Lufthansa has overhauled Ryanair to retake the crown as Europe's largest airline by passenger numbers after Ryanair was forced to cut thousands of flights because of pilot rostering problems. The Lufthansa group as a whole carried 130m passengers last year, it said Wednesday. The equivalent figure from Ryanair was 129m, meaning Ryanair slips behind Lufthansa after overtaking it in 2016. Lufthansa has grown rapidly, having taken over Brussels Airlines at the end of 2016 and is aiming to grow Eurowings to become Europe's third largest point-to-point carrier. The group has also benefited from the collapse of Air Berlin in the latter part of 2017. Ryanair, meanwhile, has curbed its growth plans after a pilot rostering issue left it without enough standby pilots to fly its planes, forcing it to cancel 20,000 flights. <br/>
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UAE-based airlines are unlikely to acquire any stakes in Air India, following a decision by the Indian govt to allow foreign investors to own up to a 49% stake in the airline. Wednesday, the Indian govt cleared a proposal that would pave the way for global airlines to bid for the carrier. This brings Air India in line with the country’s other local airlines, in which foreign investment is allowed. And while UAE-based airlines have long described the Indian market as being highly lucrative due to strong passenger traffic between the two countries, Emirates and Etihad Airways are unlikely to bid for any stakes in Air India, according to previous comments from the airlines. However, Emirates and Etihad are yet to comment on the latest decision by the Indian govt. <br/>
Air NZ and Auckland Airport are among the most punctual operators in the world, according to a report by travel data company OAG. The report, based on 57m flight records for last year, said an improved performance from Air NZ had returned the carrier to the top 20, at number 17 for on-time performance for mainline airlines. OAG listed Air NZ's on-time performance as 81.33%, compared to first-placed airBaltic at 90.01% and fifth placed Qantas Airways at 86.18%. Virgin Australia was 1 place behind Air NZ in eighteenth place at 81.06%. In the Asia Pacific region Air NZ ranked in eighth place, with Qantas second and Hong Kong Airlines taking the top spot with an OTP of 88.83%. The ranking for large airports - those with 10-20m departing seats a year - placed Auckland Airport at nineteenth with an OTP of 80.23%. <br/>
United Airlines is making it less costly for customers to check luggage on flights to Hong Kong and China, two of the carrier's principal markets in the Asia Pacific region. That's a part of the world where United is increasingly up against intense competition. Effective immediately, the carrier said it will eliminate charges for customers' second checked bag on all routes from North America to China and Hong Kong. A second checked bag at no additional cost on those routes outbound from the US now will mirror the 2 free checked bags policy United has in place on flights from Hong Kong and China into the US. United management positioned the just-announced change in checked baggage policy as a new benefit for passengers. <br/>
United Airlines did not have a great month on the international traffic front in December. United's December ops report released late Tuesday showed the carrier's overall international traffic down 1.1% last month compared to December of 2016. Perhaps most troublingly, United's biggest falloff in international traffic was on trans-Pacific routes where competition from Asian carriers continues to intensify. United's trans-Pacific traffic was down 4.8% year over year in December. Traffic also was down 3.6% on United's Latin American routes. United did have better news on the busy trans-Atlantic front, however, where traffic actually climbed 5.4%. Domestically, traffic climbed 5.7% overall, with the largest increase on United's mainline routes that grew 6.6% year over year. Regional traffic only grew by 2%. <br/>