Hong Kong’s Cathay Group has placed a firm order with Airbus for 30 A330-900 widebody aircraft. The order follows a thorough evaluation by the airline under its mid-size widebody fleet renewal programme. The newly-ordered aircraft will enable Cathay to modernise its earlier generation A330-300 fleet and expand its operations on high capacity regional routes. The aircraft will also offer flexibility to serve longer range destinations. As with all A330neo aircraft, the fleet will be powered by the latest generation Rolls-Royce Trent 7000 engines.

Tabea Hasler has been named as SWISS’s new Head of Revenue Steering. Hasler, who is a Swiss national, presently serves as Head of Digital Ecosystem Steering & Innovation for the Lufthansa Group. In her new capacity she succeeds Christian Sigg, who took up his new duties as SWISS’s Head of Ground Operations in July 2024.

Yesterday marked Singapore National Day and Etihad Airways was delighted to announce it will start flying its A380 double-decker to Singapore (SIN) from 1 February, 2025. The Asian-Pacific powerhouse becomes the fourth major city to enjoy the Etihad A380 experience in addition to London and New York, as well as Paris which will be served by the A380 from 1 November.

The first Emirates Boeing 777 with a nose-to-tail cabin refresh sporting a new look has rolled into service, as it prepares to take off to Geneva this afternoon as EK 83. The aircraft took a total of 37 days for a complete revamp and will be entering service four days ahead of its officially announced deployment schedule.

Etihad Airways today announced its H1 2024 results, recording a 48 per cent increase in profit after tax achieving AED 851 million (£183 million), a significant increase from AED 575 million (£123 million) in H1 2023, highlighting the airline’s continued focus on growth coupled with optimising operational efficiencies. Total revenue increased 21 per cent to AED 11.7 billion (£2.5 billion), from AED 9.6 billion (£2.1 billion) in H1 2023, mainly due to passenger revenue, which saw a 24 per cent year-on-year increase, reflecting strong demand fuelled by strategic network expansion and increased flight frequencies, consequently further improving connectivity.

Turkish Airlines has reported a 7.7% passenger capacity increase for Q2, carrying 22.1 million customers despite industry wide challenges including geopolitical tensions, supply chain complications and aircraft engines issues. While IATA data shows that most carriers hit pre-pandemic levels for passenger loads in Q2, Turkish Airlines carried 38% more customers than in 2019.