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India plans to exclude more than half of the $7.6b debt owed by the struggling national airline to help burnish its appeal as PP Narendra Modi presses ahead with a sale, people with knowledge of the matter said. The government proposes to transfer all of Air India’s non-aviation assets and short-term loans of as much as 300b rupees ($4.7b) to a separate company, readying the airline for prospective buyers, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential information. Authorities aim to kick off the bidding process before March 31, they said. Such a move would mean the government absorbing the money-losing firm’s working capital loans, real estate from Tokyo to London and two hotels. The buyer will be left with aviation-related assets and about 200b rupees of loans borrowed to acquire aircraft, the people said. A successful sale of Air India is crucial for Modi, who wants to showcase his commitment to reducing the state’s role in business after many of his predecessors failed to dispose of the carrier in the face of stiff political opposition. Air India has a combined workforce of 27,000 and labor unions with a history of strikes and grounded flights. It has been unprofitable since its 2007 merger with state-owned domestic operator Indian Airlines. The company made an operating profit of about 1b rupees in the year through March 2016, primarily aided by a slump in oil prices.<br/>

Avianca Holdings and a shareholder agreed to withdraw their lawsuits that were filed following disagreements over a planned partnership with US carrier United, the Colombian airline said Wednesday. Kingsland Holdings Ltd, Avianca’s minority shareholder, sued the company and its controlling shareholder Synergy Group Corp earlier this year, seeking to stop the deal. Kingsland had said the alliance represented a bad deal for Avianca’s other shareholders and called it “egregiously one-sided”. In March, Avianca countersued Kingsland, seeking dismissal of the lawsuit, which was filed in New York State Supreme Court in late February. Avianca said on Wednesday that it continued to negotiate a strategic alliance with United and hopes to finalize an agreement by the end of the year. “Kingsland and the other parties agreed to discontinue that litigation in order to continue to focus on ongoing business negotiations that, if successful, would resolve their outstanding differences...,” the shareholder said.<br/>

Lufthansa said Wednesday its hub airlines would offer more than 700,000 additional seats within Germany in its winter schedule in response to high demand after the collapse of Air Berlin . By adding more flights or using bigger aircraft on some routes, it said it was making up for 45% of Air Berlin’s previous capacity. The winter schedule also includes two new long-haul destinations, from Berlin to New York and from Duesseldorf to Miami. “These increases in capacity are made possible by the reactivation of operational reserves, deployment of new aircraft and cancellation of less frequented routes, as well as through wet-lease agreements for a number of aircraft owned by other airlines,” it said. <br/>

Lufthansa CE Carsten Spohr is meeting with EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager Wednesday to discuss anti-trust concerns over the German carrier’s acquisition of Air Berlin assets, a person familiar with the matter said. Lufthansa last month signed a E210m deal to take over Air Berlin businesses Niki and LG Walter, plus some short-haul planes, to cement its position in Germany and expand its Eurowings budget brand. The deal has come under fire from airlines and consumer groups who fear it will give Lufthansa dominance of German domestic routes and in Austria. The source said that the EC was leaning toward blocking the takeover of Niki. The talks between CEO Spohr and the EU’s Vestager come ahead of a Thursday deadline for Lufthansa to propose concessions to allay EC concerns over the deal. It is expected to have to offer significant remedies as more than 100 of its routes overlap with those of Air Berlin, and the merged company would have a near monopoly on some routes.<br/>

Losses at South African Airways are set to widen to 4b rand ($292.86m) in 2017/18 from a previous estimate of 2.8b, the state airline’s CFO said, piling further pressure on government finances. Last week, SAA said even with a government injection of 10 billion rand, the struggling airline will remain under-capitalised with a negative equity position of over 9b rand. CFO Phumeza Nhantsi told parliament’s finance committee on Wednesday that the higher projected losses for 2017/18 were related to the retirement of five leased narrow-body aircraft, which meant flights had been cancelled and planes grounded. Vuyani Jarana, SAA’s CEO, said the airline had outstanding debt of 13.8b rand ($1.01b) as of this month and that it needed to pay back domestic lenders and US bank Citi 4b rand by March 2018. “The biggest challenge at SAA is the capital structure as well as the commercial strategy. If we are able to fix that we will be able to get SAA back on its feet,” Jarana said.<br/>

Air Canada is pushing ahead with its aggressive US expansion, announcing six Air Canada Express routes and three new destinations. The cities being added to Air Canada’s route map are Omaha, Providence and Sacramento. Air Canada will connect Omaha and Providence to its Toronto hub while Sacramento will be served from the company’s hub in Vancouver. The three other routes included in Air Canada’s announcement are San Francisco-Edmonton; Montreal-Baltimore/Washington (BWI) and Montreal-Pittsburgh. From San Francisco (SFO), the Edmonton flights will give Air Canada a total of five destinations. It already flies from SFO to Calgary, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. From both BWI and Pittsburgh, Montreal will augment existing Air Canada service to Toronto Pearson. "We continue to strategically expand our already extensive North American trans-border network to offer the only services from Canada to Sacramento, Omaha, Providence, and flights from additional Canadian airports to Baltimore, Pittsburgh and San Francisco," said Benjamin Smith, Air Canada’s president for passenger airlines. The new U.S. routes come as Air Canada is becoming increasingly global in its ambitions. <br/>

Air NZ’s Christmas advert, "A Very Merry Mistake", shows the trouble Santa Claus might have understanding Kiwi kids. In the ad, Santa struggles to understand children calling from New Zealand with gift requests. Santa thinks the child asking for a basketball is requesting a "biscuit ball" and on the phone to the child asking for a piggy bank, Santa thinks he hears a "puggy bank". "We seem to be having some trouble with the Kiwi accent," Santa says in the ad. According to the airline's chief marketing and customer officer Mike Tod, Air NZ is celebrating the season in a "uniquely New Zealand way". "While it's no secret the Kiwi accent has been misunderstood at times, it's also a signature part of our service. In fact, for many Kiwis, being welcomed onboard an Air New Zealand flight by crew after being offshore for some time makes them feel instantly back at home. "We wanted to celebrate the festive season and the Kiwi accent in a humorous and uniquely Air New Zealand way."<br/>