Japan Airlines, seeking to cut corporate pensions, expects to get the necessary consent of two-thirds of its 8,800 retired workers. Struggling to restructure and criticized for paying excessive pensions, the company has surveyed its retirees to test their willingness to accept its proposed 30% cut in pension benefits. The survey found 65% were willing, enough to ensure approval if fewer than 200 of the 1,200 non-responding retirees also accept —although, importantly, they will have to positively do so by returning forms.

Boeing’s Shanghai airframe maintenance shop is aiming at equaling western labor efficiency with its new Chinese work force, presenting a challenge to local as well as international rivals. Within three years, the aircraft maker and junior partner Shanghai Airlines should be in a position to expand the MRO plant, says Boeing Shanghai Aviation Services CEO Bernard Hensey. But first the plant should achieve the three targets of high-quality output, western labor efficiency, and integration with Boeing’s own support and engineering business.

Relaxed ownership restrictions on Qantas will improve the chances of the Australian carrier buying or being sold to another airline. If parliament enacts a policy change announced by the government on Dec. 16, foreign investors will no longer be limited to individual holdings of 25% holdings in Qantas, and the total holding by foreign airlines will no longer be limited to 35%.