Qantas has rejected calls to ground its Boeing 737s after claims a second aircraft in its fleet was found with a crack in its wing structure. Qantas on Wednesday said it had found cracking in one 737, following calls from the US FAA for all airlines to check their aircraft. On Thursday, the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association, which represents ground crews, said another 737 was found with "a cracked primary wing structure," and urged Qantas to ground its fleet of the planes. But Qantas' head of engineering, Chris Snook, said the call was "completely irresponsible, saying the airline would never operate a plan unless it was safe.<br/>
oneworld
Spanish oneworld member Iberia will add 10 Chinese destinations via new codeshare arrangements with Hainan Airlines and Spring Airlines. Starting Dec. 1, Iberia passengers can fly via Shanghai Pudong to Chongqing, Shenyang, Dalian and Changchun, as a result of a new codeshare agreement with Spring Airlines. In turn, Spring will add its code on Iberia’s 3X-weekly Madrid-Shanghai services. Spring Airlines CEO Wang Zhijie said: “It is important to have codeshare cooperation with Iberia. … This cooperation not only enables Iberia to add popular destinations in China, but also makes Spring Airlines’ route network reach Europe.” On Oct. 23, Iberia announced it will codeshare with Hainan Airlines, connecting Iberia’s Shanghai services with Haikou, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Beijing, Shenzhen and Xi’an.<br/>
Air Serbia and Finnair have agreed a codeshare to expand the reach of their respective networks at the opposite ends of Europe to their home bases. The agreement, which came into operation at the start of the northern hemisphere winter schedules on Oct. 27, sees Air Serbia place its JU code on flights operated by Finnair between Helsinki, Vienna, Prague, Berlin, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Gothenburg, Oslo, Riga, Vilnius, Tartu and Tallinn. The Serbian airline has also added its code on a large number of Finnair’s domestic services, covering 15 points in the Nordic nation. In return, Finnair is adding its AY code on Air Serbia-operated flights between Belgrade and Helsinki as well as flights between Belgrade and Vienna, Prague, Berlin, Tirana, Bucharest, Sofia, Skopje, Podgorica, Sarajevo, Tivat, Larnaca and Thessaloniki. This significantly extends Finnair’s reach throughout southeastern Europe.<br/>