U.S. budget carrier Frontier Airlines said on Tuesday it will offer first-class-style seating to woo passengers willing to spend more. Frontier previously added more seats with extra leg room and business fares targeted at small companies. Other budget carriers have also been targeting higher fares. In August, Spirit Airlines began offering intra-Europe-style business-class seats with a guaranteed blocked middle seat, while Southwest Airlines said in July it planned to offer premium seats with extra leg room. Frontier CEO Barry Biffle said the airline hopes to begin offering first-class seating on all flights in late 2025, which will require approval from regulators. "There's a percentage of our customers willing to pay more for comfort," Biffle told Reuters. "These are affluent leisure customers who want a first-class seat." The airline is also boosting benefits for frequent flyers. Biffle said other programs have gotten less generous with fewer seat upgrades, and noted that the largest U.S. airlines had introduced no-frills "basic economy" seats. "This is really our answer," he said. "We can produce the cheapest coach seat, but we can also produce the cheapest first-class seat as well." The U.S. Transportation Department said in its most recent report that Frontier in August was ninth out of 10 major airlines for on-time arrivals, with 65% on time at the 80 airports it serves, and ranks seventh for the first eight months of 2024. Biffle criticized a U.S. Senate report objecting to Frontier's practice of paying gate agents as much as $10 for catching travelers attempting to avoid paying for carry-on baggage.<br/>
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Traffic at Ryanair rose 11% in November, reaching 13m passengers during the month. That compared to 11.7m in November 2023. Load factor, a measure of how full aircraft are, remained static during the month at 92%. The airline operated more than 73,750 flights during the month. On a rolling 12-month basis to the end of November, traffic rose 8% compared to the 12 months year on year, reaching 196.1m. Load factor was static at 94%.<br/>
UK budget carrier EasyJet plans to station eight aircraft in Italian hubs as part of the remedy measures for the Lufthansa-ITA Airways tie-up. Lufthansa Group’s plan to take a shareholding in ITA has been cleared by European Commission regulators after remedial proposals were accepted. EasyJet has been confirmed – along with IAG and Air France-KLM – as a remedy-taker for short-haul slots at Rome Fiumicino as well as Milan Linate. It will base five aircraft at Linate from spring next year, and another three at Fiumicino. EasyJet says it will be able to offer a “wider choice in destinations” for passengers at both airports. The expansion broadens the airline’s presence in Italy to a total of 38 based aircraft across four airports, including Milan Malpensa and Naples. Malpensa will remain its largest base in both Italy and continental Europe. The short-haul remedial measures approved by the Commission focused on routes to certain airports in Central Europe from Rome or Milan.<br/>
LEVEL (Barcelona El Prat) has obtained an Air Operator's Certificate (AOC) and Operating Licence (OL) in Spain and will transition to operations under its new 'LL' code starting in 2025. The IAG International Airlines Group subsidiary said that the certification will afford it a greater degree of operating autonomy, eventually contributing to fleet and network growth out of Barcelona El Prat. Certification has necessitated a doubling of the airline's staff, particularly in the newly created operations department. For the time being, until the transition is completed in 2025, LEVEL will continue to operate under the 'IB' code of its parent Iberia. The newly certified carrier was, until now, formally a virtual brand of the Spanish flag carrier.<br/>
Flyadeal CE Steven Greenway expects to make a decision by the end of the year on its plan to bring in widebodies, as the Saudi Arabian budget carrier continues to ponder a choice between operating new and used aircraft. The carrier, which flies Airbus A320 narrowbodies on scheduled routes, already has a growing wet-lease widebody operation focusing on religious traffic and some peak leisure routes. However, the airline is now looking to bring in its own long-haul aircraft. “Its a combination of things,” Greenway said of the widebody opportunity, updating on the status of the initiative on the sidelines of a UK Aviation Club event in London earlier in November. “We have high-volume routes, like Thailand for leisure. There will be selective regional [routes] where we really need some lift. And it is then really religious and labour traffic that we are focused on,” he explains. ”The over-arching economics is it’s high-volume, low-yield [routes]. That’s where it sits for us.” Greenway says the airline has been exploring new aircraft options – namely Boeing 787s or Airbus A330neos – as well as repurposing used 787s, options that are available because it is part of the Saudia Group.<br/>
