters on Monday, declining to comment on reports that the airline was in discussions with Lufthansa regarding an investment. "In our case, we are talking to one strategic pre-IPO investor," Gauss said in an interview in London, adding that in the IPO preparation phase, the carrier could talk to other anchor and cornerstone investors. Gauss had previously said that he sees airBaltic one day being part of a larger airline group like Lufthansa, but on Monday he reiterated that he does not see that happening in the next five years. Executives, analysts and investors say the European airline sector needs further consolidation to thrive as many smaller national carriers continue to struggle. Gauss said airBaltic's unique wet lease business - whereby it leases out some of its aircraft to other airlines on a temporary basis to plug capacity gaps - gave it an advantage ahead of its initial public offering as airlines around the world faced jet shortages and delivery delays. The IPO on Nasdaq Riga is set for either the second half of this year or early in 2025. Recent events such as the machinists' strike at Boeing, which could worsen delivery delays for the plane manufacturer, could further help airBaltic's business, he said. Last week, Lufthansa said it was extending its wet lease partnership with airBaltic for another three years past the summer of 2025.<br/>
Wizz Air expects 15-20% growth in passenger volume next year, its CE told Reuters on Monday, with new low-cost routes to the Middle East, such as from Europe to the United Arab Emirates, adding an extra boost. "Globally, we are expecting 15-20% (growth), but I think Abu Dhabi is going to grow beyond this," Jozsef Varadi said. Hungary-based Wizz Air, which carried a record 62m passengers during the year ended in March 2024, set up operations in the UAE in 2019 as a joint venture with Abu Dhabi's third biggest sovereign wealth fund ADQ. In the Middle East, where concerns of a wider flare up of the war in Gaza have prompted international airlines to suspend flights or avoid air space, Wizz Air is monitoring every development, Varadi said. He added that Wizz Air wants to develop Saudi Arabia as an inbound market rather than setting up a local carrier there. The airline, which flies an all-Airbus fleet, last week announced it would deploy its first A321XLR, a single-aisle aircraft that will allow it to cover longer distances, to operate a route between London's Gatwick airport and Saudi Arabia's Jeddah starting from March 2025. Another A321XLR aircraft will operate a daily flight between Milan Malpensa airport and Abu Dhabi starting from June next year. "Certainly we are very excited about Jeddah," Varadi said. "We are seeing that more European operations might be flown inbound to Saudi in the future." He said, however, that all new routes were subject to regulatory approvals and capacity constraints due to troubles with Pratt & Whitney engines, which forced Wizz Air to ground part of its fleet, contributing to a 44% drop in first-quarter operating profit.<br/>
Sydney will become Etihad’s largest Australian port when the Gulf carrier ramps up services from the middle of next year. The airline will increase flights between Sydney and its base in Abu Dhabi from daily to 10 per week starting in July 2025, and has signalled it intends to further increase to double daily services in coming years. This will give Sydney the highest seat capacity to the Middle East in the country, said Greg Botham, Sydney Airport’s group executive for aviation growth and group strategy. “Etihad has a fantastic product and it’s great that more Sydneysiders will be able to experience it,” he said. “Etihad’s continued investment in connecting Sydney to the Middle East and beyond is a strong vote of confidence in Sydney and NSW and we look forward to working with them to continue to grow their presence.” Etihad currently operates seven services per week to Sydney and Melbourne, with an eighth Melbourne flight coming in March next year.<br/>
The CEO of IndiGo Airlines has told The Economic Times that he intends to significantly grow the carrier's international network to 40 airports by the end of March 2025 and introduce widebody aircraft by 2027. CEO Pieter Elbers said the expansion is part of a broader strategy to establish IndiGo as a leading global airline by 2030. The carrier plans to target emerging markets currently underserved by Indian carriers. While not specifying any particular airports, Indian outlets suggest Mauritius and Al Ain are top of the list. In addition to being India's biggest domestic operator, ch-aviation schedules data shows IndiGo also operates to international 29 airports in 22 countries as far afield as Kenya, Indonesia, and Hong Kong. Elbers also said he planned to introduce widebody aircraft to support the airline's growing cargo business, underlining that he expects cargo to play a bigger role in the business in the future. IndiGo presently operates three A321-200(P2F)s. According to ch-aviation fleets data, the airline also has 967 aircraft on order, all but five (ATR72-600s) with Airbus, and except for thirty passenger-configured A350-900s, all narrowbodies. Elbers did not say whether his touted future widebodies would be freighters or drawn from the existing A350 order and simply use their belly space to support freight operations. However, he did confirm the first A350s are due to be delivered in 2027.<br/>