India is considering a plan to exclude more than half of Air India’s $11b of debt in the government’s latest attempt to lure investors to the struggling carrier, people with knowledge of the matter said. PM Narendra Modi’s administration plans to ask proposed investors to take over $4.2b of the airline’s debt, which are backed by the carrier’s aircraft, the people said, asking not to be identified, citing private information. The government may call for the so-called expression of interest as early as December 15, the people said. Modi’s administration, which failed to attract any bidder for the carrier last year, is keen to sell the company to help bridge a widening fiscal deficit following dismal tax collections and cuts to corporate tax rates worth $20 billion. Last week, the government decided to sell its entire stake in the country’s second-largest state refiner, and its biggest shipping company. Unprofitable for a decade with taxpayers bailing it out repeatedly, Air India’s appeal to any investor is contingent on the government’s ability to write off the debt not backed by assets. The government has pumped in $7.8b in the last past decade in a bid to keep the carrier afloat, the people said.<br/>
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The South African government is working on “immediate actions” to ensure cash-strapped South African Airways’ (SAA) survival, the public enterprises ministry said on Wednesday, warning the airline could not “continue as is”. SAA, which hasn’t made a profit since 2011 and is dependent on government bailouts to remain solvent, suffered a crippling strike this month which pushed it to the brink of collapse. The airline needs to secure more than $136m of working capital to continue operations, but commercial banks won’t lend SAA more money without additional state guarantees. The public enterprises ministry, which oversees SAA, said it was working with SAA to enable it to carry on its business. But it said “SAA cannot continue as is” and that further details would be provided over the next week.<br/>
The US DoT’s FAA proposes a $6,428,000 civil penalty against Deutsche Lufthansa for allegedly conducting almost 900 flights that were not in compliance with Federal Aviation Regulations. The FAA alleges Lufthansa operated the flights into and out of San Diego International and Philadelphia International airports when it knew it lacked FAA authorization to do so. Foreign airlines can only conduct scheduled flights into and out of airports that are listed in their FAA-issued Operations Specifications, and the FAA alleges neither airport was in Lufthansa’s Operations Specifications. <br/>
The competition watchdog is seeking public feedback regarding the recently announced tie-up between SIA and Malaysia Airlines. The public can send their views on the deal to the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCCS) until Dec 18. SIA announced an agreement with Malaysia Airlines on Oct 30 that would "significantly strengthen" the partnership between the two groups. It involves sharing revenue on flights between Singapore and Malaysia, expanding codeshare routes and participating in joint marketing activities to develop tourism. The CCCS will assess if the deal infringes section 34 of the Competition Act, which prohibits tie-ups that prevent, restrict or distort competition within any market in Singapore. SIA and Malaysia Airlines said that while they do provide overlapping routes between Singapore and seven Malaysian destinations, the scope of the CCCS analysis should focus on the overlapping direct routes between Singapore (Changi and Seletar Airports) and Kuala Lumpur (KL International and Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airports) and between Singapore (Changi) and Kuching (Kuching International Airport). They stated their deal is "unlikely" to be anti-competitive as the overlapping direct routes will "continue to face intense competition" from low-cost carriers and alternative modes of transport like cars and coaches.<br/>
The deaths of three British citizens who were on board an Ethiopian Airlines flight that crashed will be investigated at an inquest next year. Samuel Pegram, 25, Joanna Toole, 36, and Oliver Vick, 45, were on the flight which crashed shortly after take-off, killing 157 passengers and crew members on March 10. The tragedy was one of two fatal crashes involving Boeing 737 Max 8 planes in the space of just five months. The same type of aircraft was involved in a crash in Indonesia in October 2018, when a plane plunged into the sea just after take-off, killing 189 people. Investigations are still under way into the cause of the Ethiopian Airlines crash. Seven Britons were among those who died in the March 2019 crash, near Bishoftu in Ethiopia, but only three have been repatriated to the UK. A coroner was told on Wednesday that the bodies of Pegram, Toole and Vick had all now been repatriated to the UK. Senior coroner Penelope Schofield said: "The medical cause of death in respect of all three were multiple injuries. Each of these individuals was repatriated back to the UK and therefore they fall within the coroner's jurisdiction. From the evidence I have heard, I am satisfied that this is an unnatural death in respect of all three and I will formally open the inquest today and adjourn it to August 11 2020. The reason for that lengthy date is the fact that we are still awaiting the final reports in respect of the crash."<br/>