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Air New Zealand records its biggest loss since 2023 due to fuel and engine costs
Air New Zealand reported its largest 'annual loss' in three years last Friday as higher fuel prices, linked to the Middle East conflict and persistent engine shortages squeezed earnings. Since the U.S. - Iran war began, jet fuel costs have increased by more than doubled. Air New Zealand's fuel bills increased by NZ$205m after hedging against what they expected at the beginning of the second half of fiscal 2026. New Zealand's largest?carrier? reported a loss of NZ$336 (US$199.85) million for the year ending June 30 compared to a profit NZ$189.9 million a year ago. Visible Alpha had forecast a NZ$356.5 pretax?loss. The impact of engine availability on profitability was estimated at NZ$190 millions. Air New Zealand stated that it is not yet in a position to give earnings guidance for the year 2027. The company added that this will be a year of transition and recovery with improved operational performance even though fuel prices are increasing. The airline didn't?declare final dividend.
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Sources say that FAA has fired two controllers for leaving work before a fatal LaGuardia accident.
Sources say that the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is moving to 'fire' two air traffic control officers at New York LaGuardia Airport who allegedly left a few minutes before an Air Canada flight?collided?"with a firetruck on March 22 killing both pilots. Sources say that the crash has renewed attention on chronic staffing shortages in U.S. Air Traffic Control, and investigators are examining if adequate staffing was available when the accident happened. The National Air traffic Controllers Association (NATCA)?said that it is actively discussing the allegations with FAA leaders, refusing to comment further. The FAA stated that it "is committed to hold employees accountable and will not compromise safety or efficiency of 'National Airspace System. The FAA said that the two employees who were supposed to have been on duty at the time of the accident had left the facility. Sean Duffy, Transportation Secretary, said that most controllers are doing a good job. Duffy stated that "we have no choice" but to take action when a few individuals abuse the American taxpayers, add unfairly more work to their co-controllers and disrupt the airspace. "We won't tolerate fraud and are taking the appropriate actions to hold people accountable and prevent illegal practices from disrupting travelers." Several controllers interviewed by described the workload that night as busy and said other controllers would typically be brought in or stay on ?past their normal shift end time to manage the heavier-than-scheduled number of ?flights. One controller informed? One controller told?sprachvermögenodatătrittscheinzeug vo A controller toldun ein One controller said that the FAA was cracking down against "early pushes", an industry term used to describe controllers who leave before the scheduled end of their?shift, after having completed their assigned duties. According to a third controller, allowing employees to leave before the scheduled time has been a common practice in many facilities for many years. The Wall Street Journal had reported earlier on the FAA's plans to fire employees. (Reporting and editing by Chris Reese, Sanjeev Miklani and Chris Reese)
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Report says that the Marine One helicopter crew did not reach air traffic control in time to prevent a safety incident.
The National Transportation Safety Board reported on Thursday that the crew of a helicopter carrying President Donald Trump, which came too close to an aircraft on August 4, failed to contact air traffic controllers prior to departing. The incident with a plane leaving Reagan Washington National Airport has raised questions as to why the passenger aircraft was allowed to leave while Marine One was near, at a time that commercial traffic would normally be halted. NTSB said that the Marine One crew tried at least two times to give controllers the required three-minute notice of departure, but was hampered by communication issues. The NTSB stated that the crew tried to contact controllers via the helicopter facility of Joint Base Anacostia - Bolling, but was unsuccessful. Bryan Bedford, the director of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), said on Tuesday that the agency had relocated a?antenna after the incident and altered a procedure. The NTSB stated that checks done after the relocation showed no communication issues. The NTSB revealed that there were also other communication problems. The NTSB reported that on July 30, Marine One staff and air traffic controllers met to "discuss concerns with recent reports about their inability to receive the required 3-minute liftoff call." NTSB: The Marine One crew reported that communications were "spotty". FAA regulations require aircraft to be separated at least by 1.5 miles (2.4km) horizontally and 500 feet (152m) vertically when they are near airports. Marine One and plane were separated at one time by 0.82 nautical miles laterally, and 700 feet up vertically. Envoy Air 3742 was an Embraer E170 Regional Jet bound for Pensacola in Florida. Republic 4700 was also 3 miles from Reagan at the time of the incident and was diverted out of caution. After a mid-air collision in January 2025 between an American Airlines regional plane and an Army helicopter, the?FAA placed permanent restrictions on helicopter operation around Washington's Reagan Airport. (Reporting and editing by Lisa Shumaker; reporting by David Shepardson)
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Enbridge and KKR create joint venture to invest Westcoast natural gas pipeline
Enbridge, a Canadian energy company, announced on Thursday that it had 'agreed' to a joint venture with KKR and Apollo in which they will invest C$2.7 billion to expand its Westcoast Natural Gas Pipeline System?in British Columbia. KKR, Apollo and Enbridge are investing 'alongside Enbridge' as the demand for natural gas -infrastructure grows in Western Canada and U.S. Pacific Northwest. The Westcoast system is also a route to international LNG markets. The agreement provides that the two companies will receive a 29% indirect interest in the Westcoast system once the Sunrise expansion is operational in exchange for C$0.7billion in cash. According to the agreement, Enbridge will retain a majority?ownership? and operational control over the system. The Sunrise Expansion Program is scheduled to begin in late 2028. $1 = 1.3883 Canadian Dollars (Reporting and editing by Shreya Biwas in Bengaluru)
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What has been attacked by Ukraine in its attacks on Russian energy sites?
