CAE and Air Europa extend pilot training agreement for another 5 years

At the 2019 International Paris Air Show, CAE and Air Europa announced the extension of CAE’s exclusive long-term pilot training contract with Air Europa for five more years. Under the terms of the agreement, Air Europa’s Airbus A330 and Boeing 787 pilots will train at various CAE European training centres including CAE Madrid, CAE Rome […]

Air Italy becomes first European airline to introduce non-binary gender option on bookings

Air Italy is the first airline in Europe to implement and make available a non-binary gender option for passengers booking flights. Starting from today, customers will be able to select M (male), F (female) or X (other), to correspond with gender-neutral passports that are issued by some States. Last year, the International Air Transport Association, […]

Heathrow invests more than $63 million to upgrade security equipment

London Heathrow is investing £50 million ($63.5 million) in security-screening upgrades, meaning passengers will no longer be required to remove their liquids and laptops from their hand luggage. The UK hub has been trialing computed tomography (CT) scanners since 2017, in partnership with the UK government Department for Transport. “Heathrow is beginning a program to […]

Wizz Air FY profit up 6% on fleet, network expansion

Wizz Air said it may be able to seize on opportunities to gain market share as a tough operating environment hurts its competitors as the fast-growing Central and Eastern European LCC unveiled full-year results that showed a rise in profit and passenger numbers. The Budapest-based carrier, which has been rapidly expanding its fleet and network […]

IATA chief Alexandre de Juniac flags pressing issues

Airlines are gathering for this year’s IATA AGM against a backdrop of pressing challenges, including the protectionist policies and trade wars pursued by some governments over the past 18 months, in the view of the association’s chief executive and director general Alexandre de Juniac. Speaking to FlightGlobal on the eve of the AGM, which begins […]

​IATA pushes for speedier adoption of One ID initiative

IATA will put forward a resolution at its forthcoming AGM in Seoul aimed at accelerating implementation of its One ID biometric identity initiative, which it says is vital to ensuring smooth passenger journeys as the air transport sector continues to expand. One ID seeks to use fingerprint, iris or facial recognition technology to reduce the […]

Solid Passenger Demand Growth in April: IATA

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced global passenger traffic results for April 2019 showing that demand (revenue passenger kilometers or RPKs) rose by 4.3% compared to April 2018. April capacity (available seat kilometers or ASKs) increased by 3.6%, and load factor climbed 0.6 percentage point to 82.8%, which was a record for the month […]

IATA: airline profits fall further

The March/April Airlines Financial Monitor from IATA notes “a further fall in aggregate profits for the airline industry” for the first quarter of 2019, in comparison with the same three months of last year. Overall, IATA said the EBIT margin in its sample of 20 airlines had fallen to 3.6% from 4.1% a year ago. […]

March Passenger Demand Growth Slows on Later Easter Holiday: IATA

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced global passenger traffic results for March 2019 showing that demand (measured in revenue passenger kilometers, or RPKs) rose 3.1%, compared to the same month a year ago, which was the slowest pace for any month in nine years. This largely was owing to the timing of the Easter […]

Jakarta opens dedicated LCC terminal

Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport opened its first dedicated LCC terminal May 1 as it prepares to handle a growing demand for low-cost travel in Southeast Asia. To create the terminal, designated 2F, the terminal wing was stripped down and amenities such as air-conditioning, duty-free shops and airbridges were removed to reduce operating costs. State-owned PT […]