Aviation

  New York / AFP Airbnb is in talks to secure a new round of investment that would value the company at around $30 billion, the New York Times reported on Wednesday. If it succeeds in securing the new funds, the short-term home rental company will have tripled its valuation in two years, the Times said citing anonymous sources. The daily ...

  Washington / Bloomberg United Continental Holdings Inc. reached a breakthrough in its negotiations with labour unions after a group backed a tentative deal to bring 25,000 flight attendants under a single labour contract for the first time since the merger that created the airline almost six years ago. “We have a tentative agreement,” the joint master executive council of ...

  Singapore / Bloomberg Within weeks of India easing aviation rules, Singapore Airlines Ltd.’s local venture is charting a course to take on carriers from the Middle East. It’s counting on a surge in international traffic from the world’s fastest growing major air-travel market. Vistara, in which the city-state’s flag carrier owns 49 percent, is considering buying or leasing wide ...

  New York / Bloomberg Allegiant Airlines is taking advantage of a regulatory decision lifting some flight restrictions at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, starting service to four destinations in November. It will be Allegiant’s first flights in the New York City market, said Lukas Johnson, a vice president for parent Allegiant Travel Co. The carrier will fly ...

  Ankara / Bloomberg Short sellers are targeting Turkish Airlines as it presses on with expanding capacity while the country’s tourism industry withers. As much as 13.8 percent of the company’s shares that are available for trading are out on loan to short sellers betting they will fall in value, according to Markit Ltd. That’s the highest on record for ...

  London / Bloomberg EasyJet Plc joined British Airways owner IAG SA in warning that a drop in travel demand and a slump in the value of sterling following the UK vote to quit the European Union will hurt earnings for the rest of the summer. Shares of Luton, England-based EasyJet fell as much as 19 percent and were priced ...

  Washington / Bloomberg Spirit Airlines Inc. wants to eliminate its reputation for late arrivals, but has no illusions it will ever be No. 1 for being on-time. Traditionally saddled with one of the worst on-time performances among U.S. carriers, the ultra-low-cost airline will try to improve its rate by 10 percentage points this year as one of several steps ...

  Washington / TNS A lack of staff to train air traffic controllers means it can take six years — twice the norm — for the new hires to become fully certified at the busiest US control facilities, according to industry experts and government reports. The training delays come as the National Air Traffic Controllers Association says it faces a ...

  London / AFP Britain’s vote to leave the EU could open a period of turbulence for the country’s airline industry, which has soared under the EU’s Single European Sky system over the last two decades. Among the mass of agreements that Britain will have to renegotiate with Brussels are those governing flights between Britain and the rest of the European ...

  New Delhi / TNS It can’t get any cheaper. Major Indian low-fare airlines have slashed fares by at least 30% to beat the lean season. From June to mid-October, it is lean season for airlines, while the summer quarter of April to June is peak travel season as schools close for holidays. “We have noticed that fares have come ...