Ukrainian forces continue to strike at Russian energy infrastructure, as well as other sites. Kyiv claims that this is part of an effort to deny Russia resources for funding its military. The following is a list of recent attacks, starting with the latest. NORSI Ukrainian drones attacked NORSI this week, Russia's 4th largest oil refinery owned by Lukoil. The crude oil processing was suspended on August 26. NORSI is Russia's second largest gasoline producer. It can process?15,000,000 metric tons per year. NOVOSHAKHTINSK A drone from Ukraine damaged the Novoshakhtinsk oil refinery, located in southern Rostov Region of Russia. The governor announced that operations had been suspended. The refinery can process more than 5 million tons per year. AFIPSKY A drone attack on the Afipsky refinery in southern Krasnodar, Russia caused it to catch fire. The regional governor announced this on August 25, 2018. The refinery is capable of processing over 9 million tonnes of oil each year. Two industry sources reported that the Perm oil refinery - Russia's seventh largest oil processing plant in terms of volume - halted operations on August 21 after a drone attack from Ukraine caused damage and fire to technical units. The refinery will process about 12,6 million tons of crude oil by 2024. The Ukrainian military attacked TANECO Tatneft oil refinery on August 10 and 19. TANECO will process 17?million tonnes of crude oil by 2024. UFA The regional governor of Bashkortostan said that a drone strike in Bashkortostan caused a slight damage to a Russian oil refinery. Ukraine also attacked the refinery in Ufa on July 1, near the Ural Mountains. The refinery is capable of processing more than 7,000,000 tons of oil each year. Three industry sources have confirmed that a drone attack in August '14 damaged the gas condensate-processing complex of UST-LUGA Russian Gas Producer Novatek at the Baltic Port of Ust-Luga. Three industry sources said that the complex processed 3.8 millions tons of gas condensate during the first half this year. ORSK Russia's Orsknefteorgsintez mid-sized oil refinery stopped processing on August 11, after an fire caused by a drone attack from Ukraine, according to two industry sources. The regional governor stated on August 13 that repairs could take six months. The design capacity of the refinery is approximately 6 million tons per year. ZAPSIBNEFTEKHIM Russia’s Sibur Zapsibneftekhim Petrochemical Complex in Tobolsk in the Tyumen Region of Western?Siberia was damaged by a drone on August 10?three sources in industry told. The Sibur Holding plant has a total design capacity of 2.5 million tons per year. ILSKY Following a drone attack by Ukraine, a fire broke out in the Ilsky oil refinery. Five people were injured. Fire was extinguished. Local officials reported that the Ilsky refinery caught fire as well after a drone strike on July 10. The design capacity of the refinery is more than 6 million tons per year. YAROSLAVL The Yaroslavl Russian refinery, located about 250 km (160 mi) northeast of Moscow was on fire after a Ukrainian drone strike on August 6, but it was extinguished by emergency crews, according to regional governor Mikhail Evrayev. Ukrainian forces attacked Russian oil installations in Yaroslavl on July 27, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The Yaroslavl refinery has a processing capacity of up to 15 million tons each year. VOLGOGRAD A drone attack on the Volgograd refinery has caused a complete shutdown of crude oil processing at that facility since July 31, according to two industry sources. Five people were injured in the attack that set fire to an energy facility in Volgograd and its warehouses, according to regional governor Andrei Bocharov, without providing any further details. The Lukoil refinery will process 13.5 million tonnes of oil in 2024. SARATOV According to the military of Kyiv, on August 2, Ukrainian forces attacked Rosneft's Saratov oil refining plant in southwest Russia. Two sources claim that the refinery stopped processing oil?on 2 August due to damage caused by the attack. The plant will process 5.8 millions tons of oil in 2024. RYAZAN Russia’s Ryazan refinery, which is one of the largest in the country, halted crude processing on July 29, following a drone strike, and could close for a period of?two weeks. In 2024, the refinery will process 13.1 million tonnes of crude oil. SYZRAN According to industry sources, the Russian oil refinery Syzran on the Volga River in the Samara Region halted operations after a drone strike on July 12, which damaged a primary unit. The Rosneft refinery was also attacked by Ukrainian drones on May 21. After the attack, which damaged a primary unit of processing, the refinery stopped operations. The refinery had suspended operations after an attack on April 18th. The refinery can process 8.5 million tons per year. OMSK On July 6, Ukrainian drones attacked the Omsk refinery, causing a large fire. Governor Vitaly Khotsenko stated that Russian air defences destroyed the majority of drones. The extent of the damage to the refinery was not immediately known. The design capacity of Omsk's oil refinery is 22 million tonnes of oil per annum. MOSCOW A Moscow refinery stopped operations on June 16 after an attack by a Ukrainian drone, according to sources. On June 18, a second attack caused damage to processing units and multiple fires. The Kapotnya district in the southeast of the capital has an annual production capacity of approximately 11 million tons. Mark Potter (Reporting and Editing)
