Air Transport

The world’s third VVIP Airbus ACJneo will enter service after a handover ceremony to its customer before the end of August.

Delta Air Lines COO Gil West, who played an instrumental role in integrating Northwest Airlines and cementing Delta’s position as arguably the most operationally reliable airline in its class, announced his retirement.

TEXEL AIR, Bahrain leased 737-700 FlexCombi (30293; ex-Yakutia) from Aviation Capital Group; PEMCO converted aircraft.

TIANJIN AIR CARGO leased 737-700BCF (29086; ex-Xiamen) from Spectre Cargo Solutions (through NGF Overseas Aircraft); HAITE performed IAI mod. Spectre

Gil West, Senior Executive VP and Chief Operating Officer of Delta Air Lines, announced his retirement (effective September 2020).

SAS GROUP posted SEK2.3b loss for third quarter ended July 2020 (vs SEK1.2b profit a year ago) on 81% lower revenues, and says demand is slowly

FINNAIR increased savings target in permanent cost base reductions by 2022 (vs 2019) by €20m to €100m, covering such areas as real estate, aircraft

SAS reached agreement with Airbus to defer eight A320neo and two A350-900 deliveries to reduce CAPEX for 2021-2024.

BA CITYFLYER leased ex-China Southern E190 (513) from CDB Aviation.

FINNAIR sold A350-900 (392) to Nomura Babcock & Brown, and leased it back for 12 years; BBAM will manage aircraft.

LUFTHANSA GROUP says it has paid out >€2.3b in refunds to almost 5.4m customers, and has now paid out around 92% of all refunds from 1H20; it adds the

The Qantas Group is proposing to outsource its ground handling services at Australian airports, which would result in up to 2,500 job losses.

EASA plans to mandate Rolls-Royce-recommended on-wing inspections of certain Trent 900 interstage spacers to find cracked parts in the Airbus A380 engines before they trigger in-service incidents.

Finnair has begun negotiations on 1,000 redundancies as a full recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic remains out of sight.

Recaro Aircraft Seating has secured a deal with Wizz Air for 31,767 passenger seats as part of a larger partnership deal with airlines in the portfolio of Indigo Partners for nearly 100,000 passenger seats.

Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) has deferred eight Airbus A320neos and two A350-900s deliveries citing the negative impact of COVID-19.

Das es Salaam-based Precision Air’s roots date back to 1987, when a former East Africa Airways pilot set up a crop-spraying operation. In 1993, the airline took on its current name and started operating ATRs. Group managing director and CEO, Patrick Mwanri, explained to Victoria Moores how he is now leading the airline through its next chapter – emerging from the Covid-19 downturn.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is appealing to all travellers to wear face covering during the travel journey for the safety of all passengers and crew during COVID-19.

When second-wave COVID-19 infections sprang up in New Zealand and Beijing, authorities turned their focus to cold storage goods that had arrived by air freight—suspicious that the coronavirus could have lingered on imports and later transmitted to humans through contact.

China Express Airlines managed to stay profitable for the first six months (H1) of an eventful year thanks to its unique operating model as a feeder airline and the quick implementation of cost-saving measures.

One major provider is exiting the business, but leading flight simulator makers and pilot training companies do see bluer skies.

Leisure And Business Fares

Boeing and the Seattle-area based machinists union that represent thousands of its factory workers have not held talks related to the company’s study

Mandates to ensure fuel systems are cleared of a Dupont-made fuel additive are expanding to Boeing 747-8s as well as 787s powered by General Electric (GE) engines.

Delta Air Lines is planning to resume more transatlantic and transpacific services to “top business and leisure destinations” during the winter 2020/21 and summer 2021 seasons, although some routes appear to be suspended indefinitely.