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Relatives of some of the 239 people who were on a Malaysia Airlines plane that vanished in 2014 arrived in Madagascar on Saturday to ask for help in the search for debris from the missing aircraft that may have drifted across the Indian Ocean. Half a dozen relatives travelled to Antananarivo, Madagascar’s capital, ahead of meetings with community leaders and a journey to coastal areas to talk to villagers about the missing plane. “We hope that we can raise awareness, teach them about how to identify debris, how to collect debris, what to do with it when they find it,” said Grace Nathan, a Malaysian whose mother was on Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. The Boeing 777 jet is believed to have crashed in the southern Indian Ocean after deviating from its flight path from Malaysia to Beijing on March 8, 2014. “Mobilizing the local population is a good start,” said Nathan. Nathan and her fellow travellers plan to talk to church leaders and non-governmental groups that can spread the word in rural communities that are “not so savvy with the Internet” and might not even have heard about the missing plane. The relatives who arrived in Madagascar included Malaysians and Chinese who flew from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. They were met at the airport by Blaine Gibson, an American who found a piece of debris in Mozambique that officials say was almost certainly a horizontal stabilizer from a Flight 370 wing. He has also collected pieces of potential debris in Madagascar. A Frenchman who lost family members on the missing flight was expected to join the group of relatives after arriving on a separate flight. Malaysia, Australia and China are close to suspending a search of a vast area of seabed in the southern Indian Ocean, but relatives of the missing believe the discovery of debris in Africa by Gibson and others justifies calls for officials to keep looking. “We want to keep the search going,” Nathan said.<br/>

Finnair and Japan Airlines have expanded their codeshare cooperation. Finnair’s flight numbers will be added to Japan Airlines flights from Frankfurt to Tokyo Narita starting Jan 1, 2017. The codeshare expansion gives customers more flexibility and connectivity between Europe and Japan, enabling combinable routings via Frankfurt in one direction and via Helsinki in the other direction. Finnair and JAl operate under a joint business agreement and share revenue on all direct flights operated by Japan Airlines and Finnair between Japan and Europe. The joint business agreement currently includes 24 weekly services between Helsinki Airport and Japan. Finnair customers are able to earn and redeem Finnair Plus points on Japan Airlines flights that carry Finnair’s AY flight designator codes.<br/>

Cathay Pacific said senior staff won’t receive any salary increase for 2017 amid a challenging environment. Non-managerial staff in Hong Kong, where the carrier is based, will get a 2% salary raise for next year and a discretionary bonus equivalent to a month’s pay for 2016, the carrier said Friday. Senior staff will receive their bonuses, the airline said. “We cannot afford to fall further behind, which is why we are undertaking a critical review of our business,” Cathay’s CEO Ivan Chu said. “We have seen a significant drop in the revenue we generate due to factors such as pressure on yield, excessive capacity and a decline in premium traffic. We believe that 2017 will remain challenging with the same adverse factors having a continued impact on our business.” Chu has been struggling to revive profits at Cathay amid a slump in passenger yields -- a key measure of profitability in the industry. With Chinese airlines offering more direct services to the US and Europe from the mainland, Cathay Pacific’s Hong Kong hub is no longer so critical for travelers. The airline said in October that it’s conducting a critical review of its business and its result in the second half of this year “is no longer expected” to be better than that of the first half. In August, Cathay reported an 82% drop in net income in the first six months of the year and warned that premium travel was declining.<br/>

American Airlines rolled out new uniforms to more than 70,000 of its frontline workers in September. The appearance of the uniforms was well-received, but now American’s flight attendants union is calling for a total recall after saying the outfits have sickened more than 1,000 workers. Complaints about itching, rashes, headaches and hives surfaced within the first few weeks of the uniform roll-out. American launched an investigation, initially saying that it thought the issues were isolated – possibly some sort of wool allergy. But the airline’s flight attendants say the problem has become widespread, "including (for) many ... who are quite pleased with the look of the uniform." In a memo to its members late Wednesday, the Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA) said “we have received over 1,600 flight attendant reports of suspected uniform reactions that include headaches, rashes, hives, burning skin and eye irritation, itching, and respiratory problems — to name a few. The growing number of reports of suspected reactions, triggered by both direct and indirect contact with the uniform, has prompted APFA to ask that all uniforms be recalled until further joint testing with the company can be completed,” the union said. An American Airlines spokesman said that the carrier has already done three rounds of testing but that – so far – all results have been “in line with normal standards.” Another round of testing is planned in conjunction with the union. However, the attendants group says at this point, “a remedy that excludes a full recall of the uniform fails to adequately protect our members.”<br/>