Volaris is emerging from the pandemic as the largest airline in Mexico, consolidating its position as Aeromexico retrenches in bankruptcy and Interjet’s woes left it unable to pay its fuel bills. Volaris expects to exceed its 2019 capacity in the second quarter, stoked, in part, by going after Mexico’s large bus market. Although this isn’t a new strategy for Volaris, the ultra-low-cost carrier plans to step up its efforts to convert bus passengers to air travel, the company said in an investor update this week. The market is huge. Mexico’s bus lines transport about 3b passengers annually. Of that 3b, Volaris estimates about 700m are bus trips of six or more hours. The argument Volaris will emphasize this year is that air travel is not just quicker but cheaper as well. The average bus fare from Mexico City to Tijuana is 2,243 pesos ($113), while the average Volaris fare on the route is $62, the company said. The trip takes 30 hours by bus and 4 hours by air. The company sees potential to convert another half million bus passengers this year through marketing and education campaigns. <br/>
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Wizz Air has cancelled all flights to Tel Aviv on Friday and Saturday, joining other airlines in avoiding Israel due to escalating conflict there. Flights to Tel Aviv from Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, Larnaca in Cyprus and Varna in Bulgaria were cancelled on Friday, Wizz Air's website showed. The EASA has warned airlines to monitor heightened tensions in Israel, including exchanges of rocket fire and air strikes. "The situation in the region remains a matter of high concern for commercial aviation," it said in a bulletin to airlines on Wednesday. Emirati carrier flydubai was to operate three of four scheduled flights from Dubai to Tel Aviv on Friday, and two of four scheduled services on Saturday, its website showed. An airline spokeswoman said fewer flights were being operated due to a drop in demand.<br/>
EasyJet Chairman John Barton is preparing to step down once he has completed nine years in the post in May 2022, the British airline said Saturday. The company has already started the search for a successor just as the airline industry battles to recover from the devastating impact on travel of the coronavirus pandemic. EasyJet is desperate to start flying at scale again this summer, but COVID-19 restrictions remain in place and worries over the spread of the Indian variant in Britain are threatening to hamper the hoped-for travel bounce back. Barton's plan to step down was first reported by Sky News. The airline, which noted a nine-year term is the recommended maximum for best practice in corporate governance, said Barton remained fully committed to his role. It said it had hired an executive search agency to help find a successor and ensure an orderly transition.<br/>
Gulf Air's chairman on Sunday said that market conditions remain difficult and that the Bahrain state carrier had reached a deal with Airbus and Boeing to delay deliveries of some new aircraft. Flying remains at very low levels around the world as airlines struggle to rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic that has left many planes grounded or flying near-empty. "It is very difficult because you are bound by your destinations. We have the fleet. We have the crew. We would like to fly to as many as places as we can, but we have to factor in demand," Zayed bin Rashid al-Zayani told reporters at the Arabian Travel Market exhibition in Dubai. The Bahraini airline has reached an agreement with Airbus and Boeing to delay aicraft that were scheduled for delivery in 2020 and 2021 by about six to nine months, he said. Zayani, also a Bahraini government minister, did not disclose which aircraft had been delayed, but he said the airline would receive six new jets this year, twice as many as it did in 2020. Gulf Air has previously said it was looking to delay deliveries of Airbus A320neo jets and Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners. The airline is not cancelling aircraft orders, Zayani said.<br/>
Philippine Airlines has been in talks with its aircraft lessors about reducing its fleet size and returning some planes as part of a restructuring process, President Gilbert Santa Maria said. The carrier is stepping up cargo operations and flying to new destinations, particularly to the Pacific region, to generate revenue, Santa Maria said. Bloomberg reported on Friday that the carrier could return at least two Airbus SE A350s to lessors and four of the 10 Boeing Co. 777s in its fleet, citing some people familiar with the plan. The airline is managing liquidity and "trying to continue to get the forbearance from our lessors on the payments on the aircraft,” Santa Maria said. <br/>
Go Airlines India, a no-frills carrier controlled by the Wadia Group, has sought approval from India’s markets regulator to raise as much as 36b rupees ($490m) through an initial public offering. The company may consider a pre-IPO share issue of as much as 15 billion rupees, the airline said in its prospectus Friday, adding the IPO size will be cut if the pre-IPO placement happens. Go Airlines, the second biggest customer for Airbus, is planning to use the proceeds for repayment of debt, and dues to Indian Oil Corp. ICICI Securities Ltd., Citi and Morgan Stanley will manage the IPO. GoAir has rebranded itself as Go First, the airline said in a statement Thursday. Go Airlines’s decision to seek to raise funds comes at a time when an overwhelming surge in coronavirus infections in India has hit the country’s air travel industry, which had just begun recovering, particularly in domestic routes. <br/>
Thai low-cost carrier Thai AirAsia has warned that the third wave of coronavirus infections in April will impact its profitability, as it sank deeper in the red amid plunging revenue. In financial results for the quarter ended 31 March, Thai AirAsia parent company Asia Aviation also forecast international flying to resume by Q4, with the carrier reaching full capacity by early 2022. Asia Aviation reported a quarterly operating loss of Bt3.2b ($102m), deepening the Bt1.37b loss it reported in the same quarter last year. Revenue plunged about 86% year on year, to Bt1.35b, outpacing the drop in costs, which fell 58% year on year to Bt 4.56b. Thai AirAsia carried just 980,000 passengers in the quarter, a 78% drop year on year. RPKs plunged 82%, while capacity shrank 79%. The carrier offered just under 1.5m seats for the period, 73% lower than the same quarter last year. In its outlook, Thai AirAsia warns that the April surge in coronavirus cases “would impact” its Q2 earnings. “These infections are more severe than the previous waves and affect tourism recovery in Thailand, leading to lower travelling demand,” it adds. To this end, Thai AirAsia states that it would be rationalising capacity across its network to maximise profitability. <br/>
Bangkok Airways saw its first quarter operating loss widen to B677m ($21.5m) from B284m a year ago, as the coronavirus pandemic continued its relentless pressure on Thailand tourism. Revenues dived 78.8% to B1.4b in the three months ended 31 March, while net losses ballooned to B756m from B338m, according to the airline’s results statement. The airline states that Covid-19 is an “unprecedented crisis” for Thailand’s Tourism economy, despite initiatives by the government to relax restrictions for travelers flying for business, medical treatments, or special tourist visas. It noted that tourism arrivals are down 99.7% from a year earlier. During the quarter Bangkok Airways generated just B286m in passenger revenue, down from B4.4b a year earlier. Capacity as measured by ASKs fell 89.6%, while RPKs fell 80% from the first three months of 2020. Overall load factors for the quarter fell 3.3 percentage points to 58.8%, with the number of flights flown falling 85.6% to 2,464.<br/>