Clarifying on reports about Air India being the third worst airline in terms of operations, aviation insights company FlightStats has clarified, in a letter to Air India, that their list does not put Air India as the third worst airline in the world. According to a report, Air India was the third worst airline in the world in terms of operational performance. The rating was contested by Air India, which wrote a letter to FlightStats, which responded by saying that Air India’s projection as third lowest is not accurate. "We understand that a recent article by Bloomberg has portrayed Air India in a negative light and we want to assure you that FlightStats by no means endorsed their portrayal of your performance....we do not, and have not, highlighted low performance or maintain a list of worst performing airlines," said FlightStats’ response. <br/>
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Brussels Airlines will expand the use of hired-in regional aircraft as it phases out a fleet of Avro RJ100s, the airline said Thursday. The carrier will use 3 Sukhoi SSJ100 Superjets from CityJet beginning in April, when the aircraft start a 2-year contract. The airline’s management made a strategic decision 2 years ago to phase out regional aircraft, deciding instead to focus on Airbus A320-family single-aisle aircraft for medium-haul and A330s for long-haul routes. As part of this program, the carrier disposed of 4 Avro RJ100 regional jets last year, with the remaining 8 scheduled to leave the fleet by Nov 2017. Some of the Avro’s duties will be taken on by A319s and A320s, but some routes required smaller aircraft. CityJet will fly the services with their own crews, but to Brussels Airlines’ cabin service standards. <br/>
Croatia Airlines has sold 5 of its 9 slots at London Heathrow to Delta Airlines for US$19.5m, carrier said Thursday. The sales contract will go into force April 1. CA sold its slots for morning flights Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. As of April 1, CA will continue to fly to London in the afternoon Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. The money obtained from the airport slot sale will be invested in engine maintenance. CA said it lost about E1m on its flights to London in 2015 and over E37.5m since 2002. The sale of the slots at Heathrow was part of CA's restructuring plan since 2013, but the Croatian transport ministry lodged reservations because it wanted to see if the slot sale was the only solution to the losses on the Zagreb-Heathrow flights. <br/>