unaligned

Southwest Airlines expects the strike by Boeing workers and a lengthy push to boost production to once again limit the number of aircraft it receives next year. “It’s too early to tell, but I wouldn’t be surprised if our deliveries from Boeing in ‘25 are lower than we originally thought,” Southwest CEO Bob Jordan said in an interview Wednesday. The carrier expects a “more conservative number” of planes than “Boeing thinks they can deliver right now,” he said. Delays at Boeing, including a production slowdown after a door-sized panel blew off an airborne 737 Max plane in January, forced Southwest to repeatedly cut the number of planes it expected to receive this year, settling at 20 jets. Southwest’s order book with Boeing had originally called for 86 aircraft deliveries in 2025, but the airline has since lowered that number to 73. The carrier’s planning factored in a strike of four to five weeks, Jordan said. But the walkout lasted longer — more than seven weeks — and Southwest estimates the planemaker will need 30 to 60 days to return to normal assembly rates. Jordan said he expects Boeing’s production constraints to persist through next year. “There’s a number at which, if Boeing goes below that, we’ll have to rethink our capacity,” he said. Southwest plans to increase flying by just 1% to 2% in each of the next three years under a series of operational changes to update its one-size-fits-all business model and turn around lagging financial results. <br/>

Shares of Spirit Airlines plunged Wednesday after the budget airline said that it won't announce quarterly financial results on time while it continues talks with bond holders to restructure its debt. Spirit said negotiations are progressing toward an agreement that would protect creditors and customers. However, the company said if such a deal is reached, it would be expected to wipe out existing shares. The stock was down 58% in afternoon trading Wednesday. The low-cost airline has been struggling to recover from the pandemic-caused swoon in travel. A federal judge blocked an attempt to sell the airline to JetBlue after the Justice Department sued on antitrust grounds. Spirit disclosed after the market closed Tuesday that it had notified the Securities and Exchange Commission it would be late in filing its third-quarter financial report while it continued discussions with holders of debt that is due for repayment in 2025 and 2026. If it can reach a deal, Spirit said, it would go through “a statutory restructuring” that would protect creditors, employees, customers and companies that do business with the airline but “is expected to lead to the cancellation of the company’s existing equity.” The Florida-based airline said it was also “exploring strategic alternatives" — often a euphemism for a sale, merger or restructuring. The Wall Street Journal, citing anonymous sources, reported late Tuesday that the airline was discussing terms of a possible bankruptcy filing with its bondholders after merger talks with Frontier Airlines broke down.<br/>

Restructuring Brazilian carrier Gol is hoping to exit Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection by the end of April as it today reported progress in restoring capacity during the third quarter. The updated timeline on completion comes after Gol earlier this month reached a key debt-for-equity agreement with majority shareholder Abra group. The agreement, secured 10 months after the Brazilian airline entered the formal financial restructuring process, will eliminate up to $2.55b in debt from the carrier’s books and see Abra receive around $950m in new Gol equity. “With this agreement we have the majority of the key terms of the restructuring plan defined and we project that our exit from this process will take place by the end of April 2025,” said Gol CE Celso Ferrer, speaking during a third-quarter results presentation today. Gol expects to submit its reorganisation plan to the court handling its Chapter 11 process before year-end. “Despite the challenges we have faced, this process is positive for Gol’s history, addressing all the necessary points to support our sustainable growth in the coming years,” he adds. Ferrer also flags that the carrier has during the third quarter completed commercial negotiations with its aircraft and engine lessors. He says 139 aircraft and 58 engine leases have been renegotiated and approved. “Since the end of the third quarter, we have continued to sign contract amendments with the lessors with changes to the payment flows to ensure the financial health of the company. <br/>

Central European budget carrier Wizz Air has recorded a decline in spurious terrain warnings since implementing defensive crew procedures against GPS spoofing and interference earlier this year. Wizz Air Hungary flight-data monitoring manager Akos Steigervald detailed the carrier’s experience during the annual European Union Aviation Safety Agency conference in Budapest at the end of October. He says the carrier has had to mitigate pilots’ potential loss of trust in aircraft systems, including ‘pull up’ alerts from ground-proximity warning systems. While the carrier had its own processes to help mitigate risks, Steigervald says the new supplementary procedure in the flight crew operating manual, released at the end of June, is demonstrating positive results. Steigervald says the airline initially began noticing GPS jamming in 2020, mainly on outbound services from European bases to Dubai and Abu Dhabi, although the impact was relatively small. But increasing occurrences on these routes, and the interdependency between GPS equipment and other aircraft systems, subsequently resulted in other effects including nuisance alerts from the ground-proximity warning system.<br/>

