Overview
It has been a fast-developing week for Malaysian aviation. Malaysia Airlines’ state-led restructuring gathered pace with new chief Christoph Mueller taking office and setting his sights on driving the carrier’s 12-point recovery plan targeting profitability by end-2017 and re-listing by 2020. A year on from the disappearance of MH370, a new debate on how long the search should continue, and who should foot the bill, has developed. At the AirAsia Group, Malaysia AirAsia is grappling with its first net loss in two years, while the search and retrieval operation for Indonesia AirAsia flight QZ8501 has come to an end, and Indonesian long-haul division, Indonesia AirAsia X, is devising plans for its own turnaround.
Malaysian aviation strives to overcome the turmoil of the last year Read More »
Airline News
Turkish crash strands 90,000 passengers
A ten-month-old Turkish Airlines A330-300 flying from Istanbul skidded off the runway and came to a stop in a grassy area with its nose on the ground and the cabin filled with smoke after landing at Kathmandu Tribhuvan International Airport (KTIA) on March 4. Read More »
Airline News
Thai carriers report the pain of 2014
Thai Airways International (THAI) has posted a wider-than-expected fourth-quarter net loss of 6.4 billion baht ($196 million) for the period ended December 31, 2014, compared with a net loss of 5.7 billion baht in the year-ago period. In 2014, THAI carried 11.2% fewer passengers compared to 2013; its load factor dropped 5.2 points to 68.9%. Read More »
Airline News
Lion Air fined for contraventions
Indonesia’s largest airline, the Lion Air Group, has had its permits suspended on 10 domestic routes as punishment for massive delays in February that left more than 6,000 passengers stranded for up to 24 hours without explanation, meals or accommodation, as mandated by the law. Read More »
Airline News
Qatar Airways to increase IAG investment?
Qatar Airways chief, Akbar Al Baker, told reporters at last week’s ITB in Berlin that he would like to raise the airline’s investment in British Airways/Iberia parent company, International Airlines Group (IAG). Read More »
Airline News
Emirates Airline boss, Sir Tim Clark, has told media at Berlin’s ITB last week his airline would be interested in buying as many as 200 additional A380s if manufacturer, Airbus, developed an upgraded A380neo. Read More »
Financial Round Up
Dubai-based budget carrier, flydubai, reported a full-year net profit of AED250 million ($68 million) for 2014, up 12.3% year-on-year from the airline’s AED222.8 million net income in 2013. Read More »
People
Kingfisher CEO officially resigned
Kingfisher Airlines’ board has officially accepted the resignation of its chief executive, Sanjay Aggarwal, who had asked to leave the defunct carrier almost a year ago. Read More »
Short Takes
AIRLINES: Peach Aviation has announced plans to establish a secondary hub at Naha International Airport in Okinawa. It currently flies to four destinations from Naha, including Hong Kong and Taipei. It will introduce a new route to Seoul from September 4. Read More »
