Overview
It has been busy week in Asia-Pacific and Middle East aviation. Emirates Airline posted a record $2.2 billion profit, although its revenue in the Asia-Pacific fell by 9% for the year. In neighbouring Abu Dhabi, Etihad Airways CEO, James Hogan, was promoted to Etihad Aviation Group president and CEO when the aviation group announced its expanded management structure. In Myanmar, All Nippon Airlines (ANA) is having another go at setting up a local subsidiary and in China the HNA Group and AVIC are considering more foreign investments. Further south, Air New Zealand (Air NZ) settled a U.S. class action price-fixing lawsuit and the Auckland-headquartered airline’s proposed disposal of some or all of its 25.9% equity in Virgin Australia attracted more attention, with the guessing game about possible buyers of the Air NZ holding continuing.
Emirates posts record $2.2 billion profit but said its Asia-Pacific revenues declined by 9% Read More »
News
The guessing game for buyers of Air New Zealand’s holding in Virgin Australia continues
Qatar Airways said it is not interested in buying into Virgin Australia and Cathay Pacific Airways described the speculation as groundless contained in an Australian media report that said the airline was considering purchasing some or all of the 25.9% of the Australian airline owned by Air New Zealand (Air NZ). Read More »
News
Air NZ settles in long standing cargo class action and launches B787 on Honolulu route
Air New Zealand (Air NZ) has agreed to pay $35 million to settle a long standing price fixing class action claim although it never admitted the charges and had previously been cleared. Read More »
News
All Nippon Airways gives Myanmar another try
The government of Myanmar has approved Asian Blue Aviation Co Ltd, a joint-venture between Japan’s ANA Holdings (49%) and local Shwe Than Lwin Co Ltd’s Golden Sky World (51%), to operate for 50 years in the Myanmar air transport sector. Read More »
News
Delta reports 13.9% trans-Pacific yield decline
Delta Air Lines is having difficulty making money on its Asia routes. In the January-March quarter, the Atlanta-headquartered carrier saw yields across the Pacific decline 13.9% year-on-year. Read More »
News
Airbus leads Boeing by $16.2 billion to $6.02 billion in orders for April
The total year-to-date order balance has tipped once again in Airbus’ favour after taking new commitments placed in April into account. Read More »
News
HNA Group’s Caissa Travel Group Co. this week said it had abandoned plans to acquire the parent’s 70% shareholding in Beijing Capital Airlines (BCA) after it failed to secure the requisite regulatory approvals in time. Read More »
News
CAAC penalises safety offenders
The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) has imposed penalties on three carriers for breaching safety procedures. Read More »
News
Japan gets new E190 operator as MRJ advances U.S. flight testing
J-AIR has taken delivery of the first of nine-on-order E190s, making the regional offshoot of Japan Airlines (JAL) the first carrier in Japan to operate the largest Embraer jet. Read More »
News
Ruili Airlines buys two ex-airberlin B737-800s
Ahead of its second anniversary, Ruili Airlines this week bought two B737-800s from airberlin, paying for the aircraft in cash. Owned by the Jingcheng Group, Ruili operates seven B737-700s and an -800 variant, all ex-airberlin airliners. Read More »
News
Embarrassing incidents beset HNA carriers
Disconcerting MRO incidents affected two HNA Group carriers this week. In Hong Kong, a Hong Kong Airlines A330 engine fell to the ground when engineers were trying to replace it. Read More »
People
American Airlines has appointed Thomas Scruby as commercial director of Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Southern China and Southeast Asia. Read More »
Short Takes
IATA: Global airline share prices fell by 6.9% in April, erasing the gains seen during February and March, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said on Wednesday. Read More »
