Air Transport

South Korea’s Asiana Airlines slipped to a net loss of KRW5.4 billion ($5 million) in the first quarter, although it also recorded its highest operating profit in three years during this period.

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has made public evidence from its ongoing investigation of a July 7, 2017 incident at San Francisco International Airport in which an Air Canada Airbus A320 that was cleared to land mistakenly lined up on a parallel taxiway, then barely avoided a disaster.

International Airlines Group (IAG) CEO Willie Walsh sharply criticized the performance of some of the airline group’s key suppliers, including Airbus and Rolls-Royce, over delays in aircraft programs and reliability issues that have severely impacted IAG’s fleet and capacity planning.

Air France-KLM CEO Jean-Marc Janaillac said he will submit his resignation on May 9 after a majority of Air France employees rejected a pay proposal in a staff-wide consultation that had been his high-stakes bid to extract the airline from a costly labor-relations crisis.

ICAO is involved in moves that could lead to improved aviation cooperation between North and South Korea.

Air France-KLM warned its 2018 operating profit would be “notably below” 2017’s operating profit because of the financial impact of ongoing Air France strikes, currency fluctuations and a fuel bill expected to be €350 million ($419 million) higher than last year’s.

UK-based flybmi (formerly known as bmi regional) is looking to expand its fleet beyond its 20 Embraer 135/145 regional jets with Bombardier CRJ900s or E190s, which offer more capacity as the carrier prepares for post-Brexit operations.

Vietnamese LCC Vietjet almost quadrupled its net profit for the three months ended March 31, and the carrier is comfortably ahead of its financial targets for the year to date.

The board of Norwegian Air Shuttle (NAS) said it has rejected two offers for a full takeover by International Airlines Group (IAG) in the weeks since IAG made its initial small investment in Norwegian public on April 12.

International Airlines Group (IAG) posted a significantly higher operating profit in the first quarter and assured investors its full-year result will be better than last year despite rising fuel prices.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released demand growth results for global air freight markets for February 2018 showing a 6.8% increase in demand measured in freight tonne kilometers (FTKs) compared to the same period last year.

As EgyptAir made major equipment announcements at the Dubai Air Show, Egypt’s aviation minister, Sherif Fathi, talked to Alan Dron about prospects for the national carrier and the development of the country’s aviation industry.

Life is so good for the aerospace supply chain right now it hurts.

Fleet-wide fan blade inspections have not uncovered widespread problems, but links with a 2016 accident emerge.

While still brash and aggressive, the commercial drone industry is evolving to meet the needs of large corporate customers.

The group’s future new long-haul routes will usually be launched by Hainan Airlines. Intercontinental development of other HNA carriers will be slowed.

Aviation Week Network editors discuss what needs to be done to move forward and why business aviation isn’t more enthusiastic.

Maintenance records from the Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-700 that experienced an inflight engine failure last month reveal the fan blades of its CFM56-7B turbofan engines, which are suspected of causing the failure, had been overhauled 10,712 engine cycles before the accident, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) reported.

News of a weak first-quarter performance by Bombardier’s Commercial Aircraft unit was offset somewhat by the cash-generating sale of its Downsview aircraft assembly operation, a new CRJ order and optimism that the C Series program tie-up with Airbus will close within weeks.

Southwest Airlines revealed the four continental U.S. cities from which it plans to operate flights to Hawaii as it moves closer to selling tickets for the service.

The head of AirAsia’s Indian joint venture is stepping down to return to the group’s Malaysian headquarters.

Air France said 75% of its flights should continue May 4, the latest in a series of one-day strikes organized by unions in protest of the company’s pay proposal for staff.

South Korean carrier Asiana is deploying Airbus A350-900s on an increasing number of its long-haul routes as more of these aircraft are delivered.

American Airlines has split an order for 30 76-seat regional jets between Bombardier and Embraer, signing deals to buy 15 CRJ900s and 15 E175s. The Dallas/Fort Worth-based carrier has also taken 15 options of each type.

Aerostructures leader Spirit AeroSystems expects to catch up on its shortfall in providing Boeing with 737 airframes by June, but the costs of doing so—as well as a new $650 million acquisition of European aerostructure specialist Asco—will require more money and the company’s full attention for the rest of the year, executives said May 2.