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Airlines in China plan to exercise stricter control over their costs and debt structures as part of measures to cope with a weaker yuan and stiffer competition. China Eastern Airlines will strengthen research on oil prices and exchange rates, the carrier said Tuesday, a day after China Southern Airlines said it will consider hedging for fuel. Air China is transforming its business model in response to “intensified industry competition,” it said Tuesday. The nation’s ‘Big Three’ airlines saw passenger yield drop during the first 6 months of this year as they expanded routes globally. They also saw their combined foreign-exchange losses widen to CNY4.9b (US$733m) in the period following a surprise devaluation of the Chinese currency in Aug 2015. <br/>

Delta Air Lines is investing US$50m to soothe one of air travel's biggest headaches: lost and delayed luggage. Delta carried nearly 120m checked suitcases last year, collecting US$25 in fees, each way, for most domestic bags. For that price, fliers expect their suitcase to be waiting on the carousel when they arrive. Delta already has one of the airline industry's best luggage handling records — just 1 out of every 500 bags failed to arrive on time — but hopes that by deploying a RFID tracking system globally it can improve further. If the system works, other airlines are likely to follow. By the end of this year, fliers will be able to track their bags through the Delta smartphone app, getting push notifications at each step of the journey. If a bag misses its flight, passengers are also notified instantly. <br/>

Delta Air Lines pilots are using an in-house app to steer clear of rough air that can unsettle or injure passengers. The Flight Weather Viewer app puts real-time turbulence observations and forecasts in the cockpit, using sensors on more than 300 of the airline's aircraft to collect and share data over wireless internet to warn other pilots before they pass through an area where turbulence was recently reported. Select Delta pilots have been testing the app on Microsoft Surface tablets since January. The app rolled out to all pilots in April, and it's also used by Delta dispatchers and meteorologists to provide faster weather warnings. Delta has installed the turbulence-reporting algorithm on its fleet of Boeing 737 and 767 passenger jets and plans to soon put it on its larger Boeing 777 and Airbus A330 jets, which fly international routes. <br/>

China Airlines, which expects to take delivery of its first Airbus A350 XWB by the end of September, will launch its first nonstop service to Europe Jan 9, 2017, the airline said. Once delivered, the new aircraft will first be flown on regional routes such as Taiwan-Hong Kong. From Jan 9, 2017, the A350-900 will replace the A340-300 on nonstop Taipei Taoyuan-Vienna services. The Taipei-Bangkok-Amsterdam route will become nonstop Taipei-Amsterdam A340-300 service starting from December. This aircraft will be replaced by the A350-900 from Jan 9, 2017. Taipei-Delhi-Rome (Fiumicino) A340-300 services will also become nonstop from December onward and will be switched to the new A350-900 from Feb 4, 2017. According to China Airlines, Airbus expects to deliver 4 A350s this year. <br/>