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A US appeals court on Thursday tossed a lawsuit by a proposed class of nearly 10,000 American Airlines pilots who accused their union of favouring US Airways pilots in seniority decisions made during the airlines’ merger. A unanimous three-judge panel of the 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals said the Allied Pilots Association (APA) was not required to seek its members’ approval of a seniority plan resulting from the 2013 merger. The pilots failed to show that the union’s conduct was outside “the wide range of reasonableness” courts afford unions in making seniority decisions, the court said.<br/>

Finnair has sold 60% of Nordic Regional Airlines (Norra) to Danish Air Transport (DAT), marking the latest in a series of ownership changes at the Finnish regional carrier since 2015. Norra operates Finnair’s domestic and European routes using a fleet of 12 ATR 72-500s and 12 Embraer E190s. The airline originally flew as Flybe Nordic, but UK-based regional operator Flybe exited its 60% stake in the joint venture in 2015 in the face of mounting losses. Finnair renamed the airline Norra and took full ownership in 2015, while finalising the transfer of the 60% stake to human resources specialist StaffPoint Holding (45%) and investment company Kilco (15%). However, the two companies ultimately exited the JV because of an ownership change at StaffPoint, forcing Finnair to again take full control in November 2017. Since then, Finnair has been seeking a new JV partner for Norra. On Aug. 30, Finnair named DAT as Norra’s new majority shareholder. DAT is a privately owned company which operates scheduled, charter and cargo flights.<br/>