Ethiopian Airlines Enterprise plans to buy 10 Airbus A350 wide-body jets in a transaction worth more than US$3b at advertised prices, according to people familiar with the plan. The deal is set to be announced this week at the Paris Air Show, according to the people. Ethiopian will take the mid-sized A350-900 version of the plane, which has a list price of $311m, according to one person. The carrier already has an order for 12 -900 variants, though it has also been looking at the stretched -1000, as well as Boeing’s rival 777-8, CE Tewolde Gebre Mariam said last year. Ethiopian Air wants more wide-body aircraft to help extend a hub-based business model that relies on transferring lucrative inter-continental travellers via its home base in Addis Ababa to and from destinations across Africa. <br/>
star
It was reported Sunday that Standard Chartered Bank has declined to renew their loan facilities to South African Airways and that repayment of these loans has been demanded may only be the tip of the iceberg and govt might be forced to foot the bill, the Democratic Alliance said. "According to a repayment schedule, SAA has listed ZAR8.887b repayable in 2017/18, yet some of the maturity dates have in fact passed," A DA spokesperson said Sunday. "All of SAA’s loans are backed by govt guarantees that in total now amount to ZAR19.1b. If SAA has failed to repay some of these loans it could force other creditors to recall their loans, which would then necessitate the govt to step in and pay. This money would ultimately be taken from the public purse," he said. <br/>
The Union cabinet may clear the decks for the govt’s stake sale in loss-making Air India this week after choosing between the option of an outright sale and partial divestment. The cabinet note prepared by the Committee of Secretaries includes both the Niti Aayog’s recommendation of complete privatisation and the civil aviation ministry’s proposal of a substantial reduction in the airline’s debt by sale of subsidiaries and assets before privatisation, a senior civil aviation ministry official said. “The proposal gives an option and leaves it to the cabinet to decide,” said the official, who didn’t want to be identified. It was expected to be cleared last week, but could not be taken up by the cabinet, he said. The move comes about 2 months after prime minister Narendra Modi gave the go-ahead for disinvestment in the airline. <br/>
Next month, United Airlines will start selling deep dish pizza in its economy cabins, a stark contrast to the generally light and healthy fare that is typically sold on-board. The pizza will come from Uno Pizzeria & Grill, one of the biggest names in deep dish pizza in Chicago. It will be offered among other cold and warm items in the paid snack cart. The airline is also planning to put together a "pizza and beer combo." United's new menu items come amidst a bit of an arms race of sorts among US carriers to provide the best catering across the entire air travel experience. On the premium end of that spectrum, the progress means better airport lounge food, exotic dishes in first class and even free meals in economy on some competitive transcontinental routes. <br/>