TAP's Future in Doubt

Portugal's troubled airline TAP will face a massive consolidation, cutting staff and routes if the ongoing 10 day strike by air crew hamper the carriers planned privatisation the Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho said yesterday.

Pilots at the Portuguese airline commenced their strike action on 1st May, which the airline claims has reduced scheduled flights by over 30 per cent.

The strike comes just before a May 15 deadline for bids to buy a majority stake in what is now a wholly state-owned company. The government has said it will go ahead with the privatisation despite the strike.

Vueling Airlines Launches Belfast Route

Vueling Airlines, one of Europe’s fastest growing budget airlines, part of the International Airlines Group (IAG) headed by arrogant megalomaniac Willy Walsh, have confirmed they will start a twice weekly service between Belfast and Barcelona.

The Spanish airline will operate a twice weekly service on Thursdays and Sundays to Barcelona's  El Prat airport, increasing the service to three times a week from 23rd June.

Katy Best, Commercial and Marketing Director at Belfast City Airport, said:“The arrival of Vueling to Northern Ireland is hugely exciting and significant given the airline’s fast paced growth and popularity in mainland Europe. As a low cost yet full service airline, Vueling places customer service at the centre of its operations and strategically selects airport partners which do the same."

Emirates Soars as Sledgehammer Looms

The ascendancy of one of the Gulf's finest carriers continues to soar with news of a 40per cent jump in annual profits.

Emirates, one of the world's largest airlines announced a profit of some 4.6 billion Dirham (£1 billion $1.52 billion) in the last financial year. This massive jump in profit is largely due to the drop in oil prices, saving the airline around 2 billion Diaham last year alone.   Revenue also increased 7 per cent year on year to some 88.8 billion dirhams.

Their ground and tourism operation, Dnata, also recorded a massive 34 per cent rise in profits, climbing it 5.5 bilion Dirhams.  

Norwegian Airlines Losses Will Not Halt US Expansion

Norwegian emerged from the first quarter of 2015 with a loss of 790 million kroner. A pilots’ strike that cancelled many flights and sent passengers to other airlines was largely responsible. “The first quarter is usually seasonally weak, and this quarter the figures were also affected by the weakness of the Norwegian kroner against the dollar and euro,” said Norwegian CEO Bjørn Kjos. “At the same time, the pilots’ strike sent many customers to competitors.” The loss was actually less than then 802 million kroner that some analysts had predicted.

Norwegian’s total revenue of about 3.6 billion kroner was also slightly better than expected. “On the positive side, passenger growth outside Scandinavia has been good, especially on long-haul routes,” said Kjos. “In particular, passenger growth on the London-Gatwick route has been very solid.” Norwegian Long Haul has also set its sights on opening its maiden US West Coast base at Los Angeles International Airport.  

Croatia Expansion

Expansion plans continue for Croatia Airlines as it announces it will lease two Embraer E190 aircraft next year, also commenting that the company is considering opening bases outside of its home country.

The carrier plans to expand its fleet with four to six jets over the next four years according to sources inside the airline and seem to confirm earlier statements from the airline’s CEO, Krešimir Kučko, “If Croatia Airlines was to buy more aircraft today it would choose an Embraer model”, Mr. Kučko said recently.

Alitalia to Resume Korea Service.

The Italian carrier Alitalia have announced they will resume services to Korea after 18 years with its Seoul Incheon-Rome direct route to launch on June 4. 

Alitalia have said they will operate the new route three times a week with 250-seat A330 aircraft, offering three classes ― Magnifica (business class), Classica Plus (premium economy class) and Classica (economy class). 

“Under the vision to build the ‘new Alitalia,’ we have put a priority on the expansion of the Asian network (for future growth),” Alitalia CEO Silvano Cassano said in a meeting with media at the carriers headquarters in Rome last week. 

PIA Pilots Put Passengers Safety At Risk

A shocking revelation emerged on Sunday regarding the safety of a Pakistan International Airlines flight. The highly regarded pilot put the lives of all passengers and crew at risk when he took command of the flight, without mandatory rest. The trans-Atlantic flight happened in April and only became known on Sunday.

According to media sources, PIA did not check the violation of air safety rules, a spokesperson for the airline claimed a thorough inquiry would be conducted into the incident that happened in the first week of April.

This was not the first such incident of compromise on air safety as another pilot, Amir Hashmi, had been involved in such violation at least twice in the past, the sources said. They added that no punitive action had been taken against him, lending courage to other pilots to put the life of air travellers at unnecessary risk.

100 New Aircraft for Saudi Arabian Airlines

The board of Saudi Arabian Airlines will purchase 100 new aircraft from Airbus and Boeing in line with its five year plan from 2015-2020.  Saudi Arabian Airlines Director General Saleh bin Nasser Al-Jasser said recently the plan is meant to strengthen operational efficiency as part of the continuous modernization of the fleet.

