United Continental’s top executive is giving up his bonus and its chairman is stepping aside. CEO Oscar Munoz asked the board not to award him the payout for 2017, the airline said in a regulatory filing. Chairman Robert Milton, a former Air Canada CEO, will be replaced with another independent board chief. Laurence Simmons, a director who joined the oversight council in 2010, also plans to step down. The announcements came a year after United sparked a public-relations fiasco when a passenger was dragged off a plane. The carrier’s image took another hit last month when a dog’s death on a United plane generated an outcry. In a letter to employees Monday about his bonus, Munoz acknowledged shortcomings last year while vowing to continue his effort to turn the company around. “I felt it was important to send a message about the culture of accountability and integrity that we are building here as a United team,” Munoz, 59, said in the letter. “We had some incredible successes in 2017 but also some setbacks.” The board plans to select a new independent chairman to succeed Milton, and to reduce its roster from 16 to 14 directors, United said. Last year, after the dragging incident, the directors reversed a previous plan to name Munoz as head of the oversight council.<br/>
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Air New Zealand’s services to the US and Japan have been affected by issues with some of its Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines on its Boeing 787-9s. “Weight restrictions included in an FAA directive issued last week mean some Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner flights to Asian destinations will be required to make refuelling stops,” says the carrier. Routes affected include Los Angeles and Houston, services to Tokyo Haneda, and some trans-Tsasman and Pacific island flights. “Depending on en-route weather conditions, some flights may not be able to depart with all the fuel they require, prompting the need for the fuel stop. Over the weekend, 787-9 flights made fuel stops at Sydney, Cairns, Darwin and Guam.” David Morgan, chief operational integrity and standards officer, said: “Having the flexibility to make a short fuel stop means we are more likely to be able to take a full contingent of customers and cargo. The alternative would see us potentially having to disappoint significant numbers of customers by moving them to later flights. We are committed to doing everything possible to avoid this, particularly during this busy school holiday travel period.” Overall, 9000 passengers will be impacted by the refuelling stop issue, which the carrier says is less than 3% of customers.<br/>
Air India has yet to find a suitor after the civil aviation ministry came out with the preliminary information memorandum on Air India's strategic disinvestment on March 28. Air India's mountain of debt, besides many other issues, discourages buyers. The debt stands at Rs 48,876 crore. India's national airline is also being bled by a cash deficit. The civil aviation ministry has admitted that several of its aircraft are idling because Air India is unable to purchase all the spares it needs thanks to a monthly cash deficit of Rs 200-250 crore that affects availability of funds for maintenance, according to a TOI report. The ministry has told Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee that a restricted cash flow was responsible for inoperational aircraft despite a turnaround plan being in force since 2011. The qualified bidder for Air India will be informed on May 28. A number of airlines have refused to come forward due to discouraging terms of sale. <br/>