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Russian air strikes target Kyiv and its ports, industrial sites
Officials?said that Russia targeted warehouses, ports and energy and industrial installations in an hour-long attack on Kyiv, Ukraine, early Thursday morning. After an overnight barrage of unspecified ballistic missiles, 258 drones and an unknown number of hypersonic missiles, commuters in Kyiv rushed to work amid the booming sounds of air defences shooting at jet-powered aircraft attacking the city. Andrii Sybiha, Foreign Minister, said that Russia launched a massive attack against Ukraine overnight, targeting ports, grain stores, energy, industry and other infrastructure with ballistic and hypersonic weapons and combat drones. Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the president of Ukraine, said that Ukraine received a small number of Patriot interceptors made by the United States this week. These interceptors are capable of intercepting fast-moving missiles which are notoriously hard to intercept. In a Thursday statement, the Kyiv air force stated that Ukrainian forces had shot down seven ballistic missiles and one anti-ship cruise rocket, as well as nearly 90% of?drones. Oleh Syniehubov, regional governor of Kharkiv region, confirmed that one person was killed in the attack at lunchtime on a Kharkiv shopping center. Two others were injured. Damages in several regions of Kyiv. According to Mayor Vitali Klitschko, debris has fallen into at least two districts and damaged a school. It also shattered windows at a health facility. He added that two people were injured during a daytime assault. The regional governor reported that two people were injured outside of the capital, after strikes damaged private homes and warehouses. A large plume of smoke was seen on TV over a nearby warehouse. The regional governor of the central Poltava said that air strikes targeted industrial sites, an energy facility and cut power to seven settlements. Oleksandr Hanzha, the governor of Kryvyi Rih (Zelenskiy’s hometown), a mining and steel hub, reported that three people were injured after a missile attack on an industrial site. Ivan Fedorov, regional chief of Zaporizhzhia, said that three more people were injured?in southern city Zaporizhzhia following strikes on a production facility. Officials said that in an attack lasting several hours on southern Odesa, infrastructure, a?educational facility and a multistorey building had been damaged. Three people were injured. The Russian defence ministry reported that Moscow had?hit steelworks in Kryvyi Rih, Zaporizhzhia and an oil refinery located in Poltava, as well as logistics centres in Kyiv, and three ports within the Odesa area. Local authorities reported that six Russian drones 'crossed over into the airspace of neighboring Moldova. This prompted President Maia Sandu "to strongly condemn this intimidation". One of the drones was discovered on Moldovan soil. The company reported on Thursday that a drone attack overnight in central Russia destroyed a logistics facility belonging to the online retailer Ozon. This is the latest apparent Ukrainian attack against the company. (Jekaterina Golubkova, Tokyo; Dan Peleschuk, Writing; Alexandra Hudson and Gareth Jones editing)
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Russia's Ozon claims that a drone damaged its Ufa logistic hub
A drone attack overnight?caused?minor damage and??temporarily???closed? a logistics complex operated by Russian online retailer Ozon, according to the company on Thursday. Ukraine has been 'attacking' several Ozon facilities in the city of Ufa since Saturday as it continues its campaign against Russia by targeting ecommerce giants who are?key employers in an?expanding?sector. The company stated that no fire broke out at the Ufa Complex in Bashkortostan Region, but the complex sustained minor damages. The area is temporarily closed as it undergoes an inspection. The company said that a second Ozon facility in the southwest city of Orenburg had been evacuated due to a warning about missiles. Since then, it has resumed its operations. In the last month Ukraine has attacked over 20 warehouses belonging to?Ozon, and?Wildberries - two of Russia's top online retailers. Reporting by Alessandra Prentice, Writing by Louise Heavens, Editing by Louise Heavens
