British IAG is in exclusive talks to buy Niki, Air Berlin’s insolvent Austrian airline, a source close to the process said Thursday, after Niki’s administrator said that one bidder out of four remained. Besides IAG, the owner of BA and low-cost carrier Vueling, bidders for holiday airline Niki included tour operators TUI, Thomas Cook and former Formula One world champion Niki Lauda. “IAG is the last remaining bidder and is still negotiating now,” the source said, adding that the company had put in the highest offer - a double-digit million-euro amount. German newspaper Bild put the figure at around E40m. Niki Lauda, Niki’s founder, was quoted as saying on the website of newspaper Die Presse that he was out of the running. A source said Thomas Cook was also out of the race. Die Presse also reported, without citing sources, that IAG was likely to be the last bidder. “The provisional creditors’ committee for Niki (...) today decided to continue sales negotiations for the business operations of the company exclusively with one bidder for now,” the spokesman of administrator Lucas Floether said. “(The committee) tasked the provisional administrator Floether to conclusively negotiate the purchase contract over the coming days,” the statement added. The new owner will have to pay Niki’s running costs, including salaries for its roughly 1,000 employees in Austria and Germany, from the beginning of January, Floether said on Wednesday.<br/>
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Airbus will not hand over the first A350-1000 until 2018, after the airframer agreed a revised delivery schedule with launch customer Qatar Airways. Qatar Airways has 37 of the largest A350 variant on order and Airbus had been aiming to deliver the first aircraft by the end of this year. But the airframer tells FlightGlobal that it has agreed with Qatar Airways that the delivery of the initial A350-1000 will "now be planned early in the new year". The first Qatar aircraft, the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-powered MSN88 (pictured above in formation with an A350-900), conducted its maiden flight on 7 December. Airbus has not disclosed the reasons for the schedule adjustment. But it says it is "fully committed and focused to deliver the aircraft to Qatar Airways' full customer satisfaction". Airbus states that the aircraft is undergoing "final preparatory steps" necessary for entry into service.<br/>
American Airlines will connect Portland, Maine, to its hub at Chicago O'Hare. The service will begin June 7, with American’s Envoy offering two daily round-trip flights on 70-seat Bombardier CRJ-700 regional jets. American's Portland-Chicago schedule will be seasonal, running through Oct. 3. The expansion is the second for American in Portland since November. Last month, the airline said it would add regional service from Portland to New York’s LaGuardia Airport. “We are thrilled to have American Airlines make their second air service announcement in a month, growing service here at Portland,” Portland International Jetport director Paul Bradbury said. He added American’s new Chicago service “will add additional westbound capacity to our market, which has been a strategic focus of the airport to meet the business needs of our community.”<br/>