Australia said debris recovered this month in Mozambique is highly likely to be from Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, while Malaysia called for a stepped up search of Africa's coast for clues to the plane's fate. Official analysis found 2 pieces of debris were "almost certainly from MH370", Australian infrastructure and transport minister Darren Chester said, referring to the Boeing 777 that vanished in March 2014. "That such debris has been found on the east coast of Africa is consistent with drift modelling…and further affirms our search efforts in the southern Indian Ocean," Chester said. In 2015, French authorities said a wing part found on the Indian Ocean island of Reunion was part of the plane. The Mozambique debris was examined by investigators from Australia and Malaysia, as well as specialists from Boeings. <br/>
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After 2 challenging years and a difficult restructuring that saw the govt delisting Malaysia Airlines from the stock exchange, the airline is ready to chart higher altitudes with better services that include fully lie-flat seats for its Business Class on its Airbus A330-300 fleet. A Maybank Investment Bank aviation analyst said the airline was taking the right step to improve its product offerings along with on-board offerings in an airline industry that was competitive. "Customers buy based on value and quality," he said, adding that the industry was always evolving and MAB would be at a disadvantage if it did not have what competitors were offering. MAB CCO Paul Simmons said the Business Class cabin refurbishment being carried out in stages on all 15 of the airlines' A330 aircraft was expected to be completed by September. <br/>
Qantas cleared international pilot Paul Whyte to fly 1 month before police believe he deliberately crashed his light aircraft into the ocean off northern NSW. Whyte passed a mental health check in February even though he had been struggling to deal with a marriage breakdown for nearly a year. Qantas confirmed Whyte had flown Boeing 747 aircraft on the Brisbane to Los Angeles route as a first officer in the weeks before his death Monday. Revelations Whyte was cleared for duty have raised questions from mental health experts about the quality and frequency of checks. A Qantas spokesman said all pilots had annual health checks which involved "a number of physical and psychological tests". The tests rely heavily on pilots themselves reporting any "significant" change in their health to obtain a medical certificate. <br/>
Latam Airlines Group and Avianca Holdings were both downgraded further into junk territory by Fitch Ratings, which said that the economic slowdown in the region will be an obstacle for them to cut debt. Fitch cut Latam’s long-term foreign currency credit grade one step to B+, 4 levels below investment grade. The outlook for the carrier was also revised to negative from stable, the rating company said. Avianca was lowered 2 steps to B and the outlook was kept at negative, according to a separate report. Latin America’s economy is forecast to shrink 1% in 2016 after contracting 0.6% in 2015, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg, led mainly by Brazil, which is going through its deepest recession in a century at the same time president Dilma Rousseff tries to stave off an impeachment process amid a corruption scandal. <br/>
American Airlines Group Thursday said it would raise pay for its flight attendants by about 6%, a move that comes on the heels of a decision to allow employee profit-sharing. In a regulatory filing Thursday, the airline said it would accelerate a future wage increase for its mainland flight attendants, effective April 1. The pay boost comes a day after American said it would reverse course and offer a program paying 5% of pre-tax profits to all non-managers based on this year’s earnings. The airline had resisted offering such a program, not doing so since it merged with US Airways in 2013 and preferring instead to increase employees’ base pay. But other large carriers offer the perk, and the flight attendants union at American has pushed for the program. <br/>