Profits at Greek carrier Aegean Airlines slipped by around one-fifth in the third quarter, a period in which capacity was limited by the continued impact of the Pratt & Whitney geared-turbofan (GTF) engine inspections and conflict in the Middle East. Aegean’s pre-tax profit fell 18% to E139m in the three months to 30 September 2024, while net profit dropped 19% to E108m. Revenue fell 3% during the quarter to E631m on flat passenger levels of 5.3m. That reflects constrained capacity during the third quarter, which was 1% lower, while traffic fell 3% over the same period last year. Load factor was two points down at 83.9%. Aegean’s capacity was hit by the continued impact from groundings related to the early inspections of the GTF engines powering its Airbus A320neos. It says it grounded up to 10 aircraft – around 17% of its jet fleet – over the first nine months of the year. The carrier also took a roughly 3.5-4% hit to international traffic in the third quarter as a result of suspending its Beirut and Tel Aviv flights due to the ongoing conflict in the region. Aegean Airlines CE Dimitris Gerogiannis says: “Aegean once again demonstrated strong performance despite significant exogenous constraints in its operations and increasing competitors’ capacity in the Greek market. The successful network rescheduling and the agility of our organisation have delivered once again a very strong set of results comparable with the top-performing companies in our industry.”<br/>
star
EgyptAir will host the 56th Annual General Assembly of the African Airlines Association (AFRAA) in Cairo from November 17 to 19, 2024. The event is expected to draw around 400 high-level participants, including CEOs of African airlines, officials from global aviation bodies such as the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA), and representatives from civil aviation authorities, airport operators, aircraft manufacturers, and service providers. Eng. Yehia Zakaria, Chairman of EgyptAir Holding Company, highlighted the significance of the event, saying, “We are proud to host this important gathering, which underscores Egypt’s pivotal role in Africa’s aviation sector. It’s an opportunity to showcase Egypt as a regional aviation hub.” Zakaria praised AFRAA’s key role in fostering collaboration among African airlines and coordinating with global aviation organisations to enhance policies and standards. “We are confident this assembly will strengthen partnerships, share expertise, and address challenges, driving development across the continent,” he added.<br/>
Travelling overseas for the holiday season may be impacted for some Kiwi travellers as Air New Zealand grounds a fourth Dreamliner aircraft. In an email to affected passengers, the airline said as of this week, the “unexpected change” had forced it to review its planned schedule through to the end of January 2025. One of the affected routes is Auckland to San Francisco. Air New Zealand CE Greg Foran told Stuff Travel in a statement, it was significantly impacted by global engine challenges across its fleet. “This is not unique to Air New Zealand; several airlines worldwide are similarly impacted. As of last week, our fourth 787 Dreamliner went out of service, meaning four of our 14 787 aircraft are now unable to fly. Our team has been closely managing these challenges to limit the impact on our customers as much as possible.” Four percent of customers travelling internationally with the airline during December and January have had their travel changed, Foran said. Air New Zealand said changes were spread across the international network to minimise the impact on any one route.<br/>