Etihad boss meets Italian PM with Alitalia deal close: Ansa

Etihad Airways boss James Hogan met with Italy's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi on Thursday, as his company nears a deal to purchase a stake in debt-laden Alitalia airline, Italian media reported.

The meeting took place in the prime minister's official residence with Renzi's right-hand man cabinet secretary Graziano Delrio also attending.

The Ansa news agency cited sources saying that a deal on could be in place "within hours".

On Tuesday, Italy's Transport Minister Maurizio Lupi told a Senate hearing that Abu Dhabi-based Etihad had completed its assessment on whether to purchase a stake in Alitalia and that a draft deal could be imminent.

Italian business daily Il Sole 24 Ore also on Tuesday said Etihad was planning to buy a stake of around 40 per cent, which would make it by far the biggest shareholder in the carrier and respect the 49.9-percent limit for non-European airlines.

It also said Etihad could invest between 300 million and 500 million euros ($414 million and $690 million) in return for a restructuring plan that would include up to 3,000 job cuts and an upgrade of infrastructure.

Alitalia in February reached a deal with trade unions for the equivalent of 1,900 job cuts and in September last year shareholders gave unanimous approval for a capital increase to save the airline from bankruptcy.

Etihad is expanding rapidly and has bought minor shares in several smaller carriers including Air Berlin and India's Jet Airways as it competes with larger Gulf rivals Emirates and Qatar Airways.

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IATA wants crackdown on unruly flight passengers

The International Air Transport Association urged governments on Thursday to take stronger action against unruly passengers on commercial flights.

The Montreal-based global airline alliance agreed at a diplomatic conference last week on changes to the Tokyo Convention of 1963, which provides the legal framework for dealing with passengers whose unruly or otherwise disruptive behavior leads to violence or threatens flight safety.

"This agreement is good news for everybody who flies -- passengers and crew alike," IATA Director General and CEO Tony Tyler said in a statement.

"The changes, along with the measures already being taken by airlines, will provide an effective deterrent for unacceptable behavior on board aircraft.

"But governments must now follow up on the success of the diplomatic conference and ratify the new protocol."

About 300 incidents of unruly behavior are reported each week.

"We urge governments to move quickly," Tyler added.

The changes, agreed at the conference attended by officials from about 100 governments, will come into force once 22 states ratify the protocol to the Tokyo Convention.

The protocol namely allows authorities not only in the country in which the aircraft was registered but also in the destination country to take legal action against unruly passengers.

The move closes a loophole the IATA said had allowed "many" serious offenses to go unpunished.

Among the agreed changes, the protocol more clearly defines unruly behavior -- to include both the threat of or actual physical assault, or the refusal to follow safety instructions -- and helps recover major costs associated with the misbehavior.

"Unruly passengers are a very small minority," Tyler said.

"But unacceptable behavior on board an aircraft can have serious consequences for the safety of all on board. The goal is to effectively deter such behavior and ensure safe flights for all by making the consequences of such behavior clear and enforceable."

The aviation body has 240 members that account for 84 per cent of total air traffic worldwide.

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Tigerair will roar again: CEO

Budget carrier Tigerair has suffered a bumpy ride recently, but CEO Koay Peng Yen, told CNBC's Managing Asia he's confident the airline will soon return to its glory days.

As Singapore's first budget carrier offering no frills service at affordable rates, Tigerair enjoyed exponential growth in the first seven years of operation. But its fortunes nosedived in July 2011 when the Australian Civil Aviation Authority grounded its operations for six weeks leading to losses of 104 million Singapore dollars ($83.18 million) that financial year and a change in chief executive officer.

"We will make Tigerair roar again. Tigerair will emerge stronger and better," said Koay.

"We have reported operating losses, we can't be continuing on that basis. So the plan is to actually turn it around - we have put a few things in place to address that," he added.

The budget carrier, which flies some 10 million passengers to over 50 destinations across Asia Pacific annually and is partly owned by Singapore Airlines, has undergone a major makeover. It partially offloaded its Australian subsidiary in July 2013 and sold off its Philippines offshoot when it divested its 40 percent stake to Philippines budget carrier Cebu Air earlier this year but maintained an alliance with the firm.

Tigerair reported net and operating losses for the three months to December 2013 of 119 million Singapore dollars in January. The company's shares - traded in Singapore - have slumped 37 percent over the past 12 months.

Despite negative sentiment, Koay said he's confident the carrier's turnaround plan was in full swing.

"There are a few phases that we are focusing on. The first phase - what I call the putting out the fires phase - we have completed that. We are now in the second and third phases of our turnaround," he added.

The second phase will involve managing capacity and refocusing operations in Singapore through alliances, he said.

The Tigerair CEO told CNBC that currency weakness in both Indonesia and the Philippines has proven problematic.

"We have lost money in our investment in the Philippines, and those have been written off. We are going to start a new chapter," he added.

Tigerair's operations in Indonesia have also been a trouble spot for the airline recently, with talk of a potential sale as the airline has faced tough competition from other budget carriers like LionAir, AirAsia and Garuda.

"The rupiah hit us a lot. As you know, the rupiah went down over 20 percent in the second half of last year, so that has added stress to the company," he said.

He said he was combating this headwind by expanding internationally and had recently added new flights from both Bali and Jakarta to Hong Kong, stressing that the firm would focus on flights that raise the highest yields.

