Air Canada incurred a 2017 Q1 net loss of C$37m (US$27.8m), reversed from a net profit of $101m in the 2016 March quarter, as rising fuel costs hit the bottom line. Executives pointed to record Q1 revenue of $3.6b, up 9% YOY, and the fact that the airline continues to aggressively grow, which they believe will pay off long term. “This year represents the third year of planned significant capacity growth as we execute our international expansion strategy,” president and CE Calin Rovinescu said, noting that capacity growth “will begin to slow in 2018.” Q1 expenses soared 16% YOY to $3.7b as higher fuel prices and fast-paced capacity expansion led to a 48%, or $213m, YOY jump in aircraft fuel costs to $659m. Air Canada posted a Q1 operating loss of $54m, reversed from an operating profit of $154m in the prior-year quarter. <br/>
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Air NZ CE Christopher Luxon says United Airlines ''shouldn't waste a good crisis'' created when a passenger was dragged from an overbooked plane. He said the airline's ''abysmal failure'' to handle the situation was a great opportunity to completely turn around its culture. ''When you see big failures in customer service like that, it is really linked to the failure of a development of a culture over 20 or 30 years," said Luxon. United now had a very clear ''burning platform'' to use as a catalyst for changing the organisation's culture. ''Air NZ knows what that's like. We've been on a big turnaround in our business for the last 15 years or so - it's possible to get a turnaround in a culture very quickly but it starts from leadership,'' Luxon said. <br/>
United Airlines admitted it failed a woman who boarded a plane in Newark for a flight to Paris — but ended up in San Francisco instead. Lucie Bahetoukilae said she took her boarding pass — marked “Newark to Charles de Gaulle” — to the gate, where a United rep scanned it before she boarded the plane. “When she went to sit, someone was sitting there already,” said her niece. But she said the flight attendant looked at her boarding pass and simply sat her somewhere else. Bahetoukilae, who speaks no English, said she never realised United made a last-minute gate change without making an announcement in French or notifying her by email. Instead of a 7.5 hour flight to the City of Lights, Bahetoukilae flew almost 4,800km to the City by the Bay, where she languished for 11 hours at the airport before being rerouted to France. <br/>
Lufthansa has held talks with the Abu Dhabi govt about the future of loss-making Air Berlin, its CE said Friday, although debt and other obstacles to a takeover of its smaller rival remain. Lufthansa CE Carsten Spohr travelled to Abu Dhabi this week as part of a business delegation accompanying German chancellor Angela Merkel. Spohr said the Abu Dhabi govt was aware that Air Berlin's debt, costs and anti-trust issues remain obstacles to Lufthansa taking over the rest of the struggling airline. Air Berlin, 29%-owned by Etihad, already leases 38 planes and crews to Lufthansa. "The debt problem can only be resolved by the govt of Abu Dhabi," Spohr said. Last week, Air Berlin reported a record loss of E782m for 2016. <br/>