September, 2016

• 17 September

  Lufthansa fails to secure pilots deal

    Bloomberg Deutsche Lufthansa AG’s pilot union said negotiations over pay, pensions and promotion have failed, adding to concern about the carrier’s debt and liabilities after S&P Global Ratings cited pension costs as a prime reason for putting it on watch for possible credit downgrade. Talks that began early this year on contracts and career paths for flight crew at ...

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• 17 September

  S African Air says competition, weak Rand lead to loss

  

    Bloomberg South African Airways said tougher competition, rising finance costs and a weakening of the rand led to the state-owned carrier’s biggest loss in more than a decade. The loss of 4.7 billion rand ($331 million) in the year through March 2015 was also exacerbated by the outbreak of the Ebola virus in West Africa, which hurt traffic between ...

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• 17 September

  Pratt & Whitney cuts jet-engine delivery goal

    Bloomberg Pratt & Whitney cut the 2016 target for deliveries of its new jet engine as the company grapples with production issues that have marred the turbine’s rollout. The engine maker will hand over about 150 units this year, down from the 200 it previously expected, according to Greg Hayes, chief executive officer of Pratt parent United Technologies Corp. ...

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• 17 September

  Air France valuation lures buyers where many fear to go

  

    Bloomberg Even by the cut-throat standards of the aviation industry, Air France-KLM Group has been a dire case: labor fights that have turned violent, cost-cutting efforts blocked by politicians, low-cost carriers aggressively taking over its home market. Yet more investors are starting to buy in. The arrival in July of new Chief Executive Officer Jean-Marc Janaillac, who promises a ...

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• 17 September

  iPhone launch generates euphoria and dejection

  

    AFP Apple’s global iPhone launch was marked by excitement and frustration as fans queued to find scarce models of the coveted smartphone. Scenes in Apple stores around the world were reminiscent of days before online ordering became a norm and people camped out for days to be first to get hands on the California company’s iPhone 7 and 7 ...

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• 17 September

  Samsung recalls 1mn smartphones

  

    AFP The US Consumer Product Safety Commission announced a recall of around one million Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphones plagued by incidents of batteries bursting into flames. The move by the US safety agency formalizes the recall underway in 10 countries after reports of faulty batteries that caused some handsets to explode during charging. Samsung meanwhile announced replacements for ...

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• 17 September

  Curalate unveils vertical video product

  

    Bloomberg Tech company Curalate is jumping on the vertical video trend, made popular by Snapchat and Instagram, with a new product. The company has introduced its new ad product Tilt, designed to promote vertical videos, reports the Wall Street Journal. Curalate’s first Tilt partner will be clothing store Urban Outfitters, which has developed a new mobile site called UOTV ...

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• 17 September

  Wearable tech market cools, as consumers step back

  

    AFP Wearable tech, which was seeing sizzling sales growth a year ago, is cooling this year amid consumer hesitation over new devices, a survey showed. The research firm IDC said it expects global sales of wearables to grow some 29.4 percent to some 103 million units in 2016. That follows 171 percent growth in 2015, fueled by the launch ...

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• 17 September

  These cars won’t drive you to distraction

  

    Relaxnews The inaugural WardsAuto Top 10 Best User Experience Awards highlight those cars where technology and infotainment systems are a pleasure rather than a punishment to use. Why is a user interface like a joke? If it needs to be explained, it’s not very good. This programmer’s mantra is very quickly moving from software and website design and into ...

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• 17 September

  Crude glut belies risk from OPEC’s output cushion

  

    Bloomberg As most of the world focuses on how unfettered oil production will weigh on prices, a few say a rebound is on the cards as the market starts to reflect a growing risk of shortages. OPEC’s strategy of keeping its taps open is leaving a smaller cushion if there’s an unexpected need for more oil. The group’s spare ...

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