Aviation Daily Roundup: Feb. 19

Air France and its low-cost sister airline Transavia are expanding their services to and from Algeria, adding services from Paris and the French regions, taking advantage of the gap left by Aigle Azur, which collapsed in September.

Nigerian startup Green Africa Airways is aiming to launch later this year using three Airbus A220-300s on lease from GTLK Europe, while it awaits delivery of 50 A220-300s from Airbus.

Months after receiving its first Boeing 787-9, Vietnam’s Bamboo Airways has announced its intention to acquire 12 Boeing 777Xs.

Dubai Aerospace Enterprise has reported a $413.6 million pre-tax profit for 2019, 3.5% down on the $428.8 million profit posted for 2018.

As airlines grapple with capacity shortages created by the Boeing 737 MAX grounding or a sudden over-supply because of COVID-19-related schedule reductions, lessors are supporting their mitigation plans, including matching customers in both categories and moving aircraft between them.

SunExpress, a joint venture between Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa, reported a 2019 revenue of €1.4 billion ($1.6 billion), up 10% compared to 2018. The carrier did not report profit or loss figures.

EgyptAir received the first two of 15 Airbus A320neo family aircraft Feb. 14 & 19, becoming the first airline in the Middle East and Africa to operate both the Airbus A220-300 and the A320neo.

Qatar Airways has increased its shareholding in International Airlines Group from 21.4% to 25.1%, in a transaction worth around $600 million.

WestJet is doubling down on its Calgary base in 2020, with plans to add more than 90 new flights to its primary hub by the peak summer travel season.

Chinese airlines on Feb. 18 began widely promoting charter services to get people back to work, supporting a government policy to restart national production amid the Wuhan virus epidemic.

Boeing is inspecting all 737 MAXs it has in storage and adding factory-floor precautions after discovering foreign object debris in the fuel tanks of multiple MAXs, the company confirmed late Feb. 18.