Aviation

MONTREAL / Reuters Global airline passenger traffic grew 6.8 percent in 2015, with the Middle East region growing the fastest, preliminary data released on Wednesday by the United Nations’ civil aviation agency showed. US carriers were ranked the top three in the world by revenue passenger kilometer, American Airlines Group taking the top position, the International Civil Aviation Organisation said ...

Bloomberg Air France will invest 140 million euros ($159 million) extending a cabin refurbishment to its Airbus Group SE A330 fleet that will include lie-flat business-class seats from Zodiac Aerospace, the embattled supplier that has struggled to fulfill orders. The upgrade will begin late next year and finish in 2018, the airline said in a statement. Each of the twin-aisle ...

BEIJING / REUTERS Chinese aircraft lessor Bohai Capital, known for its September purchase of Irish peer Avolon Holdings Ltd, aims to nearly double its fleet in coming years to take advantage of a boom in Chinese travel demand, a top executive said. Bohai Capital and other state-backed firms are expanding in the aircraft financing and leasing business as customer airlines ...

Emirates Business Kuwait Airways, one of the pioneers of air travel in the Middle East, has selected aeroLINE CREW from Information System Associates FZE (ISA) as their new crew management system. aeroLINE CREW is an unparalleled crew management facility, built with latest cutting edge technologies, and it empowers airlines to significantly lower operating costs, improved operational efficiency and empowers crew ...

Amman / EMIRATES BUSINESS Air Arabia Jordan has announced the launch of a new route from Amman to Riyadh in Saudi Arabia effective April 14, 2016. Flights will be operational three times weekly. This will be Air Arabia Jordan’s first expansion in 2016 and Riyadh will be the third Saudi Arabian city to be serviced by the carrier after Dammam ...

Paris / AP Shares in Air France-KLM went into freefall on Wednesday, a day after the company said Alexandre de Juniac is to resign as chairman and CEO to take charge of aviation industry group IATA. Juniac helped Europe’s second biggest airline group return to profit last year for the first time since 2008, but his four-year spell at the ...

Bloomberg Jambojet, the low-cost carrier owned by Kenya Airways Ltd., plans to add seven routes in east Africa in the next five years to expand in the region. The airline, which says it controls 37 percent of Kenya’s domestic aviation market, is considering starting its first international route this month, Chief Executive Officer Willem Hondius said in an interview in ...

Bloomberg Saudi Arabia’s aviation regulator has suspended licences granted to Mahan Air, Iran’s largest privately-owned airline, to fly through its air space or land in its airports due to alleged violations of local safety rules. In a statement, the General Authority of Civil Aviation (Gaca) said it had monitored several violations committed by Mahan Air against the national regulations and ...

Bloomberg From an initial overture five months ago through a two-day bidding war last week, Alaska Air Group Inc. was determined to acquire Virgin America Inc. as a means toward national expansion – and protection from larger rivals. The combination boosts Alaska’s West Coast might with greater access to California, while providing more service to flight-constrained East Coast cities such ...

Bloomberg Avolon, the aircraft-leasing company acquired by the parent of China’s Hainan Airlines Co., is in talks with carriers keen to add Airbus Group SE’s A330neo to their fleets and may increase orders for the new wide-body jet as Asian travel demand spikes. “We’ve been in discussions with Airbus, as we place more, we may order more,” Chief Executive Officer ...