How ham-and-cheese paninis are saving Ryanair’s dough

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Few readers of Gulliver will be surprised to hear that Ryanair is the largest low-cost carrier in Europe. Having flown 139m passengers last year, the Irish company is second only to Lufthansa, a group of full-service carriers, in terms of passenger traffic on the continent. At Ryanair’s current rate of expansion, it will almost certainly take the top spot next year. Slightly more surprisingly, the airline has become huge in the catering world as well. “We’re the largest seller of ham-and-cheese paninis in Europe”, claims Neil Sorahan, the airline’s finance director. He likens its food-and-drink sales to putting “the equivalent of 455 7/11s [convenience stores] in the sky every day”...

Interview: Jim Belemu, Mahogany Air CEO

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When Zambia’s late president, Michael Sata, called for Zambia Airways to be resurrected in 2011, local entrepreneur Jim Belemu sensed an opportunity to move into a new sector.

The molecular scientist had already enjoyed a colourful career since obtaining his doctorate, working as a veterinary surgeon, a civil servant, a United Nations researcher and more recently setting up a successful mining company. With metal prices peaking in 2011, he and wife Cynthia were actively searching for their next business venture.

“We decided we needed to do something else which is long-term, maybe not very profitable but at least which keeps us going,” Belemu recalled...

Boeing loses another 737 MAX customer

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Tajikistan’s Somon Air has dropped plans to lease a Boeing 737 MAX, blaming uncertainty about the timeline for its re-entry to service and shattered public confidence in the model.

“The MAX has been put on hold,” chief executive Thomas Hallam told me, referring to a contract for a single leased unit that Air Lease Corporation (ALC) had been due to place with Somon this year.

The unit in question was purchased by the lessor, so the lease cancelation will not affect Boeing's orderbook.

However, it illustrates waning confidence in the MAX following two crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia that claimed 346 lives and led to a worldwide grounding of the new aircraft type. Boeing is widely perceived to have bungled its response to the crisis by downplaying the severity of problems with its flight control systems and pressuring America’s aviation regulator to keep the model flying even after the second crash...

EgyptAir set for restructuring as questions linger over 2016 crash

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EgyptAir is aiming to reach a 100-strong fleet under a new plan led by chairman and chief executive Ahmed Adel, but the flag carrier appears no closer to explaining the loss of one of its planes in the Mediterranean Sea three years ago.

Speaking to me in Seoul, South Korea earlier this month, Adel said EgyptAir has finally “levelled off” after a series of political and security crises in its home nation. Tourism in the country was decimated by the 2011 revolution against President Hosni Mubarak and has struggled to recover in recent years, hampered by a military coup, the terrorist bombing of a Russian charter jet in Sinai, and the crash of EgyptAir Flight 804.

With Islamic State in decline across the region and Egypt’s government delivering stability at home, the flag carrier is now embarking on a “complete restructuring plan” aimed at returning to growth – albeit while providing few answers about the May 2016 disaster that claimed 66 lives...

Lebanon's MEA poised to become Airbus A321XLR launch customer

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Lebanon’s flag carrier has thrown its weight behind Airbus’s widely anticipated A321XLR project and plans to become an early operator of the type if it launches in 2023 as expected.

“Middle East Airlines is one of the first launch customers of the 321XLR,” Mohamad El Hout, the airline’s chairman, told me during the annual meeting of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) this month...

Mutton dressed as lamb

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Ryanair, Europe's largest low-cost carrier, has long defied conventional wisdom when it comes to branding. Its garish yellow and blue livery–much like its loud-mouthed chief executive, Michael O’Leary–is an assault on the senses. While other airlines try to woo passengers with sophisticated marketing, Ryanair slaps them in the face with its low prices. The strategy has served it well, appealing to a majority of short-haul flyers who prize cheap fares over other frills. Since last year, however, Ryanair has changed course. Rather than relying on just one brand, it is now diversifying...

Interview: Clifford Chetcuti, Air Malta CEO

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Air Malta was profitable last year after nearly two decades in the red, soothing worries about its financial health and validating the new strategy launched by the country’s Labour government.

With a dozen European carriers closing their doors since the beginning of 2018 – including well-known names such as WOW Air, Germania and Flybmi – pressure had been mounting on the Mediterranean island flag carrier to end its lossmaking streak.

An earlier restructuring plan focused on contraction was not successful, and in 2016 Brussels ruled that Air Malta was not eligible for further state aid...

A Sukhoi Superjet meets a fiery end in Moscow

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In video footage that will make even the most seasoned air-safety experts wince, a Sukhoi Superjet operated by Aeroflot, Russia’s flag carrier, has erupted in flames while attempting an emergency landing at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport. The devastating crash was filmed by at least one CCTV camera and four handheld devices, including two wielded by passengers on the stricken jet. None of the recordings is easy to watch. But it is the CCTV footage, which shows the airliner make a hard landing, bounce perhaps 20ft in the air, and plunge back down with sufficient force to break the undercarriage and set the fuel tanks alight, that is most distressing. At least 41 of the 78 passengers and crew on-board died...

Interview: Rammah Ettir, Medavia CEO

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Until 2014, when Tripoli International Airport was razed to the ground by warring militias, Mediterranean Aviation Company Ltd (Medavia) conducted most of its aircraft maintenance work in Libya’s capital.

Relocating its operational facility to Malta, the Mediterranean island situated 350km north of Tripoli, was a difficult but logical response to the security crisis. Medavia had been set up in 1978 by the governments of Libya and Malta, and the European island already hosted its management headquarters as well as a base maintenance station.

Despite losing one aircraft to the violence and sacrificing much of its revenue for evacuation flights, the company has adapted well to the challenges of recent years...

New doors open at Nesma

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Ashraf Lamloum knew he was taking a risk in 2016, when he opened a base in Jeddah and launched narrow-body flights under the Nesma Airlines brand.

The chief executive was taking advantage of the long-awaited liberalisation of domestic air transport in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), which had for years been dominated by just two airlines: flag-carrier Saudia and Flynas. Another two carriers – SaudiGulf and Flyadeal – were also granted licences around the same time.

From day one, Nesma KSA struggled to make a profit on the busy Jeddah to Riyadh trunk route...