Air Berlin and EasyJet are expected to announce a deal Friday for the purchase of up to 25 A320 aircraft, German media reported on Thursday. The British budget airline said in September it had bid for parts of Air Berlin’s short haul business. BZ and Bild, citing multiple people involved in the negotiations, reported an announcement would come Friday.<br/>
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Malaysia is negotiating with US-based seabed exploration firm Ocean Infinity to resume the search for Malaysia Airlines MH370, which vanished three years ago in the southern Indian Ocean with 239 people aboard. The disappearance of the aircraft en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur ranks among the world’s greatest aviation mysteries after Australia, China and Malaysia ended a fruitless A$200m search effort in January. This week, Malaysia said it had received proposals to continue the search from Ocean Infinity, Dutch firm Fugro and an unidentified Malaysian company. Ocean Infinity beat out the competition and the government has begun negotiations with it, Malaysia’s deputy transport minister Aziz Kaprawi said on Thursday. “Yes, we are negotiating with Ocean Infinity, but the agreement has not been finalised,” he said, but declined to comment on the potential reward for the plane’s discovery. "It was an offer on an open basis, that we will only honor if the aircraft is found.” The firm had made an offer on a “no-cure, no-fee” basis, according to a letter, seen by Reuters, that was sent to passengers’ families on Thursday. Australia and China were informed of the negotiation process, but only Australia had informally agreed to Malaysia’s choice, Aziz said.<br/>
British Airways has apologised to a Canadian family after they were bitten by bed bugs on a transatlantic flight between Vancouver and London. Heather Szilagyi, her seven-year-old daughter, Molly, and her fiance, Eric Neilson, were left covered with painful insect bites while travelling from Canada to Slovakia this month. BA offered an apology to the family and upgraded their return flights to business class. Szilagyi said she had first noticed the bed bugs on the seat in front of her, then spotted another crawling out from behind a TV monitor. “I wanted to grab it but they’re quick and it crawled back inside, behind the screen,” she said. Szilagyi says she alerted a flight attendant but was told the flight was full and nothing could be done. “It was nine hours of knowing that I was probably going to get bit, but not being sure,” she said.<br/>