Bloomberg Air India Ltd.’s order for as many as 500 aircraft from Airbus SE and Boeing Co. is being held up by an impasse with engine makers powering the 737 Max, dragging out what stands to be one of the biggest single purchases in civil aviation history. CFM International, the General Electric Co. and Safran SA joint venture, is ...
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China air travel returns to pre-pandemic levels
Bloomberg Air travel in China has returned to January 2019 levels ahead of the important Lunar New Year holidays, according to aviation data provider Cirium. Airlines in China are scheduled to operate 99.8% of January 2019’s flights this month, Cirium said, although the recovery has been largely driven by domestic travel. Domestic seating is 9.5% higher than 2019 levels, ...
Read More »Cathay flags worse-than-expected loss amid slow Covid comeback
Bloomberg Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. expects to report a larger-than-forecast loss in 2022 — around double what analysts were looking for — as the carrier claws its way back from Covid-19. Hong Kong’s main airline said in an exchange filing on Friday that it expects to report an annual net loss of between HK$6.4 billion ($817 million) to HK$7 billion, ...
Read More »Qantas suffers third midair mechanical issue in 3 days
Bloomberg A Qantas Airways Ltd. flight to Sydney returned to Melbourne with potential engine trouble, the airline’s third consecutive day of mid-air mechanical issues following a mayday alert by a plane en route from Auckland. The pilots of flight QF430 on Friday received an indication of a minor engine problem and turned back to Melbourne as a precaution, Qantas ...
Read More »Chinese travel rebound to take months amid hurdles to flights
Bloomberg Travel from China may need another four months to show a significant increase, despite the country just recently dropping Covid-related curbs on foreign trips. Overseas journeys from the Asian nation are unlikely to ramp up before the second quarter, most probably from the national Labour Day holiday on May 1, according to aviation data provider OAG. Chinese travellers ...
Read More »Record rise in air fares for UK holidaymakers
Bloomberg British holidaymakers seeking a winter getaway have been hit by the fastest increase in air fares since records began as airlines warn passengers of an end to budget travel. Official data showed that air fares jumped 44.1% compared with a year earlier as carriers report strong demand for flights despite the cost-of-living crunch squeezing UK households. It marked ...
Read More »Anti-Covid device comes too late for airlines as flyers shrug off virus
Bloomberg A Covid-era invention that protects plane passengers from the virus with a curtain of fast-flowing air is proving redundant, underscoring how little travellers care about the risk of infection in the rush back to the skies. Washington-based Pexco Aerospace Inc. has spent the pandemic designing and manufacturing a device that clips onto air vents inside the aircraft. The ...
Read More »Ryanair records strongest ever sales with two million bookings
Bloomberg Ryanair Holdings said strong demand across Europe and the UK drove its best ever sales last weekend as people continue to plan summer getaways despite the surging cost of living. Passenger bookings at Europe’s biggest discount airline exceeded two million, surpassing the previous record set in 2019 by 400,000 or 25%, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Michael O’Leary said ...
Read More »EasyJet expects recovery in air travel to continue
Bloomberg EasyJet Plc expects the recovery in air travel to continue through 2023 despite consumers feeling the pinch from inflation, the latest sign of airline optimism following a stronger-than-expected Christmas travel season. The budget carrier is “cautiously optimistic†for this year despite consumers in its biggest markets enduring the highest inflation rates for decades. While the company hasn’t released ...
Read More »Deadly plane crash in Nepal adds to its bad safety record
Bloomberg There’s been yet another disaster in one of the world’s deadliest places to fly. At least 68 people were killed on January 15 after a Yeti Airlines flight crashed when coming in to land in Pokhara, central Nepal, further blighting the country’s notoriously bad aviation safety record. Just last May, 22 people died after a Tara Air flight crashed ...
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