GOL Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes [G3/GOL] [Brazil] has failed to reach
an agreement on a corporate restructuring of its subsidiary, loyalty
program Smiles, after five months of talks. The carrier still plans to
renew its operating agreement.
GOL launched a Recife – Santiago de Chile route on 06Jul19.
The carrier is opening a base at Dourados and will operate GRU-
Dourados daily using a B73G.Gulf Air [GF/GFA] [Bahrain] has takeno delivery of one A320neo,
serial 9030, which will be placed on flights to Male in the Maldives. The
airline will receive a total of 12 A320neos by end of 2023.Hainan Airlines [H4/CHH] [China] has signed a cooperation
framework agreement with Guangxi Airport Group (China) and the
Nordic Investment Group (China) to offload a stake in GX Airlines
(China), but retain managerial control.
Hainan Airlines Holding will move eight B737-800s and four A319s
to a Hong Kong-based holding company. Subsidiary Air Changan will
also move four A319s to the company, in a deal valued at US$399
million. Hainan plans to dispose of aircraft more than 10 years old.
Hainan Airlines intended to offer a Xi’an – Osaka Kansai nonstop
service on 01Jul19 with B737-800.Hawaiian Airlines [HA/HAL] [US] has objected to the allocation of
Tokyo slots by US regulators to American Airlines (US), and is
requesting that one of the slot pairs tentatively awarded for service to
Los Angeles be reallocated to Hawaiian for service to Honolulu. It has
since received a preliminary decision from the US DOT to allocate a
new slot to the airline for expanded service to Tokyo Haneda Airport.
Hawaiian Airlines celebrates its 90th Anniversary this year.IndiGo [6E/IGO] [India] is studying the feasibility of including
widebody aircraft in its fleet but is unlikely to place an order in the
near future, says CEO Ronojoy Dutta. It has decided on LEAP 1-A
engines to power its order for 280 A320neos.
IndiGo says it is business as usual and management remains
unified on its vision, despite media reports surrounding disagreements
between the airline’s promotors.
04Jul19 onwards Delhi DEL Kathmandu KTM 3× Daily (+1 daily) 32001Aug19 onwards
(x01Jul19 onwards)Delhi DEL-
Doha DOHIstanbul IST-
Ahmedabad AMD-
Delhi DEL2× Daily (+1 flight) 321Indian low-cost carrier IndiGo continues to expand its Airbus
A321neo operation, including services to/from Delhi and Mumbai. The
new A321neo operating routes are as follows:- Delhi – Bangalore 20May19 – 31Jul19: 2 daily (except 15Jun19 –
19Jun19) - Delhi – Chennai 20May19 – 30Jun19: 1 daily
- Delhi – Jaipur 01Jun19 – 19Jun19: 1 daily
- Delhi – Ranchi 25May19 – 19Jun19: 1 daily
- Delhi – Vadodara 20May19 – 30Jun19: 1 daily
- Delhi – Varanasi 20May19 – 30Jun19: 1 daily
- Mumbai – Goa 25May19 – 31May19: 1 daily
Japan Airlines [JL/JAL] [Japan] has agreed to enter into a new
codeshare cooperations with Cathay Dragon (Hong Kong) and Xiamen
Airlines (China).
Japan Airlines has taken delivery of its first A350, a -900, serial 321.
The carrier has ordered 31 A350s, comprising 18 A350-900s and 13
A350-1000s.Jet Airways [9W/JAI] [India] founder Naresh Goyal may be
summoned by the Enforcement Directorate for questioning over
alleged wrongdoing related to stake sales in the unit that ran the
grounded carrier’s loyalty program.
Jet Airways has had 99 of its aircraft de-registered so far by
regulators, including 73 B737s, four B777s, 16 ATRs, and six A330s. The
carrier could lose its entire B777 fleet as its lender Ex-Im Bank (US) has
written to the DGCA to de-register the aircraft.
