Cathay Pacific Airways will cut jobs and conduct its biggest revamp in 2 decades as the airline attempts to reverse a slump in profit margins and share price under CE Ivan Chu. Changes at the airline "will start at the top" and the carrier will eliminate some positions as part of a review to reorganise the business, Cathay said Wednesday. The measures will take effect by mid-year, the airline said without elaborating. Cathay shares have slumped 30% since Chu took over in March 2014 as the airline reported its smallest half-year profit in more than 2 years. With its Hong Kong hub no longer as critical to transit Chinese passengers as it used to be a decade back, Cathay has a challenge at hand as Emirates and other Middle Eastern airlines expand more into Asia. <br/>
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Australia said Wednesday it was not ruling out a future underwater search for a missing Malaysia Airlines passenger jet as families of those on board criticised the decision to suspend the hunt after 3 fruitless years. "I don't rule out a future underwater search by any stretch," Australian Transport minister Darren Chester said, a day after Australia, Malaysia and China called off the search in the southern Indian Ocean. A recommendation from investigators last month to look to the north of the 120,000 sq km area that has been the focus of search efforts was rejected by Australia and Malaysia as too imprecise. Chester said cost had not been the determining factor to halt the search, but he said restarting it would require "credible new information which leads to a specific location". <br/>
American Airlines has introduced a basic economy fare option as part of the carrier’s effort to better compete with ultra low-cost carriers, such as Spirit Airlines and Frontier Airlines. American follows United Airlines and Delta Air Lines in rolling out a basic economy fare, which the airline plans to put on sale starting in February in 10 select markets. Like United’s basic economy offering, American’s basic economy passengers will not be allowed to bring overhead bin carry-on baggage. Seat assignments will only be given when the passenger checks in. Upgrades will not be permitted. Tickets will be non-refundable and non-changeable, and basic economy passengers will be the last to board the aircraft. American noted that basic economy passengers will get “the same inflight experience that all main cabin customers receive today”. <br/>
From oozing blisters and wheezing to rashes, itchy eyes and sore throats, numerous American Airlines Group flight attendants say their new work uniforms are making them sick. But after a battery of tests and a tense back-and-forth among their union, the airline and the uniform supplier, it’s still not clear what exactly is behind the rise in health complaints. The APFA, which represents flight attendants for American, has asked the carrier to recall the new garments, which went to 70,000 employees starting in September. American and the union are now conferring on protocols for further examinations. “This continues to be a serious and growing problem, and is not going to go away without some further remedial action by the company,” the union said Wednesday. <br/>
Latam Airlines Group found a bullet hole in a wing of a Boeing 767-300 during maintenance in Brazil, the company said Wednesday, the jet having flown to New York, Barcelona and Lima in the past week. The aircraft, which runs long-range routes out of international airports in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, went in for routine inspection Sunday, a Latam representative said. "There is no way to be certain where it happened," she said. "The airplane flies various routes." The airline said it had notified federal police and civil aviation authority ANAC, which it was still investigating. ANAC said it was supporting a police investigation. "Latam underscores that the incident did not compromise the security of its operation," said the airline. <br/>