Qatar Airways’ plans to take a 49% shareholding in Italy’s Meridiana fly have been approved by the EC. The approval by the EC’s competition authorities removes the last obstacle to the Middle East carrier taking a stake in Sardinia-based Meridiana fly. The deal is expected to close in April, a Meridiana fly spokeswoman said. In a statement, the EC said that while the two airlines’ activities overlapped on a number of routes, mainly out of Milan and Rome, it had concluded that “the proposed acquisition would not raise competition concerns, as the companies' activities on the overlapping routes are very limited or these routes have a very low traffic density.” Under the new company structure, Meridiana fly’s parent company, Alisarda, will hold 51% in a newly-formed holding company whose assets will include Meridiana fly, MRO provider Meridiana Maintenance, tour operator Wokita and Air Italy, an airline subsidiary of Meridiana fly that provides capacity to the latter company. Qatar Airways will hold the remaining 49% of the holding company. Meridiana fly has been loss-making for several years, but Qatar Airways’ CEO Akbar Al Baker told this reporter at the Arab Air Carriers’ Organization annual meeting in Casablanca, Morocco, in Nov. 2016 that the Italian carrier was in a better position than many observers believed.<br/>
unaligned
Yet more turbulence in the boardroom at struggling Africa-focused airline FastJet. The company announced the appointment of a new chairman, chief financial officer and non-executive director on Friday, as it looks to recover after being forced to go through a series of fundraisings to keep itself in the air. Rashid Wally, currently chairman of South African Airlines subsidiary Mango Airlines, will take over as non-executive chairman. He is the second senior Mango executive to join FastJet in the last year, following the appointment of former Mango chief Nico Bezuidenhout in June. Simultaneously, FastJet announced the departure of its chief financial officer Lisa Mitchell, who will leave “to pursue other opportunities”. She will be replaced by Michael Muller, who has been at the company since November and was previously the CFO of Air Chefs, another SAA subsidiary. Peter Hyde also joins the company as non-executive director. Hyde was previously chief executive of easyBus, the airport shuttle business set up by easyJet founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou. Sir Stelios is the second-largest shareholder in FastJet, and had been a harsh critic of the company’s previous chairman Colin Child.<br/>
Hawaiian Airlines pilots have ratified a new contract due to take effect from April 1, the ALPA union said. The Air Line Pilots Association said 76% of the vote approved the contract on a 97% turnout. The agreement will run for five years and three months from April 2017 to July 1, 2022. A portion of the increase will be backdated to September 2015, with pay increasing by between 20 and 45% for the airline’s 665 pilots. ALPA said that by the end of the contract, overall pay rates will have increased by 36 to 86%, depending on seniority and aircraft type. “With this agreement, Hawaiian pilots have finally achieved pay rates that bring us to parity with the other major carriers we compete with worldwide,” ALPA’s Hawaiian Airlines Master Executive Council vice chairman Captain Daniel Moore said. “This contract amendment recognises the contributions our pilots have made to our company, while allowing us to continue to grow and compete as a world-class airline," Hawaiian's chief operating officer Jon Snook said in a statement.<br/>
An Oregon woman pleaded guilty Friday to a felony assault charge that was filed after a female passenger complained that she had been groped during a flight from Las Vegas to Portland. Heidi McKinney, 27, of suburban Portland, was arrested May 8, 2016, after the Alaska Airlines flight landed at Portland International Airport. The victim told authorities she had been touched on the breast and genitals without consent by another female passenger. "Miss McKinney did so with the intent to humiliate and harass the victim," Assistant US Attorney Ravi Sinha said at US District Court in Portland. "(She) both made contact with victim's body, including her inner thigh, and made a series of profane and lewd statements to the victim." A federal grand jury originally indicted McKinney on a charge of abusive sexual contact. She ultimately pleaded guilty to assault with the intent to commit a felony.<br/>