December 1st 2024

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JUNE

Aviation leaders gathered in Dubai this month for the International Air Transport Association annual general meeting where director-general, Willie Walsh, reported the industry had recovered from the pandemic and was growing profitably to meet passenger and cargo demand. Read More »

The airline lobby group told delegates it had upgraded its forecast for 2024, with net profits for airlines worldwide expected to be US$30.5 billion, up from US$27.4 billion in 2023 and an improvement from IATA’s previous forecast, published in December 2023.

At the AGM, IATA said production of Sustainable Aviation fuel (SAF) is forecast to triple in 2024, to 1.9 billion litres, delivering 0.53% of aviation fuel demand this year.

It also was announced in Dubai that oneworld connecting partner airline, Fiji Airways, will transit to full membership of the alliance in the next 12 months.

Efforts to find a new owner for collapsed Australian airline, Bonza, ended without success this month, leaving administrators Hall Chadwick no choice but to terminate the employment of all staff. Creditors voted to formally liquidate the airline.

While COVID-19 was now well and truly in the rear view mirror, airlines region-wide were in various stages of recovery to pre-pandemic levels at mid-year.

Cathay Pacific reached a milestone in the month when it flew the last of the 85 aircraft it had in storage in Alice Springs - A330-300 registration B-HLV – to Hong Kong for resumption of commercial operations.

The Hong Kong airline is targeting a return to 100% of its pre-COVID-19 capacity by early 2025.

The merger of two Tata Sons airlines - Air India and Vistara - was given the green light by India’s National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) this month, paving the way for the transaction to be completed in November.

Following the merger, the India conglomerate will hold 74.9% of the combined airline alongside SIA’s 25.1% equity.

There were two interesting executive changes this month. Firstly, Australia’s Regional Express announced long-time executive chairman, Lim Kim Hai, was stepping down to be replaced by chief operating officer, Neville Howell. Lim remains on the Rex board as a non-executive director but John Sharp succeeded him as chair.

The company gave no reason for the changes, but it later emerged there were strong disagreements within the company about the direction of the airline. The region carrier entered voluntary administration a few weeks later.

Secondly, Boeing named former Australian diplomat, Penny Burtt, president Southeast Asia, based in Singapore. Burtt’s diplomatic career has included postings to Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore and head of public policy and government relations for the Asia-Pacific at financial infrastructure company, Stripe.