More famous for jeans than jets, denim giant Jordache Enterprises has effectively become the launch customer for Airbus A321LR through majority-owned  Tel Aviv-based airline Arkia Israeli Airlines.

The new aircraft was handed over to Arkia at Airbus’ Hamburg plant on November 14 after the Israeli carrier became the unexpected launch customer for the plane It replaced Primera Air after the budget carrier went bankrupt in October.

Thousands were stranded after the collapse of Primera which partly blamed delays of the A321neo for its demise.

Read: Thousands stranded after Primera collapses.

Arkia which was founded in 1950 to establish an air link between the southern port of Eilat and the northern part of Israel.

Today, Arkia flies more than 1.6 million passengers annually and operates domestic flights to Eilat from Sde Dov, Ben Gurion and Haifa airports.

It also operates regular flights and charters to many European and Mediterranean destinations including Amsterdam, Rome, Munich, Berlin, Budapest, Prague, Crete, Cyprus and Antalya and regular flights to Paris, Barcelona, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Georgia, Dublin, Armenia and other destinations.

According to its website, Arkia flies Boeing 757 as well as Embraer E-195 and E-190 aircraft in addition to its A321LR.

Airbus provided little information on Arkia’s plans other than to say its launch customer’s A321LR would be powered by CFM International’s LEAP 1-A engines and configured with 220 seats.

The A321LR is a new engine option (neo) derivative of the popular A321 Family and allows operators the flexibility to fly long-range operations of up to 4,000nm (7,400km).

This opens up new long-haul markets not previously accessible to single-aisle aircraft, allowing airlines to service thinner routes without having to fill a big number of seats on a widebody aircraft.

AirAsia X is currently evaluating the aircraft and has said it may consider converting some of its order for A330neo widebody jets to the smaller plane.

The airline is currently evaluating the aircraft in terms of future routes but a spokeswoman said the study was still in its infancy and there was no announcement at this time.

Singapore Airlines low-cost offshoot Scoot will move from Changi Airport Terminal 2 to Terminal 1 in the last quarter of 2019 as it gears up for double-digit growth over the next three years.

The move addresses recent customer feedback indicating passengers wanted an improved check-in and boarding process.

Changi has been working to expand T1 ’s passenger handling capability as part of wider changes at the airport.

The airline says the T1 upgrades will be able to handle Scoot’s projected growth while giving customers a more intuitive check-in flow, as well as a refreshed and more spacious terminal experience

The upgrades include expanded baggage facilities and are expected to be completed next year.

A new “meters and greeters” hall has been in use since April and a recently completed refurbished T1 departure hall features a central Fast and Seamless Travel (FAST) Zone where passengers can check in and drop off their bags at the self-service automated machines.

“The move to T1 will be beneficial for several reasons, chief of which being that it will allow us to continue serving our growing customer base comfortably and meet their needs for a fast and fuss-free pre-flight experience,’’ said Scoot chief executive Lee Lik Hsin,

“We are working hard to achieve a seamless transition for our customers, employees and service partners, and we look forward to welcoming everyone to our new home in T1 next year.”

READ Singapore the world’s best airline in 2019.

Changi Airport Group (CAG) managing director of airport operations management Jayson Goh said the airport periodically reviewed the allocation of airlines across all terminals to provide sufficient terminal capacity for future traffic growth.

“ At the same time, we hope to enhance passenger experience by optimizing the use of space for smooth airport operations,’ he said. “CAG will work closely with Scoot to ensure that its relocation to T1 is seamless for all its passengers.”

Scoot has carried 60  million guests and operates a fleet of 18 Boeing 787 Dreamliners and 27 Airbus A320 family aircraft across a network that covers 66 destinations across 18 countries and territories.

It has two Boeing 787s and 38 Airbus A320neo aircraft on order.

Global airline investors suffered their biggest hit in more than two years during October as airline share prices fell by more than 10 percent as oil prices peaked at their highest levels in about four years.

The 10.1 percent fall was the biggest monthly decline since June 2016 and was led by stocks in Europe and North America.

Europe led the field with a 12.5 percent fall with North America not far behind with a drop of 11.5 percent.

The decline in the Asia-Pacific was more subdued at 8.2 percent, according to the International Air Transport Association’s latest financial monitor.

The falls mean the global share price index has now fallen 19.8 percent since the start of 2018 and is 12.4 percent lower than a year ago.

“The underperformance of airline shares relative to global equities over both periods reflects investor concerns about the impact of rising costs on airline financial performance,’’ IATA said.

See the world’s best airlines for 2019

IATA said its initial airline financial data for the third quarter of 2018 showed that the squeeze on airline profit margins was continuing.

It looked at the earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) margin for 27 airlines and found it fell from 13.5 percent of revenues in the third quarter of 2018 compared to 16.5 percent a year ago.

Net profits were around $US1.2 billion lower.

The airline group said the October spike in crude oil and jet fuel prices were driven in part by concerns about the impact on global supply of US sanctions on Iran.

