MAS' "accidental" CE Peter Bellew has stunning clarity on what the ailing carrier needs to whip itself back into shape - and what it doesn't. One major thing off the cards, under his charge at least, is the much-brandished strategic tie-up with another carrier. "Working on these things can be very distracting for management... vast amounts of travel, hotel, entertainment and nonsense. We need to focus on what we are doing, do it well and finish the job," said Bellew, a Ryanair veteran. The 52-year-old aviation-lifer was Malaysia Airline's COO until last July when he took over as boss after the sudden resignation of Christoph Mueller. "The history of airlines' takeovers and alliances are fraught with corpses," said the Irishman. That razor-sharp focus is exactly what Malaysia's state-controlled carrier needs after it was pushed to the brink of collapse following two unparallelled back-to-back tragedies involving its jets that claimed 522 lives in 2014; the missing MH370 still remains a mystery. Now, three years after the carrier was delisted from the Malaysian bourse, ground down and supplanted by a new entity Malaysia Airlines Berhad (MAB), axed 6,000 jobs and cut capacity and routes, the dark clouds appear to be lifting by the most visible airline metric of all - its planes are flying full. "The numbers don't lie. We had 90% load factor (in December 2016). And we are whacking Singapore Airlines, Garuda and Cathay Pacific. We are doing pretty good," said Bellew. Over the same month, SIA's load factor stood at 82.9%, Garuda's 77.4% and Cathay Pacific's 85%. <br/>
oneworld
American Airlines revealed eight new routes from its hub at Chicago O’Hare, a service expansion that appears aimed at least in part at rival United. Seven of American’s eight new O’Hare routes are to small and medium-sized domestic markets, according to details spelled out Thursday by American President Robert Isom in a letter to employees. The eighth route will be an international route connecting O’Hare to Guatemala City. The new domestic routes from Chicago begin July 5 and will operate non-stop to Appleton, Wis.; Birmingham, Ala.; Boise; Colorado Springs; Greensboro, N.C.; Greenville, S.C.; and Ontario, Calif. The California route will be seasonal through the summer fall schedules. The new routes come on top of previously announced new service on American between Chicago O'Hare and Barcelona (seasonal); Bozeman, Mont. (seasonal); and Hattiesburg, Miss.<br/>