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Families of those killed on a Germanwings flight last year have sued a training unit of the airline's parent, Lufthansa, in US district court in Arizona for wrongful death. Kreindler & Kreindler said it had filed a lawsuit on behalf of 80 families against Airline Training Center Arizona, which instructed the Germanwings pilot who barricaded himself in the cockpit and flew his aircraft into the French Alps on March 24, 2015, killing 150 passengers and crew. The families charged that the training unit was negligent in failing to discover pilot Andreas Lubitz's medical history before admitting him as a student in 2010. "The company missed several readily apparent red flags, including that Lubitz's German medical certificate had a restricting legend on its face specifically because of that mental illness history, which included severe depression and suicidal ideations," Brian Alexander, a partner at Kreindler said. The 144 passengers on the plane came from 18 countries, Germanwings has said. The majority were from Germany and Spain, while three were from the United States. None of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit are related to the US victims, Kreindler partner Marc Moller said in an interview. However, he said they had standing because the training unit was the gateway that taught Lubitz how to fly planes. A Lufthansa spokeswoman said, "Based on our information, we see no prospects of success for this course of action." Some lawyers had previously queried whether a US lawsuit would work in this case, given it involved a European airline flying from one European destination to another. Suing in the United States offers a chance of higher payouts than in Europe, where damages for emotional suffering are limited.<br/>

Emirates, the largest operator of the Airbus A380, said on Wednesday it is ordering two more of the double-decker superjumbos to be delivered in Q4 of 2017. The two new A380s, to be fitted with Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines, will increase Emirates’ A380 order book to 142. Emirates has 75 A380s in its fleet and a further 67 on back order, including the two new orders announced on Wednesday. The order is valued at $865.2m, according to Airbus’ price list, though it is common for airlines to receive discounts on orders. While Emirates did not elaborate on the reason for ordering two new A380s, an individual with knowledge of the order, told Gulf News that the Dubai airline is taking the two additional aircraft from an order that was originally scheduled for Japanese budget carrier Skymark.<br/>

Senegal has withdrawn the operating license of its national carrier Senegal Airlines, which has accumulated 65b CFA francs (US$110m) in debt and no longer owns any planes. The airline “has never been able to achieve its goals” since its creation in 2009, according to a statement from the Transport Ministry. Steps are being taken to set up a new national carrier, Finance Minister Amadou Ba said Monday. Senegal Airlines was an initiative of the son of former President Abdoulaye Wade, who served as transport minister at the time. Senegal held about 35% while private investors owned the rest. Wade’s son, Karim, was sentenced to six years in prison last year for embezzlement during his time in office.<br/>

The International Monetary Fund is encouraged that Pakistan will convert its cash-strapped national airline into a limited company but said it will see if the reforms go far enough in restructuring the company. Parliament adopted a law on Monday to convert Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) into a limited company but it prevents the government from giving up its management control. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had made the privatisation of the company a top goal when he came to power in 2013. The privatisation of it and 67 other state-owned companies is also a major element of a US$6.7bi IMF package that helped Pakistan stave off default in 2013. The IMF has continued to release loan instalments despite missed targets. "We are encouraged that a consensus has been reached on corporatisation of PIA," said Harald Finger, IMF mission chief for Pakistan. "We will need to study the approved bill and discuss with the authorities their emerging plans to run PIA strictly as a commercial entity and strengthen its performance in the absence of a transfer of management control to a private investor."<br/>

Oman Air said it’s poised to begin talks with Boeing and Airbus over an order for the latest generation of wide-body jets to replace 12 older A330 planes. The Persian Gulf carrier will open negotiations in coming weeks, with the focus on Airbus’s A350-900 model and the 787-9 or -10 from its U.S. rival, CEO Paul Gregorowitsch said. While standardizing around the Boeing Dreamliner, of which Oman Air is already set to have 13 in its fleet from an earlier deal, would appear to make sense, the A350 might have the edge on the longest routes to destinations such as South Africa, Gregorowitsch said Wednesday. The re-engined Neo version of the A330 is out of the running, with all-new aircraft preferable to a “face-lift plane,” unless Airbus presents a particularly compelling case for the legacy model, he said. Oman Air has already sourced two 787-8s from Kenya Airways on three-year lease terms as part of deal to purchase landing slots at London Heathrow airport from the African carrier and Air France, adding to the two Dreamliners already in its fleet.<br/>

Thai AirAsia (TAA) looks set to start serving Vientiane as the second city in Laos, which until recently was largely off-limits to low-cost carriers.<br/>TAA will become the first no-frills airline to operate on the Bangkok-Vientiane route when it launches daily flights in July. The Vientiane start-up follows TAA's successful entry to Luang Prabang. The airline commenced a daily service from Bangkok on March 24, becoming the first LCC to serve the old royal city. <br/>

Réunion Island leisure carrier Air Austral has cancelled an order for two Airbus A380s, which was placed in 2009. “We can confirm the cancellation of these two A380s, as our customer has had a change in strategy,” an Airbus spokesperson said. The French airline in the Indian Ocean had planned to fit the A380s with an 840-seat all-economy class configuration, a record capacity for civil aviation. The aircraft had planned to operate from Saint Denis de la Réunion to Paris Charles de Gaulle. Air Austral had repeatedly delayed delivery, prompting speculation that cancellation would be likely. Dubai-based Emirates Airline offers the most seats of any A380 operator, a 615-seat version in a two-class configuration. “We have a backlog of 133 A380s. And since 2013, we have had follow-up orders of 75 aircraft for the A380s,” the spokesperson said.<br/>