Virgin Australia reported an 11.7% rise in earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) for the half-year ended December to A$490 million ($349 million) and will move towards purchasing more of its Boeing 737 Max jets going forward. Group revenue for the six months rose 9.3% to A$3.32 billion, driven by what it describes as "better than expected leisure demand combined with commercial transformation", particularly in December. RASK was up 6.5% while ASKs only grew 2.3% as domestic capacity growth was offset by its withdrawal of some international services. Operating expenditure, meanwhile, rose 8.4% to A$2.6 billion as maintenance, airport and reservations charges all increased, while fuel expenses were down 2.3% driven by the increase in its 737 Max fleet. Fleets data shows that it has 15 737 Max 8s in service plus 13 more on order, and an order for 10 Max 10s. In comparison, it has 84 737NGs in service. Statutory net profit after tax fell 27.9% to A$341 million, although the decrease was largely due to the prior period, benefitting from deferred tax assets that did not apply during the latest half. Cash and cash equivalents at 31 December amounted to A$1.34 billion, up from A$1.12 billion at the end of June. “The Group’s continued strong performance clearly demonstrates that our constant focus on transformation and innovation is not only delivering strong financial outcomes but strengthens our ability to remain a robust competitor for years to come," commented chief executive Dave Emerson. Virgin took delivery of six 737 Max 8s during the six months to December and expects to take a further 12 over the next year. "Nine of these aircraft (four in 2HFY26 and five in 1HFY27), will be purchased rather than leased, a decision which is supported by the strong balance sheet and provides financial and operational benefits to the Group," the airline states. Virgin says that 75 out of its 107 aircraft in the fleet at 31 December were leased, and that the purchases are "expected to deliver favourable earnings outcome and creates potential source of additional liquidity". Its charter unit, Virgin Australia Regional Airlines, also took delivery of two Embraer 190-E2s, with two more scheduled for delivery in the second half of the fiscal year. That has allowed it to retire its remaining Fokker 100s, while the last Airbus A320 operations will cease during the second half. Virgin says that it has not made a buy or lease decision for the four remaining E190s that will be delivered in the 2027 and 2028 fiscal years. In its outlook, the carrier states that it expects demand to remain strong and will "remain disciplined with its capacity growth adding between 2% and 3% domestic capacity in the second half of FY26 and 3% in the first quarter of FY27".

Spirit Airlines intends to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the late spring or early summer of 2026, the US carrier has disclosed. The Dania Beach, Florida-based airline in late August 2025 filed for Chapter 11 for the second time in 10 months. Spirit disclosed the target range for its Chapter 11 exit in tandem with an announcement that it had reached an agreement in principle on the key terms of a restructuring support agreement with its existing debtor-in-possession lenders and secured noteholders. "This agreement in principle is the result of months of hard work and allows Spirit to move toward completing its transformation," states Spirit chief executive Dave Davis. "Spirit will emerge as a strong, leaner competitor that is positioned to profitably deliver the value American consumers expect at a price they want to pay."

Air New Zealand is undertaking a strategic review aimed at further lowering its costs as continuing issues with engine availability across its Airbus A320neo and Boeing 787 fleets dragged it to a NZ$59 million ($35.4 million) loss before tax for the six months to December. That compares to a restated profit of NZ$144 million for the equivalent period in the year prior. Operating revenue rose 1% to NZ$3.44 billion, which the airline says was driven by international inbound bookings, particularly from Asia, while its domestic network remained soft. Across its network, RPKs grew 0.8%, outpacing a 0.3% rise in capacity that pushed load factor up 0.3 percentage points to 83.6%. The airline swung to a net loss of NZ$40 million for the period, compared to a net profit of NZ$98 million in the first half of fiscal 2025. While acknowledging the tough domestic market conditions and persistent cost inflation, Air NZ largely put the blame for the loss on the lack of Pratt & Whitney geared turbofan and Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines that have grounded multiple aircraft. It adds that while compensation of around NZ$55 million has been received, around NZ$90 million in earnings have been lost due to aircraft groundings, and it is "in ongoing negotiations with engine manufacturers to improve certainty around engine return schedules and appropriate compensation". "While we are disappointed that the engine availability issues have taken longer than anticipated to resolve, we are pleased with recent progress and now expect a total of four grounded Airbus neo and Boeing 787 aircraft to return to service throughout the 2026 calendar year," says Air New Zealand chief executive Nikhil Ravishankar. "We will also take delivery of two of ten new 787 aircraft later in the financial year, providing widebody capacity growth of around 20 percent to 25 percent over the next two years." Unlike its existing 787-9 fleet, which are powered by the Trent engines, the incoming aircraft will be powered by GE Aerospace GEnx engines. While fleet availability issues are expected to lessen over the next six months, the airline warns that it is " unlikely to translate immediately into earnings uplift", and that second-half results are expected to be " broadly in line with, or modestly below, the first half." Ravishankar adds that "we are undertaking a comprehensive review of all aspects of the business, with the objective of returning the airline to sustained profitability through enhanced operational performance, growth and further cost transformation initiatives".