Airlines & Lessors

Malaysia Airlines (MAS) is close to announcing a new CEO to steer the airline through a major restructuring following years of negative financials and the loss of two aircraft this year.

Lufthansa Cargo said Tuesday it plans to “operate all of its flights” after Lufthansa pilot union Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) announced another strike Oct. 8 and 9 in its ongoing protest over transition payments for early retirees.

Croatian charter and ACMI operator Trade Air is seeking an Airbus A320 or Boeing 737 to kick off the replacement of its two Fokker 100s.

Air Canada is adding considerable capacity between Eastern Canada and Europe as Calgary-based low-cost competitor WestJet is expected to expand into the trans-Atlantic market within the next two years.

Two Ryanair Boeing 737s clipped each other on a taxiway at Dublin Airport early Tuesday morning.

Airbus and Boeing commercial aircraft deliveries year-to-date, sorted by most-recent delivery date.

Gross Orders year-to-date, sorted by most-recent date of order placement with manufacturer. Sources: Airbus, Boeing, ATW Research

Counts of 400 selected active commercial passenger and cargo aircraft types for the North America Region (USA and Canada), as of September 16, 2014.

Wizz Air began 2X-weekly Budapest-Kutaisi service.

Alaska Airlines has placed an order for 10 Boeing 737-900ERs, in a deal valued at $990 million at current list prices.

Virgin Atlantic will close its Little Red domestic operations next year, because the short-haul offshoot has failed to deliver the anticipated level of connecting passenger traffic to Virgin’s long-haul network.

The Australian Transport Safety Board (ATSB) said the next phase of a year-long underwater search in the Southern Indian Ocean for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 began Monday.

Taiwanese flag carrier China Airlines has taken delivery of its first of 10 Boeing 777-300ERs.

Air Canada has reached a tentative agreement with the leadership of its pilots union on a 10-year labor contract.

Aeroflot’s new low-cost carrier (LCC) subsidiary—Byudzhetny Perevozchik, which directly translates as Budget Carrier—will fly from Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport’s Terminal B for the 2014-2015 winter schedule.

American Airlines is asking the US Department of Transportation (DOT) to seize one of Delta Air Lines’ Tokyo Haneda frequencies and reallocate it to American for service from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).

Florida-based regional Silver Airways will continue to invest in its Florida and Bahamas network while pulling back on flying from network carrier hubs, new CEO Sami Teittinen said in an interview.

Lufthansa Pension Trust has raised gross proceeds of €388 million ($491 million) from the sale of a 3% stake of Spanish travel technology company Amadeus IT Holding through a private placement to institutional investors.

Air France is hoping to reach a rapid solution with its pilots so it can start preparing for growth at Transavia France.

The European Commission has ordered Germanwings, Meridiana, Ryanair, TUIFly, Germany’s Zweibrücken Airport, Alghero Airport in Italy and Brussels Charleroi to repay illegal state aid, and launched an in-depth investigation into airline agreements at Brussels National Airport.

LOT Polish Airlines is postponing its second tranche of state aid as it continues to boost profits.

German aviation authorities are questioning the continuation of codeshare routes between Etihad Airways and its strategic equity partner airberlin, which are very important for both carriers between Germany and Abu Dhabi.

Switzerland-based airberlin subsidiary Belair is set to undergo restructuring increase its financial performance.

With the official launch of its first schedule to Singapore, Mongolia’s MIAT Mongolian Airlines flag carrier has signaled its intention to significantly extend its east-west route network—potentially to the US and Australia.

Air passenger traffic demand worldwide grew 5.9% year-over-year in August, up 0.6 point from July but down 0.9 point from August 2013’s growth rate, according to IATA’s August Air Passenger Market Analysis report.