CAPA News Briefs

Melbourne Tullamarine Airport welcomed (12-Jun-2025) LATAM Airlines plans to increase three times weekly Santiago-Melbourne service to daily from Dec-2025. The expansion marks the first time in the airport's 55-year history that it will have a daily connection to South America. Airport CEO Lorie Argus stated: "Today's announcement by LATAM is a further sign of confidence in Victoria and the increase in services will provide benefits to people on both sides of the Pacific... South America is an increasingly popular region for Victorian tourists and businesses but we're also seeing growing interest in Victoria as a destination for education, trade or holidays". [more - original PR]

Virgin Australia launched (13-Jun-2025) daily Sydney-Doha service with Boeing 777 equipment on 12-Jun-2025. The service provides onward connectivity to more than 170 destinations across Europe, the Middle East and Africa through Qatar Airways' network. The carrier plans to launch Brisbane and Perth services to Doha on 19-Jun-2025 and 26-Jun-2025, respectively, with Melbourne service scheduled in Dec-2025. The Virgin Australia and Qatar Airways alliance is projected to add AUD3 billion (USD1.94 billion) to Australia's economy over five years. [more - original PR - Virgin Australia] [more - original PR - Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport]

Air India, via its official Twitter account, confirmed (12/13-Jun-2025) a 12 year old Air India Boeing 787-8 aircraft operating Ahmedabad-London Gatwick service on 12-Jun-2025 "crashed shortly after take-off", adding: "We regret to inform that, of the 242 aboard, there are 241 confirmed fatalities". The airline further reported: "The passengers comprised 169 Indian nationals, 53 British nationals, 7 Portuguese nationals and 1 Canadian national. The survivor is a British national of Indian origin". Air India is "giving its full cooperation to the authorities investigating this incident", with Air India MD and CEO Campbell Wilson stating: "the investigations will take time, but anything we can do now, we are doing".

London Stansted Airport reported (11-Jun-2025) it handled 2.7 million passengers in May-2025, an increase of 0.8% year-on-year and a new record for the month of May. The airport attributed the performance in part to the number of Tottenham Hotspur supporters travelling to Spain for the Europa League final during the month. The most popular countries during the month were Spain, Italy and Turkiye, with Dublin, Istanbul and Edinburgh the top individual destinations. [more - original PR] [more - original PR - II]

London Stansted Airport operations director Nick Millar confirmed (11-Jun-2025) the airport opened a new domestic arrivals building during May-2025, a key project in its ongoing GBP1.2 billion transformation project. Mr Millar stated: "In the last few weeks, we have opened our brand-new domestic reclaim building - a significant milestone for the transformation project - and we are underway with the first phase of work to upgrade and modernise Satellite Two, including new flooring, lighting and gate areas plus a refurbished domestic departures lounge". [more - original PR]

Aena announced (10-Jun-2025) plans to invest approximately EUR3.2 billion to expand Barcelona-El Prat Josep Tarradellas Airport. Details of the project include:

• Remodelling of Terminal 1;
• Remodelling of Terminal 2;
• Extension of the sea runway;
• New Satellite Terminal;
• Improvements associated with the sea runway;
• Work on the parking lots of both terminals.

The project guarantees minimal environmental impact, including measures such as the preservation of La Ricarda lagoon, non-impact of El Remolar outside the airport perimeter and reduction of noise impact on neighbouring towns. The agreement also includes compensatory measures aimed at improving the Llobregat Delta's natural areas. [more - original PR - Spanish]

PLAY announced (10-Jun-2025) CEO Einar Örn Ólafsson and vice chairman Elías Skúli Skúlason stated their interest in submitting a voluntary takeover offer for all shares in PLAY, via the special purpose vehicle BBL 212. The offeror obtained financing in the amount of USD7 million which is in the form of equity as well as borrowings. The offeror intends to seek a delisting of shares on Nasdaq Iceland. The offeror's planned strategy for PLAY includes the following:

• Build on PLAY's 3Q2024 shift towards leisure markets and lease operation by implementing significant operational changes;
• Focus on keeping costs at an absolute minimum. To support this goal, the majority of operations will be relocated to Malta and Lithuania, to optimise costs and leverage the availability of skilled resources;
• Surrender its Icelandic air operator certificate (AOC) and transfer remaining aircraft to Malta;
• Continue to cater to the Icelandic leisure market through its virtual airline with four aircraft, the remaining six aircraft will be leased out and operated through PLAY's lease platform;
• Discontinue North America flights from Oct-2025, ending the hub and spoke portion of the network;
• Reduce offer of flights from Iceland to Northern European cities;
• PLAY Iceland will continue to focus on leisure travel and plans to further expand this segment of the network;
• PLAY's own production is expected to require four aircraft, with the possibility to scale up as demand grows, which will be leased from its sister company in Malta. [more - original PR]

