Airlines

Fuel contamination caused Cathay engine incident

Contaminated fuel at Indonesia’s Surabaya Juanda International Airport is believed to have caused a Cathay Pacific Airbus A330-300’s engines to malfunction on approach to Hong Kong in April. Full article

Tiger in Thai tie-up

Thai Airways and Tiger Airways plan to join forces to launch a new low-cost airline in Thailand.Full article

Airblue A321 crashes in Pakistan

An Airbus A321 operated by Pakistani carrier Airblue has crashed while trying to perform a go-around in bad weather at Islamabad.Full article

Qantas advances 787 deliveries

Qantas is bringing forward the delivery of eight Boeing 787s by two years to mid-2012, with the first batch of aircraft going to budget offshoot Jetstar. Full article

BOC leases two A320s to Spring

Lessor BOC Aviation has signed a deal with Chinese low-cost carrier Spring Airlines for the lease of two CFM56 powered Airbus A320s. Full article

MAS threatens A380 cancellation

Malaysia Airlines has threatened to pull the plug on its Airbus A380 order following a series of delivery delays.
Full article

Japanese ATI push

Japan’s two main carriers, JAL and ANA, have asked Tokyo for anti-trust immunity (ATI) with their US alliance partners on transpacific services.Full article

Singapore to host “Vision 2050” IATA summit this year

Singapore is to host an IATA “Vision 2050” summit later this year, with the aim of setting a future strategic vision for the industry.Full article

Jetstar announces Singapore long-haul destinations

Jetstar Asia is to kick-off its long-haul operation out of Singapore with services to Melbourne and Auckland.
Full article

REX tops customer survey

Regional carrier REX has come out top in an Australian domestic airline customer satisfaction survey that also showed that only half of Tiger Airway Australia...Full article

AirAsia X to be spun off

AirAsia X is to be spun-off into a separate entity, with an IPO set for the second half of next year.Full article

IATA doubles Asia-Pacific 2010 profit forecast

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has more than doubled its profit estimate for the Asia-Pacific region for 2010 to US$2.7 billion.Full article

Kingfisher set for oneworld

Kingfisher has become signed a “member elect” agreement with oneworld that should pave the way to full alliance membership within 18-24 months.Full article

Qantas adds A380 capacity

Qantas is adding Airbus A380 capacity from Melbourne to London and Los Angeles as well as going daily with a Boeing 747 on the Sydney –Johannesburg route. Full article

Swire/Cathay sell HACTL stake

Swire Pacific and subsidiary Cathay Pacific are to sell their stakes in Hong Kong Air Cargo terminals Limited for a combined HK$1,920 million (US$249.6 million) to a group of existing HACTL shareholders.Full article

SIA stays in the black

Singapore Airlines managed to maintain its unbroken profit record thanks to a strong recovery in the second half of the financial year...Full article

Air India Express crash raises safety questions

The fatal accident of an Air India Express Boeing 737-800 on Friday has thrown the spotlight on India’s air transport safety culture and a pilot shortage.Full article

Recovery Continues – Despite the Volcano

Figures from the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines show that Asian airlines still managed double digit growth in international passenger numbers in April despite the Icelandic volcano.Full article

Air Astana expands Almaty

Kazakhstan flag carrier Air Astana is expanding its Central Asia hub in Almaty. New services will be launched to Urumchi in western China; Dushanbe, capital of Tajikistan and Tashkent, capital of Uzbekistan during the second half of 2010. Full article

MAS gets A380 compensation boost

Malaysia Airlines (MAS) swung back in the black in the first quarter on the back of a RMB329 million compensation payment from Airbus for late delivery of the A380.

The carrier also said it was seeing a return in business class traffic. Net losses came it at RMB76 million, an improvement on the RMB142 million...Full article

Thai Juggles Fleet in face of Turmoil

With 47 countries issuing travel warnings due to political unrest, Thai Airways has announced what it calls a “tactical marketing plan” that includes route and fleet adjustments.

The changes largely involve fleet rejigging rather than cutbacks. There is also a push for greater Indonesian market share to Europe. Full article

Asian Low-Cost Carriers return to Profit

Asian low-cost carriers reported a healthy set of financial figures for the fourth quarter of 2009, with AirAsia, Tiger Airways and Virgin Blue all returning to the black.

AirAsia made a net profit of RMB76.7 million for the fourth quarter, against a net loss of RMB201.8 million for the last quarter of 2008. Full year net profits... Full article

Cathay and Air China in Cargo Venture

Cathay Pacific and Air China are to form a joint venture to establish a cargo airline in the Shanghai, using Air China Cargo (ACC) as a platform.

Air China will hold a 51% stake in the joint venture, with Cathay holding 49% - 25% through Cathay Pacific Cargo and 24% through a Cathay Pacific-controlled offshore trust. Full article

Qantas shifts away from first class seats

Qantas is shifting towards more egalitarian seating on a large part of its Boeing 747 and Airbus A380 fleet as it announces a 72% drop in half-year after-tax net profits to A$58 million.

None Boeing 747-400s will see first class seats axed and replaced... Full article

AirAsia makes Vietnam move

AirAsia has added a fourth country base by taking a 30% stake in Vietnamese start-up VietJat.

The new entity will be known as Vietjet AirAsia and has been approved by the Ministry of Transportation of Vietnam. Full article

JAL plans joint venture with American

JAL has put an abrupt halt to speculation that it would jump ship from oneworld to the SkyTeam alliance, with an announcement that it is to stay put and plans a joint venture with American Airlines on transpacific routes.
Full article

First 737NG to Skynet Asia

Skynet Asia Airways (SNA) of Japan has ordered its first Boeing Next-Generation 737-800. The aircraft will be leased from Dublin-based... Full article