Lufthansa is set to pick up a large part of insolvent rival Air Berlin, and easyJet is also still in the running for some assets, two sources familiar with the matter said. Air Berlin’s creditors met on Thursday to discuss offers for Germany’s second largest airline and agreed the carve-up, the sources said. Air Berlin, which has about 8,000 employees and operates 144 mostly leased planes, filed for insolvency in August after major shareholder Etihad pulled the plug on funding. Lufthansa’s CEO said earlier that the carrier wanted to secure the 38 crewed planes it leases from Air Berlin, and was interested in a further 20-40 short-haul planes. Creditors will hold exclusive negotiations with Lufthansa until Oct. 12, the sources said, which means Air Berlin’s board may not make a final decision on Sept. 25 as had been expected. Other assets will go to easyJet and possibly Thomas Cook’s German leisure airline Condor, the sources said.<br/>
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Turkish Airlines said it intends to purchase 40 of Boeing’s 787-9 Dreamliners, a long-awaited deal that signals the carrier’s rebound following a terrorist attack on its Istanbul hub last year. When finalised, the order would be valued at almost $11b before the customary discounts for large aircraft purchases. The pact, unveiled during a brief signing ceremony in New York on Thursday, came after years of market studies and negotiations for wide-body planes as the airline plotted its expansion. Boeing’s carbon-composite Dreamliners will help upgrade Turkish’s fleet of long-range aircraft as it competes with other Middle Eastern airlines amid slowing growth in the region. The carrier’s expansion would hasten President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s goal of making Istanbul one of the world’s premier air travel hubs. The airline already has 75 Boeing 737 Max jets on order, according to the planemaker’s website. Turkish plans to shift operations from Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport to a new hub, which is due to open at the end of the year. “It’s very exciting for them and it’ll open so many new gateways,” said Marty Bentrott, Boeing VP of sales for the Middle East, Russia and Central Asia. “These airplanes are part of that growth plan.”<br/>
A California dentist who was aboard an Asiana Airlines plane that crashed in San Francisco four years ago — killing three girls and injuring roughly 200 others — reached a settlement Thursday with the airline, ending what her attorney said was the last pending lawsuit in the US stemming from the crash. Ronald Goldman, an attorney for Kyung Rhan Rha, said the terms of the settlement were confidential. But he said Rha's case was the last to get resolved of the dozens of passenger and crew lawsuits that had been consolidated before a federal judge in California. Rha and her daughter were among 291 passengers aboard Asiana Flight 214 from South Korea when it crashed at San Francisco International Airport on July 6, 2013. <br/>
Air NZ has appointed Nick Judd as chief strategy, networks and alliances officer. Judd, who is currently group general manager commercial, will replace Stephen Jones who leaves the airline shortly to join Wizz Air in Geneva. Air NZ CE Christopher Luxon said he was delighted to make an internal appointment to the executive after conducting an international search. :He brings to his executive role a unique international perspective having worked for Air New Zealand in senior finance, loyalty and commercial positions at our head office and in Australia before running Greater China and then the Americas regions," Luxon told staff.<br/>