The chairman of troubled Norwegian Air has announced he will step down in May. Bjorn Kise, who has been chairman since 2010, said he will resign after the company’s annual general meeting. Kise, 69, said: “It has not been an easy decision, but after 25 years on the board, many of which as chairman, I am confident that this is the right decision. I have now reached an age where it is time to make room for new forces.” Norwegian has been hit by a series of troubles in the past year, including most recently the grounding of the airline’s Boeing 737 Max 8s, representing 10% of its fleet, after the Ethiopian Airlines crash. Norwegian, which has been sustaining severe financial losses, held a rights issue which raised around US$350m this month. <br/>
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German tourism specialist TUI Group has agreed to sell a 53% stake in French long-haul carrier Corsair to German investor Intro Aviation for an undisclosed sum. Intro will acquire the majority stake “as a first step,” TUI said Monday. Following the sale, Corsair’s Employee Benefit Trust will hold 20% of the airline and TUI will initially retain a 27% minority stake, the group said. Corsair operates a fleet of 7 long-haul aircraft, comprising 2 Airbus A330-200s, 2 A330-300s and 3 Boeing 747-400s. TUI said Corsair was “unable to deliver any synergy effects” for the group, which is now focused on hotels, cruise ships and destination activities. After the sale, TUI will still operate 5 European charter airlines: TUIfly Belgium, TUIfly Netherlands, UK-based TUI Airways, TUIfly Deutschland and TUIfly Nordic. <br/>
Air Belgium said it would not be resuming scheduled flights from Brussels Charleroi to Hong Kong by March 31 as expected, in a setback to the start-up airline’s expansion plans, which also include offering flights to mainland China. “A painful decision, but reasonable given the current market conditions,” the airline said March 14. “However, Air Belgium will carry on with its development projects to China and to the Americas.” The airline's CE Niky Terzakis said: “The economical and operational conditions are not met to viably resume the service. It is a painful decision to make, but a reasonable one when it comes to preserving our development capabilities and assuring continued full employment.” Air Belgium said it was flying on behalf of legacy airlines “with success” and increasing its workforce. <br/>