Lufthansa has offered E250m to take on most of Alitalia's fleet and half of its staff, a source said Tuesday. Alitalia, which has made a profit only a few times in its 70-year history, was put under special administration earlier this year after staff rejected a plan to cut jobs and salaries. Lufthansa is one of seven companies that submitted binding offers. Representatives from the German carrier, including the head of Lufthansa's Italian airline Air Dolomiti, will meet with the three commissioners managing Alitalia Thursday to discuss their offer, sources said. A source said this was not the first meeting on the Lufthansa plan and was unlikely to yield significant progress. According to the first source, Lufthansa offered to keep around 90-100 Alitalia planes, down from a fleet of 123.<br/>
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Ethiopian Airlines placed a firm order for four Boeing 777 Freighters at the Dubai Airshow Tuesday. The US$1.3b deal involves a new order for two of the big cargo jets and a conversion of a commitment for another two announced in June. Schedules call for delivery in 2018 and 2019. Ethiopian Airlines group CEO Tewolde GebreMariam said that he expected growth “tailwinds” will continue for his airline. “This airplane order will provide Ethiopian’s cargo and logistics business with enhanced cargo capacity and better operating economics as we continue to build one of the largest cargo terminals in the world,” he said. Ethiopian now operates one of the largest and youngest fleets in Africa.<br/>
United has just been presented another reason to be irked about Qatar Airways. US carriers maintain Qatar Airways is the beneficiary of huge subsidies that give the airline an unfair advantage. Meanwhile, Qatar just debuted a TV commercial that aims to provide concrete justification for why Qatar is good for American business. First there's US$91.8b investment in US-made aircraft. Qatar also says it flies 3.1m tourists each year to the US. Qatar also maintains that it's proud of its efforts to boost the US economy and says it has every intention of continuing to invest in America even as it continues to fly to several American gateways. The airline ends the spot with a call to America to embrace what the airline is doing for the US economy: "Let's keep the skies open, let's be great together."<br/>