Iran Air on Tuesday resumed flights between Mashhad in the northeast of the country and Dammam in Saudi Arabia after a nine year hiatus, the Iranian Student News Agency (ISNA) reported, in a sign of improving relations between the Middle Eastern rivals. The resumption opens the way for Saudi Arabia's Shi'ite minority to visit the Imam Reza Shrine in Mashhad, Iran's second most populous city. "A deputy from Iran's embassy, the representative of Iran Air and representatives from Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Civil Aviation welcomed arriving passengers in Dammam and stressed the need to facilitate the movement of people between the two countries," ISNA said. The round flight, which is meant to take place twice a week, comes after the first group of Iranian pilgrims flew to Mecca in Saudi Arabia in April to do umrah, or minor pilgrimage, also after a nine year hiatus. In March 2023, Riyadh and Tehran agreed to re-establish relations after Chinese intermediation, following years of hostility that threatened stability and security in the Gulf and helped fuel conflicts in the Middle East from Yemen to Syria.<br/>
IndiGo, India's biggest airline, has sued automaker Mahindra and Mahindra for trademark infringement over its use of "6E" in branding its latest electric vehicle, legal papers show. Mahindra in a stock exchange filing, denied any wrongdoing, saying its recently launched electric vehicles "BE 6e" and "XEV 9e" had the necessary trade mark registration and there was no conflict with the "standalone '6E'" branding used by IndiGo. IndiGo, which has a 60% share of India's domestic aviation sector, has used "6E" as its call sign and across all its branding for years, including its co-branded credit cards, rewards programme and in-flight magazine. In its 48-page lawsuit filing, which is not public but was reviewed by Reuters, IndiGo argues that Mahindra had "deliberately tried to associate themselves" with the aviation industry by claiming their car is shaped like a cockpit. While trademark infringment cases are common in India, legal disputes between big publicly-traded companies have been rare. IndiGo's '6E' trade mark has been exclusively associated with its services for over 18 years and "is now at risk of losing its distinctiveness" due to Mahindra's use of 'BE 6e', the airline said in the court filing. Mahindra in its stock exchange filing said it is "engaged in discussions with them (IndiGo) to find an amicable solution." It has not commented on the contents of the lawsuit.<br/>
Air Karachi is the latest would-be Pakistani start-up carrier to emerge following a failed bid to sell a majority stake in PIA - Pakistan International Airlines (PK, Islamabad International). The planned airline is a joint venture involving local business leaders and corporate investors and appears to be led by Atif Ikram Sheikh, president of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI). Sheikh told Pakistani news outlets that investors had already pledged an initial seed funding of PKR5b rupees (US$18m), with further financing to be arranged. Initially the airline intends to operate with three leased aircraft on domestic sectors before expanding to international routes. "[Our] approach will deliver price competitiveness, value, growth, and sustainability," he declared. "We need to bring this model to Pakistan.”<br/>
Virgin Australia has officially applied for 28 wet-leased services per week to Doha, with Melbourne to be the last major airport to see the flights. The carrier has lodged an application with the International Air Services Commission (IASC) to launch the first three routes in June 2025 using Qatar Airways’ Boeing 777-300ER aircraft configured with between 354 and 412 seats. Under the application, Virgin’s Doha flights from Sydney, Brisbane and Perth would commence in June 2025, with Melbourne services to come in December; this is despite the ACCC indicating in its interim approval for ticket sales that Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne services would commence in June and Perth in November. Virgin says it has looked at supply and demand considerations in its decision to switch Perth and Melbourne in its schedule, in order to better align with where travellers are in most urgent need of the new services. In the application, Virgin Australia CEO Jayne Hrdlicka noted that no Australian airline has ever operated passenger services to Qatar. “Qantas only markets services to the Middle East via its codeshare with Emirates and does not operate its own services,” she wrote.<br/>