Aviation

Bloomberg After strong international tourist arrivals in 2017, Airports of Thailand Pcl surpassed Spain’s Aena SA as the world’s most-valuable airport services company. Powered by a 75 percent gain since May 1, the operator of Thailand’s main international airports also passed the 1 trillion baht ($31 billion) market capitalisation mark, joining only state-controlled energy company PTT Pcl above that milestone. ...

Bloomberg The US agency overseeing aviation safety loses its chief at midnight with no replacement in sight—days after President Donald Trump took credit in a tweet for the airlines’ safest year on record. Federal Aviation Administration head Michael Huerta, who rose unexpectedly to lead the agency in 2011 after the sudden departure of his predecessor, will step down at the ...

Bloomberg Steinhoff International Holdings NV, the South African retailer laid low by an accounting scandal, is selling one of its more high-flying assets as it seeks liquidity to keep itself alive. The owner of UK discounter Poundland and bedding supplier Mattress Firm in the US is in discussions with a potential buyer of a 2006 Gulfstream G550 private jet that’s ...

Bloomberg British Airways owner IAG SA’s Irish and Spanish businesses spurred gains in passenger traffic at the company last year as expansion at the UK arm slowed. Dublin-based Aer Lingus, purchased by IAG in 2015, posted a 12 percent traffic increase, while the advance at Madrid-based Iberia accelerated to 7.6 percent, according to a statement from the group. London-based IAG, ...

Bloomberg A wave of cancelled flights is moving north to New York and Boston as the first major winter storm of 2018 threatens to paralyse cities and airports over the next couple of days. Airlines have scrapped more than 2,100 flights on January 4 so far on top of 558 on January 3, according to FlightAware, an online tracking service. ...

Bloomberg Southwest Airlines Co. delayed orders for 23 of Boeing Co.’s 737 Max 7 aircraft, casting doubt on the future of the smallest Max variant as it adds 40 Max 8 deliveries valued at nearly $4.5 billion. Pushing most of its Max 7 orders out until 2023 and 2024 probably means that the carrier is trying to decide whether it ...

Bloomberg Ryanair Holdings Plc’s passenger growth advanced at the slowest rate since 2014 in 2017 after it canceled thousands of flights to cope with a staffing crunch, sparking outrage among consumers and regulators. The 2017 customer tally was 129 million, or 2 million less than initially forecast, according to a statement from Ryanair on Wednesday, with December’s performance the worst ...

Bloomberg Two US airlines—American and Southwest—joined the tide of companies offering employees $1,000 bonuses to mark the tax overhaul Congress put in place for 2018. American Airlines Group Inc. and Southwest Airlines Co. announced the bonuses after the close of business. AAON, US Bancorp, Commerce Bancshares Inc. and Zions Bancorporation were among the companies touting similar moves. Banks, insurers and ...

Bloomberg JetBlue Airways Corp. has little to show for its efforts to improve on-time performance. In the year gone by, through October, the airline’s on-time arrival rate of 70 percent trails the industry average of 79 percent, according to the US Transportation Department. That puts the carrier on track for its worst showing since 2007. Flight delays threaten two of ...

Bloomberg EasyJet Plc Chief Executive Officer Johan Lundgren laid out plans to serve 13 percent more passengers, widen links with other airlines and help pioneer testing of a hybrid-power plane in his first year of leading the discount carrier. Lundgren, who succeeded Carolyn McCall as CEO on December 1, 2017, said EasyJet will carry about 90 million travellers in 2018, ...