December 1st 2022

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September

Air India CEO, Campbell Wilson, has moved quickly to put his stamp on the flag carrier after his appointment to the role earlier in the year. Read More »

The airline launched a five-year transformation strategy, VihaanA1, intended to capture 30% of the domestic India market and significantly expand its international network by 2027. Other objectives of Vihaan.AI include a revamped customer proposition, a US$400 million cabin upgrade, improved reliability and better on-time performance. The Star Alliance member, owned by Tata Sons, will lease five 777-200LRs, 21 A320neo and four A321neo and bring 16 aircraft out of storage to address a capacity and connectivity demand.

Air New Zealand (Air NZ) commenced nonstop Auckland-New York JFK in the month with 787-9s. At press time, the service was the fifth longest route in the world at 7,671nm, behind Singapore Airlines Singapore-New York JFK (8,287nm) and Singapore-Newark (8,285nm) services and Qantas’s Perth-London Heathrow (7,829nm) and Melbourne-Dallas/Fort Worth (7,814nm) flights. It was a less than ideal start for the route, with some passengers in the first few weeks of the launch arriving in Auckland without their baggage after the airline lightened its load due to strong winds on the westbound leg from New York.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reinstated Malaysia’s Category 1 rating this month almost three years after it was downgraded to Category 2. The reinstatement means Malaysian airlines can launch flights to the U.S. and codeshare with U.S. carriers.

Singapore Changi Airport reopened Terminal 4 with Cathay Pacific and AirAsia’s Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand carriers heading back to the airport’s newest terminal.

Qantas Group named Stephanie Tully the new group CEO of its LCC Jetstar. Tully, Qantas Group chief customer officer, formally succeeded Gareth Evans in November.

Still in Australia, Virgin Australia (VA) posted a net loss of A$565.5 million (US$380.9 million) for the 12 months to June 30 compared with a net profit of A$3.7 billion 12 months earlier. The positive year ago result was boosted by a one-off A$4.4 billion gain following the airline’s sale out of voluntary administration to Bain Capital. VA CEO, Jayne Hrdlicka, said VA is forecasting a profit for the 2022/2023 financial year. .

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said Boeing had agreed to pay a US$200 million penalty to settle civil charges that the company made materially misleading public statements following two fatal 737 MAX crashes operated by Indonesia’s Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines, respectively.