Turkish Airlines is hearing interest from outside companies looking to form an air carrier, its chairman İlker Aycı said. “We’re hearing things from outside. There are those who want to establish an airline with us or be acquired by us. We are examining such opportunities,” Aycı said. But he also said Turkish Airlines has no interest in troubled Alitalia, saying it is “not a main target right now.” According to Aycı, Istanbul’s under-construction third airport, expected to be finished in the first half of next year, will boost Turkish Airlines’ growth and carry it to greater heights. The carrier aims to carry 69m passengers in 2017, up from 62.7m last year, closing the year with single-digit growth, he added. He noted that the airline is flying to 51 different destinations in Africa and is looking to add more. <br/>
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South African Airways is in talks with lenders about reviewing the terms of ZAR9b (US$692m) worth of loans due at the end of the month, and may have to tap govt debt guarantees that are keeping the airline in operation. One bank has told SAA that it wants to be repaid by the end-June deadline, the carrier said Monday. Standard Chartered refused a request to extend a loan facility, the Sunday Times newspaper reported, citing people it didn’t identify. SAA owes the bank ZAR2.3b, the newspaper said. The airline’s acting CE, Musa Zwane, said: “The renegotiation of the terms of the loans are ongoing and SAA is optimistic that the airline will continue to operate.” The carrier has ZAR19.1b in state guarantees, a safety net that is effectively keeping SAA solvent after 6 consecutive unprofitable years. <br/>
United Airlines has come up with an unusually clever way to try and convince New York City residents that the carrier's major hub at Newark Liberty International in Newark, New Jersey really is more readily accessible than John F. Kennedy International, another principal New York area airport on Long Island where a number of international and long-haul domestic flights operated by United's competitors depart from daily. With the help of United's ad agency of record McGarryBowen New York, the airline has installed taxi tops on 125 cabs throughout the city that — in real time — showing the travel times from a cab's location to both JFK and Newark airports. Almost invariably travel times to Newark are notably shorter than those to JFK — usually at least 30 minutes shorter. Sometimes a lot more. <br/>