South Korean creditors plan to provide KRW1.6t (US$1.40b) in financial support to debt-laden Asiana Airlines, the country's finance minister said Tuesday, alleviating liquidity problems after a bruising month. Asiana Airlines' biggest shareholder earlier this month said it would sell its entire stake worth KRW564b as of Monday's closing share price, in response to creditors' rejection of an earlier request for support of KRW500b. Creditors have now offered to buy Asiana Airlines' perpetual bonds worth KRW500b and set a credit limit of KRW800b, among other conditions, said minister of economy and finance Hong Nam-ki. Hong also said creditors wanted top shareholder Kumho Industrial Co to sell its stake within this year. <br/>
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Debt-laden Air India has approached State Bank of India to lease 5 Boeing 777 wide-bodied planes owned by Jet Airways, but 19 of its own aircraft, including at least 4 777s, have been grounded for months due to lack of funds for maintenance of these planes. An Air India official said that the airline was in the process of releasing INR5b to make these planes airworthy. “There are 19 aircraft grounded and these include Boeing 777, Boeing 787, Boeing 747 and Airbus A320s. Some of these aircraft are expected to be back in service by August,” the official said. An official with Air India Engineering Services, the airline’s MRO subsidiary, said the company has been cannibalising some of its new aircraft for parts to keep some of the older aircraft airworthy. <br/>
A United Airlines airport agent is accused of using a racial slur against a customer and faces a misdemeanour charge of disorderly conduct. The charge against Carmella Davano was filed after a Feb 26 incident at Bush Intercontinental. A spokesman said Davano has been removed from duty since the incident while the matter is investigated. When the investigation is over, United will take appropriate action "up to and including termination." The spokesman said United has "zero tolerance for discrimination of any kind." In 2017, after an American Airlines pilot ordered activist Tamika Mallory off a plane, the NAACP issued an advisory warning African Americans that they could face bias on the airline. The civil rights group lifted the advisory last year after American made several changes including training employees against implicit bias. <br/>