A Singapore Airlines Airbus A350 is set to make history in Wellington today, with the airline being the first to operate the new generation plane on scheduled services into the capital. The aircraft, SQ247, is due to leave Melbourne this morning and scheduled to land just before 1pm. The A350-900 plane is made up of more than 50% of composite materials and replaces older Boeing 777-200 on the Wellington-Melbourne-Singapore route. Singapore Airlines regional VP Philip Goh, said deploying the A350-900 aircraft on the route provided a new level of comfort for customers travelling to and from the New Zealand capital. 'Serving the Wellington market with the A350-900 aircraft reinforces our commitment to the city." The airline began servicing Wellington in 2016, initially to Canberra. Airbus did tests at Wellington Airport with an Airbus A350 last June to test the runway - which is shorter than others it operates to - for its suitability. CE of Wellington Airport, Steve Sanderson, said with the connectivity Singapore Airlines provides, visitors from Asia and Europe are now spending NZ$79m more per year in Wellington than before the service. "There has also been a 37% increase in visitors from Asia overall, with Singaporean visitor numbers up by 118%, Indian visitors up by 105% and Indonesia up 50%.<br/>
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Lufthansa is ready to invest up to E200m in struggling Italian airline Alitalia, which is running out of cash and racing to find new funds, a source close to the matter said Thursday. Confirming reports in two Italian dailies, the source said Lufthansa had written to Italy’s industry ministry and rail company Ferrovie dello Stato, which has pledged to take a stake in the airline and which is leading the effort to find new investors. In its letter, Lufthansa said it was open to putting in fresh funds to Alitalia but questions remain about its priorities. The letter did not contain a precise figure but Lufthansa is ready to stump up between E150m and 200m, the source said. “We are not commenting on this,” a Lufthansa spokesman said. Alitalia has struggled for years to be profitable and compete with bigger rivals and has been run by administrators since May 2017 after a previous re-launch attempt failed. Top executives of Ferrovie will fly to Frankfurt to meet with Lufthansa’s managers next week to get clarification about the real intentions of the German carrier regarding Alitalia, three other people close to the matter said. If Lufthansa confirms its preliminary promise to invest in Alitalia, that could disrupt talks with US carrier Delta, which has said it is prepared to put E100m in the Italian airline.<br/>
Lower expenses helped to push Air China’s operating profit for Q3 up 5.4% to CNY4.86b ($690m). This was despite the airline posting a fall in total revenue for the quarter ended 30 September with a 2.3% decrease to CNY37.8b. Total expenses decreased 2.4% to CNY34.5b. Net profit for the three month period came in at CNY3.62b, a 4.4% increase from the same time last year. For the first nine months of this year, the Star Alliance carrier saw its operating profit drop 3.7% to CNY9.24b, compared to the same period last year. Total operating revenue grew marginally to CNY103b, while total operating cost rose 0.6% to CNY97.5b.<br/>