Airlines & Lessors

African low-cost carrier Fastjet, tired of waiting on its planned acquisition 1time, is instead planning to launch services in South Africa May 31 in cooperation with South African investment company Blockbuster.

Hawaiian Airlines posted a net loss of $17.1 million in the first quarter, reversed from a $7.26 million net profit in the year-ago quarter.

Gulf Air posted what it described as a “solid” fiscal and operational first-quarter performance, as it embarked on a major restructuring plan to cut heavy losses.

Russia’s Aeroflot reported 2012 net income of $166 million, down 66% from the year-ago period.

A US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) hearing on the Jan. 7 Japan Airlines Boeing 787 fire shed little light on the incident’s root cause.

US Airways has posted a record net profit for the 2013 first quarter and said its planned merger with American Airlines is on track to be completed in the third quarter.

International Airlines Group (IAG) will own 90.51% of Spanish carrier Vueling after the majority of the Barcelona-based carrier’s shareholders agreed to the deal.

Oneworld carrier Finnair has raised €53 million ($69.2 million) from the disposal of its entire 4.69% stake in Norwegian Air Shuttle, which it has held since 2007.

Delta Air Lines reported first-quarter net income of $7 million, down 94% from a net profit of $124 million in the year-ago period, on a 1% year-over-year rise in revenue to $8.5 billion.

Latvian carrier Air Baltic has narrowed its full-year net loss to LVL19 million ($35.3 million) in 2012, marking a 77% improvement from a LVL85 million loss in 2011.

Transaero Airlines launched cargo services with a Tupolev Tu-204-100C on the Moscow-Novosibirsk-Yakutsk route carrying 24 tons of general cargo.

International Lease Finance Corp. reported 60 lease transactions in the first quarter.

International Airline Group (IAG), parent company of British Airways and Iberia, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Airbus for 18 A350-1000s, plus 18 options.

Kigali’s RwandAir has signed a firm purchase agreement for one Bombardier Q400 NextGen turboprop airliner, in an order valued at approximately $33 million based on list prices.

Lufthansa canceled nearly 1,700 flights Monday after Verdi union called for ground workers to strike after rejecting the airline’s latest contract offer.

A two-day strike by El Al Israel Airlines workers in protest of a newly approved Israel-European Union open skies accord ended Monday after the Israeli government agreed to cover nearly all of the airline’s security costs.

Air India is preparing to have its six Boeing 787s back into service by the middle of May, according to airline officials in Mumbai.

Austrian aviation authorities have denied permission for Emirates to operate its Airbus A380 on some of its 13X-weekly Dubai-Vienna flights.

Alitalia has gone outside the aviation industry for its new CEO, Gabriele Del Torchio, who has already taken up his duties.

Russian tycoon Alexander Lebedev has sold Red Wings Airlines for a symbolic RUB1 ($0.0318) to GHP Group and businessman Sergey Kuznetsov.

Low-cost carrier Norwegian Air Shuttle is launching a subsidiary, Norwegian Cargo, to accommodate growing international markets.

Air Canada estimated it will incur a net loss of C$260 million ($253.4 million) for the first quarter, slightly narrowed from a net deficit of C$274 million in the 2012 first quarter, in preliminary results released Monday.

Airbus has rolled out the vertical tail section for the first A380 for Qatar Airways at the manufacturer’s facilities in Hamburg.

People

US Mishandled Baggage February 2013