United Airlines really packed planes around the world in July. The carrier late Wednesday released a sizzling July ops report that reflected significant growth in a number of key categories. Traffic grew at a fast clip, with overall domestic traffic climbing 9.1% in July compared to a year ago. Mainline domestic traffic climbed 7.5% year over year, while regional domestic traffic soared 17.6% compared to a year ago. The huge increase in regional traffic reflects the large number of new second- and third-tier and even smaller markets United has begun serving over the past several months. On the international front, trans-Atlantic traffic remains exceptionally strong, growing 11% in July compared to a year ago. Trans-Pacific traffic grew a far more modest 0.3%. <br/>
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United Airlines said it is introducing a new colour palette for the carrier’s uniforms, on-board meal service linens, and other aspects of the carrier’s overall brand design. United's more than 90,000 employees were informed of the new colour scheme Thursday afternoon. Per a United spokeswoman, “Our updated brand design will be reflected in our new employee uniforms, which will see a unifying base colour across all work groups that speaks to the core of the United brand.” That unifying colour is being labelled “Rhapsody Blue,” a dark navy colour named to reference United's longstanding iconic brand music, Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.” The United spokeswoman said that new United uniforms now in development will includes “pops” of the colours in the carrier’s new colour palette. <br/>
A Zagreb court ruled Thursday that a planned strike by a union at Croatia Airlines was illegal, bringing relief to the govt at the peak of the tourist season but angering the union. The airline and Croatia's govt had said the strike could affect thousands of passengers and cost E800,000 a day, from which the carrier could find it difficult to recover. The union, which had called on the govt to appoint new management, help seal a collective bargaining deal, raise pay and reduce over-time hours, has temporarily called off the strike planned for Aug 8 on the court's request. In its final ruling the Zagreb County Court said it banned the strike because it found that "negotiations about the new collective bargaining deal have not been done in good faith". <br/>
Turkish Airlines is bidding to buy a majority stake in Istanbul’s second airport from Malaysia Airports Holdings, 5 people with the knowledge of the matter said. The airline could buy 80% of Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen International Airport, also known as ISG, 2 of the people said. Turkish Airlines offered E750m (US$870m) for the stake, one of the people said. If the deal goes through, it’d mark a change in strategy for Malaysia Airports. CE Badlisham Ghazali said in May that the company was looking for a partner to buy a minority stake and that 10 parties were interested. Malaysia Airports was part of a consortium that won a E1.9b (US$2.2b) contract to operate the airport in 2007. In 2013, it agreed to raise its holding in ISG to 60%. <br/>