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South African Airways appointed its head of operations as acting chief executive on Friday and said it needs 4b rand ($265m) from the government to survive the current financial year. Zukisa Ramasia becomes interim CEO after Vuyani Jarana unexpectedly resigned last week after less than two years in the job, saying his turnaround strategy was being undermined by a lack of state funding and too much bureaucracy. The revolving door at state-owned enterprises highlights the mammoth task South African President Cyril Ramaphosa faces to fulfil his promise of reforming state firms and weaning them off government support. Ramasia, who has more than 25-years experience in aviation, will start her new role on Monday after Jarana indicated that he will no longer serve a notice period. SAA has started searching locally and globally for a permanent CEO to stabilise the airline and oversee the implementation of the long-term turnaround strategy, board member Thandeka Mgoduso said. SAA has not made a profit since 2011 and Jarana launched a revised five-year turnaround plan that includes slashing costs and cancelling unprofitable routes, requiring around 21.7b in cash injections from the government. Board member Martin Kingston said the new cash injection it seeks will enable the airline to finalise outstanding financial statements and enable it to continue operating until the 2021/22 financial year, when it expects to make a profit.<br/>

Thai Smile hopes to secure its first code share partner under the Star Alliance connecting partner programme in the first quarter of 2020. The plan for the THAI unit is to better connect it with Thai's partners globally, says Krittaphon Chantalitanon, vice-president of alliances and commercial strategy at Thai. He adds that it is too early to say who the first codeshare partner will be, and that there is still some testing and work to be done before the carrier starts codesharing. At the recent IATA annual general meeting in Seoul, Star Alliance announced that the Thai unit would become the alliance's second connecting partner. Star's first connecting partner was Juneyao Airlines, which joined in May 2017. While passengers of Thai can transfer to Thai Smile for onward flights from the pair's Bangkok Suvarnabhumi hub, Thai Smile has no other codeshare partners. Cirium schedules data shows that 13 Star Alliance carriers, including Thai, operate to Suvarnabhumi. Of these, three have codeshare relationships with Bangkok Airways, which operates domestic flights: Thai, EVA Air, and Austrian.<br/>

Air NZ said Monday it was ending a longstanding ban on staff having visible tattoos after facing criticism that the policy discriminated against Māori employees. Some New Zealanders with indigenous Māori heritage wear tattoos on their face or arms that represent their genealogy and are culturally sacred. But uniform rules at the national carrier restrict them from applying for roles such as flight attendant. Many culture and rights advocates said the policy was discriminatory and noted that Air New Zealand draws on the Māori language in its marketing campaigns and uses a fern-like symbol known as a 'koru' in its logo and on the tail of its planes. Air NZ CE Christopher Luxon said the policy was being dropped and non-offensive tattoos would be allowed. "In conversations we've had with customers and our own people domestically and overseas in the past five months, it's clear that there is growing acceptance of tattoos in New Zealand, particularly as a means of cultural and individual expression," Luxon said. Tania Te Whenua, head of Te Whenua Law and Consulting which provides Māori cultural advice to organisations, said New Zealand companies, particularly those that profit from using Māori culture in international marketing campaigns, should respect the cultural rights of their staff. "That's a shortcoming of the embracing of Māori culture and other cultures by organizations only so far as it's profit-making ... that makes it particularly egregious for Māori." <br/>

United and the University of Southern California have reached a new naming rights agreement for Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to resolve criticism that placing a corporate name on the stadium would disrespect its history as a monument to troops who fought and died in World War I, the parties announced Friday. The new 10-year deal names the field rather than the whole stadium, satisfying a key elected official who joined with veterans in opposing the original plan to rename the nearly century-old landmark United Airlines Memorial Coliseum. Starting in August, the playing field will be referred to as United Airlines Field at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, a name that was suggested as an alternative when the controversy boiled up last March, shortly after the centennial of the war's end. Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn, the current president of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission, said that the agreement ensures United remains a sponsor of a $315m renovation and the stadium's legacy. "I am pleased that USC and United have come together in a way that will honor the memories of veterans who served in World War I and our broader community of veterans," Hahn said.<br/>

ANA Holdings and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) have joined forces to look into the feasibility of using a satellite system to find the best flight paths for airplanes by observing wind and other conditions, thus cutting fuel consumption and costs. The major Japanese airline group and the space agency signed a contract in January, aiming to conduct joint research with other parties, including Keio University, until next January. The project is based on a proposal by Ayako Matsumoto, a 35-year-old ANA official who won the top award with the idea at the 2017 “S-Booster” space business contest organised by the Cabinet Office in cooperation with JAXA, the airline and other companies. Some 100,000 flights are operated daily around the world and if airlines are able to reduce aircraft fuel consumption by just 1%, it would be possible to save 3.65m tons of fuel annually, according to Matsumoto. Aircraft fuel consumption is significantly affected by wind direction and intensity, especially by jet streams, which are relatively narrow bands of strong wind in the upper levels of the Earth’s atmosphere. Aircraft carrying unnecessary fuel consume more due to the plane’s weight. Usually, airplanes fly on set routes in accordance with flight plans submitted beforehand. But ANA, over the last decade or so, has switched flight paths of airplanes in service over the Pacific after takeoff to the most efficient ones based on up-to-date weather forecast data, following proposals by Japanese and US aviation authorities. However, fuel-saving effects were limited because it is not possible to set fixed observation points over the ocean, unlike onshore, and only limited data on winds in the upper levels of the atmosphere were available.<br/>