Jet Airways’ revival efforts have apparently suffered another
setback with Etihad (UAE) posing a new list of demands to be met by
the authorities before it agrees to rescue the beleaguered airline.Finnair [AY/FIN] [Finland] is adding A330 capacity to Beijing with
three weekly flights to the new Beijing Daxing International Airport,
which opens for operations by 30Sep19.
Finnair and China Southern agreed a new codeshare partnership
starting on 01Jun19.
The carrier is studying a future narrowbody order which will be the
biggest investment by the carrier in the next decade.
Finnair will transfer cabin services on the Delhi route to OSM
Aviation (Norway) during 4Q19.
Finnair will wet lease one E190 from WDL Aviation (Germany) from
01Jul19 to 31Aug19.
The carrier celebrated the 50th Anniversary of flights from Helsinki
to New York on 15May19.
Flyadeal [F3/FAD] [Saudi Arabia] has reportedly abandoned its B737
MAX order and will instead take more A320neo family aircraft.
Flybe [BE/BEE] [UK] and SAS Scandinavian Airlines terminated their
cooperation two years ahead of schedule, as SAS has chosen a new
operator. Flybe operated five ATR72s for SAS.
Flybe is cancelling proposed winter services from Cardiff to Rome,
Verona, Venice, Faro, Munich & Berlin but increasing Dublin from 28 to
38 times weekly, Edinburgh from 24 to 36 times weekly, & CDG from
14 - to 16 times weekly.
Flybe is to offload five DH8Ds this summer to Chorus Aviation.
FlyBosnia [Bosnia] launched scheduled services from Sarajevo from
June 2019, initially with routes to Kuwait City, Qassim, and Riyadh,
using an A319. It plans to launch flights from Sarajevo to London, Paris
and Rome and a Sarajevo – Jeddah route from 15Jun19, the latter with
an A319.
Flydubai [FZ/FDB] [UAE] celebrated its inaugural service to Naples
from Dubai on 13Jun19.
The carrier began operating nonstop Dubai – Adler/Sochi services
from 07Jun19, with B737-800.
Flydubai will launch regular flights to Tallinn from Dubai in winter
2019/2020.
Flynas [XY/KNE] [Saudi Arabia] has signed a multilateral interline
traffic agreement with EgyptAir.
Flynas has signed an MOU with Airbus for 10 A321XLR aircraft. The
airline will also upsize 10 of the A320neos it currently has on order to
the A321neo.
Garuda Indonesia [GA/GIA] [Indonesia] has been sentenced to a fine
of US$13.1 million by the Federal Court of Australia for its part in a cartel
action with a variety of other airlines in managing the delivery of cargo.
Garuda Indonesia has been ordered by regulators to “fix and
restate” its 2018 financial results over accounting errors within two
weeks, and said regulators would also impose fines on the airline and
its directors.
The carrier plans to double its freighter fleet to four aircraft, with
the addition of two B737-800Fs in 2019.
Garuda Indonesia will commercially operate unmanned cargo UAV
in early 2020, which will be produced by Dirgantara Indonesia. The
airline plans to own 100 leased UAV units by 2024. The unmanned
cargo will have various capacity; from 2.2 tons to 5 tons.
The airline will reduce the number of frequencies to London and
Amsterdam from August 2019 in order to reduce the company’s losses.
Genghis Khan Airlines [China] was due to begin ARJ21 operations in
early July 2019, after receiving its second ARJ this week.
Georgian Airways [A9/TGZ] [Georgia] reports it has no debts to the
Russian authorities, while commenting on the Russian transport
ministry’s decision to ban flights to Russia by Georgian air carriers
starting from 08Jul19. The carrier plans to bypass the ban on direct
flights to Russia by detouring through Armenia.
Georgian Airways has begun a Batumi – Amman scheduled charter
service, operating from 04Jun19 to 06Sep19.
GoAir [G8/GOW] [India] has revived plans for an IPO and is looking
to hire advisors for the same. The carrier is looking to raise US$288
million.