Republic Airways doesn’t plan to cut aviators’ jobs or seek to throw out their 4-month-old contract in bankruptcy court, according to the pilots union. A potential bankruptcy filing had been part of monthly discussions between leaders of Republic’s pilots union and airline executives, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 357 executive board told members Friday. The posting came a day after Republic, which provides regional flights for American, Delta and United airlines, sought protection from creditors. “While this news is disappointing, it is not at all surprising,” the union said. Republic has about 2,100 pilots. There is no plan to reduce the number of pilots, even as the airline seeks to drop Q400 turboprops and Embraer E145 aircraft from its fleet, the union’s posting said. <br/>
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Gol said it will get a cash injection of up to BRR1b (US$251m) and announced cuts to its routes and aircraft fleet in an effort to trim costs amid weak demand. Take-offs and landings will be cut by 6% this year while service to 7 cities is being ended, Gol said. It will also return 5 aircraft to leasing companies and cut the schedule of planned deliveries of aircraft by end 2017 to 1 from 15. The cuts come as Brazil's airline industry is suffering from a recession and a decline in the value of Brazil's real that has driven up the cost of dollar-denominated debt, aircraft leases and jet fuel. Gol said earlier this month that domestic demand fell 8% in Q4 compared with the same period a year earlier. The cash injection will start with a BRR376m early purchase of frequent-flyer award tickets as soon as contracts are signed. <br/>
VietJet Aviation may hold its IPO as early as Q2as it plans to build global routes and become a top budget airline in Asia. The IPO’s exact timing will depend on market developments domestically and globally, CE Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao said Friday. The company hasn’t finalised how much it wants to raise and could offer as much as a 30% stake, the regulatory limit for foreign holdings, she said. “We plan to make VietJet a global airline," Thao said. "We look at Emirates, which came from a country with a small population and has become a global airline. We want to make VietJet the Emirates of Asia." VietJet carried 9.3m passengers in 2015, an increase of 66% from 2014. Revenue soared 205% last year to VND10.9t (US$488m) while net income rose to almost VND1t, according to the company. The airline expects revenue to double this year. <br/>
Nok Air has reported a net loss for a second consecutive year, hit by fierce competition, a shortage of pilots which forced it to curtail flights, and losses at joint venture NokScoot. The earnings announcement comes after Nok Air cancelled several flights in the past 2 weeks, prompting the country's civil aviation authority to investigate. Nok Air posted a 2015 net loss of THB726m (US$20.37m), versus a THB472m loss in 2014, it said. The loss contrasts with annual profits at some other budget and full-service carriers. Nok Air said it carried 7.95m passengers in 2015, up 11% from year earlier, but lower than the 23% rise of the overall market because of the entry of newcomers and capacity expansion by existing rivals. Nok Air's 2015 market share fell to 26.26% from 29.15%. <br/>
Emirates Airline will launch daily Dubai-Auckland nonstop flights from March 1, which will shorten travel time by up to 3 hours by eliminating a stop in Australia. The flights will be operated by a Boeing 777-200LR configured with 266 seats, including 8 first-class and 42 business-class seats. According to Emirates, this 14,000 km ultra-long range flight will be one of the longest air routes in the world by distance and should typically take just under 16 hours from Dubai to New Zealand, and 17 hours, 15 minutes in the other direction. Emirates said it will use flexible routes, taking advantage of tail winds and avoiding head winds to reduce the time in the air. The Boeing 777-200LR has the same wing size as the larger Boeing 777-300ER variant, but can fly up to a range of 8,400 nautical miles with full passenger load. <br/>
AirAsia X's fortunes are improving in the Australian market, after the carrier and rival Malaysia Airlines dramatically cut capacity between Australia and Kuala Lumpur in 2015. The December quarter financial figures for AirAsia X show its Australian division swung to a pre-tax profit of MYR53.4m (A$17.9m), up from a MYR90.5m pre-tax loss for the same period the previous year. However, for the full calendar year AirAsia X reported a loss before tax of MYR232m. The latest available international capacity statistics for November show AirAsia X lowered capacity by 13.7% compared with a year earlier, as it pulled out of Adelaide and trimmed some frequencies to other Australian cities from its schedules. AirAsia X CE Ben Ismail said the economics of his carrier's Sydney and Melbourne flights had "improved considerably". <br/>
Hainan Airlines plans to open a route from Beijing to Tel Aviv in April and Manchester in June, according to international director Li Xiang, as it speeds up international expansion as more Chinese citizens opt for outbound travel. The carrier opened Changsha-Los Angeles in January. Compared with China’s big three carriers, Hainan Airlines has adopted a different business strategy of operating international routes from China’s big cities to Europe and North America’s secondary cities, or from China’s secondary cities to Europe and North America’s big cities. Last year, Hainan added 37% more capacity on international routes, increasing capacity 69% on North America routes and 41% on European routes.” Hainan vice chairman Mu Wei said it would consider opening more international routes to Latin America and Africa. <br/>