Air New Zealand has become the latest airline to forecast a significant drop in profits caused by the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, in addition to further capacity reductions.

Irish LCC Ryanair has teamed up with Aviomar Flight Academy to officially launch a Ryanair-mentored pilot training program in Rome that it hopes will train up to 400 new pilots from across Europe in the next four to five years. 

Alitalia’s new commissioner Giuseppe Leogrande has presented plans to unions to cut two unprofitable long-haul routes and remove three aircraft from the fleet as part of ongoing attempts to find a way forward for the Italian flag carrier, almost three years after its bankruptcy filing. 

Aircraft utilization ticks up but coronavirus outbreak still taking heavy toll on Chinese carriers.

The airline industry is generally in good shape to withstand the financial impact of the COVID-19 coronavirus, but it is yet to be seen if this outbreak will follow the same pattern as previous similar outbreaks. 

JetBlue Airways remains confident that its planned service from Boston to London will be a success even as competition is intensifying in the market, and despite its largest rival Delta’s declaration that its revenue performance in Boston is on par with JetBlue’s results. 

Venezuela has banned TAP Air Portugal from operating into the Venezuelan capital Caracas for a period of 90 days following what it described as “serious irregularities” in a recent flight.

Bogotá-based Avianca will launch a codeshare with Lisbon-based TAP Air Portugal from Feb. 27 to further expand its European presence.