Venezuela owes Lufthansa over $100m in ticket revenue, a spokesman said, after the carrier said over the weekend it was suspending flights to Caracas next month. Like other airlines, Lufthansa has struggled to repatriate revenue held in the local bolivar currency due to exchange controls and had already reduced flights to the country to limit its exposure. A spokesman for the airline said on Monday that the Venezuela government owed it a "low three-digit million euro" amount and that it could not yet say whether that amount would be written off.<br/>
star
Major department store operator Takashimaya Co. and two other firms will jointly establish a company Wednesday to operate duty free shops. Takashimaya will own 60 percent of the new firm, to be named A&S Takashimaya Duty Free Co., while All Nippon Airways Trading Co. and Hotel Shilla Co. of South Korea’s Samsung group will each have a 20 percent stake. The three companies announced in March that they will open a duty-free shop in Takashimaya’s flagship store in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo, in spring 2017 and another in Osaka later.<br/>
Air Chathams is stepping into the gap left by Air New Zealand pulling out of Whanganui. Air New Zealand announced on Monday it was discontinuing its Auckland-Whanganui route and Blenheim-Christchurch route. Air New Zealand GM of networks Richard Thomson said the airline had previously looked at discontinuing the Whanganui route in 2014. "While the service was marginal, at that time we believed it was worth taking a chance on Whanganui and working with the local community in an effort to stimulate demand." He said despite almost halving the average fare on the route, passengers had voted with their feet by using the nearby Palmerston North Airport, only 70 kilometres away. "The greater number of destinations, higher frequency of service and wider range of connecting options on offer at the neighbouring airport have unfortunately served to undermine demand for Whanganui services," he said. Air Chathams announced, almost simultaneously to Air New Zealand's announcement, they will be starting flights between Auckland and Whanganui as soon as Air New Zealand stops its service to the airport on July 31.<br/>