Virgin Atlantic is expecting to turn a profit this year, after completing its two-year recovery plan, and is now working to deliver on its strategy for the period to 2018.
The Aircraft Tracking Task Force (ATTF) set up in the wake of the disappearance of a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200 in March has issued a report with recommendations to improve continuous tracking of airliners.
Panama City-registered Avianca Holdings—created by the 2009 combination of Colombia’s Avianca and El Salvador-based Grupo TACA—will consolidate the business next year, after recently completing investing in the small Mexican cargo carrier AeroUnion.
Boeing is forecasting strong demand for new commercial aircraft in 2015, resulting in nearly $124 billion in deliveries across the industry, double the amount from 2010, according to Boeing’s Current Aircraft Finance Market Outlook for 2015.
The Qantas Group said it expects to report an underlying profit before tax (PBT) in the range of AUD300 million ($248.5 million) to AUD350 million for the first six months of FY2015, reversing a loss of AUD252 million reported for the year-ago period.
Flydubai is continuing its expansion into Central and Eastern Europe with the launch of 2X-weekly Dubai- Bratislava (Slovakia) flights, as well as new service to Prague (Czech Republic) and Sofia (Bulgaria) in December.
Airlines for America (A4A) forecasted that passengers traveling on US airlines on the average day during the upcoming holiday season will increase approximately 10% year-over-year to 2.37 million, a sign of the industry’s strength that is expected to continue into 2015.
Turboprop manufacturer ATR will formally announce a new logistics center in Brazil early in 2015 and a new partner for its growing network of MRO facilities by the end of this year, as it plans a significant increase in its MRO activities worldwide.
US Airlines ranked by complaints per 100,000 passengers, lowest to highest; contrasted with complaint rankings from the previous month, and the year-ago month.
Honeywell Aerospace has signed an agreement with San Antonio-based modification center GDC Technics to bring the Honeywell JetWave satellite communications system to in-service Airbus and Boeing commercial and business aircraft.
Boeing Shanghai Aviation Services has signed a heavy-maintenance agreement with Russia’s NordStar Airlines on five Boeing 737-800 Next Generation aircraft.
The US government is not wavering from its Open Skies policy and will negotiate Open Skies deals with any friendly country that is interested, despite calls for government to roll back liberalization in order to protect the US airline industry, a senior US Department of State official said.
South African Airways (SAA)—which has undergone five CEO/acting CEO changes in just two years—is seeking a strategic equity partner and has warned that full implementation of its long-term strategy (LTTS) is “critical to its continued ongoing operations.”
American Airlines has reached a second tentative agreement with the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) that will allow pilots at Envoy Air to fly Embraer E-175 aircraft.
Kazakhstan-based Air Astana is expecting to be profitable this year, despite the 19% devaluation of the Kazakhstani tenge in the first quarter that created a local market weakness.
Malaysia’s Khazanah Nasional Bhd sovereign wealth fund and majority shareholder in Malaysia Airline System (MAS) will suspend trading in the national airline’s shares from Dec. 15.
