LATAM has agreed to pay more than $22m in civil and criminal fines relating to a decade-old Argentine bribery case, US authorities said Monday. The US Securities and Exchange Commission said the fine of LATAM unit LAN related to "improper payments it authorised during a dispute between the airline and its union employees in Argentina". The payments date back to 2006 to 2007. LAN had used an Argentine consultant to negotiate with unions on the company's behalf and paid the consultant via a sham contract that channelled funds to corrupt union officials, the SEC said. The scheme had violated the accounting provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the airline agreed to pay a $12.75m criminal penalty. It will pay a further $9.4m, including interest, to settle the SEC's charges of inadequate accounting controls. <br/>
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Malaysia Airlines may announce an order of Boeing 737 MAX aircraft as early as Wednesday, as the airline eyes a fleet expansion, according to a media report. Business Times reported that the carrier may place an order that could be up to half the size of a similar deal by Vietjet Air, which purchased 100 Boeing 737 MAX 200s worth US$11.3b at list price in May. Malaysia Airlines declined to comment on the report but the airline's CE, Peter Bellew, told the paper that the airline was talking to Boeing, Airbus and Bombardier. "News should be confirmed next week. (We are) looking at new and second-hand lease or buying the aircraft," he was quoted by the paper. The airline has called a press conference Wednesday. Malaysia Airlines has 56 Boeing 737s which have an average age of 4.1 years. <br/>
Malaysian police have dismissed media reports that say missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was deliberately steered into the sea by a pilot intent on mass murder suicide. Friday, New York magazine published an article based upon what it claims is a leaked investigation document, allegedly showing captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah had “conducted a simulated flight deep into the remote southern Indian Ocean” on his home flight simulator less than a month before MH370 vanished. The route and destination of the simulated flight was similar to the route investigators believe the plane took. However, Malaysian police inspector-general Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar told local media Saturday that no information had been passed onto investigators in the US, where the magazine said it obtained the document. “This report is not true.” <br/>