December 1st 2024

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AUGUST

A recurring theme throughout 2024 has been the region’s airlines having to adjust their operations in response to factors beyond their control; principally the inability of Airbus and Boeing to meet delivery deadlines. Read More » As well, airline customers of Rolls-Royce and Pratt & Whitney engines have to deal with unscheduled maintenance on certain engine types as a result of durability issues and key staff shortages in maintenance and engineering teams.

In the month, Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG), the parent of Firefly and Malaysia Airlines, said the above factors had cascaded into a series of disruptions to its schedules, with scores of flights cancelled and passengers inconvenienced. MAG said it had received just four of the 17 aircraft scheduled to join the group’s fleet in 2024.

The situation was so serious that the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia reduced the duration of the Air Operator Certificate of Malaysia Airlines from three years to 12 months and instructed the flag carrier to implement a mitigation plan.

In response, MAG cut 20% of capacity across its domestic and international networks to year end 2024 to deliver what it described as credible flight schedules and to ensure safe and reliable operations.

In the meantime, the China market continued to be a struggle.

British Airways (BA) cited the airspace issue that was resulting higher operating costs when it announced it was suspending nonstop London Heathrow-Beijing from October. BA’s suspension followed similar withdrawals from LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, SAS Scandinavian Airlines and Virgin Atlantic.

Cathay Group interim profit declined 15.3% as robust air traffic demand and solid cargo business were offset by increased operating costs.

Korean Air cited higher fuel and labor costs for the 6% drop in quarterly profit and Philippine Airlines said quarterly net profit tumbled 62% as the return of more capacity to the market put yields under pressure.

Former Qantas Group CEO, Alan Joyce, was back in the headlines in the month when his former employer announced it was cutting the veteran aviation executive’s final year pay packet by about A$9.3 million (US$6 million) after a governance review found his decisions had caused considerable harm to the airline’s reputation.

It was a case of one step forward and one back for the problem plagued Boeing 777-9X program when type certification flights, that only started a month earlier after an engine-related structural component failed, paused.

The month also brought forward the replacement of Boeing CEO David Calhoun. His original contract was to run to 2028 but was changed to next year and then immediately when his successor, former Collins Aerospace CEO, Kelly Ortberg, took on Boeing’s top job.

There was cause for celebration at Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) this month when Air China and China Southern Airlines received their first C919s at a joint delivery ceremony.