Previously Saudia ordered 90 state-of-the-art aircraft from Boeing and Airbus and all but 12 of them have not been delivered, according to local media sources.  Growing domestic passenger requirements and the expansion of the airline’s international operations make this purchase necessary.

Bristow Helicopters Running Late In SAR AW189

Bristow Helicopters is already a month in to its billion pound contract for taking over the majority of the UK's search and rescue capabilities, yet the planned use of the AgustaWestland AW189 craft has not happened.

Two AW189s were due to be up and running from Bristow’s Inverness base from 1 April, but they've used a pair of Sikorsky S-92s instead.

According to the company's plans, a further two AW189 bases were scheduled to become operational later this year, but this is looking doubtful “The AW189 continues operational evaluation for entry into service; it is too soon to say when the aircraft will be operational,” the company said.

The original plans would have seen Bristow's basing two helicopters at Manston in Kent, however the closure of the airport forced a major rethink. Lydd and Shoreham were both being considered for operations, with the former winning due to hanger and crew space availability. According to reports test flights will commence from Lydd during the first week of June, despite opposition from local residents.

SpiceJet Boss Quits

Sudhakar Kondisetty, SpiceJet’s senior vice president for information technology, has quit, the second top executive to step down in less than one month after the new owner Ajay Singh came onboard.

Reduced Losses for Royal Jordanian

Royal Jordanian Airlines losses fell by 64 per-cent in the first quarter compared to the same period a year earlier mainly due to the collapse in oil prices, the airline confirmed last week. 

Royal Jordanian announced on Wednesday it made a net loss of 8.3 million Jordanian dinars over the three months ending 31st March 2015 compared to a 23 million loss last year.  

Chairman of the Board of Directors, Sulaiman Al Hafez, stated the losses were due to the drop in oil prices, improvement in airline operations and cost cuts. The airline says it was satisfied with the first quarter performance, signaling the latest stage in a process to return the carrier to profitable operations. 

Almost Time for Emirates New Premium Cabin

One of the world's finest airlines is in the “final stages” as it prepares to launch its new luxury bedroom product that is to be rolled out on its Airbus A380 and Boeing 777s, a senior airline executive said on Sunday. 

The new premium product will be “more like a private railway cabin” (to fit one passenger) and will initially be launched on the airline’s A380s and later introduced on the 777 fleet, Shaikh Majid Al Mualla, divisional senior vice president of the Commercial Operations Centre at Emirates airline, told reporters in Dubai, on the sidelines of the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) conference.

Emirates Airlines is the largest operator of the Airbus A380 super jumbos, with 60 in the fleet from an order of 140. The Gulf carrier is also the largest customer of Boeing’s new long-range 777x jet. 

Malaysian Aircraft Sale

The troubled national airline of Malaysia, Malaysia Airlines, is planning to sell off some aircraft as the latest stage of its restructuring efforts. After the two recent air disasters and years of poor performance the national carrier was taken private last year by Malaysian sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd under a government bailout. 

The troubled airline launched a marketing campaign last week for Boeing/s777-200ERs and Airbus A330-200 freighters, according to sources inside the airline.  Malaysia Airlines reiterated that it was reviewing its fleet as part of its restructuring programme. “Exploring fleet options to enhance viability of long-haul sectors is one area being looked into,” it said in a tweet, adding that its new business plan had not yet been finalised. 

Aviation commentators speculate that the airline is also about to lease out its Airbus A380's and withdraw a number of routes. 

No Loo Roll's Constipates Ryanair Passengers

A three-hour Ryanair flight from Murcia Airport in Spain to London became a nightmare for some passengers when the pilot announced the toilets had no toilet paper.A passenger on the plane told newspapers: “Everyone had horrified looks on their faces; to be able to go to the toilet is a basic need. “It really was appalling."

Ryanair spokesperson hit back by saying “This very rare and regrettable stock shortage (on the last flight last Sunday evening) was caused by the failure of our handling agents in Murcia to deliver toilet rolls and milk sachets that had been ordered on the turnaround in Murcia. 

Odor Forces Emergency Landing

-- Hawaiian Airlines passengers had to exit a plane using emergency slides after an odor of fumes forced the flight turnaround soon after takeoff.

The airline says Hawaiian flight No. 24 left Kahului airport at 11:18 a.m. Friday, bound for Oakland, California. The flight crew declared an emergency and the plane returned to Kahului at 11:50 a.m.

All 224 passengers were evacuated via emergency slides. The airline says two passengers were taken to a hospital with minor injuries.

Passengers have the option to take an Oakland-bound flight scheduled to depart at 10:15 p.m. Hawaii time.

The airline says it will also provide overnight accommodations to those who prefer to remain on Maui and take a flight leaving Saturday.

Hawaiian will be refunding airfare for all affected passengers.