Lufthansa is losing less money than expected. In Q4 the German airline group posted a net loss of US$1.38b, beating analyst forecasts. Last year the company secured almost $11b in state aid to tide it through the global travel slump. In 2021 it expects to fly 40-50% of the capacity it had two years earlier. But it's expecting a swift rebound in travel demand as lockdowns ease. Even so the money is still flowing out. In the first quarter Lufthansa expects to burn through about $360m dollars every month. The group is now thinking about retiring more planes. CE Carsten Spohr says he may permanently ground all aircraft older than 25 years. The company had already outlined plans to shrink its fleet to 650 jets by 2023.<br/>
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About 580,000 SIA customers have been affected by a data leak at an external firm. SIA said Thursday that members of its KrisFlyer and PPS Club reward programmes have had their membership numbers, tier status and, in some cases, membership names compromised. It said, though, that the breach did not involve the members' passwords or credit card information. There was also no leak of itineraries, reservations, ticketing information, passport numbers, and e-mail addresses. A spokesman for the airline said: "It is not possible for someone to access any confidential customer data or their miles with only the leaked information." SIA said the data breach originated from air transport information technology firm Sita. The carrier is not a customer of Sita's passenger service system. But all members of the Star Alliance group of airlines, which SIA is part of, provide a set of frequent flier programme data to the alliance. One of the group's 26 member airlines is a Sita customer, which resulted in Sita getting access to the data from the other alliance members. SIA said: "All Star Alliance member airlines provide a restricted set of frequent flier programme data to the alliance, which is then sent on to other member airlines to reside in their respective passenger service systems. This data transfer is necessary to enable verification of the membership tier status, and to accord to member airlines' customers the relevant benefits while travelling."<br/>
Unifor president Jerry Dias says Air Canada continues to promise refunds for passengers whose flights were cancelled during the COVID-19 pandemic. The airline has made the pledge repeatedly during negotiations with the federal government over an aid package for the battered sector, said Dias, who noted talks are ongoing. "I spoke to the CEO of Air Canada last night. So I know that this commitment has been made for quite a while." Air Canada took issue with Dias's take, saying no such conversation took place within the past week or beyond. The airline said that discussions are ongoing, but no deal has been reached. "The government is in discussions with air carriers on potential additional financial assistance," said Jessica Eritou, a spokeswoman for Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland. Then-CE Calin Rovinescu said in November that Air Canada would not hesitate to reimburse customers stuck with unused tickets if the conditions of a federal bailout were reasonable. After a halting start nearly four months ago, talks ramped up over the past month, reaching a pace that he called a negotiation. Any deal would include a resolution on passenger refunds, a plan for returning service to regional markets and financial support for the aerospace sector, Rovinescu said last month.<br/>