Fastjet’s new CE said he may replace the carrier’s planes with smaller ones and move its head office to a city somewhere on the continent from London to help end losses. The Airbus A319 jets used by Fastjet may be too large for the markets they serve, Nico Bezuidenhout said. It also doesn’t make sense to run an African airline “from 5,000 kilometres away,” according to the executive, who moves to his new post from South African Airways Aug 1. Former Fastjet CE Ed Winter quit amid clashes with investor Stelios Haji-Ioannou after warning that full-year earnings would miss analyst estimates and that the company was running short of cash. Bezuidenhout said the carrier must modify the low-cost model to better fit Africa’s operating environment. <br/>
unaligned
Fastjet has hit out at Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the co-founder and second-biggest shareholder in the airline, for calling on investors to oust its chairman. Colin Child became chairman of the airline in September last year. Haji-Ioannou condemned Child for taking a lot of time to appoint a new CE after Ed Winter quit in January. Nico Bezuidenhout, who was previously CE of Mango Airlines, was appointed only last week. In a letter to shareholders, Rob Burnham, Fastjet’s non-executive director, wrote: “The board firmly considers that a period of continuity and stability is essential following the appointment of the new chief executive and the numerous board changes that have occurred in the past year." Earlier this week, the EasyJet founder wrote to shareholders of Fastjet urging them to vote to remove Child at its annual meeting June 28. <br/>
Emirates is increasing the number of direct flights to Australia with a second daily service to Melbourne starting Oct 30 this year. The airline said Thursday it is dropping the Kuala Lumpur leg on its daily Dubai-Kuala Lumpur-Melbourne service to launch the direct flight. It is not replacing the Kuala Lumpur flight, an Emirates spokesperson said, but will use an Airbus A380 on one of its 3 daily direct services to the Malaysian capital from October 30. The announcement comes 3 years into Emirates’ revenue sharing partnership with Qantas and 7 months after Emirates entered into a similar arrangement with Malaysian Airlines, which flies twice daily to Melbourne from Kuala Lumpur. Emirates president Tim Clark said June 2 that Australia was a “growth market” with opportunity to “load capacity” on the existing points. <br/>
WestJet Airlines said it will consider a slightly larger version of the Boeing 737 MAX 7, as the carrier prepares to take delivery of 65 737s by 2027. "We're still working with Boeing on the 737 and the MAX," WestJet CFO Harry Taylor said. "If it (a larger MAX 7) looks like that's a good alternative, or a better alternative, we'll take advantage of it for sure." WestJet has looked at a larger variant of the MAX 7, the smallest plane in Boeing's revamped 737 line, which seats 126 passengers. It joins Southwest in expressing interest in a proposed MAX 7X, which could seat about 150. Boeing, in an effort to be more competitive against Airbus, has considered revamping both its 7X, and in the longer run, the MAX 9 by equipping it with a larger engine. <br/>
Vistara is likely to speed up expansion as part of its plan to fly overseas, a top company executive said, even as the airline looks likely to face hurdles in getting planes and crew fast enough. The civil aviation ministry Wednesday removed the stipulation that airlines must operate in India for at least 5 years before venturing abroad, while retaining the rule that mandates a minimum of 20 planes before starting overseas flights. Vistara, which started in Jan 2015 and was lobbying to scrap this rule, still has only 11 planes. “We are always open to competitive offers from lessors in terms of aircraft in the near future, but the price has to be right,” said CE Phee Teik Yeoh. The airline will get 2 planes around September, and then there are no deliveries scheduled until next June. <br/>
TAAG Angola Airlines is evaluating new routes to Europe after receiving authorisation to fly to all EU countries. TAAG announced June 8 EASA had granted the carrier third country operator status. TAAG was put on the EU blacklist in July 2007 and, despite successive community audits in 2009, obtained authorisation to start flights from Luanda to Lisbon and later to Porto (Portugal), after signed agreements between the two countries’ civil aviation authorities. “We would like to go to Paris, Frankfurt or London, but the timing is probably not there yet. In terms of expanding our network, we are couple of years away. We had to push it back [new long-haul routes]. For now, we are focusing on routes to Portugal, domestic, and our hub activity in Luanda,” TAAG CE Peter Hill explained. <br/>