Aviation

Bloomberg Southwest Airlines Co is frustrated by the slow pace of federal certification of Boeing Co’s smallest 737 Max jet, an issue that could delay the carrier’s commercial debut of the aircraft late into next year. The concern stems from changes by the US Federal Aviation Administration and lawmakers giving regulators a larger role in the certification, drawing out that ...

Bloomberg London’s Heathrow airport said passenger numbers are likely to recover to barely half of pre-Covid levels next year as the pandemic continues to ravage long-haul travel markets. The number of travellers in 2022 is likely to reach 45 million, Heathrow said in a statement. That compares with a record 81 million in 2019, when the hub ranked as Europe’s ...

Bloomberg Deutsche Lufthansa AG’s cargo division said it’s seeking more freighter planes to keep pace with booming global demand and that purchases could include Airbus SE’s new A350F model. Lufthansa Cargo is making the case at group level for adding more single-aisle and wide-body planes, including additional Boeing Co 777F freighters to ply long-haul routes, unit chief Dorothea von Boxberg ...

Bloomberg Japan Airlines Co hasn’t seen any impact on domestic travel due to the omicron variant of the coronavirus, but an anticipated recovery for international flights may be delayed, Chief Executive Officer Yuji Akasaka said. The spread of the omicron strain, which is said to be more transmissible than delta, has been disrupting overseas air travel. Although infection rates in ...

Bloomberg Rapid and still-evolving border restrictions in response to the omicron variant have submerged air-travel demand yet again, throwing a long-awaited recovery into uncertainty. The emerging coronavirus wave has put airlines under even more pressure as they navigate rules that vary by country and are being revised daily as more information about the strain comes to light. Carriers slashed 151,000 ...

Bloomberg HNA Group Co has officially handed over control of its core airline operations to Liaoning Fangda Group Industrial Co, marking the end of an era for the Chinese conglomerate as it continues to restructure one of the country’s biggest piles of corporate debt. Gu Gang, head of a government taskforce in charge of HNA’s restructuring, will no longer serve ...

Bloomberg Tata Sons Pvt is considering hiring several key executives for Air India, according to people familiar with the matter, as the nation’s biggest conglomerate works to finalise a turnaround plan for the indebted carrier it’s in the process of taking over from the state. The group, which in October won a bid to regain control of the airline it ...

Bloomberg The new owners of once-bankrupt Jet Airways India Ltd are in talks with Boeing Co and Airbus SE to purchase at least 100 narrowbody jets for the carrier’s fleet in a bid to revive what used to be the biggest private airline in the South Asian nation before it collapsed under a pile of debt. The winning bidders for ...

Bloomberg Airlines are moving forward to finalise big commercial aircraft orders despite the newly discovered coronavirus variant and a fresh wave of travel restrictions to contain its spread, Pratt & Whitney’s top sales executive said. “The campaign activity is as high as I’ve seen, maybe ever,” said Rick Deurloo, chief commercial officer of Pratt & Whitney, a unit of Raytheon ...

Bloomberg United Airlines Holdings Inc. plans to move the network operations center that coordinates its flights globally to a Chicago suburb next year, slashing headcount at the carrier’s world headquarters at Blackstone Inc’s Willis Tower. The move was announced internally and would affect about 900 employees such as managers and technical support staff, United said. About 400 flight dispatchers could ...