Following Tigerair's sale of 60 percent of its Australian unit to Virgin Australia, Peng Yen said it would be premature to start talking about an exit from Australia.

"We can't keep on losing money in Australia... so we are looking forward to having a turnaround," he added.

The recent disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 flight in a month ago has cast a dark shadow over the airline industry amid safety concerns.

"Whenever there is an aircraft incident, we also pour over the details to find out what are the learning points, and how we can do it better," added Koay.

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Week 53: PPL Flight School Week 22

It was an uneventful week, with one flight planned on Thursday which got cancelled due to pretty strong crosswind, so I didn't get the chance to go for my second solo nav flight. The school is undergoing some management change and manpower reassignment, things are slowing down a little but it's only temporary. When the people up there are settled, the flying will pick up again, thus a little more patience will be needed on my side.

Well eventually I got too bored staying at home the whole week and went for a 1.5hr drive to Bendigo to visit the temple as it's the Qing Ming Festival weekend. I've been missing out on a lot with my time spent here in Australia. Hopefully it won't be long before I complete the necessary hours and head for home.

12 days without flying, a new record. Really missing the feeling.

Sleeping cat

The road to Bendigo

American classic used as the wedding car

Cool interior

Wedding is a simple affair here

Bendigo airport

Wooden propeller

Refuelling. 1 litre of AVGAS costs A$2.210. This Piper is about 300litres full tanks. Do the math.

US allows Boeing to sell plane parts to Iran

The United States has issued a license allowing Boeing to do business with Iran for the first time since the US embargo of 1979, a company spokesman told AFP on Friday.

The license covers a "limited period of time" and allows Boeing only "to provide them spare parts that are for safety purposes."

Boeing will still not be allowed to sell new planes to Iran, the spokesman said.

The license was granted by the US Treasury Department in the context of an interim deal between world powers and Iran over its nuclear program signed in November, the spokesman added.

At the end of February, another US company, General Electric, indicated it had requested permission to sell spare airliner parts to Iran, but so far it has not received a response.

The United States and European nations have imposed severe economic sanctions on Iran in recent years aiming to pressure Tehran to reduce permanently, or at least long term, the scope of its nuclear activities to make it extremely difficult for it ever to develop nuclear weapons.

Iran has always denied any such ambition.

The sanctions were partially lifted in January, after Iran agreed to freeze a part of its contested program.

The West and Tehran are currently negotiating a definitive agreement which would guarantee Iran's nuclear program would be peaceful, and would ultimately lead to all sanctions being lifted.

Washington severed diplomatic relations with Iran in the aftermath of the 1979 Islamic revolution.

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Judge declares Mexicana airline bankrupt

A Mexican judge has declared Mexicana de Aviacion, one of Latin America's oldest airlines, bankrupt and ordered the sale of the debt-ridden company's assets, a court said on Friday.

The company, founded in 1921, had suspended its operations in August 2010 and was under a form of bankruptcy protection allowing the company to negotiate with creditors and make restructuring plans.

Investors expressed interest in the company but a financial rescue never materialized, despite extensions given by the court to provide the company more time to find a solution.

A district judge declared the company "in a state of bankruptcy" and ordered the sale of "rights and assets" to pay back lenders, the Federal Judicial Council said in a statement.

Two subsidiaries, Click and Link, were also declared bankrupt.

When it suspended operations, Mexicana had US$786 million in assets and debts totalling US$864 million.

The airline used to fly to 22 countries, carrying 22,000 passengers per day. The company had 8,500 employees who have held protests demanding their jobs back.

A union official vowed to appeal the judge's ruling.

"What we care most about is the workers and that their rights are upheld," Ricardo del Valle, secretary general of the Flight Attendants Union Association, told Radio Formula.

The attorney general's office has sought since February the arrest of Mexicana's former owner, Gaston Azcarraga. Authorities asked help from Interpol, the global police agency, because they believe he left Mexico.

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Lufthansa calls for reform of right to strike

The head of Lufthansa called for a reform of workers' right to strike on Friday as the biggest strike in the airline's history entered its third and final day.

While Lufthansa chief executive Christoph Franz insisted that the right to strike was a constitutional right, "from our point of view, there must be a guarantee that critical infrastructure is kept up and running.

"And that includes railways and air traffic control," Franz told the business daily Handelsblatt in an interview.

Lufthansa's pilots have been on strike since Wednesday, grounding most of the airline's flights and leaving as many as 425,000 passengers without a connection.

Lufthansa cancelled around 3,800 flights on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday as a result of the walkout by pilots who are demanding better pay and retirement conditions.

While the walkout is expected to cost Lufthansa tens of millions of euros (dollars), no travel chaos has ensued because Lufthansa was able to warn passengers in advance and help them make alternative travel arrangements.

The strike has come under heavy fire from politicians and industry, but a poll by ARD public television showed that the majority of Germans supported the pilots' industrial action.

As many as 55 per cent of those surveyed said they understood the pilots' position versus 42 per cent against, the poll found.

Nevertheless, the level of support is still much lower than two years ago when 75 per cent of Germans said they understood a strike by cabin staff.

Lufthansa CEO Franz has said he expects services to return to normal on Saturday, even if there might be a few isolated disruptions for operational reasons.

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