Air China is poised to become the world’s sixth-largest airline, outranking Northwest Airlines and British Airways, as its parent prepares to bid for control of struggling China Eastern. The parent company says it plans comprehensive cooperation between the two airlines, not a full merger, but analysts note that integration of the businesses is the most logical and likely outcome, even if the separate brands survive, as is the case with Air France-KLM.

Water spilled from a galley shut down all electricity supplies except the emergency battery backup on a Qantas Boeing 747-400 on Jan. 7, luckily when the aircraft was just 15 minutes from landing at Bangkok after a flight from London. The plane was at 15,000 feet at the time it lost power, already descending on approach. The water, leaking through a cracked drip tray under the first-class galley, short-circuited a generator control unit, the Australian airline says.

Singapore Airlines will introduce a fourth daily flight between Singapore and Sydney from April. The Boeing 777-300ER service will take the airline’s daily capacity between the cities to 1,500 seats. The carrier has deployed its first Airbus A380 on the same route.