Thomas Cook faced collapse Sunday night, as knife-edge talks to secure a GBP1.1b rescue deal for the travel group ended without a deal announced. One person close to the negotiations said that administration was expected as stakeholders awaited final confirmation from a board meeting that followed the rescue talks, adding that there were “too many factors that need to change”. Another involved in the restructuring deal said “there could be a last-minute reprieve, but the signals are bad.” Talks which started at 9am Sunday, were the latest attempt to salvage a GBP900m rescue deal between Thomas Cook, its lenders and its largest shareholder, the Chinese conglomerate Fosun. <br/>
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The govt is ready to fly holidaymakers back to the UK if Thomas Cook collapses, foreign secretary Dominic Raab has said. Raab said contingency planning was in place to make sure no-one would be stranded. But he dampened hopes of a govt rescue bid for the firm. Ministers did not "systematically step in" when businesses went under unless there was "a good strategic national interest", he said. Raab said he did not want to undermine the rescue talks that Thomas Cook is currently conducting with its biggest shareholder and creditors. The CAA has aircraft on standby in case Thomas Cook does go into administration over night. Those aircraft are currently being flown to destinations so that British tourists can be flown home Monday if necessary. A source said the CAA is "very prepared". <br/>
Indonesian investigators have determined that design and oversight lapses played a central role in the fatal crash of a Boeing 737 MAX jet in October, according to people familiar with what is expected to be the first formal govt finding that the design and US regulatory approval were flawed. The draft conclusions, these people said, also identify a string of pilot errors and maintenance mistakes as causal factors in the fatal plunge of the Boeing plane into the Java Sea, echoing a preliminary report from Indonesia last year. Details of the Indonesian report, which haven’t been reported previously, are subject to change and further analysis. Indonesian investigators declined to comment, except to say the final document is likely come out in early November. <br/>
Lion Air Group is stressing that passenger personal data stored on its cloud-based servers is safe following reports of a potential data breach among its carriers. The airline group says that it is co-operating with authorities there on the potential data breach, and if there are signs that data has been compromised it will take immediate measures to address any vulnerabilities in its systems. Lion adds that it does not store payment details on its servers, and that any passenger data stored in Indonesia remains safe. Its 5 group carriers - Lion Air, Thai Lion Air, Wings Air, Malindo Air and Batik Air - have reported the incident to their local authorities. Malindo disclosed that it was investigating a potential data breach Sept 19, and has engaged independent forensic and data consultants to review its overall data security infrastructure. <br/>
Ryanair pilots based in Britain have cancelled 5 days of strikes set for this month, the airline said Friday. Strikes set for Sept 21st, 23rd, 25th, 27th and 29th will not go ahead, Ryanair said, as it called on the pilots to resume talks in the East Midlands or in Dublin next week. The pilots, who are members of pilots union BALPA, announced the strikes earlier this month, after earlier walkouts caused little disruption. CE Michael O’Leary Thursday described the strikes as “complete failures”. BALPA has accused Ryanair of threatening to remove pilots’ benefits should they take part in strike action. The union said Thursday it hoped to meet with Ryanair Friday or the following Monday, but that it had not heard from the airline. <br/>
Emirates president Tim Clark doubts the airline will receive Boeing’s 777x jetliner on time, causing a delay in the launch of its premium economy class. When asked Sunday about the planes being delivered on time in June 2020, Clark replied: “I would strongly suggest that it won’t.” Boeing has pushed back the first flight of its 777X to 2020, saying deliveries may be delayed amid problems with its GE made turbines. Emirates is the launch customer for the plane, with 150 orders. “We still have not had sight on a resolution on that,” Clark said. “So if you ask me when, how, and what, I can’t tell you because I don’t know.” A refreshed premium economy will be rolled out on the company’s A380 planes in Dec 2020. The looming demise of the A380 means Emirates no longer needs a mega-airport, according to Clark. <br/>
After a surge in narrow-body plane flights across the Atlantic, Jazeera Airways aims to push the model to its limits with services between Europe and Southeast Asia using the single-aisle jets. Jazeera wants to acquire Airbus long-range A321neo LR narrow-body planes to open up the prospect of a 15-hour trip from London to Thailand with a stop at its Kuwait hub, and is even considering the XLR version to allow flights as far as Hong Kong and Guangzhou, China. That would challenge services provided by Emirates via Dubai using planes 4 times the size, while testing passenger tolerance for inter-continental travel on single-aisle aircraft. Jazeera is already adding a route from Kuwait to London that will be the world’s longest with an A320neo. <br/>
Pakistan International Airlines operated as many as 46 flights from the Islamabad Airport in 2016-17 with no passengers on-board the planes, a media report said Saturday. An audit report, a copy of which is available with Geo News, revealed that the carrier suffered a loss of PKR180m (US$1.15m) by operating the without passengers. It said 36 additional flights on the Haj and Umrah routes were also operated without passengers and no inquiry was initiated despite the administration being informed about the matter. The audit report said the issue has been declared a negligent act in the official documents. In order to reduce operational costs, PIA last month laid off nearly 1,000 surplus employees. <br/>
Domestic LCCs are feared to undergo drastic restructuring one after another starting later this year, as losses from currency exchange, declines in the number of passengers to Japan and soaring oil prices threaten their feasibility, industry officials said Thursday. They said many firms will likely follow in the footsteps of Eastar Jet, which began downsizing its workforce recently, and stressed that the govt's excessive issuing of LCC licenses has left carriers vulnerable to such difficulties. According to Eastar, CE Choi Jong-gu told employees recently that the company was dealing with "an emergency" and thus required plans to overcome the crisis. "We have accumulated tens of billions of won in losses and the company's survival will be threatened if the current crisis continues," Choi said. <br/>