Bloomberg Boeing Co. skipped raising airplane prices for the first time in seven years as it contends with demand cooled by economic uncertainty, cheap oil and a glut of twin-aisle aircraft. The US planemaker typically adjusts its catalog prices for commercial aircraft once a year to reflect an internal formula that takes into account increases in the costs of ...
Read More »AirAsia to sell leasing arm to cut debt
Bloomberg AirAsia Bhd. expects to sell its aircraft-leasing unit as early as December as the largest customer for Airbus Group SE’s single-aisle jets aims to net as much as $1 billion from the transaction and pare debt. Proceeds from the sale may be used to reduce debt or pay a dividend, Group Chief Executive Officer Tony Fernandes said in ...
Read More »Southwest reaches pact on pilot contract
Bloomberg Southwest Airlines Co. and its pilots union agreed on the basics of a contract that will increase pilot pay and retirement benefits and enable the carrier to enter international marketing agreements and fly the latest model of the Boeing Co. 737. Final wording on the contract terms is expected to be negotiated by the end of this week, ...
Read More »Maiden US-Cuba commercial flight takes off
Bloomberg The first regular commercial flight in more than 50 years from the US to Cuba departed Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday — the latest step in the post-Cold War thaw between the two nations. JetBlue Flight 386 took off from the airport in southeastern Florida shortly after 10:00 am (1400 GMT) with 150 passengers on board. After less than ...
Read More »Cyprus and Egypt sign gas export pipeline agreement
AFP Cyprus and Egypt signed a deal on Wednesday paving the way for detailed negotiations on a submarine pipeline to export natural gas from the Mediterranean island to its energy-starved neighbour. Cyprus has been eager to secure alternative ways to exploit its offshore reserves after proven finds so far were insufficient to make a planned liquefied natural gas plant ...
Read More »UK drugmaker to pay $5 million over China, Russia bribes
AFP British drugmaker AstraZeneca agreed to pay more than $5 million to settle allegations that it broke US anticorruption laws in China and Russia. The Securities and Exchange Commission said that in China, employees of an AstraZeneca subsidiary offered cash and gifts to health care officials to encourage them to buy AstraZeneca drugs or reduce pending financial sanctions. In ...
Read More »Eurozone inflation, jobless data still stubbornly weak
AFP Eurozone inflation and jobless data on Wednesday fell short of analyst forecasts as the economy bumps along amid speculation the European Central Bank will have to adopt more stimulus measures. The official EU statistics agency Eurostat said eurozone consumer prices rose 0.2 percent in August, the same rate as in July. Eurozone unemployment meanwhile was unchanged at 10.1 ...
Read More »Dotcom’s extradition battle to avoid US trial goes live
AFP The protracted battle to have Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom face video piracy charges in the United States broke new ground on Wednesday with live-streaming of his appeal against extradition. Dotcom won approval to live-stream his bid to avoid leaving New Zealand after successfully arguing that global interest required more than standard brief television clips. The case, in the ...
Read More »Germany records 6.1 percent unemployment rate in Aug
AP The number of Germans without jobs dropped slightly in August in seasonally adjusted terms, leaving the unemployment rate in Europe’s largest economy unchanged at 6.1 percent. The Federal Labor Agency said on Wednesday that the number of unemployed dropped by 7,000 in August over July, slightly more than the decline of 4,000 expected by economists. In unadjusted terms, ...
Read More »Dubai top performer in office rental growth
Dubai / Emirates Business Rents on prime office assets across the MENA region continued to increase at around the same pace recording an average growth of 11.3% per annum in the year to Q2 2016 compared to 11.9% per annum in the year to Q1.This confirms the ‘2 tiered’ nature of the market across the region with demand for ...
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