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Southwest is eyeing Boeing 737 MAX jets which have lost their original buyers, the so-called white tails, Chief Executive Gary Kelly said on Monday, but has no plans to increase the size of its fleet as it continues to weather the COVID-19 crisis. “No one should think Southwest is gonna get 50 more airplanes than what they were planning on in terms of incrementing the fleet,” Kelly said. “That’d be crazy. We’re not thinking about that at all.” Southwest has parked between 150 and 200 jets as travel demand wanes in the pandemic, but as it plans its fleet make-up over the next decade or two, it wants to make a decision soon about refreshing its aging 737-700 jets with 143 seats. Kelly said the airline is debating between the Boeing 737 MAX-7, which has yet to come out and be certified, or Airbus' A220s, which would mean a shift away from its all-Boeing fleet for the first time. “If we get what we need on the MAX, then it makes it more difficult for the A220, but I think Boeing and Airbus understand that’s (737-700) a very important airplane for us,” Kelly said. While there is some flexibility on the timing of a decision, Kelly said the airline “absolutely needs a solution for that the over the next several years and as far as I’m concerned the sooner we make up our minds on that the better.”<br/>

An Alaska Airlines jetliner hit a brown bear while landing Saturday, killing the animal and causing damage to the plane, officials said. None of the passengers or crew members were injured in the accident at the Yakutat Airport in south-east Alaska, the Anchorage Daily News reported. The Boeing 737-700 killed the brown bear sow, but a cub thought to be about two years old was uninjured, Alaska transportation spokesman Sam Dapcevich said. Planes have been reported to hit deer, geese, caribou and other animals in Alaska, but Dapcevich said this is the first time he was aware of a bear being struck. Airport crew members had cleared the runway about 10 minutes before the flight was expected to land, Dapcevich said. The plane landed after dark and crews followed normal procedures for runway checks. The staff did not see signs of wildlife during the check, but the pilots spotted the two bears crossing the runway as the jet slowed after landing, Dapcevich said. “The nose gear missed the bears, but the captain felt an impact on the left side after the bears passed under the plane,” Alaska Airlines said.<br/>

Brazil’s Azul expects domestic leisure passenger revenue to exceed last year’s figures in the coming weeks as the airline prepares for a strong summer travel season in the Southern Hemisphere. The Sao Paulo-based carrier says on 16 November that forward bookings for the period between end-of-year holidays and the first quarter of 2021 have returned to a level comparable to 2019, after the coronavirus brought aviation to a near standstill earlier this year. By the end of the year, Azul plans to fly to 113 of its 116 pre-Covid destinations – 97% of its network. Executives say they will see more revenue from this segment in the coming weeks than in the same period a year ago. “Domestic demand recovery in Brazil continues to be one of the fastest in the world,” says Azul CE John Rodgerson. “Azul’s September domestic capacity was 49% of the same period last year, while December domestic capacity is expected to reach more than 80%.” That said, the Sao-Paulo-headquartered airline lost R$1.2b ($220m) during Q3, which ended on 30 September. Total revenue for the period was R$805m, down 73% from the same quarter a year ago, but double the revenue from Q2. Azul chairman David Neeleman says customer confidence in air travel is returning quickly in Brazil, and that Azul is uniquely poised to take advantage of that opportunity.<br/>

Stobart Group still intends to divest its regional operator Stobart Air by the end of the financial year, despite Aer Lingus’s deciding not to renew a franchise agreement with the company. Aer Lingus has been using Stobart Air for regional connections for several years and Stobart Group had aimed to enhance the attractiveness of the carrier to a potential buyer by sealing a long-term agreement with Aer Lingus beyond 2022. But the plan has suffered a setback after Aer Lingus informed Stobart Group that it would not be the preferred supplier for a new commercial agreement. The agreement would have started in 2023, with Stobart Air continuing to operate the Aer Lingus franchise until that point. Stobart Group insists the Aer Lingus decision “does not alter” its intention to divest the airline, and leasing company Propius, “as soon as it is practicable”, with chief executive Warwick Brady still aiming for a sale “before the end of the current financial year”. Brady admits the Aer Lingus decision is “disappointing” but says Stobart Group remains in “positive discussions” over the airline with “a number of interested parties”.<br/>

Etihad Airways is to open full services between Abu Dhabi and the main Israeli hub at Tel Aviv, from the end of the winter season. Etihad Airways will serve the Tel Aviv route daily, and year-round, from 28 March next year. Its reservations system indicates it will use Airbus A321s on the link. The airline’s decision underpins the new relationship between the UAE and Israel following the normalisation of diplomatic relations, reinforced by the signing of the Abraham Accords in mid-September. Etihad says its Tel Aviv flights will be “conveniently timed” to enable connections through Abu Dhabi to destinations in China, India and other parts of the Asia-Pacific region. The carrier had already demonstrated closer ties with Israel following the normalisation pact, operating a commercial service on the route on 19 October. But a new air services agreement between the two sides has prompted Etihad to schedule a regular connection.<br/>

HK Express, Cathay Pacific’s budget carrier, is to cut pilot pay by up to 40% and wants non-flying staff to take 20 days of unpaid leave in the first six months of next year. The new take-it-or-leave-it contracts are part of the low-cost carrier’s latest efforts to cut costs, having earlier ruled out job losses, while last month its parent company limited redundancies to itself and Cathay Dragon. Simon Wu, director of operations at HK Express, told pilots in an internal memo their salaries would be reduced by 25 to 40 per cent when they were not flying, and by “an estimated” 8 to 14% if average flight times were 70 hours monthly. In appealing for employees to help out, Mandy Ng Kit-man, the airline’s CEO, told staff in the memo that the carrier still had a long way to go, “with many challenges ahead of us, and regrettably, what we have done so far is not enough to secure our future”. She added: “This is not something I ask from you lightly. The past year has been a real test of our resilience.” Ng said she would take a 15% pay cut through 2021, while senior directors would take a reduction of the same amount for the first six months of next year.<br/>HK Express has around 200 pilots, and more than 1,000 employees in total. The budget airline has lost HK$1.03b since it was acquired by the Cathay Pacific Group in July last year. HK Express is expected to play an even bigger role in serving Asia, filling the void created by the closure of Cathay Dragon. <br/>