Venezuela Thursday risked worsening its travel isolation by declaring a suspension of commercial ties with Panama's main airline Copa after Panama put president Nicolas Maduro and his top officials on a list of possible money launderers. The state-run Venezuela News Agency said Caracas had "suspended for 90 days economic and financial relations with 22 individuals and 46 national entities from Panama to protect Venezuela's financial system." It said Copa was on the list. It was not immediately clear if that meant Copa planes would have to stop flying into and out of Venezuela. Only a handful of foreign airlines are left servicing Venezuela, which is on the brink of default. Panama is the nearest airline hub to Venezuela, and Copa is the main airline used by passengers in and out of Caracas. <br/>
star
IndiGo said it’s unable to buy and turn around Air India’s operations in their entirety, a blow to prime minister Narendra Modi’s plan to sell the loss-making carrier. IndiGo is interested in Air India’s international operations and low-cost carrier Air India Express, but the govt doesn’t want to sell the carrier piecemeal, IndiGo president Aditya Ghosh said Thursday. “We do not believe that we have the capability to take on the task of acquiring and successfully turn around all of Air India’s airline operations,” Ghosh said. A successful sale of Air India, which is surviving on taxpayer-funded bailouts, is seen as test case for Modi as he seeks to steer the state away from running businesses and boost spending on health and education. The national carrier has 5 subsidiaries, a joint venture and a combined workforce of as many as 27,000. <br/>
Of the 506,994 animals that flew on US commercial air carriers last year, 24 of those animals died in transit. And 18 of those deaths - 75% - occurred on United Airlines. Up until last month, United continued to accept "snub-nosed" breeds for cargo shipments. The airline's rationale: For people who needed to travel with a boxer or a bulldog, United was often the only way their dog could travel by air. United says they consistently alerted customers to the heightened danger of putting their higher-risk dog on a plane. But ultimately, they say, airline representatives left it to customers to decide if their pet could handle the trip. From 2015 to 2017, 85 animals died while in the care of a US air carrier. Of those deaths, 41 occurred on United. Nearly 40% of those deaths occurred to a dog that was identified as a higher-risk breed. <br/>