Southwest said travel demand continues to improve with booking patterns for next month looking “fairly typical” as the impact of Covid-19 in the US wanes. The airline said leisure fares next month are getting close to 2019 levels, though a lack of business travelers will still still keep a lid on average ticket prices this quarter. But Southwest also flagged the rise in jet fuel costs for the quarter, which could weigh on its bottom line. The carrier will hold an annual shareholder meeting at 11 a.m. ET. Southwest said June revenue will likely be down 20% to 25% compared with the same month of 2019, an improvement from this month, when it expects sales to be off by as much as 40% from two years ago. “Passenger demand and booking trends remain primarily leisure-oriented and inconsistent by region,” Southwest said in a filing. “Despite recent improvements in leisure demand, the company remains cautious and continues to plan for multiple fleet and capacity scenarios.” Southwest expects its May capacity to be up 126% from last year but down 18% from two years ago, and for June, it forecast it will fly 67% more compared with 2020 and 6% less than 2019. The low-cost airline reiterated that it expects to get to breakeven core cash flow in June 2021, trimming its core cash burn to $1m to $3m a day on average for Q2 from a previous estimate for $2m to $4m a day.<br/>
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JetBlue Airways is finally making the hop across the pond. The carrier is now selling tickets for its first service from its home base at John F. Kennedy International Airport to London’s Heathrow Airport, starting Aug. 11. After its debut, it plans to add flights from Kennedy Airport to London’s Gatwick Airport on Sept. 29. It plans to start London flights from Boston in the summer of 2022. JetBlue’s plan for London service has been in the works for more than two years. Executives have said the trans-Atlantic market was ripe for disruption, particularly with lower business-class fares than competitors offer. “JetBlue is doing what JetBlue does, which we come into markets that have suffered for a very long time with very high fares and we change it,” JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes said. A round-trip JetBlue flight from Kennedy Airport to London Heathrow leaving Aug. 12 and returning Aug. 18 was posted at $1,968.45 for the airline’s Mint business-class cabin and $618 for its nonrefundable basic economy fare. On Delta, the cheapest and most restrictive coach fare was listed as $1,007 round trip on those same dates and for $2,631 in its top-tier Delta One cabin. United Airlines fares to Heathrow from its Newark, New Jersey, hub started at $845 for basic economy and at $2,573 for its Polaris business-class cabin. JetBlue in February unveiled its revamped Mint cabin that will feature suites with sliding doors for the London flights as well as some other longer-haul service. The airline took delivery of its first long-range Airbus A321LR last month, which it will use for the flights.<br/>
A commuter jet was seconds away from landing at a regional airport in Illinois last March when the pilots realized they'd made a potentially fatal mistake: They were aimed at the wrong runway. Had the plane not diverted at the last second, there was a "high probability" the plane would not have had room to stop, an inspector later concluded, which would have been a "potentially catastrophic situation." This close call is one of multiple instances of alleged pilot error included in a FAA warning to Envoy Air, the largest regional carrier for American Airlines. An FAA document detailing the agency's findings dated from January describes "consistent evidence showing potential lack of airmanship," unsafe and poor piloting by multiple Envoy Air flight crews over the past two years. The incidents raise concerns, some experts say, that some regional services -- generally contracted operators or sister companies to the big airlines -- are still not operating at the same safety level of mainline carriers. FAA Administrator Steve Dickson said that the probe is "based on data that we have been able to glean by working with the operator to identify where there might be areas of emerging risk that they need to focus on." He said the goal is to ensure Envoy Air is "not only compliant but operating safely."<br/>Envoy Air is not a household name, but it is owned by American Airlines and its planes connect smaller cities nationwide with American's hubs like Dallas-Fort Worth, Chicago, and Miami. It flies 185 American Eagle-branded aircraft on 1,000 daily flights to over 150 destinations in the United States, Canada and Mexico.<br/>
Some of the aircraft operated by Kazakh carrier Air Astana are set to be transferred to the Irish registry under a new regulatory services agreement between the two countries. Under ICAO standards such a formal arrangement enables aircraft operated in one country to be registered in another. The agreement between Kazakhstan’s government and the Irish Aviation Authority is intended to support the Central Asian state’s efforts to improve air transport safety. Irish aviation regulator Diarmuid O’Conghaile says a “number” of Air Astana aircraft will be re-registered over the rest of this year. He adds that the authority will review the aircraft and provide certificates of airworthiness. “Other aspects of regulatory oversight will be delegated to the Kazakh civil aviation authority,” he says. Air Astana aircraft are currently registered in the Caribbean territory of Aruba.<br/>