US regional carrier SkyWest Airlines has secured a deal to fly a small fleet of MHIRJ CRJ550 regional jets on behalf of United Airlines starting in December. United disclosed the agreement along with its third-quarter financial results on 15 October, specifying that SkyWest will operate 11 CRJ550s under the United Express brand. SkyWest will have the opportunity to add more of the 50-seat regional jets to United Express’ fleet in the future, United says. The news comes as another United regional airline partner, Mesa Air Group, plans for its Mesa Airlines division to stop flying CRJ900s for United by March next year. Mesa, which until recently operated 18 CRJ900s under the United Express banner, disclosed the change on 16 October, saying the move will leave it with a smaller fleet composed only of Embraer 175s. United says its fleet of 50-seat regional jets – which also include CRJ200s and Embraer ERJ-145s – will have just short of 160 aircraft by the end of the fourth quarter. St George-based SkyWest operates CRJ550s on behalf of Delta Air Lines under the Delta Connection brand, as well. Smaller regional carrier GoJet Airlines, which also flies on behalf of United, is pursuing an ambitious growth plan that could see its fleet double in size by the first half of 2026. <br/>
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Madrid-based Wamos Air has officially joined Abra Group, the parent company of Colombian airline Avianca and Brazil’s Gol, five months after the companies first announced the transaction. Abra said on 16 October it completed the acquisition. Wamos, founded in 2003, will maintain its leadership, brand, talent, teams, culture and operations – similar to how Gol and Avianca are operating under the Abra holding company structure – “while benefiting from greater efficiencies and scale”, Abra says. Wamos flies charters and operates flights on behalf of other companies under aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance agreements. It has a fleet of three Airbus A330-200s. “This development is consistent with Abra’s consolidation strategy, which seeks to bring together iconic companies,” says Abra Group CE Adrian Neuhauser. “The airlines in our group, such as Avianca and Gol, are leaders in their markets and business models, so welcoming Wamos Air makes perfect sense and aligns with our goal of better connecting Latin America to the world in a simple, accessible, reliable and sustainable way, with a fleet of over 300 aircraft to serve more than 130 destinations in over 25 countries across the Americas and Europe,” he adds. Wamos CEO Enrique Saiz says the transaction marks a new chapter for his airline, allowing it “to pursue new business strategies, growth and consolidation, while continuing to focus on our wet lease business, flying for the world’s leading airlines”.<br/>
Dubai's Emirates, one of the world's largest cargo carriers, is expanding its fleet of Boeing 777F freighters as it plans for a sharp increase in cargo trade, industry sources said. The order for more of the current-generation freighters emerged amid tensions between Emirates and Boeing over separate delays, but pre-dated Boeing's announcement on Friday that its future 777X jetliner series would slip by another year to 2026. In September, Boeing reported orders from unidentified buyers for 11 777F freighters, without giving details. The sources said part of the total included a fresh order for the 777F from Emirates. The airline and Boeing declined to comment. Emirates is the largest operator of the 777 family and the largest customer for its delayed successor, the 777X. Emirates Airline President Tim Clark criticised Boeing earlier this week over a cumulative six-year delay to the 777X, as the planemaker wrestles with industrial and financial crisis. Emirates has around a dozen current-generation 777F cargo jets in its fleet plus four on order, already listed under its name, according to Cirium Ascend and Boeing data. It is also leasing four 747s and their crews to meet demand, Cirium says. Airlines frequently withhold their names on new orders until ready to announce them. Abu Dhabi-based newspaper The National on Wednesday quoted a senior airline executive as saying that Emirates planned to announce a further investment in freighters in coming weeks.<br/>
An Indian passenger aircraft was diverted on Oct 16 after the latest in a string of hoax bomb threats made to airline companies involving the country. The Akasa Air flight, which was flying from India’s capital New Delhi to the southern city of Bengaluru, received a security alert and the flight was ordered to return as a precaution. Akasa Air said emergency response teams were monitoring the situation and that the captain had followed “all required emergency procedures for a safe landing in Delhi”. The flight had 184 people on board, including three infants, the airline said, with the plane landing safely in New Delhi. Another flight, the domestic carrier IndiGo flying from Mumbai to New Delhi, was diverted to Ahmedabad in Gujarat. Zulfiquar Hasan, director-general of the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), told The Times of India newspaper that “Indian skies are absolutely safe” and said the police were working to identify the culprits. “We are confident of tracing all those behind these threat messages and very strict action under law will be taken,” Hasan told the newspaper. The Indian Express newspaper reported 12 domestic and international flights have received bomb threats since Oct 14, including some messages posted on social media. All have been false alarms. Singapore scrambled fighter jets on Oct 15 to escort an Air India Express plane after an e-mail warning about a possible bomb on board, the Republic’s Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen said.<br/>
Shareholders have backed plans for budget carrier AirAsia to be bought by its long-haul associate, AirAsia X, paving the way for the Malaysian-based airlines to finalise their consolidation by the end of the year. AirAsia X shareholders approved the proposed acquisition of Malaysian investment firm Capital A's equity interest in AirAsia units for 6.8b Malaysian ringgit ($1.6b) on Wednesday, after Capital A shareholders gave the nod on Monday to the deal, company statements said. The merger of AirAsia is intended to create efficiencies and aid a significant expansion of routes and global network reach, AirAsia executives have said. AirAsia operates short-haul routes around Asia with single-aisle aircraft while AirAsia X flies wide-body planes on longer routes including to Australia and Saudi Arabia. The creation of an enlarged AirAsia Group remains subject to final court and regulatory approvals. AirAsia was founded in 2001 with two aircraft and has since become one of Asia's largest budget airline operators with a fleet of some 200 planes serving markets across SouthEast Asia, India and China. Both Capital A and AirAsia X were hard hit by pandemic travel restrictions and classified by Malaysia's stock exchange as PN17, or financially distressed. Such firms may be de-listed from the exchange if they fail to stabilise their finances within a set time frame.<br/>