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Singapore opposition legislator opposes Temasek funding to Air India
Singapore opposition legislator urges that Temasek, the state investor, not be used to bolster Air India after reports that 'the Indian carrier had asked owners Tata Sons, Singapore Airlines and Temasek, who is majority owner of Singapore Airlines for $1.5 billion. Kenneth Tiong of the Workers' Party, an opposition member of parliament, stated in a post on social media that since Singapore Airlines owned about 25% of Air India, and Temasek, in turn, owned most of Singapore Airlines, the request "was not only a private shareholder question." I will not support or expect any future use by Temasek of funds to support Air India through Singapore Airlines. "If Singapore Airlines wishes to continue its?bet on Air India, they should do it on their own, not with Temasek’s help," he said. He added without further explanation that "whichever of the two writes a cheque?it will have an impact on Temasek." Singapore's Ministry of Transport did not reply to requests for comment. Neither did Temasek or Air India. A spokesperson for Singapore Airlines said that the board of directors would consider Air India's request for additional capital, taking into account the group's?capital needs and its business strategy. Tiong also said that he filed a written question to the Transport Minister on 8 September, asking if the losses and carrying amounts of Singapore Airlines' foreign affiliates had been compared with its ability to provide essential transportation services. Singapore Airlines' commercial decision is now being scrutinized by the political establishment in Singapore. The airline's 25.1% share in Air India has affected its earnings, as Air India's losses have widened. Tata Sons Chairman N. Chandrasekaran said that the turnaround could take up a decade. Air India Express and its budget-wing Air India posted combined losses in the year ending March of $2.33 Billion, which is more than twice the previous year. Singapore Airlines absorbed its share of the losses. Air India will continue to require capital infusions "in the coming years", a source with knowledge of the matter said earlier this week. Air India's future funding has been a topic of discussion for many years. The Securities Investors Association of Singapore (SIAS) asked the Singapore Airlines board whether it had set limits on the amount of capital that could be allocated to Air India, and under what conditions they would approve additional capital. Singapore Airlines didn't provide a limit in a response written on 17 July. The company stated that its board would consider any requests carefully, while taking into account its other capital needs?and Air India’s business strategy. Air India is suffering from Pakistan's ban on Indian carriers flying in its airspace, the disruptions caused by the U.S./Israeli war against Iran and the fallout of a fatal crash that occurred last year. (Reporting from Abhijith Ganahapavaram, New Delhi; Additional Reporting by Xinghui Kok, Singapore; Editing Jamie Freed).
Virgin Australia will trim capacity following a profit beating and stronger revenue
Virgin Australia announced on Friday that it expected to reduce domestic capacity by 3%, in line with Qantas Airways,?in?the first?half. This would support a?revenue increase, after reporting higher-than-expected earnings for the full year.
Australia's No. Australia's No.
Profits were driven by a strong travel demand, and a transformation program that aimed to boost loyalty earnings, efficiency, pricing, as well as solid fuel hedging.
It declared a fully-franked dividend of 7,6 Australian cents per share, its first dividend since it relisted in 2025.
Virgin Australia CEO Dave Emerson stated that "we delivered?strong earning growth and?further profit expansion despite significant pressure on inflation across the aviation supply chains and a more difficult operating environment."
The airline forecasts first-half revenue for available seat kilometers (RASK), which is ahead of the market's expectations. This highlights resilient travel demand and disciplined capacity management.
Virgin Australia stated that RASK (a key measure for revenue generated from each seat flown) is expected to grow between 6%-8% in the six month period ending December '2026. This is ahead of Visible Alpha's consensus estimate of 5.15%.
Qantas announced on Thursday that it would increase its total revenue per available seat-kilometre by 8% to 10% during the same period, which was also higher than analyst expectations. This measure also includes baggage fees, other fares and charter revenue in addition to taking into consideration the percentage of filled seats.
(source: Reuters)