Qantas Airways shareholders have cheered CE Alan Joyce's efforts to turn around the carrier, helping the stock more than triple in under 3 years. Now they want to see a roadmap for reinstating dividends. The airline, which has withheld dividends for 7 years, is expected to announce Wednesday record annual profit because of lower fuel expenses and faster-than-expected gains from Joyce's restructuring. Qantas has made 2 one-off capital returns totalling more than A$1b in the past year, while not reinstating the dividend. Joyce said this month that the board would again be looking at ways to return cash in August. Regular dividend payments may be reinstated at the end of the year ending June 2017, according to First NZ Capital Securities. <br/>
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Finnair is to add services to the Greek island of Corfu, the Spanish islands of Ibiza and Menorca, as well as Reykjavik in Iceland, for summer 2017. Corfu and Menorca will join Finnair’s network between April 11 and Oct 28 2017, operating as a single weekly frequency. Ibiza, also once weekly, will run from June 17 to Aug. 12. The carrier will serve Reykjavik 4X-weekly, building on its existing codeshare with Icelandair. “Finnair’s route will offer one of the fastest connections between Asia and Iceland,” Finnair said. The new routes form part of Finnair’s growth strategy. During its recent earnings call, Finnair reduced its full-year growth target to 7% from 8%, blaming the late arrival of its A350s. Finnair was the European launch operator for the twinjet. <br/>
British Airways will increase its exposure to the booming Chinese market through a new codeshare arrangement with China Eastern Airlines. The link with China Eastern will open new Chinese destinations to BA passengers. BA will offer flights to Kunming, Xi’an, Nanjing, Hangzhou and Chongqing, China, under a BA flight code, while the Chinese airline will sell BA flights to a range of UK domestic points including Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow, Scotland; Belfast, Northern Ireland; and Leeds, Bradford, Manchester and Newcastle, England, under its MU flight code. UK-originating passengers will be able to travel through China’s gateway cities to destinations that have previously been more difficult to access from the UK, while China Eastern customers can connect to BA services in Shanghai and Chengdu. <br/>