The old guard of traditional transport and manufacturing brands are at the top of the Superbrand 2016 survey, seeing off competition from younger and “sexier” technology companies. British Airways outperformed 1,600 rivals to take the top spot for the third year in a row while watchmaker Rolex holds second place ahead of Lego and electronic goods specialist Dyson. “The rejection of the new for trusted, traditional brands continues to defy expectation that some challengers, such as technology enabled or social-based brands, would break through,” said Stephen Cheliotis, CE of The Centre for Brand Analysis, which compiled the results on behalf of Superbrands UK. “In fact the reverse is true, with conservatism evident among the British public after years of crisis." <br/>
oneworld
Airberlin is finalising its management team restructuring, which it expects to complete by Feb 22. “We have already initiated the necessary actions to improve our profitability and reduce our costs …we will continue to consistently follow this path. The remodelling of the Airberlin management board is an important element of the new strategy,” CE Stefan Pichler said. The carrier appointed Neil Mills as chief strategy & planning officer, taking over responsibility for network planning and alliances, procurement and subsidiaries Leisure Cargo and Airberlin Technik as well as facility management. Mils is formerly Flydubai CFO and SpiceJet CE. Most recently, he joined Philippine Airlines Group as chief executive advisor to lead their turnaround team. <br/>
The search for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane continues to be governed by the theory there was no control input in use for the last portion of the flight. The Australian authority in charge of the search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 says the “ghost flight theory” continues to guide its investigations. The clarification comes amid reports the theory that a rogue pilot deliberately brought down the plane could be revived. The hypothesis governing the search is that, after it had turned off course and travelled across the Malaysian peninsula, MH370 became a “ghost flight”, travelling on autopilot and crashing when its fuel ran out. The search will conclude at some point in June, depending on progress between now and then, and external factors such as weather. <br/>
Royal Jordanian Airlines has closed its US$275m dual conventional and Islamic secured syndicated facility. The facility carries a term of 5 years. Proceeds will be primarily used to consolidate and refinance the carrier’s existing debt and further support its ongoing strategic growth and turnaround plans. “This will support the airline’s plans to carry out network expansion and fleet modernisation, particularly that Royal Jordanian will introduce more Boeing 787-8s to its fleet by the end of this year. Today 5 787s have been operating since 2014,” president and CE Suleiman Obeidat said. The carrier reported in December, that it anticipates achieving a profit in its full-year results, compared to a loss of nearly JD40m (US$55m) in 2014. The carrier turned in healthy figures for the first 9 months of the year. <br/>