ACI North America released (16-Sep-2019) the 2018 North American Airport Traffic Summary, which revealed the following key findings:

• North American airports recorded a 6.4% increase in international traffic and a 4.8% increase in domestic traffic;
• Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport remains the world's busiest airport, handling more than 107 million passengers in 2018;
• Toronto Pearson International Airport remains Canada's busiest airport, handling 49.5 million passengers in 2018, up 5% year-on-year;
• Memphis International Airport remains the busiest cargo airport in North America, handling 4.5 million metric tons in 2018;
• One out of three aircraft took off or landed at a North American airport globally in 2018. [more - original PR]

Hi Fly, via its official Twitter account, announced (14-Sep-2019) the carrier's maiden A330neo (CS-TKY) operated its first commercial service on 14-Sep-2019. The charter flight was on behalf of Alba Star operating from Milan Bergamo/Orio al Serio Airport to Marsa Alam International Airport (NewsAvia, 15-Sep2019).

Wizz Air provided (17-Sep-2019) a fuel hedge update with the following details:

• FY2020:
  • Period covered: Seven months;
  • Exposure: 703,000 tons;
  • Coverage: 541,000 tons;
  • Hedge coverage: 77%;
• FY2021:
  • Period covered: Seven months;
  • Exposure: 1.5 million tons;
  • Coverage: 621,000 tons;
  • Hedge coverage: 43%.

Wizz Air noted it took advantage of lower fuel prices over the summer period and increased its hedge position beyond its policy minimum levels of 50% of the projected jet fuel requirements for the next twelve months and 40% on an 18 month hedge horizon. [more - original PR]

ATPCO regional director Latin America Marcelo Freire, speaking at the CAPA Latin America Aviation & LCCs Summit, stated (16-Sep-2019) most, if not all, airlines want to become retailers and have better control over their own offerings. Mr Freire said airlines want to improve the shopping experience for their customers, regardless of the sales channel.

Fraport Brasil COO Sabine Trenk, speaking at the CAPA Latin America Aviation & LCCs Summit, stated (16-Sep-2019) Fraport Brasil is "very upbeat" on the Brazilian market, which has "huge potential". However, Ms Trenk noted that entering the Brazilian market is "very difficult" due to regulation and the costs of operating in the country are "very high".

Hainan Airlines Group reported (16-Sep-2019) the following traffic highlights* for Aug-2019:

• Passengers: 7.7 million, +7.6% year-on-year;
  • Domestic: 7.1 million, +6.7%;
  • International: 577,390, +20.6%;
  • Regional: 31,520, +3.0%;
• Passenger load factor: 87.0%, stable;
  • Domestic: 89.4%, -0.7ppt;
  • International: 81.1%, +2.0ppts;
  • Regional: 77.3%, -5.5ppts;
• Cargo: 50,930 tonnes, +10.6%
  • Domestic: 40,470 tonnes, +11.9%;
  • International: 10,380 tonnes, +6.3%;
  • Regional: 80 tonnes, -36.8%;
• Cargo load factor: 28.9%, -15.1ppts;
  • Domestic: 21.0%, -23.1ppts;
  • International: 40.4%, -3.7ppts;
  • Regional: 6.9%, -13.9ppts. [more - original PR - Chinese]

*Includes traffic for Hainan Airlines, China Xinhua Airlines, Air Changan, Shanxi Airlines, Lucky Air Company Limited, Fuzhou Airlines, Urumqi Airlines, Tianjin Airlines and Guangxi Beibu Gulf Airlines.