After videos of Dr David Dao, who in April was dragged off an overbooked United Airlines plane, went viral and set off a global uproar, the outlook for United looked grim. Within days, the Twitter hashtag #BoycottUnited had been used over 3.5m times. Critics excoriated United for its handling of the crisis and especially its embattled CE, Oscar Munoz, whose first public statements seemed to blame the doctor for refusing to give up his seat. So when United reported Q2 earnings last week, many investors feared that the results might go off a cliff just as the peak travel season was getting underway. But they were surprisingly robust: Revenue rose over 6% and profits shot up 49%. There was no sign of any boycott: The airline said it had 71m passengers in the first half of the year, 4.2% more than the previous year. <br/>
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United Airline pilots are infuriated again in their ever-more-vocal struggle to get president Donald Trump's administration to better regulate Norwegian Air's ever-more-aggressive encroachment into US airspace. The United Airlines pilots union lambasted the US DoT Thursday for tentatively approving Norwegian's newest subsidiary based in London and known as Norwegian Air UK. United pilots called the DoT's move to greenlight a second Norwegian Air subsidiary in the UK "unfathomable" because it would allow a "Norway-based company to tilt the playing field in their favour by operating out of Ireland and the UK with pilots hired in Asia expressly to avoid Norwegian labour protections." United pilots fear that if Norwegian Air's presence in the US continues to grow it could negatively impact US-based carriers. <br/>
SIA reported a higher operating profit for Q1, as group revenue rose 5.6%. Total revenue for the quarter to end June came in at S$3.86b, from the previous year period’s $3.66b. Operating costs rose 3.4% to $3.58b, resulting in an operating profit of $280.8m. The full service SIA contributed $241m of the operating profit, but regional carrier SilkAir and budget brands Tigerair and Scoot only managed a $10m contribution to profits between them. Net profit fell in comparison to Q1 2016 as last year included proceeds of the sale of the airline’s stake in Hong Kong Aero Engine Services. Q1 net profit came in at $235m, down $22m from last year. Group airlines carried 8.14m passengers in the quarter, a 6.6% increase from the previous year. <br/>
The Ethiopian govt will establish an Aviation Holding Group to oversee the country’s aviation-related interests. According to the govt, the holding firm would manage Ethiopian Airlines, its cargo and MRO services, Ethiopian Aviation Academy, Ethiopian Airports Enterprises (EAE), Ethiopian Inflight Catering Services, and Ethiopian Hotel and Tourism Services. Ethiopian Airlines Group CE Tewolde Gebremariam said, “The Ethiopian govt took an important decision in paving the way for the formation of the Ethiopian Aviation Group as a holding company in line with international best practices, which will enable the transformation of all airports in Ethiopia to upgrade their services to global standards by leveraging the synergy with the successful business model and strategy of Ethiopian Airlines.” <br/>
The govt may prefer that an airline acquires Air India even if it means selling the domestic and international operations separately, senior officials said. “We also want continuity for the existing staff which could only happen if it is being taken over by another airline,” said one of them. While IndiGo has said it may be interested in Air India’s international business, there have been reports that some private equity investors had been eyeing a possible stake-sale process. The Tata Group, which has stakes in Vistara and AirAsia India, has also been mentioned as a possible suitor. Analysts said the govt shouldn’t seek to keep out potential bidders, given the state of the carrier. <br/>