Around 18 months ago, Dr Tony Webber was sitting in a car with then Qantas frequent flyer chief, Simon Hickey, discussing the loss-making problems of the airline’s mainline international business. By the time the journey had ended, Hickey, who became head of the Australian carrier’s international arm last May, and Webber, then Qantas’s chief economist, came to the same conclusion: the carrier should to be sold. Read More »

AirAsia Group chief executive, Tony Fernandes, knows no business can rest on its laurels. Last month, he emphasized the point as he launched the Malaysian budget carrier’s seventh no-frills brand, AirAsia ASEAN, in Jakarta, the location of his new regional head office. Read More »

With airlines in China and India, the world’s two biggest growth markets, refusing to participate in the European Union’s (EU) emissions trading scheme (ETS), many aircraft lessors have moved to protect themselves from the possible confiscation of aircraft operated by carriers that break the rules.  Read More »

Unless worldwide air freight demand resumes growth at near historic rates, the industry will face significant pressure to scale back new aircraft purchases or make substantial reductions in the fleets of existing freighters in the next five years. Read More »

Southeast Asia’s busiest airport, Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Indonesia, has announced plans to triple its capacity by 2014 at a cost of $2.8 billion. Read More »

Despite tough market conditions and pressure on profits, carriers are continuing to invest in new generation aircraft that promise big returns in operating economics. All major Asia-Pacific airlines have aggressive emissions reduction programmes in place, modern fuel efficient jets arriving and expectations they will exceed emissions targets.  Read More »

For the past few months Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways moved up a gear in its roadmap for cutting carbon emissions and meeting International Air Transport Association (IATA) environmental targets. The carrier’s head of environmental affairs, Mark Watson, said Cathay is now aiming for a 2% annual improvement in fuel efficiency, ahead of IATA’s goal of 1.5%. Read More »

Taiwan’s China Airlines (CAL) has begun operating the world’s first trans-Pacific climate observation flight. The plane, an A340-300, is equipped with a sampling port extending from its fuselage which collects data on atmospheric gases, water vapor, ozone, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxide during each flight. Read More »

Qantas Airways has signed a deal to buy up to 1.5 million offset credits over five years to meet part of its liabilities under Australia’s carbon pricing scheme and offer voluntary offsets to passengers. The country’s domestic airlines were brought under the country’s carbon pricing scheme in July. Read More »

The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) and planemaker Boeing last month opened an Aviation Energy Conservation and Emission Reduction Technology Centre in Beijing. Its first research project is to treat and clean used cooking oil to use as jet fuel. Read More »

Targets are relatively easy to set. Sometimes they are difficult to reach. When the world’s airlines announced three years ago they intended to achieve a 1.5% fuel efficiency improvement every year to 2020, carbon-neutral growth from 2020 and a 50% cut in net emissions by 2050 compared with 2005 levels, they knew it wasn’t going to be easy to reach those goals. Read More »

Hainan Airlines’ subsidiary, Hong Kong Airlines (pictured),has put its initial public offering on hold, cancelled its loss-making premium cabin only Hong Kong-London daily service and had its fleet expansion frozen by the Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department (CAD). Read More »

Qantas Airways Group CEO, Alan Joyce, has cancelled orders for 35 B787-9s, a decision made as the losses for the carrier in the year to June 30, reached A$245 million (US$258 million). The anticipated loss was the first since the airline was privatized in 1995. Read More »

Philippine Airlines (PAL) has a placed firm order for 54 Airbus aircraft – 34 A321ceo, 10 A321neo and 10 A330-300s – with deliveries to start next year. Read More »

Flag Carrier, Air China, has added another domestic airline to its list of seven subsidiaries. In August, the  Beijing-based airline said it would fund the establishment of Air China Inner Mongolia Ltd in a joint venture with the local government of Hohhot, Inner Mongolia. Read More »

In August, Virgin Holdings boss, John Borghetti (pictured), revealed his strategy of expanding the corporate domestic market for Virgin had paid off. Read More »

Leading global carrier, Cathay Pacific Airways, reported first half losses of HK$935 million (US$120 million) to June 30, compared with a HK$2.8 billion profit in the same months in 2011. The results were the worst interim figures for the carrier since 2003, when the Hong Kong passenger numbers were decimated by an outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars). Read More »

Japan’s largest airline group, All Nippon Airways (ANA), has announced it will put its expanding B787 fleet to wider network use to capture demand for more long-haul and transit passengers at its Narita hub. Read More »

The Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) is holding the Asia-Pacific Aviation Safety Seminar (APASS) in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, on September 12-13, as part of efforts to establish continuous improvement in aviation safety in the region. Read More »

AIRLINES: Planned low-cost carrier, Jetstar Hong Kong, is advertising for cockpit crew. The joint venture partners, China Eastern and Qantas Airways subsidiary, Jetstar, have applied to the Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department for an Air Operating Certificate, despite legal arguments that dispute the partners’ rights to set up in Hong Kong because both Jetstar and China Eastern Airlines are foreign carriers. Read More »

In May, Asia-Pacific carriers continued to see growth in international passenger demand. The number of passengers carried grew 8.5% to 16.5 million compared to the same month last year, supported by positive consumer demand in the region’s economies. Read More »