News from heaven: Alitalia, Ryanair, Vueling, Swiss, Air Niugini, Lufthansa, etc.

The airline Swiss has ordered ten additional Airbus A320neo series aircraft. The list price of the seven A320neo and three A321neo aircraft totals $1 billion – excluding rebates. In a press release, the Swiss carrier states on Friday that it had converted the corresponding call option into a fixed order.
At the level of the Swiss parent company, the Lufthansa group ordered 27 new aircraft from the A320neo family for a total of nearly 3 billion dollars. The white cross company is expected to touch down on the new aircraft between 2023 and 2024. The five A320neo aircraft already ordered are expected to be put into service between 2019 and 2022.

Alitalia returned to a net profit of €2 million ($2.35 million) in the third quarter, Stefano Paleari, one of the Commissioners who manage the airline, announced last Wednesday this significant improvement. In the first nine months of the year, the airline’s revenues increased by 4.6 percent to 2.35 billion euros, while its EBITDA loss, excluding non-recurring items, was reduced to a loss of 59 million euros compared to a loss of 246 million euros in the same period last year.

An airliner dived into a lagoon on a remote Pacific island on Friday, but passengers and crew were rescued from the half-submerged aircraft by residents who arrived on board a fleet of small skiffs.
The Boeing 737 from Air Niugini missed the airstrip at Weno Airport, Micronesia Island, and found itself in Chuuk Lagoon, where it immediately began to sink and partially sank.
A few minutes later, residents rushed to the scene in small boats to pick up the 35 passengers and 12 crew members from the stranded aircraft.
According to Air Niugini, a Papua New Guinea company, the plane was flying from Port Moresby to Pohnpei, the main island of Micronesia, with a scheduled stopover in Weno.

Ryanair was forced to cancel 250 flights last Friday due to a new strike in several European countries by cabin crew and pilots, who are demanding better working conditions.
« More than 2,150 flights (90% of the programme) will normally operate » out of the 2,400 planned in Europe, assured the Irish carrier in a statement, trying to minimise the impact of this strike which it considers « regrettable and unjustified« .
The call for a strike concerns flight crews in Spain, Portugal, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy and Germany, joined by pilots in some of these countries.
The company assures that it has taken « all necessary measures to minimize this disruption » and informed its customers « as soon as possible possiblee ».

Five airline executives, members of the FNAM (which represents 95% of French air transport) met on 25 September 2018 at IFTM Top Résa to discuss a new and more than disappointing milestone. Of the 20 proposals submitted by the sector today, where do we stand to date? « Nowhere! » according to them.

The low-cost airline Vueling offers new Timeflex fares, specially adapted to its business traveller customers who need more flexibility. In addition, Vueling has created the FAMILY offer, designed to offer more comfort and serenity to those travelling with young children. Another major innovation proposed by the Spanish airline is the SPACE seats. This is a new concept that offers more space at a reduced price.
Finally, Vueling also presents its first Airbus A320neo, a new generation aircraft, quiet and comfortable.

Airlines and airports are committed and investing to provide an increasingly smooth and secure travel experience for passengers. Among their priorities: biometrics. This is one of the main lessons of the report « Air Transport IT Insights 2018 », recently presented by SITA, a leader in technological innovation for the aviation sector, at the Euro Air Transport IT Summit. He highlighted the extent to which biometrics is supporting the development of open access services at airports around the world. Over the next three years, 77% of airports and 71% of airlines plan to develop major projects or Research & Development programs for identity management and control via biometrics.