Lufthansa is in talks with the owners of Scandinavian carrier SAS and Brussels Airlines to expand the number of destinations it flies to and grow its low-cost Eurowings business, people close to the German airline said. Two people said Lufthansa had been in talks with the owners of SAS since the autumn, which could lead to Lufthansa taking a stake in SAS - half owned by Denmark, Norway and Sweden - or some other kind of partnership, they said. "SAS could be docked onto budget platform Eurowings," one of the people said. Lufthansa launched Eurowings last year in a fresh attempt to crack the low-cost market and compete with the likes of Ryanair and easyJet. It has said it aims to use it to bundle various subsidiaries and brands. One of the sources also said it was "as good as certain" Lufthansa would present a deal to buy the 55% in Brussels Airlines it does not already own at a supervisory board meeting on April 27. People familiar with the industry said a full takeover of SAS by Lufthansa was unlikely, while taking a minority stake would potentially come with a board seat and direct influence on the Scandinavian company's strategy. "Lufthansa wants to build Eurowings, but it does not want to take on any restructuring risk," one of those people said.<br/>
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Singapore Airlines will benefit from the decision by the city-state’s central bank to lower the local currency’s appreciation slope as a cheaper Singapore dollar will support inbound tourist arrivals, Morgan Stanley said. About 40% of the airline’s revenue is denominated in US dollars, Australian dollars, the yen, the pound and the euro, likely helping to lift yields for the company, Morgan Stanley analysts led by Daniel Lau and Edward Xu wrote in a note Thursday. The Monetary Authority of Singapore’s announcement Thursday of its move to a neutral policy of zero percent appreciation in the exchange rate is net positive for the city-state’s stocks, said Mikey Hsia, a trader at Sunrise Brokers LLP in Hong Kong. The surprise decision caused the local dollar to decline and dragged down currencies across Asia Pacific.<br/>“A weaker Singapore dollar is likely to lift yields for Singapore Air, which has been a bugbear amid fuel benefit pass-through,” the Morgan Stanley analysts wrote, reiterating the carrier as their top pick in the aviation sector. The airline could benefit from stronger inbound tourism from countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the Morgan Stanley analysts wrote. Without adjusting for higher passenger traffic growth, they estimated a 1% depreciation in the Singapore dollar would result in a 0.5% increase in revenue for the carrier.<br/>
Air China’s VP and GM for North America, Dr. Zhihang Chi says Air China has evolved from a government-owned company, run largely as a public transport utility, to a publicly traded airline enterprise focused on the quality of its brand. “We need to compete for capital and we need to compete for business,” he said. “We needed to get better and to change so we have invested very heavily in our brand and our product. We have a very strong brand recognition in China, so our focus has been to gain brand recognition internationally.” To accomplish this, Air China has followed the example of alliance partners Lufthansa and United, and taken inspiration from Cathay Pacific, in which Air China has a 30% stake, he said. Those examples have encouraged Air China to make changes in its product and services, as with its innovative ground-to-air brand storytelling experience which the airline revealed in 2014. “The pace that we have upgraded fleet and upgraded our product, I would say, has been significantly dramatic,” said Dr Zhihang Chi. “Just about seven or eight years ago, we didn’t even have lie-flat First class, let alone lie-flat Business class. Today all our international long haul flights have lie-flat seats both in Business and in First. In a nut shell, that’s what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to build a product and brand that are accepted by not just Chinese travelers but by the general public world over.” Passenger mobile trends and the ready sharing of information on social media have also encouraged improvements.<br/>
A "hangry" passenger on an Air New Zealand flight to Shanghai allegedly scratched and spat at cabin crew because they didn't have her choice of meal. Air NZ said in a statement police met NZ289 on arrival in Shanghai on Thursday morning after a "passenger disturbance" on board. It is understood that the woman scratched, spat and grabbed at flight crew when she was told they didn't have her preferred meal option. She apparently tried to "hide" as police boarded the plane. TVNZ reporter Katie Bradford said in a Twitter post that the woman "nearly caused a riot when they didn't have the meal she wanted". "Definition of hangry," Bradford tweeted.<br/>