Safety, Ops & Regulation

Britain’s House of Lords has joined four British airlines in lobbying the UK Treasury to consider abolishing Air Passenger Duty (APD).

Air Malta will reorganize its senior management structure in a bid to move the airline into the second stage of its restructuring plan.

Australia’s competition watchdog has warned that Virgin Australia’s proposed acquisition of a 60% stake in Tiger Airways Australia could limit competition.

Iberia’s trade unions have rejected the airline’s final offer and have warned of strike action as early as Feb. 18.

Air Canada posted 2012 net income of C$131 million ($131.5 million), reversed from a C$249 million net loss in 2011.

Boeing and SilkAir have signed a five-year exclusive pilot training agreement to support SilkAir’s fleet transition to Boeing aircraft.

American Airlines and US Airways are reportedly nearing agreement on a merger, though nothing is finalized and neither company is commenting.

Kuwaiti carrier Jazeera Airways reported a 2012 net profit of KD13.9 million ($49.3 million), up 32% from KD10.5 million in 2011.

Boeing has promoted Matt Ganz to president of Boeing Germany and Northern Europe as well as VP-European Technology Strategy.

Air Berlin will eliminate several crew bases as part of its cost-cutting program, Turbine 2013.

LOT Polish Airlines has reappointed Sebastian Mikosz as CEO, who had resigned from the position in September 2010.

Airbus parent EADS has proposed 12 new board members as part of its organizational revamp.

Calgary-based WestJet posted a 2012 net profit of C$242.4 million ($242.8 million), up 63% from C$148.7 million net income in 2011.

UK regional carrier Flybe has agreed to create a new carrier, Flybe Ireland, with Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair.

Aer Lingus reported a 2012 net profit of €34.1 million ($46.1 million), down 52% from €71.2 million in 2011.

Five Forty Aviation has withdrawn the brand license for African low-cost carrier Fastjet.

Thomas Cook Group has detailed plans to bring together its Belgian, German and UK airlines under a new structure and leadership team.

AD Aerospace has appointed Andrew Rushton as business development manager in response to the growing demand for its state-of-the-art CCTV solutions for safety and security of aircraft. The 30-year aerospace veteran has formerly served in technical and sales departments for companies including Boeing, BAE Systems and Thales. Avantair has named veteran finance and customer service executive David Haslett as its new COO. Haslett is former managing director of Sportech Racing.

Hawaiian Airlines and its flight attendants have reached a tentative agreement on new contract terms covering the operation of Airbus A321neos.

Air Berlin has raised its Turbine 2013 cost-cutting goal from €400 million ($534.9 million) to €450 million by the end of 2014.

The European Regions Airline Association (ERA) is looking to expand to new regions including Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

Rising debt and idle aircraft have pushed Kingfisher Airlines losses to INR7.55 billion ($141.8 million) in the October-December 2012 quarter.

A Carpatair ATR 72-500 on Saturday suffered a runway excursion due to “strong shear wind conditions” while landing at Rome Fiumicino Airport.

M1 Composites Technology has opened a 24,000 sq. ft. composites repair facility and manufacturing plant in Montreal to provide rapid turnaround of damaged commercial and military aircraft components. MNG Technic won a contract from Oren Air to provide base maintenance services covering four Boeing 737-800s. C checks will take place at MNG Technic facilities at Istanbul Ataturk Airport.

GE Aviation and Aldus Aviation have signed an MOU to develop a support package for CFM International CF34-8E and CF34-10E engines, aimed at lessors.