Singapore / AFP Global airlines are expected to post record profits of almost $40 billion this year, the head of industry body IATA said on Thursday, but he warned the sector faced threats from terrorism, a sharp rise in oil prices and protectionism. Alexandre de Juniac, who took the reins at the International Air Transport Association on September 1, ...

  Paris / AFP US online retailing giant Amazon rolled out across Europe on Thursday its section where it features hand-crafted products sold directly by artisans. More than a thousand European artisans have joined Handmade, where they can present their wares on the e-commerce website as well as explain their craft and the unique properties of each object.Amazon emerged as ...

  Bloomberg IndiGo, India’s biggest airline, will buy 20 Airbus Group SE A321neo jets instead of smaller A320neos as planned, as carriers increasingly opt for planes that can transport more passengers and fly longer distances. “IndiGo has converted 20 A320neo aircraft into A321neo,” the Gurgaon, India-based company said in an e-mailed response to questions, without providing further details. The carrier’s ...

  Bloomberg Colombia’s Avianca Holdings SA and Avianca Brasil, the two airlines controlled by the Efromovich brothers, are seeking separate international partners while maintaining a long-term goal of merging, Jose Efromovich said. “We are under confidentiality agreements’’ and many companies have shown interest, Efromovich, the chairman of Avianca Brasil, said in an interview in Sao Paulo. “We are looking for ...

  Colombo / AFP Sri Lanka’s cash-strapped national carrier is in talks to lease some of its new Airbus aircraft to Pakistan and Iran to reduce a $1 billion loss, a minister said. State Enterprise Development Minister Kabir Hashim said SriLankan Airlines was about to conclude a deal with Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) to lease out one Airbus A330. “The ...

  Bloomberg FedEx Corp., owner of the world’s largest cargo airline, raised its full-year profit forecast as continued growth in e-commerce deliveries helped push earnings for the fiscal first quarter ahead of analysts’ estimates. Higher yields on air and ground shipments and rising package volumes bolstered quarterly results, the courier said in a statement Tuesday. FedEx continued to benefit from ...

  Bloomberg China’s central bank has approved trading of credit-default swaps by financial institutions in the nation’s interbank market, as it seeks to help investors tackle rising non-payment risks among the country’s borrowers, according to people familiar with the matter. The National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors (NAFMII), a unit under the People’s Bank of China, will likely make ...

  Bloomberg Forecasts for what would be the first decline in total profits at China’s biggest banks in 10 years are raising concern in the bond market that lenders will need state help to clean up mounting bad debts. The yield premium for Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd.’s 6 percent Additional Tier 1 securities, which count as capital ...

  Bloomberg The Bank of England will cut interest rates close to zero later this year as concern persists about the longer-term impact of the Brexit vote, according to a survey. Forecasts in the latest Bloomberg monthly poll show that recent signs of strength haven’t dissuaded economists from the view that there will be a sharp cooling in growth in ...

  Bloomberg ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Co. attracted strong demand for its initial public offering of as much as 60.6 billion rupees ($904 million), as the nation’s biggest such deal in six years drew orders of more than 6.5 times the amount of stock for sale. Institutional investors subscribed to about 7.82 times the number of shares reserved for them, ...