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The US Justice Department said Wednesday it plans to seek court approval to terminate “outdated” antitrust judgments that remain on the books throughout the United States. The government said there are nearly 1,300 “legacy” judgments remaining on the books of its Antitrust Division, and nearly all likely remain open in US courts. The Justice Department said the “majority of these judgments no longer protect competition because of changes in industry conditions, changes in economics, changes in law, or for other reasons.” The government is reviewing all of those judgments to determine “whether each judgment continues to serve competition,” but has already identified “many judgments that it likely will seek to terminate unilaterally after a public comment period.” The Justice Department posted a initial list of 26 judgments it plans to seek approval to terminate - all dating back to 1981 or earlier. One 1978 judgment the government wants terminated involves Pan American World Airways, Trans World Airlines and Lufthansa German Airlines - now known as Deutsche Lufthansa - which settled allegations they conspired to fix the price of airfare to travel between the US and Germany by US military personnel and their dependents. Pan Am and TWA no longer exist as independent airlines. “We are taking a first step toward freeing American businesses, taxpayers, and consumers from the burden of judgments that no longer protect competition,” Makan Delrahim, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division said. <br/>

It is supposed to be a last line of defense against a Sept. 11-style attack on the US. But a federal program that puts armed undercover guards on commercial airliners is in such disarray that it does little to deter terrorists, many of its employees say, and is being investigated by Congress. Alcohol abuse among some in the Federal Air Marshal Service is so rampant that the TSA, which oversees the program, has had to monitor whether the armed guards show up for their flights sober, according to five people familiar with the situation. TSA said its office of inspection makes quality assurance visits to ensure that the air marshals are properly prepared for their missions. Female and minority air marshals said in court documents and interviews that they faced discrimination at work, including being subjected to sexually explicit messages and racist jokes and memes sent on government-issued cellphones. Other air marshals said they were fired or threatened with termination for minor infractions, while misconduct by managers was overlooked. Just 22% of the marshals thought their leaders maintained “high standards of honesty and integrity,” according to a federal employee survey completed last year, one of the lowest rankings among agencies. Congress has asked the Government Accountability Office, its investigative arm, to review the workplace complaints raised by air marshals, said Charles Young, a spokesman for the office.<br/>

Boeing's profit surged past Wall Street estimates in Q1 and booming demand for commercial jets pushed the world’s biggest planemaker to raise forecasts for cash flow and earnings in what promises to be another record year. Speaking after the results, CEO Dennis Muilenburg also played down concerns expressed by fellow US manufacturing export giant Caterpillar about rising materials costs, which could squeeze profit margins. Boeing’s core earnings, which exclude certain pension costs, jumped to $3.64 per share from $2.17 a year earlier, dwarfing a consensus forecast of $2.58 per share. “We’re not seeing anything there (in costs) that’s a material effect right now,” Muilenburg said. Muilenburg said he does not anticipate a full-blown trade war between the United States and China, as both countries seem to working towards finding negotiated solutions.<br/>

Airbus plans to cap its takeover of the Bombardier C Series jetliner by scrapping the Canadian plane’s 14-year-old branding, people familiar with the plan said. Among the names under consideration for a plane in which Bombardier invested more than $6b is “A200,” according to the people. The designations A210 and A230 would be applied to the CS100 and CS300 variants, respectively. Rebranding the jet, which would slot in below Airbus’s A320-family narrow-bodies, would help fold it into the European company’s lineup and provide some reassurance to potential buyers about its long-term future, the people said. The change is likely to be announced soon after the purchase of a controlling stake closes, potentially in time for the Farnborough Air Show in July.<br/>

Malaysia Airports Holdings plans to double Kuala Lumpur International Airport’s capacity as it seeks a bigger slice of the 2.1b more passengers expected in Asia Pacific in the next two decades. The company is looking to raise the capacity to 150m, from the current 75m, in the next 10 to 20 years, said Raja Azmi Raja Nazuddin, CFO of Malaysia Airports on Tuesday. The main terminal could reach full capacity in the next two years, he said. “We have started studies on the optimisation and expansion,” Raja Azmi said, declining to comment on how much the plan will cost. “The outcome will determine the configuration that we will have to take within a year or two.” Kuala Lumpur joins neighboring cities Bangkok and Singapore in looking to expand airport capacity as routes in Asia Pacific are set to become among the world’s busiest. Malaysia’s tourism board is targeting foreign visitor arrivals of 36m by 2020, a 39% increase from last year. Malaysia Airports sees passenger traffic across the airports it manages rising 6.3% this year as it banks on easier visa approvals for visitors from China and India.<br/>

Russian airlines carried 22.1m passengers in Q1 2018, up 12.4% year-over-year (YOY). International traffic was up 15% to 8.6m; domestic traffic increased 10.8% to 13.5m. Load factor fell 1.4 points YOY to 77.2%. Cargo and post traffic was down 0.9% YOY to 248,959 tonnes. Aeroflot carried 7.4m passengers, up 5.4% YOY while Sibir Airlines carried 2.3m passengers, up 16.8% and Globus, which also works under S7 Airlines brand, carried 867,222, down 9.7% YOY. The total market share of Russia’s five biggest airlines declined to 67.4% from 70%.<br/>

Thai Airways, Qantas and Jetsar Asia are set to move from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport’s Terminal 2 and start operating out of Terminal 3 in May, an official from airport operator PT Angkasa Pura II said Wednesday. Thai Airways will make the move on May 1, while the two other airlines will move on May 11, said Erwin Revianto, AP II senior manager of branch communications and legal affairs for Soekarno-Hatta Airport. He said the relocation was part of AP II’s commitment to improving its services to both airlines and passengers. During the transitional period, the airport operator will provide passengers with flight information to assure the relocation can proceed smoothly.<br/>

Airlines say Auckland Airport should stop using them and passengers as a bank and instead start using shareholder dividends for its $1.8b building programme. The Board of Airline Representatives said the airport was undertaking the biggest building programme in its history, yet shareholders were not being asked to make any contribution by forgoing dividends. The Commerce Commission Thursday has highlighted pricing for airlines and says it is concerned the airport is planning to make excessive profits on its regulated assets. For the five-year period to June 30, 2022, the airport is targeting a return on its regulated asset base of 7.06% against the commission's mid-point benchmark of 6.41%. "This difference in target returns could result in customers paying an additional 61 cents per flight over the next five years, or put another way - Auckland Airport earning an additional $47m in profits after tax," said the commission's deputy chair, Sue Begg.<br/>

A tiny algae developer in Japan is betting its survival on biofuels in a big way -- a bravado its director says matches only that of Elon Musk’s. Euglena Co., a Tokyo-based maker of nutritional supplements, is spending US$53m on building a test refinery that converts algae into biofuel used to power jets and vehicles. The investment is equal to about half of last year’s total revenue, though it’ll only produce 5 barrels a day. For comparison, larger processor JXTG Holdings Inc. has a daily refining capacity of about 320,000 barrels at its biggest plant. “The fact that a company with a revenue of our size is investing in facilities that won’t make a profit means we’re risking everything,” Euglena’s director Akihiko Nagata said. Nagata sees the test refinery as a major step toward building and operating a commercial biofuel plant that can produce 2,000 barrels a day of jet fuel and diesel by 2025, and the company has the backing of JXTG, the country’s biggest refiner, as well as major airline ANA.<br/>