“But oil prices had fallen back sharply as the market reassessed near-term supply and demand,’’ it said.

“Indeed, oil markets posted their longest ever losing streak in early November, with the Brent crude benchmark price falling for 10 out of 11 trading sessions.

“At the time of writing, Brent is around 20 percent lower than its early-October peak at around $US69/bbl.

“To be clear, this is still around 8 percent higher than it stood a year ago.

“Nonetheless, there has been a big turnaround from the greater than 50 percent annual growth rates seen just a month ago.”

The investigation into the loss the Lion Air 737 MAX on October 29 has developed into complex scrutiny of the latest model of the Boeing 737, not all of which is flattering with only a few facts and a little fiction creeping in.

Like so many crash investigations a lack of information is fueling speculation and it appears that a secondary issue relating to the 737 MAX design software may be leading the focus away from the central issue of what caused the crash and why the aircraft wasn’t grounded.

Boeing is correctly silent on the issue of the Lion Air crash as under ICAO rules the Indonesians are leading the investigation. Boeing and the US NTSB are parties to the investigation but their ability to comment publicly must wait to when the reports are issued.

READ: Best airlines for 2019

What we know, and central to the investigation, is that the Lion Air accident aircraft suffered three prior upsets caused by erroneous speed and Angle of Attack (AOA) data, which appears to fault the Pitot Tube and Static Port system and the AOA vane.

On three occasions the pilots of the flights managed to fly the aircraft to its destination and apparently write up the problems to be attended to by maintenance engineers. Lion Air confirms this.

The first question is however what did they write up and was it detailed enough? Sometimes pilots will jot brief notes and the engineers are left wondering.

Secondly after TWO upsets why wasn’t the aircraft pulled from service? And after THREE upsets surely someone must have said we have a serious problem and this aircraft must be grounded.

To the fatal flight, we still do not have the Cockpit Voice Recorder and that will be critical to understanding exactly what the pilots were thinking and why.

We know they encountered the same speed and AOA issues as earlier flights but then lost control of the aircraft.

Enter Boeing’s new Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (M-CAS) to assist pilots flying the 737 MAX manually.

According to an engineer who spoke to Airlineratings.com the system was added to the MAX to compensate for the higher thrust engines which are also positioned differently on the wing which leads to a nose-up tendency in manual control.

The system aids the pilots but acts more like a background monitoring program on a computer like an anti-virus program.  Its major function is to trim the stabilizer nose down – to prevent a stall- and activates when the Angle of Attack exceeds a limit based on airspeed and altitude data feed.

It can be simply deactivated when the STAB TRIM CUTOUT switches are moved to CUTOUT and then the pilot trims the aircraft manually.

This problem – Runaway Stabilizer – is covered in the Flight Crew Operations Manual Bulletin alert – sent out after the crash – which simply reminds pilots of actions to take if there is a Runaway Stabilizer Trim. These memory items are in the manual, as is the M-CAS system.

Erroneous AOA data – which can impact any aircraft – can cause a host of problems and the solutions are covered in the Boeing manuals. Also, the pilots can visually see the stabilizer trim wheels in the cockpit and would know that it was pushing the nose down.

According to one former Australian crash investigator Boeing didn’t alert pilots to the background M-CAS as its complex and can be easily disconnected by following existing actions for Runaway Stabilizer.

He maintains that accusations that Boeing hid the system are simply not true. “Why would they?” “Why would they “hide” a system that helps a pilot?

However, the Allied Pilots Association is not happy. They told CNN that they rejected Boeing’s assertion that a safety bulletin issued last week was meant to reinforce procedures already in the 737 MAX flight manual.

“They (Boeing) didn’t provide us all the info we rely on when we fly an aircraft,” Captain Dennis Tajer, a spokesman for the group told CNN. “The bulletin is not re-affirming, it’s enlightening and adding new info.”

But the Australia crash investigator counters that saying “this is all about not overloading the pilot with too much information or alarms. Besides the US pilot union also says there is not a safety issue with the MAX and it has been flying for over 2 1/2 years and 219 have been delivered.

Qantas and American Airlines have been accused of driving Qatar Airways out of the oneworld alliance it joined in 2013.

Qatar will undertake a last round of negotiations but group chief Akbar Al Baker warned on Tuesday that he intends to leave.

“The purpose of the alliance for us is defeated, therefore we don’t want to waste our time,” Al Baker said.

“We will see if our impasse with them can be resolved, if not then we don’t need to be in the alliance, we can survive without them.”

Al Baker emphasized during a conference in Madrid hosted by the International Air Transport Association  that he was  “impatient” and did not want to wait much longer to take a decision.

READ: Qatar wins AirlineRatings.com best business class and catering awards

He strongly hinted of possibly going his own way in terms of an alliance.

“We have the potential to form our own alliance, especially with the ownership of Qatar Airways in LATAM, IAG and Air Italy,” he said. “Qatar Airways will be interested in other investments soon that will give us even more synergies to make our own alliance of this group.”

