Southwest said it was “hopeful” of returning to profitability in the third and fourth quarters, amid concerns over the financial impact of a coronavirus variant and a recent rash of flight delays. The potential for an adjusted profit excludes any benefit from billions of dollars in airline aid provided by the US government, Southwest said Thursday as it reported Q2 results. The carrier recorded a profit in June, not counting federal funds, its first since the pandemic began. Delta and United have both predicted a return to profit. Based on current trends, “we are hopeful to be profitable” in the third and fourth quarters, Southwest CEO Gary Kelly said. “Second quarter 2021 marked an important milestone in the pandemic recovery as leisure travel demand surged.” The outlook underscores the industry’s optimism that it’s turning a corner after the worst airline crisis in history, even as the spread of the virulent delta variant of the coronavirus raises investor anxiety about the rebound in flying. Southwest also has been grappling with the worst flight delays in the industry, spurred by staffing shortages and bad weather. Southwest was little changed at $53.07 before the start of regular trading in New York. The shares climbed 14% this year through Wednesday, the second-best performance in Standard & Poor’s index of the five largest US airlines. Leisure traffic and fares are expected to trend higher this month than July 2019 levels, Southwest said, and business bookings have steadily improved in July. Revenue this month will be 10% to 15% lower than July 2019, while August will be down by as much as 17%.<br/>
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Airplanes and airports are among the few remaining places where face masks are required, but they might not be after Sept. 13if the rule isn't extended. Southwest CEO Gary Kelly, chairman of industry lobbying group Airlines for America (A4A), said Thursday that Southwest and the trade group are not recommending another extension of the federal transportation mask mandate. The mandate, which airlines and their unions requested to help with passenger mask compliance and to protect the health of flight crews, was put in place by President Joe Biden in January. The mandate, which applies to trains, planes and airports, buses and transportation hubs, was initially due to expire in May but was extended through Sept. 13, with the blessing of airlines. Reports abound of passengers refusing to wear masks and becoming aggressive with flight crews. Kelly, answering reporter questions during Southwest's quarterly earnings conference call, said airlines support following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance on masks, which says vaccinated individuals don't need one but unvaccinated individuals should wear one.<br/>Unless that advice changes, he said, "we wouldn't advocate from Southwest's perspective, or the A4A for that matter, extending the mandate." Kelly said he doesn't know whether the mandate, enforced by the TSA, will be extended or lifted. "That's a political question, to a degree," he said. Kelly said the government is studying the matter, given the spreading delta variant, which has caused a spike in COVID-19 cases, but he is not aware of "any efforts underway" to extend the mask mandate. The CDC has had no comment on the status of the mandate beyond Sept. 13. Kelly is the first US airline executive to publicly express what is in effect support for letting the mandate expire, though United CEO Scott Kirby said he expected it to be lifted in September.<br/>
Alaska Air Group narrowed its loss in Q2 2021, as passenger demand rose in line with the entire air transport industry. The Seattle-based company, parent to Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air, says on 22 July that it notched a $397m profit, which included federal payroll support, compared to a net loss of $214m in the same quarter in 2020. Without the financial aid, the company said it lost $38m during the period. Alaska reported quarterly revenue of $1.5b, that’s up from $421m during the same quarter of coronavirus-plagued 2020. In 2019, that figure was $2.3b. “As we put the worst of last year’s downturn behind us, Alaska is back on the path to profitability,” says CE Ben Minicucci. “We are executing our plan, rebuilding our network, leveraging our capacity to meet growing demand, and delivering exceptional service and value to our guests.” Its operating expenses in the second quarter were $978m, 38% higher than last year. Alaska carried 8.7m passengers in Q2 2021, almost six times as many as in the same three months a year ago, which was the worst quarter for most US airlines, their business destroyed by the beginning of the global Covid-19 crisis.<br/>
The tail of a Gulf Air passenger aircraft was hit by another plane at Dubai International Airport on Thursday, Bahrain's state news agency BNA reported, in what a Dubai Airports spokesperson described as a minor incident. UAE General Civil Aviation Authority said on Thursday, "This morning a minor collision occurred between two planes, one belonging to Fly Dubai and the other to Gulf Air on a runway at Dubai International Airport resulting in minor damage to the tail of one of the two planes and the wing of the other, without causing any human casualties." BNA did not identify the other carrier, but United Arab Emirates airline flydubai confirmed that one of its Boeing 737-800 aircraft was involved in a "minor incident" with another plane on the taxi way with initial reports showing damage to the wing tip. "As a result of this, one runway was temporarily closed to allow for the minor incident to be swiftly managed. Operations at DXB were not impacted and the runway was reopened after two hours," said a spokesperson for Dubai's state airport operator, Dubai Airports.<br/>
AirAsia's food delivery service in Singapore is off to a slow start in the four months since it launched, with just about 100 orders daily. AirAsia CE Tony Fernandes provided the update during a virtual media roundtable on Thursday. But he said the performance of the airasia food platform so far was "exactly what we predicted", with AirAsia's priority now to improve the platform's technology infrastructure. Fernandes said: "We have only been in Singapore for a few months, I didn't say I was going to be No. 1. We just want to launch, slowly build it up and get more services across." He said AirAsia has not done much marketing for its food delivery business, but will do so once it sorts out the tech system. airasia food was launched in Singapore in March with about 80 restaurants. It offered a commission rate of 15%, which was lower than that charged by the three major food delivery operators - GrabFood, foodpanda and Deliveroo. Restaurants that had initially signed up included well-known names Swee Choon Tim Sum Restaurant and No Signboard Seafood. But both restaurants were no longer listed on the platform Thursday. Fernandes cited the example of how AirAsia was built up over several years to illustrate how it would take time for airasia food to get off the ground.<br/>