Commercial flights with Boeing 737 Max jetliners resumed Wednesday for the first time since they were grounded worldwide following two deadly crashes nearly two years ago. Brazil's Gol Airlines became the first in the world to return the planes to its active fleet, using a 737 MAX 8 on a flight from Sao Paulo to Porto Alegre, according to the flight tracking website Flightradar24. The company's own announcement didn't specify the route of the flight. Gol is set to start regular service on Dec. 18, according to aviation data firm Cirium, with several daily flights between Sao Paulo and other major Brazilian cities. Customers will be able to exchange their tickets if they don't want to fly on a 737 Max, a Gol spokesperson said. Gol owns seven 737 Max aircraft, according to Cirium. It is the only Brazilian company with the model in its fleet. "The MAX is one of the most efficient aircraft in aviation history and the only one to undergo a complete recertification process," Gol's CEO, Paulo Kakinoff, said earlier this week.<br/>
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A new domestic South African airline launched on Wednesday, betting on low operating costs and oil prices to withstand an industry crisis that has left national flagship SAA struggling to survive and sunk other low-cost carriers. The new carrier, Lift, part-founded by former Uber Africa executive Jonathan Ayache and Gidon Novick, who ran low-cost flyer kulala.com, said it planned to avoid a cash-heavy operational model that hit its rivals. “We’re fortunate, operating costs are as low as they’ve ever been. Obviously that’s subject to the exchange rate,” said Novick. “Oil prices are pretty low. Aircraft values have almost halved, and people costs are also low, so we see a real opportunity.”<br/>The rand is its firmest in 10 months against the dollar. Global oil prices crashed to a two-decade low in April, only recently returning to pre-COVID-19 levels near $50 per barrel. Lift will fly 4th generation Airbus A320 aircraft leased from Global Aviation Operations, a South African-based charter firm. All of Lift’s seats will be economy, and will operate between commercial hub Johannesburg and tourist favourite Cape Town. It will compete directly with South African Airways (SAA) subsidiary Mango, market leader kulala.com, and FlySafair among others.<br/>
Bahrain’s national airline Gulf Air signed five agreements with Israeli entities during a Bahraini trade visit in the past week to Israel, Gulf Air said on Wednesday. The small Gulf state of Bahrain and Israel formalised ties in September. Gulf Air and Israeli carrier El Al signed a memorandum of understanding on Thursday. Gulf Air also reached an accord with TAL Aviation Group, a travel representation company, to represent the airline in Israel. The Bahraini airline concluded an agreement with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) Aviation Group for maintenance of Gulf Air planes landing at Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv. Gulf Air also signed an agreement with Q.A.S. Israel Ltd for ground handling, cargo and other airport services. Finally Gulf Air and Newrest Israel signed an agreement for on-board catering, the statement said.<br/>
Thirteen years after BA abandoned Southampton and a dozen other regional airports, it is returning to the Hampshire city with an extensive network of European flights – at least at weekends. From May 2021, BA CityFlyer, the airline’s subsidiary based at London City airport, will take up some of the routes from Southampton abandoned when Flybe collapsed in March 2020. On 1 May, BA flights will depart to Faro in Portugal, Florence in Italy and Malaga and Palma in Spain – with Ibiza starting a day later. Three destinations in France will start on 15 May: Bergerac, Limoges and Nice. On 16 May, the longest route – the 1,607-mile link to the Greek island of Mykonos – is due to begin. Noise-abatement rules at London City mean that the airline cannot fly from its main base between Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. Two additional once-a-week links will be added for “positioning” purposes – getting planes to and from Southampton. On Sundays BA will fly from Southampton to Berlin and Edinburgh, with the aircraft returning on Fridays.<br/>
Former EasyJet commercial chief Robert Carey is to take up a newly-created role at budget carrier Wizz Air, serving as the company’s president. As part of the change, Wizz Air group chief operations officer Diederik Pen is to step down from his post, to be succeeded by budget carrier Vueling’s former strategy chief Michael Delehant. Wizz Air says Pen, who joined in 2013 and also served as executive vice-president, is to “pursue other interests” outside of the Central European budget carrier. Robert Carey, who recently resigned from EasyJet after three years, has previously held senior roles at consultant McKinsey & Company and was formerly connected with Delta Air Lines and America West Airlines. Carey will take up his post as president on 14 June next year, overseeing the airline’s operations and commercial functions. Wizz says the position is a “newly-established key leadership role” and will involve spearheading the company’s business strategy, cost control, competitive strategy and other aspects.<br/>
Flydubai Wednesday announced the start of flights to Grozny, the capital of the Chechen Republic in the Russian Federation. Flights between Dubai International (DXB) and Grozny Airport (GRV) will operate twice weekly starting from December 17. flydubai will be the first carrier to offer direct flights on this route from the UAE. flydubai has been operating flights to Russia since 2010 and offers passengers from the UAE through the combined flydubai and Emirates network easier access to Moscow and other major Russian cities. The airline has been steadily increasing its operations since July and continues to operate all-cargo flights and repatriation flights in addition to scheduled services. The new service to Grozny will give passengers access to Dubai and other holiday destinations across the carrier’s network.<br/>
Governments in Asia could require inbound travellers to receive COVID-19 vaccinations, AirAsia Group's CEO said Wednesday, with such conditions expected to become a trend in the region. "I foresee in Asia anyway, I think they won't let anyone in without a vaccination," AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes said at a CAPA Centre for Aviation event. Fernandes said airlines are not likely to set such requirements for travellers. "It's not up to the airlines to decide. It's for governments to decide. It'll be the country that'll decide if they will allow people to come in if they are not vaccinated," he said. Aviation industry opposition to requiring mandatory COVID-19 vaccination for passengers has intensified as impending drug approvals trigger a debate over their role in air travel. "We believe that vaccinations will be required for entry to many countries in the future. And for a period of time, parallel requirements of (being) vaccinated or pre-flight negative tests," said Todd Handcock, the Asia Pacific president of Collinson Group, which owns Priority Pass airport lounges.<br/>
Cebu Pacific said Wednesday it would have to continue its efforts to boost air travel as the budget carrier cannot afford to wait for a coronavirus vaccine. “I think we cannot afford to wait for the vaccine to get here before we start to confidently fly again because of the impact of travel and tourism on the economy,” Candice A. Iyog, Cebu Pacific VP for marketing and customer service, said at a virtual forum Wednesday. She said the low-cost carrier, operated by Cebu Air, is “finding the right balance based on the information it has, based on the technology, and based on what it has in place today so that it can already start calibrating and moving closer towards where its peers are.” On Monday, Cebu Air President and CEO Lance Y. Gokongwei said at a Palace briefing that the “airline sector is really under severe stress.” “This year, we will lose almost P25b. But I think that’s part of doing business,” he added. Gokongwei said the company’s main priority for now is to operate the airline “in a very safe and secure manner for both its passengers and employees” in order to regain people’s confidence in flying amid the pandemic. The low-cost carrier also announced on Wednesday that it will be offering its trademark “piso” seat sale from Dec. 10 to 12 for travels from Aug. 1 to Nov. 30 next year. Cebu Air’s net loss for Q3 of the year widened to P5.54b from the P375.67m loss it incurred a year earlier, mainly as a result of low passenger traffic.<br/>