Al Baker told a media briefing he was initially happy as a member of oneworld.

“I was very satisfied with the alliance when everybody was minding his own business,” he said. “As soon as American Airlines started minding my business I realized there was no point for us to be in this alliance as it was only a one-way street.”

Qatar Airways and American Airlines’s CEO Doug Parker have crossed swords in recent years when the big three Us carriers US spearheaded a lobbying effort in Washington DC aimed at curbing market access in the US by Gulf carriers.

Al Baker sees this as the disloyal behavior of a fellow alliance partner.

“The CEO of American does not realize that I (as shareholder of IAG) own 21 percent of his Transatlantic Joint Venture, so he is my partner, I’m not his partner,” he said

“So he should not talk against Qatar Airways all the time because his airline is the worst performer in America out of the three major US carriers.”

American had already severed its code-sharing ties with Qatar Airways and also lost its formerly close partnership with Etihad, as well as becoming estranged of former allies Gulf Air and Jet Airways in India.

“We never applied to be in oneworld, we were invited,” Al Baker added. “It was my wish to join Star, but oneworld approached us. The person that invited me is the same person now constantly attacking Qatar at American Airlines. So good luck to them.”

Qantas also came under fire from Al Baker for inflicting “hurtful” experiences on Qatar.

“Qantas is constantly slandering Qatar’s entry into Australia whilst they are welcoming Emirates, which is not part of their alliance as Qatar is,” he said. “Criticizing Qatar of receiving subsidies while they themselves are receiving subsidies from (Australian) states to operate from certain airports.

“They are challenging our capacity into Australia, whereas they are fine when Emirates is dumping huge capacity onto Australia whilst we are not.”

Recently, the chief executive of IAG, Willie Walsh, said it was likely Qatar would exit the alliance.

Al Baker made it clear that despite Qatar’s investment in IAG, it was entirely up to IAG to remain part of Oneworld.

Qantas said whether or not Qatar remained with oneworld was a decision for the Gulf carrier.

It said a recent decision by the Australian government not to grant Qatar more access to Australia  was a question of international trade and made in the national interest.

Governments in the US and Europe knew Qatar had received billions in state-subsidies, leading to half-empty flights and unfair competition, it said.

“The decision by the Federal Government to pause more growth by Qatar into Australia shows they understand this, too,” it said.

“Qantas has no issue with tough competition – but we expect it to be fair. It’s a point we will keep making.”

On another note, the Qatar CEO clarified the latest shift in the carrier’s narrow-body order with Airbus, which ran into trouble after the originally ordered A320neos experienced teething engine troubles.

“We have converted our A320/321neo orders to 50 aircraft of the A321neo, including ten A321neoLRs,” Al Baker said, adding that the first aircraft would arrive in the first half of 2020.

Al Baker was optimistic this time around the engines would not affect the order, noting that most of the problems with the Pratt & Whitney engines had apparently been resolved ahead of  Qatar’s deliveries.

He also criticized that the  aviation industry for its reliance on two engine manufacturers who were already stretched to the limit.

“There is a lack of investment in the supply chain, this will be a very big challenge with the whole industry just relying on General Electric and Rolls-Royce,” he said.

The Australian aviation regulator upgraded its surveillance of Lion Air affiliates Malindo Air and Batik Air in the wake of the tragic crash off Jakarta.

But it says it has not found any significant problems

Civil Aviation Safety Authority aviation safety director Shane Carmody said the authority had been doing increased ramp inspections in Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

Carmody said he wasn’t convinced that CASA would find anything wrong either airline but believed the inspections were important because they needed to be done and the airlines were subsidiary operations of Lion Air.

“And as subsidiary operators, you really need to get out there and do something,” he said at the sidelines of the Australian Airports Association national conference in Brisbane.

“Now we still don’t know what caused that accident of course. But putting it nicely, I want them and their owners to know that we’re there.

“And the best way I can do it with a quick turnaround is to say that when they land in Australia that somebody’s had a look. They log it and say: ‘Tthe regulator here was all over us’. That’s what I want. That’s the best I can do in the circumstances.’’

Carmody said he expected Lion Air would be focused on safety after the tragedy that took 189 lives on October 29 shortly after flight JT 610 took off from Jakarta.

“After a tragedy like that, if I was running that business I would be devastated operationally, personally and professionally,’’ he said. “But it can’t be business as usual.

“You can’t just say well we lost one yesterday and we’ll just keep on flying today. There have to be consequences, you’ve got to know people are looking and you’ve got to do better in that space.’’

Indonesian authorities last weekend called off the search for victims of the Lion Air tragedy but say they are continuing to look for the cockpit voice recorder.

READ: Search for Lion Air bodies called off.

The effort to retrieve victims was downgraded to a monitoring exercise after searchers failed to find additional bodies and said they had covered the crash area.

Crash investigators have already retrieved and downloaded information from the flight data recorder but say they need the cockpit recorder to completely understand the plane’s crucial final moments.