Turkey has transferred government stakes worth billions of dollars in Turkish Airlines, major banks and fixed-line operator Turk Telekom to a sovereign wealth fund set up last year to help finance big-ticket infrastructure projects. The fund was set up with initial capital of just 50m lira ($13.6m) in August, but the government is aiming for it to manage $200b in assets as soon as possible, the economy minister has said. The government hopes it will be able to use the newly transferred assets as collateral to secure funding for major infrastructure projects, one senior official said. Some analysts said it would lead to greater political control of the companies. "There will be a search for credit abroad to implement very big projects in the period ahead," the official said. "Turkey's most important companies have been transferred to the sovereign wealth fund. It will be possible to secure credit at low rates for these projects by offering the shares in these companies as a guarantee." The official did not specify which type of projects the wealth fund may help finance. The state's 49.1% stake in flag carrier Turkish Airlines - worth roughly $1b - and its 51.1 percent of lender Halkbank (HALKB.IS) - worth some $2 billion - have been transferred to the fund, the privatization administration said Monday.<br/>
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United pilots want tough action from President Donald Trump. Captain Todd Insler, chairman of the United Airlines pilots' Master Executive Council, fired off a letter to Trump late last week asking him to make good on what 12,500 United pilots who belong to the Air Line Pilots Association maintain were grossly wrongheaded moves made by the Obama administration. Specifically, Insler requested that Trump immediately set about strictly enforcing the text of the Open Skies agreement with the EU that was inked in 2007 during the George W. Bush presidency presumably to create a level playing field among US-based and European airlines. In particular, United wants to squelch growth in the US by upstart Norwegian Air Shuttle, a fast-growing, Norway-based carrier that United pilots argue has circumvented the Open Skies agreement with low-ball labor contracts not available to US carriers. Those Norwegian Air labour contracts, as United pilots know all too well, have allowed Norwegian to substantially undercut trans-Atlantic fares available on United, as well as other US-based competitors and most European carriers. The former Obama administration allowed Norwegian to gain a foothold in the US. Insler believes Trump's campaign message trumpeting his desire to represent American workers and US-based companies in trade policies will help the president see the Norwegian Air threat in a different light than did Obama.<br/>
A disruptive passenger has been forcibly removed by police off an Auckland-bound flight from Los Angeles. The incident took place on Air New Zealand flight NZ1 which arrived in Auckland this morning from Los Angeles International Airport at 7.01am. The flight was delayed from leaving LAX for 32 minutes as police were called to deal with the passenger. An Air New Zealand spokeswoman said police were called on board the plane prior to departure after "a passenger failed to comply with the instructions of our crew''. The flight arrived in Auckland 21 minutes later than initially scheduled.<br/>