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Air Canada is confident that joint-venture talks with Air China will be wrapped up this year, laying the groundwork for even closer cooperation between the two airlines, a top executive for the Canadian flag carrier said. “We have been negotiating with them for some time and hopefully we'll conclude the agreement later this year,” Air Canada CFO Michael Rousseau said. The two carriers in December announced the latest expansion of their multi-year collaboration, including codeshare agreements on 10 new flights—five operated by each carrier. The changes, effective in April, boost the total number of codeshare flights in their partnership to about 30, including some of the 45 weekly flights the carriers operate between their countries. Air Canada president and CEO Calin Rovinescu has credited the Air China cooperation’s evolution for helping drive low-double-digit annual passenger traffic growth between China and Canada in the last six years. Rousseau said that Air Canada’s vision for the JV is to create a transpacific version of its A++ alliance with Germany’s Lufthansa Group and United Airlines. “Certainly, we believe the A++ alliance across the Atlantic between us and United and Lufthansa has been successful,” he said. “We want to replicate that with Air China across to Asia.”<br/>

EgyptAir said Friday it would resume direct flights between Cairo and Moscow, three years after they were halted following the bombing of a Russian charter jet over the Sinai. The announcement came three days after Russian flagship carrier Aeroflot said it would restart flights between the two capitals from April 11. EgyptAir flights are set to resume the following day. Both companies suspended the route in October 2015 after an airliner operated by Russia’s Kogalymavia, carrying holidaymakers from the south Sinai resort of Sharm Al Shaikh, crashed, killing all 224 people on board. Safwat Musallam, head of EgyptAir Holding, said on Friday the carrier planned to operate three Cairo-Moscow flights a week. Aeroflot is planning the same number of flights but will run extra services during the football World Cup, to be held in Russia from June 14 to July 15.<br/>

South African Airways said it is taking “urgent steps” to address concerns raised by the country’s Auditor General in a report on the financially troubled carrier. In his report, AG Kimi Makwetu questioned whether the airline remaines a going concern. “Six consecutive years of operating losses have further eroded the capital base and this continues to impact on the entity’s ability to operate in a highly demanding and competitive environment,” Makwetu said in his report, which appeared in the South African media. “The history of losses, lack of capital and volatility in foreign exchange rates, along with maturing loans and working capital deficiencies, indicate that a material uncertainty exists that may cast significant doubt on the company’s ability to continue as a going concern.” Responding, SAA said its results for the 2016/17 financial year are scheduled to be announced later this month, but it had incurred a net loss of ZAR5.6b (US$467m), more than three times as great as the preceding financial year’s loss of ZAR1.5b. SAA admitted its result for the 2017/18 period “will not be much different’ from that for 2016/17. “The board has noted and accepted the Auditor General’s report,” SAA CEO Vuyani Jarana said. However, he added, “The majority of the airline’s operations are sound and we are building on this to ensure we break the loss-making cycle and transform the airline into a viable and sustainable entity.”<br/>

Austrian Airlines has reported a 2017 adjusted EBIT of E94m, up 62% from E58m in 2016. Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) rose 55% to E101m. The Star Alliance member cited an increasing demand for European flights—mainly because of the bankruptcy of airberlin and its Austrian subsidiary NIKI—for the positive results. Outgoing CFO Heinz Lachinger said the figures represent the “best results in our 60-year history, even if we still have a long way to go with respect to upcoming investments.” Full-year revenue increased 9.5% to E2.4b, complemented by an income of E7m from sales of the Fokker 70/100 fleet to Alliance Airlines in Australia. Despite a 7% increase in the number of employees—mainly related to the hiring of pilots and flight attendants—operating expenditures grew only 6% to E2.4b. Capacity rose 7% to 26b ASKs, as Austrian concluded the integration of 17 Embraer aircraft to replace the Fokker 70/100s. Passenger numbers increased 13% to 12.9m. Traffic was up 7.6% to 20b RPKs, resulting in a full-year load factor of 76.1%. As of Dec. 31, 2017, Austrian operated 83 aircraft and flew a total of 143,999 flights. Looking ahead, Austrian expects a challenging year in 2018 because of the predicted rise in jet fuel prices and ongoing investments in aircraft, product improvements and increased LCC competition, especially in Vienna.<br/>

Aegean Airlines’ plan to renew its fleet will not affect future dividend policy, its vice-chairman said Friday. The carrier plans to renew its fleet of mostly Airbus narrow body jets and is currently evaluating the new generation Airbus A320neo family and Boeing’s 737MAX. “We won’t need to change our dividend policy in the next years because of the commitment to renew our fleet,” Vice-Chairman Eftyhis Vassilakis said. Aegean increased its 2017 dividend per share to 0.55 euros from a payout of 0.40 euros a year earlier after growing full-year net earnings by 87 percent last year. The airline flew a total of 13.2m passengers, up 6% on the previous year, with passengers on international flights up 9% year-on-year. Vassilakis said the new aircraft would be predominantly financed via leasing instead of the company opting for outright ownership. The emphasis will be to reduce maintenance costs. “The main element of cost we want to rein in is maintenance cost, particularly engine costs,” he said. Aegean will decide on the aircraft supplier in the coming weeks. Most of its current leases need to be replaced between 2019 and 2023.<br/>

Already under scrutiny about a dog dying in an overhead bin and another dog being accidentally sent to Japan, United Friday acknowledged its third animal-related mistake in a week. A flight was diverted to Akron, Ohio, on Thursday after the airline realized a pet had been loaded onto the flight in error, airline spokeswoman Maggie Schmerin said. Flight 3996 was carrying 33 passengers from Newark, New Jersey, to St. Louis, but the pet was due to fly from New Jersey to Akron. United told CNN the unidentified animal was "safely delivered to its owner." United said it offered compensation to all passengers as a result of the diversion. The airline declined to provide details about the compensation.<br/>

A dog that United mistakenly flew to Japan is back with its family in Kansas. The 10-year-old German shepherd named Irgo arrived at a Wichita airport Thursday night after a flight on a private plane that United chartered from Japan. Kara Swindle and her two children took a United flight Tuesday from Oregon to Kansas City, Missouri, during a move to Wichita, Kansas. When they went to pick up Irgo, they were shown a Great Dane that was supposed to go to Japan. United said that the dogs were put on the wrong planes when being moved from connecting flights in Denver. The airline declined to say how much it spent on Irgo's charter flight. "We chose the fastest option to reunite the dog with his family," said United spokesman Jonathan Guerin.<br/>