Aviation

  Bloomberg President Donald Trump is calling for privatizing the nation’s air traffic control operations in his budget proposal, a top priority of the airline industry. The proposal says spinning off air traffic operations from the Federal Aviation Administration and placing them under an “independent, non-governmental organization” would make the system “more efficient and innovative while maintaining safety.” There are ...

  Bloomberg Pakistan barred the first foreign national chief executive of the state-owned national airline from leaving the country as the government begins an investigation into a plane-lease contract. Bernd Hildenbrand, the German head of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) Corp., has been put on a so-called exit control list and the nation’s anti-graft Federal Investigation Agency has been directed to ...

  Bloomberg French authorities joined the UK in a corruption probe of Airbus Group SE centered on allegations of fraudulent practices related to selling planes and arranging aircraft financing. The probe by the Parquet National Financier follows steps by the UK’s Serious Fraud Office in August to look into possible bribery and corruption in Airbus’s civil aviation business related to ...

  Dubai / Emirates Business As passenger volumes continue to grow and airlines worldwide expand their fleets, airport infrastructure is fast becoming a growth bottleneck. Privatisation has an important role to play in eliminating this barrier to growth, according to Oliver Wyman’s ‘Leveraging the Private Sector to Improve Airport Infrastructure’ report. The paper examines the issues and challenges of airport ...

  Bloomberg Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. set a target to save 30 percent in employee costs at its Hong Kong head office as part of the biggest revamp in two decades, amid mounting competition that caused the carrier to post its first annual loss in eight years. The savings will come from changes to middle to senior management that will ...

  Bloomberg British Airways owner IAG SA will begin offering cut-price inter-continental flights from June using a new airline to be branded ‘Level’ that could operate more than 30 aircraft. The startup will initially connect Barcelona with Los Angeles and Oakland in California, the Argentinian capital Buenos Aires, and Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic, with tickets priced from 99 ...

  Bloomberg A single-aisle passenger jet that is being built by the Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China is set for its first test flight by the end of next month, according to Philippe Petitcolin, chief executive officer of Safran SA, an aircraft engine maker. Any problems with taxi trials may alter the schedule, Petitcolin said in an interview in Paris. ...

  Abu Dhabi / Emirates Business Etihad Airways is introducing its award-winning A380 on the Abu Dhabi – Paris route this summer as part of seasonal adjustments to the airline’s fleet deployment plan. Featuring the carrier’s revolutionary The Residence – the world’s first three-room suite on a commercial airliner – the aircraft will operate on one of its twice-daily services ...

  Bloomberg Chief Executive Officer Alan Joyce, who is steering Qantas Airways Ltd. through a successful three-year transformation, has one word of advice for Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. — adapt. On Wednesday, Hong Kong’s flagship carrier reported its first annual loss since 2008 as declining demand for business travel and competition from Chinese rivals eroded earnings. While Joyce’s restructuring at ...

  Bloomberg Deutsche Lufthansa AG said a slide in fares triggered by excess capacity is beginning to slow, easing the burden on earnings as fuel costs rise. Adjusted operating profit will decline “slightly” in 2017 after the figure dropped 3.6 percent to 1.75 billion euros ($1.9 billion) last year, Lufthansa said in a statement on Thursday. The guidance for this ...