Bloomberg Ask a harried air traveler about the basics of modern flight, and you’ll probably elicit surprise when they discover commercial airplanes fly only as fast as they did in the 1950s. Given the range of aerospace advances in the past half-century, plus the technological leaps in almost every other area of human endeavor, it seems reasonable to ask: …

  Karachi / AFP Pakistan’s national flag carrier said it has raised $130 million in fresh financing from a banking consortium, as the airline staggers under the weight of earlier loans totalling more than $3 billion. Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) said in a statement the financing facility was arranged by Pakistan’s United Bank Limited (UBL) and Credit Suisse Singapore as …

  Bloomberg Weak global growth and uncertainty over interest rates are among rising ‘headwinds’ that threaten to drag on Singaporean banking profits, according to the city’s central bank. The potential for spillover from vulnerabilities in China’s financial system into Asia and anti-globalization sentiment are also among challenges highlighted in the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s annual assessment of the financial sector …