Aviation

Bloomberg All eight South African Airways flights between Harare and Johannesburg were canceled on Saturday when the Zimbabwe government demanded a foreign operators permit, a day after an Air Zimbabwe plane was grounded in the South African city for similar reasons. The decisions to halt the flights came as Zimbabwe seeks diplomatic immunity in South Africa for President Robert Mugabe’s ...

Bloomberg For the well-heeled looking for a last-minute plan to see next week’s solar eclipse, a US private-jet operator is offering an option for $10,000 a seat. Million Air is whisking customers to remote airports where the moon will totally block the sun’s rays for a time on August 21. Passengers will watch from lawn chairs near the wings of ...

Bloomberg It’s taken five years, but the merger that created Latin America’s largest airline might finally be bearing fruit. Latam Airlines Group SA, once the world’s most valuable carrier, is in its strongest financial condition since predecessor Lan Airlines bought Brazil’s TAM in 2012, said Chief Financial Officer Ramiro Alfonsin. The airline has had to navigate Brazil’s worst recession in ...

Bloomberg Air Berlin Plc’s insolvency could open the way for Deutsche Lufthansa AG to add new hubs for inter-continental flights while allowing short-haul discount specialist EasyJet Plc to boost its presence in the German capital. The ailing carrier’s Berlin and Dusseldorf bases would provide Lufthansa’s lower-cost Eurowings arm with a chance to expand a long-haul network currently limited to Cologne-Bonn ...

Bloomberg Indian airport operators surged after the country’s top court allowed them to use airport land for commercial purposes, rejecting the government’s objections. Private airport operators can now take advantage of a new civil aviation policy unveiled last year that liberalised norms, allowing commercial use of airport land, a two-judge bench headed by J. Chelameswar ruled, upholding a previous lower ...

Bloomberg Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. saw some rare analyst love this week, but it wasn’t enough to shift it from its unenviable position as the world’s least favoured airline stock. The Hong Kong-based carrier’s biggest half-yearly loss in two decades saw some analysts boost their ratings on the shares this week—on expectations things can only get better for the beleaguered ...

Bloomberg Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. is slipping in its efforts to get passengers to pay more for its premium services in a test for new Chief Executive Officer Rupert Hogg as the company reported back-to-back losses. Passenger yields continued to decline in the first half of the year, led by its services to North America and Europe, as discounts to ...

Reuters Air Berlin’s chief executive blamed long delays in the opening of a new Berlin airport for the German airline’s insolvency in an interview published by Germany’s Die Zeit. “Air Berlin is also a victim of the constant postponements of the new airport,” the weekly newspaper quoted Thomas Winkelmann as saying. Winkelmann’s comments came a day after Air Berlin, Germany’s ...

Bloomberg Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways withdrew its financial support to German carrier Air Berlin Plc, which has filed for insolvency on Tuesday. In an official statement, Etihad Airways said that this latest development is “extremely disappointing for all parties,” especially as the state-owned airline “has provided extensive support to Air Berlin for its previous liquidity challenges and restructuring efforts over ...

Bloomberg It’s time for Cathay Pacific boss Rupert Hogg to go to the back of the plane. With the company expected to announce another loss this week, Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. needs to shift strategy from being the region’s top airline for premium fliers and make a bigger effort to woo some of the millions of mainland leisure travelers who ...