Malaysia Airlines projects oil prices will increase to about US$70 a barrel toward the end of this year and has aggressive fuel hedging in place as the money-losing carrier seeks to return to profitable operations. “At the moment we are hedged about 65% of the current year at about a little bit north of $60,” CE Peter Bellew said Friday. “We are quite aggressively hedging 12 months ahead on a quarter-to-quarter basis and taking a fairly prudent approach to it.” Malaysia Airlines is projecting a return to what Bellew calls “more consistent profitability” in 2018 following an expected loss this year as it fills a larger portion of seats amid demand from markets leading with China. The ringgit’s depreciation against the dollar since Donald Trump won the US presidential election in November is a big concern for Malaysia Airlines, the CE said. <br/>
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Grieving family members of passengers on board missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 said Saturday they will raise funds to resume the hunt for the aircraft. What happened to the flight “should not go down in history books as a mystery,” said Jacquita Gomes, whose husband was a flight attendant on MH370. Family members are hoping to raise US$15m to fund an initial search north of the previous search area. Australia, Malaysia and China jointly called off the search operation in January. "We won't start fundraising until we're sure that the govts are not going to resume the search and until the current data has been fully reviewed and analysed," a lawyer said. So far more than 20 objects either confirmed or believed to be from the jet have washed ashore in Mauritius, Mozambique, South Africa and Madagascar. <br/>
Malaysia Airlines has outlined additional details on a charter business concept to operate its 6 Airbus A380s in a dedicated subsidiary to target religious pilgrimage traffic. The Group is working toward finalising plans for the formation of a new airline, utilising the A380s to serve the Haj and Umrah market. “Six aircraft—that means a lot of seats for this business. With this fleet, we can handle 5% to 6% of the global movement [of the Haj and Umrah pilgrimage],” Malaysia Airlines CE Peter Bellew said. Bellew said the carrier has been in talks with Airbus to adapt the cabins. “We plan to increase seat capacity to 720 seats on the aircraft [all-economy class seating],” he said. Bellew has also talked to other A380 operators and partners. The business might also further tap aircraft coming off lease, such as from SIA. <br/>
In another indication that there is a renewed push against the expansion of the major Gulf carriers in the US, American Airlines chairman and CE Doug Parker said he was “highly confident” that the new Trump administration would address the issue. Parker said the major Middle East airlines had received US$15b in govt subsidies. He also described Emirates Airline’s announcement in January that it would launch Dubai-Athens-New York Newark service in March as “a shot across the bow.” Emirates can operate the transatlantic route under fifth-freedom rights permitted in the US-UAE Open Skies agreement. But launching a second fifth-freedom route—the first was Dubai-Malpensa-NY—and going into a United hub has reignited a campaign against the Gulf carriers that was highly vocal in 2015 but mostly quiet last year. <br/>
The union that represents American Airlines pilots has filed a labour grievance against the carrier accusing the company of violating fatigue risk management policies. Dan Carey, president of the Allied Pilots Association, wrote that American is putting passengers and employees at risk by ignoring rules to keep tired pilots from flying. The violations “are ongoing, relate directly to safety and pose a risk of massive, imminent, and irreparable harm and/or death of employees, passengers, and on-the-ground personnel,” Carey wrote. Carey’s letter says American should stop giving or threatening to give missed assignment designations to pilots who say they are too tired to fly according to federal regulations. Last month, the board of the Allied Pilots Association passed a no-confidence vote in chairman and CE Doug Parker. <br/>