Malaysia Airlines’ road to recovery was hampered by the weak ringgit, which has caused a delay in the management meeting the timeline for the airline to return to profitability. According to Khazanah Nasional, the weak ringgit in 2017 had an estimated MYR500m (US$126m) impact on the bottom line of the carrier, which is now a private entity. Under the recovery plan that was unveiled in 2014, the deadline set was for MAS to break even by 2017. The view then was for the ringgit to be at about MYR3.80 to the US dollar. However, for most parts of 2017, the ringgit was about MYR4.40 against the US dollar. The airline is now expected to break even in the second half of this year or latest by early next year. Under the recovery plan, MAS shed 6,000 people from its workforce and Khazanah is to inject MYR6bl to revive the airline. <br/>
oneworld
Passengers on a Malaysia Airlines plane flying from Sydney to Kuala Lumpur which was forced to land in the central Australian city of Alice Springs said they were bracing themselves for a possible hard landing after the plane shook violently Thursday. "We suddenly experienced a very violent shaking of the aircraft and that probably lasted about 5 minutes and it was coming from one of the engines," said a passenger. The airline said the Airbus A330-300 plane experienced a "technical fault" in 1 of its 2 engines and the pilot decided to divert the flight. It said Flight 122, which had been flying close to the Western Australian state coastal town of Broome when it turned back, landed safely in Alice Springs and "safety was not at any time compromised." <br/>
American Airlines is adding 52 new routes and adding its Chicago-New York flights to its shuttle operation this year, in what it claims is its first truly integrated schedule. "For the first time we can really start thinking about how we plan a single airline and not worry about the next integration milestone," says Vasu Raja, VP of network and schedule planning at the carrier, referring to American's integration with US Airways since their Dec 2013 merger. American announced 8 new routes Thursday, bringing the total to 52 in 2018. Airport space is one factor that influenced where American will add new routes, says Raja. For example, the opening of a 5-gate expansion of concourse L at Chicago O'Hare International this summer enables many of the new flights from the airport. <br/>
A recruitment drive by Qantas Airways after a 7-year hiatus is exacerbating shortages of pilots at regional air services that provide a lifeline to remote communities in the country's sparsely populated Outback. As airlines from Asia, Europe and North America vie for pilots amid a global shortage, there is growing concern among people in Australia's vast interior who rely on flights to major cities for medical treatment. To help fill in the gaps, the Australian government has reopened 2-year visas for foreign pilots. Regional airlines however say longer visas are required to attract pilots from overseas. Qantas began hiring again in 2016 after years of financial strife, during which it offered pilots leave without pay to work for other airlines. By mid-2018, it says it will have employed 300 new pilots, many from regional airlines. <br/>
Royal Jordanian has implemented additional security measures on flights to the US, from Jan 18. The additional measures—which include interviews with every passenger at check-in or the boarding gate—apply to all international airlines operating direct flights to the US, and include all nationalities flying to the US, with no exception. While US authorities adopted the new security measures in Oct 2017, they granted airlines the option of delaying implementation for a limited period of time. The carrier said passengers are still required to be at the airport 3 hours prior to their scheduled US-bound flights in order to avoid delays and allow more time for the implementation of the new security procedures. Royal Jordanian operates 11X-weekly flights to the US from its hub Amman. <br/>