With the ink barely dry on Lufthansa's deal to take over large parts of insolvent Air Berlin, the airline risks having its wings clipped by regulators and rivals concerned about unfair competition. Lufthansa signed a E210m (GBP187.32m) deal Thursday to take over Air Berlin units Niki and LG Walter, plus some short-haul planes, to cement its position in Germany and expand its Eurowings budget brand. Austrian competition authorities said on Friday they believed Lufthansa, which also owns Austrian Airlines, would be too dominant in Vienna if it owned Austria-based Niki. "We see an anti-competitive Lufthansa monopoly in Vienna on many routes after the takeover of Fly Niki," the competition authority's spokeswoman said. "We will voice our concern about the takeover at the European Commission." The German cartel office said it expected the EC to take a close look at the deal. The EC had no comment, with a spokesman saying it had not yet been formally notified of the deal. The deal has also raised eyebrows with rival airlines. Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary has called it a "stitch-up", saying it would give Lufthansa a 95% share of the German domestic market. Ryanair said Thursday it would take up its case with the EU. Lufthansa has hit back at such claims, saying the deal would have to be examined not only from the point of view of the German market but Europe as a whole. Lufthansa has said it has a market share of 34% on routes to and from Germany, while Air Berlin had 14%. With the takeover of parts of Air Berlin that will remain below 48%, which Lufthansa says is equivalent to Ryanair's market share in Ireland.<br/>
star
A Turkish Airlines jet carrying 121 passengers and six crew made an emergency landing in Kenya on Friday after one of its engines sucked in a bird, police said. Flight TK 673 was leaving Kenya's coastal city of Mombasa for Istanbul when the bird strike happened at around 4 a.m. The plane circled around Mombasa for an hour to empty its fuel tank before it landed. No one injured. The plane was checked by technicians and took off again.<br/>
Ethiopian Airlines is mulling flights to the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou. Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province, has in recent years been known as an emerging technology hub and home to e-commerce giant Alibaba. Tewolde Gebremariam, CEO of ET, said Sunday the air carrier is mulling Hangzhou as its next destination as part of its plan to attract more Chinese tourists and business people. Private investment from China to Ethiopia in 2017, up to September 5, has reached more than US$680m, outpacing the entire 2016 figures of $560m. China is the single largest source of foreign direct investment (FDI) to Ethiopia for the last several years, as Ethiopia bids to attract Chinese expertise and money for its industrialization ambitions.<br/>
United Airlines will add at least 23 seats to its long-haul Boeing 777-200s when it reconfigures the aircraft with its new Polaris business class seats. The carrier will configure the aircraft with 50 lie-flat Polaris business seats and 242 economy seats, shows a seating diagram sent to flight attendants and provided to FlightGlobal by a source. United configures its long-haul 777-200s with either 267 seats or 269 seats, depending on whether they are former Continental Airlines or United aircraft. Its domestic 777s have 364 seats and will not receive Polaris. The airline joins competitors American Airlines and Delta Air Lines adding seats to its 777-200s. American is reconfiguring its fleet of the type with up to 289 seats compared to 247 seats previously, and Delta plans to retrofit its fleet with 296 seats versus 291 seats today.<br/>
South Africa’s state-owned airline SAA has been given until the end of October to settle 5b rand (US$374m) of maturing debt to domestic lenders, although the relief may be extended a further two years, Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba said in a report to parliament on Friday. The debt had originally been due to be paid at the end of September. SAA was last month provided with emergency state funds from the Treasury to repay 3b rand in loans from Citibank amid concerns the airline would default on its payments. <br/>