China’s Hainan Airlines Holding secures lease debt relief

Thailand's Pattaya Airways secures AOL, eyes 3Q24 launch

ACCC mulls not extending Qantas, China Eastern alliance

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has indicated that it will not extend a pre-existing joint coordination agreement between Qantas (QF, Sydney Kingsford Smith) and China Eastern Airlines (MU, Shanghai Hongqiao), saying in a September 15 draft determination that the venture's benefits do not outweigh its competitive threats.

The ACCC authorised the alliance for five years in 2015, which allowed the two airlines to cooperate and coordinate their operations on the Australia - China country pair across a range of areas, including but not limited to schedules, frequencies and connection times; expanding connecting services and destinations; developing new fare products and promotions; and allowing reciprocal inventory access and provision of information to agents. In 2021, due to the exceptional circumstances created by Covid-19, the ACCC okayed the agreement continuing for a shorter period, albeit with conditions.

This year, the agreement came up for review again. In March, the ACCC granted the two airlines interim authorisation to continue the alliance while considering their case. Eight passenger airlines are back flying the country pair after...

Lessor sues China’s Hainan Airlines Holding, Lucky Air

Hong Kong Airlines returns last A350

Hong Kong Airlines (HX, Hong Kong International) returned its last A350-900 to lessor ALAFCO on August 28, 2023, nearly four years after ceasing to operate the aircraft on revenue operations.

B-LGE (msn 235) was brought back from storage at Alice Springs on August 23. After a brief stopover at Hong Kong International airport, it was then ferried to Lourdes/Tarbes on August 28, Flightradar24 ADS-B data shows. The aircraft has not operated any revenue flights since October 2019.

The ch-aviation fleets advanced module shows B-LGE was the last of six A350-900s Hong Kong Airlines added in 2017-2018. The remaining five were retired between 2019 and 2021. Two have since been placed with Azul Linhas Aéreas Brasileiras (AD, Sao Paulo Viracopos) (which plans to briefly retire the type), while the other three remain in storage.

Fangda Aviation (formerly Hainan Airlines Holding), the parent holding of Hong Kong Airlines, recently moved to terminate all A350 leases groupwide, including units operated by Hainan Airlines, due...