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South African Airways CE Vuyani Jarana said the airline has identified necessary measures needed to restructure the loss-making carrier. “It is [crystal clear] now what is needed and we have begun to make tough decisions,” he said. In May, the South African govt agreed to making a further ZAR5b (US$407m) cash injection into the airline, the latest in a series of bailouts after it tripled losses to ZAR5.4b for the 2016-17 financial year, which ended March 31. “Most of our problems are purely in how we address the market,” Jarana said. “We have to be able to pick the upside of market growth; even competition is increasing. It is about how we organise ourselves.” Jarana, who has been CE for 6 months, said his team has focused on re-examining the airline’s strategy and making adjustments based on market conditions. <br/>

United Airlines has distanced itself from a demand by the Chinese govt for foreign airlines to change how Taiwan is listed on their websites, calling it a "diplomatic issue". "It is a govt to govt diplomatic issue, we will see what comes out of that and we will react accordingly," United CE Oscar Munoz said. "I fly to both places and I am deferential to our customers," he adds. "This is not something I'm going to solve." United is the only US carrier that operates its own metal to Taiwan, offering nonstop service between San Francisco and Taipei. American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Hawaiian Airlines sell flights to Taiwan that are operated by their codeshare partners. All of the US carriers list Taiwan on their websites. <br/>

United Airlines debuted its first passenger service utilising a Boeing 737 MAX 9 with UA flight 686 between Houston George Bush Intercontinental and Orlando International June 7. United is the 737-9’s first North American carrier. United is expecting to have 10 737-9s by year-end, which will make up nearly half of the carrier’s 24 planned additions to its mainline fleet for 2018. Six 737-9s have been delivered to-date, a United spokesperson said. Two of the 737-9s entered service Thursday, both flying the IAH-MCO route, as well as routes between Houston and Austin, Texas; and Houston and Anchorage, Alaska, a route United previously had to fly with larger jets. Additional 737-9 service between Houston and Los Angeles, Sacramento and Tampa will begin by the end of June. <br/>

United Airlines has started charging customers to check a bag on flights to Europe, a spokeswoman confirmed Thursday. The fee is part of a new “basic economy” fare for “price-sensitive” customers, she said. The company is stripping down its fares and offering services that were once included for free for an extra cost. Adding a bag will now cost USD$60. “A customer purchasing this new lowest fare option can check a bag for an additional fee,” she said. “Included in the new fare option are advance seat assignments, one standard carry-on bag and one personal item, as well as the same United Economy cabin experience and services, including dining options, Wi-Fi for purchase and in-flight entertainment.” United joins American and Delta Air Lines also charge extra for checking any bags on transatlantic fares. <br/>

THAI will undertake maintenance and repair of Rolls-Royce Trent engines and expects additional revenue of up to THB5b (US$156.6m) in 2020 from the business, the carrier said Thursday. The airline became an authorised maintenance centre for Rolls-Royce and will spend THB1b in 2018-2019 to expand its maintenance, repair and overhaul facility at the Don Muang airport. The facility will have the capacity to repair over 30 Rolls-Royce Trent engines each year once operational, THAI executive VP Surachai Piencharoensak said. THAI could expand maintenance and repair capacity of Trent 700 and Trent 1000 engines to meet regional demand and could develop a joint business together, acting president Usanee Sangsingkea said. THAI operates around 80 wide-body aircraft, with more than 50 using Rolls-Royce engines. <br/>

Tensions between increasing passenger numbers and limited airport expansion will lead to airport-based services being further decentralised, according to Lufthansa Group senior director-product management ground & digital services Bjorn Becker. Passenger numbers are set to double to 7.2b by 2035, but airports only have plans to increase capacity by 20%-60% “The expected capacity shortage can only be mastered with fundamental structural improvements at the airport,” he said. Becker believes this crunch will force a rethink of airport processes. Some airport-based services will be shifted offsite, while others will need to be performed with increased efficiency on-site. “We need to push services away from the airport to be able to take care of the passenger numbers. We need to increase the efficiency of airports”. <br/>