Austrian Airlines sees strength in flexible network

Swiss cancels hundreds more flights this summer

Swiss (LX, Zurich) has cancelled hundreds more flights - this time between August and October 2022 - to ease growing capacity constraints on its schedule and the country's airport system as the high summer season approaches.

A total of 676 flights representing 2% of the airline's planned flight programme of 31,414 services between August and October are affected, Swiss announced in a statement. The move, it said, would minimise the risk of short-notice cancellations or schedule modifications.

The airline already cut about 100 flights in July and August affecting around 30,000 passengers.

Sister carrier Lufthansa (LH, Frankfurt Int'l) has slashed about 3,000 flights at its Frankfurt Int'l and Munich hubs during the summer. Traffic bottlenecks at European airports have also forced capacity cuts at Eurowings, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, and easyJet, amongst others.

Swiss said it was responding to "huge operational challenges" and a "very tense situation" throughout the airline industry, following rising COVID infections in some European countries, significant capacity constraints, and strikes at...

Finnair aid cleared as Ryanair loses legal challenge

Ryanair (FR, Dublin Int'l) has lost another attempt to halt European Union approval of state aid to Finnair (AY, Helsinki Vantaa), after Europe’s Luxembourg-based General Court said it had dismissed its action in its entirety.

In June 2020, as the coronavirus pandemic wreaked havoc on every airline, the European Commission cleared the Finnish government’s plans to contribute to the flag carrier’s recapitalisation by subscribing to new shares in a rights issue to the tune of EUR286 million euros (USD326 million at the time).

The antitrust regulator had justified this by saying: “Finnair ensures the essential domestic and international connectivity needs of Finland. Given the geographical location of the country, the national economy, many jobs, and the development of foreign trade rely on these services.”

Ryanair launched legal action against the commission on the grounds that it had neglected to initiate a formal investigation into the aid despite doubts it should have had about the compatibility of the aid with the rules of the EU’s internal market. According to the low-cost carrier, the...

WestJet fleet plans reflect new focus on Canada's West

WestJet (WS, Calgary) has announced fleet plans that reflect a new strategic focus on Western Canada, including a substantial order for more narrowbodies while pausing widebody growth and centring its regional fleet for network expansion in the West.

The new strategic plan for post-pandemic growth was revealed last week by Chief Executive Officer Alexis von Hoensbroech, who joined WestJet in February from Austrian Airlines.

He said WestJet would focus on:

• Growing its presence and network in Western Canada through more non-stop flights to communities;
• Investing further in leisure and sun flying across Canada, including through the acquisition of Sunwing Airlines (WG, Toronto Pearson), following regulatory approval;
• Investing in technology and digitalisation; and
• Redoubling efforts to remain low-cost and affordable.

To match its commercial strategies, the airline will focus its existing widebody B787-9 fleet on Western Canada and, for the time being, pause further investment into incremental B787s to focus instead on additional narrowbody growth. The airline currently has six B787-9s with four more on order, the ch-aviation...

Lufthansa weighs reactivating A380s or NTU B777s - report