Qantas Group confirmed (11-Jun-2025) plans to close Jetstar Asia from 31-Jul-2025. Details include:

• Jetstar Asia will continue to operate flights for the next seven weeks on a progressively reduced schedule, before its final day of operation;
• 13 Jetstar Asia A320 aircraft will be be progressively redeployed to Australia and New Zealand;
• The closure will impact 16 intra Asia routes operated by the LCC from its base in Singapore. It will not impact Jetstar Airways' domestic and international operations in Australia and New Zealand or Jetstar Japan;
• All affected Jetstar Asia employees will be provided redundancy benefits as well as employment support services. Qantas said it is also "actively working to find job opportunities across the group and with other airlines in the region";
• The closure will enable Qantas to recycle up to AUD500 million (USD326.45 million) in capital to support its fleet renewal programme;
• The closure will result in one off redundancy and restructuring costs, as well as the non-cash expensing of historical foreign currency translation losses from equity reserves and asset write downs from consequential changes in the group's fleet structure. The combined impact is estimated to be approximately AUD175 million (USD114.26 million), with approximately one third in FY2025 and the remainder across FY2026, which will be taken outside of underlying earnings;
• The direct pre-tax cash impact will be approximately AUD160 million (USD104.46 million), predominantly in FY2026, including unwinding Jetstar Asia's working capital. This will be materially mitigated by working capital benefits from growth in Jetstar Airways utilising the redeployed aircraft, and from consequential tax adjustments impacting tax payments across the group in FY2026 and future years.

Qantas Group stated Jetstar Asia has been impacted by "rising supplier costs, high airport fees, and intensified competition in the region". Qantas added: "This has fundamentally challenged the low cost airline's ability to deliver returns comparable to the stronger performing core markets in the Group". [more - original PR]

New South Wales' (NSW) Minister for Jobs and Tourism Steve Kamper announced (11-Jun-2025) Air New Zealand plans to operate from Auckland to Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport from mid 2027. The route is the "first to be supported" by the NSW Government's Western Sydney International Take-Off Fund and follows the confirmation of domestic and international services at the airport from Qantas Airways, Jetstar Airways and Singapore Airlines. The AUD16 million (USD10.5 million) incentive fund consists of AUD8 million (USD5.2 million) from the NSW Government with matching funds from the airport and is forecast to deliver 162,000 international visitors to the state, generating AUD530 million (USD346 million) in visitor expenditure. Air New Zealand CEO Greg Foran stated: "We're delighted to be the first trans Tasman carrier to signal our intent to operate there as we continue to grow. It's a great opportunity to grow our network and better serve the rapidly expanding Western Sydney region". [more - original PR] [more - original PR - II]

Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport unveiled (11-Jun-2025) its new terminal, following the completion of runway and other key airside facilities on 04-Jun-2025. The terminal features a climate responsive facade, a roof featuring more than 6000 solar panels and infrastructure to collect and recycle rainfall for use in airport operations. The fit out of the terminal's retail precinct and airline lounges will take place closer to its opening as commercial tenders and final contracts are progressed over coming months. [more - original PR - Western Sydney Airport] [more - original PR - Australian Minister for Infrastructure]

Air Premia announced (09-Jun-2025) it became a full IATA member on 01-Jun-2025, after receiving IOSA certification in May-2025. [more - original PR - Korean]

Europe's transport ministers reached (05-Jun-2025) an agreement on the revision of the regulations on air passenger rights and on airline liability. The revised rules bring over 30 new rights to air passengers. Key rights include:

• The right to be rerouted: Airlines must offer passengers rerouting at the earliest opportunity, including the possibility to be rerouted through flights operated by other carriers. If an airline fails to provide an appropriate rerouting within three hours of a disruption, passengers may arrange their own rerouting and claim reimbursement of up to 400% of the original ticket cost;
• The right to assistance, including refreshments, food, accommodation;
• The right to compensation in case of cancellations and delays;
  • Journeys under 3500km and intra-EU journeys: EUR300 compensation applies for delays of more than four hours;
  • Journeys over 3500km: EUR500 compensation applies for delays of more than six hours;
• The right to information: Passengers would have up to six months from the disruption to submit a request or a complaint to the airline. A deadline of 14 days from the submission of the request is introduced for airlines to pay compensation or to provide a clear and substantiated reply to a passenger.

The European Council position will now be examined by the European Parliament, under second reading. The Parliament will subsequently have the possibility to approve, amend or reject the Council position. [more - original PR]