Ever since Carla Haddad can remember, stepping aboard a Middle East Airlines aircraft was like being “one step closer to home”. Growing up abroad, the 39-year-old would regularly fly back to visit family in her native Lebanon, the MEA flights full to the brim with fellow citizens excitedly heading back in an annual summer ritual. But in late September, as Israel stepped up its campaign against Hizbollah in Lebanon, where she now lives, MEA became more than just a memory. As the violence moved closer to her Beirut doorstep in September, Haddad and her family boarded an MEA flight to the safety of Marseille. “It was the lifeboat that helped us escape yet another horrible war,” she said. MEA has long been a mainstay of Lebanon’s collective imagination, with memories coloured by the country’s propensity for rose-tinted nostalgia. Lebanese have mixed feelings about their national carrier: it is as beloved for reuniting families during the lengthy civil war and serving sweet, fragrant knafeh for breakfast, as it is hated for its sky-high peak season prices and ageing fleet. But for the past seven weeks, as its pilots have deftly navigated Israeli air strikes, MEA has become a beacon of national pride. The sole remaining airline currently flying in and out of Lebanon, MEA has helped ferry tens of thousands of desperate passengers out of the country and brought in vital humanitarian aid. And it has done so from the country’s only commercial airport in south Beirut, which is located uncomfortably close to areas that Israel has fiercely bombarded in recent weeks.<br/>

Angolan flag-carrier TAAG has commenced operations from the capital Luanda’s new Agostinho Neto international airport. The airline transferred its domestic Luanda-Cabinda flight to the new hub on 10 November, operating the initial service with a Boeing 737-700 before switching to a De Havilland Dash 8-400. TAAG says the route to Cabinda, which lies in an exclave of Angola, was selected because it is the domestic destination with the highest passenger and cargo traffic. This enables a “solid and safe start” to the new airport’s operations and the optimisation of processes, it states. TAAG aims to transfer other services – to Dundo, Saurimo, Luena and Soyo – towards the end of this year, while its remaining domestic and international flights will be moved in the first quarter of 2025.<br/>

Chinese regional operator Colorful Guizhou Airlines has placed firm orders for 20 C909 regional jets, becoming the type’s newest operator. The deal, disclosed at the 2024 Airshow China in Zhuhai, also comprises options for another 10 C909s, formerly known as the ARJ21. Comac did not disclose a delivery timeline or financial terms of the deal. The Guizhou-based carrier currently has 19 aircraft in service, comprising A320neos and Embraer E190s. Comac says the new order will “enhance the fleet size and market competitiveness of Colorful Guizhou Airlines”. Separately, Hainan Airlines group has firmed up its commitments for C909s and C919s. The order, also announced at the Zhuhai show, is made up of 40 C909s and 60 C919s, which will go to airline units Suparna Airlines and Urumqi Air. The airline group, which is owned by strategic investor Liaoning Fangda, first announced its intention to purchase uo to 100 Comac aircraft in April 2023, providing an orderbook boost for the Chinese airframer. <br/>

Indonesia's biggest budget airline operator Lion Air will join the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines to become the regional trade body's first low-cost carrier, the AAPA said on Wednesday. Lion Air's addition to a group primarily made up of full-service legacy flag carriers highlights the growing importance of low-cost carriers in Asia Pacific. Budget airline capacity globally has grown rapidly in the past 25 years and now accounts for around a third of all airline seats. Four of the world's ten largest airlines today are budget carriers, according to airline data firm OAG. In response, aviation's big industry bodies such as the International Air Transport Association have made efforts to attract budget airlines. The 15-member AAPA aims to represent the interests of airlines in the Asia Pacific region, which accounts for around 32% of global passenger traffic, according to IATA. The AAPA includes major carriers such as Singapore Airlines and Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways, but none from mainland China or Oceania. Air India joined in 2022, adding representation from one of the fastest-growing aviation markets, but South Korea's Korean Air and Asiana withdrew during the COVID-19 pandemic. AAPA director general Subhas Menon said the pandemic, which largely grounded civil aviation, showed airlines the importance of collaboration.<br/>