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American Airlines Group is stepping up efforts to decide if an Airbus A350 order still makes sense for its fleet, forcing the planemaker to try to defend another US sale of its marquee wide-body jet. The two companies have restarted talks about a twice-delayed deal for 22 of the A350-900 planes, a person familiar with the discussions said. A predecessor airline placed the order in 2005 and got a good value on a purchase that at current prices would carry a list value of US$6.8b. But American president Robert Isom said the modest number of jets probably isn’t suitable for the carrier. “I don’t like small fleets in an airline our size,” Isom told American pilots Aug 29. “It’s exceptional pricing. Unfortunately, pricing is just one aspect of trying to fly something profitably.” <br/>

Air Berlin has warned its staff that they were “playing with fire” and undermining plans for a sale of the stricken carrier after a co-ordinated protest by pilots forced the cancellation of more than 100 flights Tuesday. The airline said about 200 of its 1,500 pilots had called in sick at short notice, in some cases while the rest of the crew were already on their way to the plane. Plans for an orderly sale — and the continuation of operations until then — are now at risk, Air Berlin’s management warned Tuesday. “The staff of Air Berlin have until now dealt very professionally with the difficult situation of the company,” CE Thomas Winkelmann said. “But what we saw today from parts of the staff is playing with fire...These negotiations can only succeed if we have a stable operation. That is the only way to save as many jobs as possible.” <br/>

Air Berlin expects its flight operations to stabilise Thursday as pilots return from sick leave, it told staff in an internal memo Wednesday, after the insolvent airline was forced to cancel more than 130 flights in 2 days. "Since last night more than 2 dozen captains have reported they are fit to fly," Air Berlin said in the memo. It called on its remaining pilots to support the airline as the sale of its assets nears the home stretch, saying continued flights were a pre-requisite for jobs at Air Berlin to be saved. It said at least 32 flights would be canceled Wednesday, and that it was unable to operate 35 flights for Eurowings. <br/>

Former motor racing driver Niki Lauda will table an offer for parts of insolvent Air Berlin together with Thomas Cook's German carrier Condor, Lauda said Wednesday. Lauda holds 51% of the consortium which will bid for 21 Airbus A320 and A321 planes of Air Berlin's subsidiary Niki - formerly owned by Lauda - as well as 17 additional aircraft flying under the Air Berlin banner. The consortium plans to service short and medium haul flights to tourism hot spots, making use of Condor's expertise in that sector. "As we have said previously, Thomas Cook and its leisure airline Condor stand ready to play an active role in the restructuring of Air Berlin and its subsidiary Niki. Clearly, we will explore all options," said a Thomas Cook spokesman. <br/>

Cathay Pacific will defer deliveries of 5 Airbus widebody aircraft by a year and switch 6 others to a smaller model as it finalised an order for 32 narrowbody aircraft, it said Wednesday. The carrier has been slashing costs and adjusting its route network after reporting Aug 16 its biggest first-half loss in at least 2 decades amid stiff competition from rivals. It announced a non-binding deal to buy 32 Airbus A321neo aircraft valued at US$4.064b at list prices Aug 21. That purchase was finalised Wednesday. Cathay also said Wednesday it would switch 6 orders for A350-1000s to the smaller A350-900 model, saving $288m based on list prices. The A350-900s will be delivered in 2019 and 2020, the airline said. Cathay added it would defer the delivery of 6 A350-1000 aircraft to 2021 from 2020. <br/>