Aviation Daily Roundup: June. 06, 2023

Frontier Airlines has begun testing an automated bag system as it works to control labor costs, while modifying its all-digital customer support channels to reinstate some phone-based options. 

British multi-industrial provider Barnes is buying engine components specialist MB Aerospace in a deal worth $740 million, adding another major engine-related tie-up to a list that is drawing increasing attention to the sector’s importance.

Noting that its cash flow has returned to a healthy level, Cathay Pacific says it will pay the deferred dividend of HK$1.5 billion ($194 million) on the preference shares held by the Hong Kong government on June 30.

When scrutinizing Boeing’s product line, emphasis is usually placed on what it has not built—namely, a narrowbody that can go head-to-head with the longest-range Airbus A321neos, or anything to fill the middle-of-the-market gap. 

A divestiture of Spirit Airlines slots at New York LaGuardia (LGA) would have a material impact on Frontier Airlines’ margins and overall scope, the Denver-based ULCC’s CEO says. 

One year after its introduction, the new Business Premier seat developed by Safran Seats for Air New Zealand’s premium class was presented at the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg.

The “seamless journey,” a term much used by airlines over the past two decades, is a figment of the imagination, according to a senior executive from independent design consultancy Teague.

Regional turboprop manufacturer ATR has launched HighLine, a suite of five configurations to address the high end of air transport, including business aviation.

Airlines will only be 70% of their way to net zero by 2050, despite operating costs swelling by up to 18%, according to a new analysis by U.S.-based consultancy firm Bain & Company. 

New aircraft seat manufacturer Unum will have its first contract “100% by the end of the year,” Founder and CEO Chris Brady said at the Aircraft Interiors Expo (AIX) June 6.