Ryanair plans to purchase further Boeing 737 Max aircraft once the aircraft returns to service, in addition to taking delivery of the 210 it has already has on order or under option. "We are already in discussions with Boeing," group chief executive Michael O'Leary said today during a conference call on third-quarter earnings. "We have an offer on the table for an order for new Max 10s, which is a 230-seat aircraft." This would represent a change in variant from "Max 200s" – 200-seat Max 8s – that the low-cost carrier currently has on order. Once Boeing management is in a position to discuss new purchases, Ryanair expects "to be at the head of the queue", says O'Leary. Discussions with Boeing about a repricing of the airline's existing Max order and reimbursement for costs and losses are continuing; Ryanair has meanwhile frozen pre-delivery payments. However, the issues cannot be resolved until the uncertainty surrounding the aircraft's return to service has cleared. Despite these difficulties, if you "look through the noise" the Max remains "a great aircraft", argues O'Leary, noting that it provide the airline with 4% more seats than its Boeing 737NGs and a 16% fuel saving. Ryanair's senior pilots have flown the Max in simulators, giving him full confidence in the equipment. "It handles brilliantly and customers are going to love it," he asserts. Because Ryanair is focused solely on its operations during the busy summer months, the airline has put off taking delivery of any new Max jets until winter 2020, after "hopefully" seeing the aircraft return to the skies with other airlines by June. Because of the complexities and potential disruption from taking delivery of large numbers of aircraft, Ryanair does not expect to receive more than eight Max jets in any single month and will have no more than 50 of the aircraft, in total, for the next summer peak.

Source: Cirium

LATAM Airlines will terminate its membership in the Oneworld alliance 1 May, the airline disclosed in a 31 January filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. LATAM had disclosed it would leave the Oneworld alliance sometime in 2020 shortly after Delta Air Lines’s 26 September 2019 announcement that it had invested $1.9 billion in the Chile-based airline, representing a 20% stake. Delta, a member of SkyTeam, pursued the deal after a Chilean court in May 2019 blocked a proposed joint venture between LATAM and fellow Oneworld alliance member American Airlines. Delta executives said in the Atlanta-based airline's 14 January fourth-quarter earnings call that planned codeshares with LATAM and its affiliates in Colombia, Peru and Ecuador are likely to receive regulatory approval in those countries in the first quarter of 2020, and that regulatory approval of codeshares in Brazil and Chile are expected later in 2020. Also in January, Delta added 13 daily domestic nonstop flights to Miami that the airline said will be timed to maximise connectivity with LATAM, which is co-located with Delta at Miami International airport. Oneworld benefits for LATAM customers will be offered on alliance member flights up to and including 30 April, Oneworld states. LATAM became a Oneworld alliance member in 1999, through Chilean component carrier LAN Airlines at that time. Over the 20-year membership, other component carriers based in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru joined Oneworld. The LAN carriers eventually rebranded themselves into LATAM Airlines Group in 2012.

Source: Cirium

South African president Cyril Ramaphosa has authorised investigators to probe allegations of maladministration, corruption or unlawful conduct at South African Airways dating back to at least 2002. Ramaphosa’s order to refer the allegations to a special investigation unit has been disclosed in a declaration in the official government gazette. The declaration states that the airline or the South African state may have suffered losses, as a result of alleged practices, which could be recovered. No specific allegations are detailed in the document. Procurement and contracting of Airbus aircraft, as well as maintenance, are among the matters being referred to the investigation unit, the presidential declaration states. There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing by Airbus. The in-depth authorisation covers the sourcing of services to support the implementation of the loss-making airline’s turnaround plan, and the scrutiny of any payments which were “not fair, competitive, transparent, equitable or cost-effective”.
Ramaphosa’s declaration – dated 20 December 2019, but published in the gazette on 31 January 2020 – also points to potential concerns of maladministration relating to travel rebate benefits, payments by the carrier to vendors, and other areas. South African Airways has been operating under business rescue while practitioners develop a business plan intended to assist the crippled airline’s recovery.

Source: Cirium